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YELLOWSTONE WEATHER Highs 60s, Lows 30s Partly Cloudy More Weather Road Conditions ROAD REPORT Most roads are now open! For more road info, click here. COMMUNITY CENTER THE DAILY CARTOON ONLINE GREETING CARDS PUBLISHER Yellowstone Net Company EDITOR-IN- CHIEF Bruce Gourley MORE LINKS Vacation Discussion Newspaper Archives Send us your comments		PROTECTING YELLOWSTONE by Bruce Gourley Yellowstone is a national treasure which is owned by the American public. Protecting Yellowstone is the responsibility of the American public. This weekly feature will help identify and explore the issues which are crucial to the ongoing, healthy existence of the "Crown Jewel" of America's National Park system. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- June is here, and the flow of visitors to Yellowstone is steadily increasing with the advancing of summer. For most visitors, wildlife and geysers are the top attractions in Yellowstone. Although families make up the majority of people visiting Yellowstone, the Park is also frequented by amateur photographers who are seeking to get the perfect wildlife shot or geyser photo. Yellowstone Net features the work of one of the most-renowned professional national park photographers in the world, Russ Finley. Russ has spent many years photographing Yellowstone's wildlife, landscape and thermal features, and well knows the patience and planning that it takes to get just the right shot. However, not all photographers visiting Yellowstone are professionals, and not all are willing to put in the necessary time and effort to capture those perfect pictures. Yellowstone officials, in fact, are seeking to address the growing problem of a few amateur photographers using radio telemetry gear to track down animals wearing radio collars in the Park. Aside from amateur photographers, some wildlife enthusiasts are also making use of the tech gear. Park officials fear that tracking animals such as wolves, grizzlies, bison and elk with high tech gear could interfere with, or disturb, the animal's behavior. Park officials have even received calls from people asking for the frequencies used by the animals' collars. Some callers have indicated that they plan on using homemade tracking equipment. As a result, Park officials are planning on banning the use of such equipment by private individuals within the Park. The ban on private telemetry equipment is to go into effect this week, and will carry a jail sentence of up to six months and a fine of up to $5000 upon conviction. (Yellowstone Net provides you opportunity to voice your opinion regarding the various Yellowstone issues to your congresspersons and to editorial sections of magazines and newspapers by clicking here.) BACK TO TOP
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS Ralph Maughan Kim Steinbacher Kevin Sanders Steve Brashear Clint Wilkes Tim Gourley Hon. Bob Gammage Ruth Colter-Frick Lee Whittlesey Tom Mazzarisi Russ Finley David Monteith Denise Elmer Dr. Bob Bara Matthew McLean		WOLF UPDATE News Brief BOZEMAN, Mont. -- U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials have noted that four cattle-killing wolves were caught last week in the Paradise Valley area. The troublesome wolves are scheduled to receive shock-aversion therapy at Ted Turner's ranch. The wolves are members of the Sheep Mountain pack that roamed around Dailey Lake. They are currently in a holding pen in Yellowstone National Park and will be transferred to Turner's Flying-D ranch near Bozeman in mid-June. Another member of the pack was killed earlier on May 25 when a tranquilizer dart pierced its lung. The guns are fired from helicopters, and tranquilizing operations do carry some risk to the wolves. Two members of the pack are still at large, and are sought by officials. Wolves were reintroduced to the Yellowstone area in 1995, and packs which attack livestock are either treated, removed, or in some cases, killed. BACK TO TOP
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		SEWAGE LINE BLOCKED IN MAMMOTH by National Park Service YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) -- On Tuesday, May 23, 2000, at about mid-morning, a sewage blockage occurred in the lines outside the Albright Visitor Center at Mammoth Hot Springs in the northern portion of Yellowstone National Park, closing restroom facilities for a short time and partially flooding the basement where the park archives are located. Raw sewage (including gray water and some solids) entered through a basement drain that is located in the archive storage area. The sewage was discovered by an employee almost immediately and quick actions by park staff assured that none of the documents stored in the archives were damaged. Park maintenance staff began an investigation into the cause of the blockage and discovered the sewage pipe leading from the building had been blocked by items flushed down a toilet. At some point, a pair of men's shorts and a diaper were caught IN the pipe system and caused sewage to back up in the line. They were able to clear the line and return to normal operations by Thursday afternoon. The public restrooms in the visitor center were closed from Tuesday until Thursday afternoon. During the closure, visitors were asked to use the restrooms at nearby concession facilities. Cleanup of the basement has occurred. BACK TO TOP
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		TOP TEN THINGS TO SEE IN YELLOWSTONE News Brief YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (YNET) -- One of the foremost questions on the minds' of first-time visitors to Yellowstone is, "What are the things that I must see?" In an effort to answer this question for first-time visitors, Yellowstone Net has published a list of the "Top Ten Things to See in Yellowstone." First time visitors will find this a useful guide in planning their trip to the Park. Repeat visitors are well aware that there are hundreds of wonderful things to see and do in Yellowstone, and the Top Ten list is merely a starting point for exploring the many wonders of the world's first and foremost national park. BACK TO TOP