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| MONDAY January 8, 2001 Vol 5, # 3 |
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| MONDAY January 8, 2001 Vol 5, # 3 |
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YELLOWSTONE ROAD
REPORT PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-
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 PROTECTING YELLOWSTONEby 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) -- "Yellowstone National Park Held Hostage by Million-Dollar Cheeseburgers!" No, this shocking headline is not from the front page of a supermarket tabloid or a sequel to the cult movie The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. It is not a marketing gimmick by some fast food restaurant, nor is it the plot line of an upcoming X-Files episode. And neither is it the punchline of a new comedy routine by Jay Leno nor a scare tactic by Disney to try and reroute vacationers to the Mouse Kingdom. In fact, this rather ludicrous statement is not fiction at all. It is a true story which is taking place right now. And not only that, it is old news: this bizarre hostage situation has been going on for years. Following are the basic facts and figures of this strangest of true stories.
In the mid-1800s, there were no domestic cattle in the American West. Today, domestic cattle in America number in the tens of millions and supply our insatiable appetite for the billions of hamburgers we Americans eat monthly (if not weekly). In the American West, where many of these cattle are raised, ranchers lease public lands (that is, land owned by the American people, otherwise known as you and me) on which to graze their cattle, paying the government pennies per head. There are 2000 head of privately-owned cattle grazing on public land in Montana adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. The owners of these cattle pay the government a whopping $13,000 each year (about $6 per head) in grazing fees. Government agencies decided some years ago that Yellowstone's bison are a threat to the 2000 head of cattle which graze on public lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. The bison were labeled a threat because some carry the disease "brucellosis," a disease that can cause domestic cattle to abort their fetuses. Oddly enough, however, there is not one shred of evidence -- despite extensive research continuing to this very day -- that wild bison can transmit the disease to domestic cattle. The simple solution to this "problem" would have been to declare the public lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park off-limits to cattle grazing. However, the government, in its infinite wisdom, decided the 2000 head of cattle, grazing for virtually free on land owned by you and me, were more important than Yellowstone National Park, and indeed needed to be protected from Yellowstone's bison. Of course, the government did not bother to ask you and me, the owners of the land, what our preferences would be for our land. Having decreed that the 2000 head of cattle are more important than Yellowstone National Park, government agencies set out to put our money where their mouth is. In recent years, the government has spent millions of dollars of your money and mine in protecting the 2000 head of cattle from the subversive Yellowstone bison. Much of that money has been used to kill well over 1000 of Yellowstone's bison in recent years. And just last month, government agencies announced that they will be spending $50,000,000 of your money and mine over the next fifteen years to harass and kill those subversive Yellowstone bison. In contrast, Yellowstone National Park's entire budget for all of last year was $24,508,000, far less than was needed to protect Yellowstone's bison and tens of thousands of other large mammals (including the endangered grizzly bear and wolf; not to mention small animals, fish, vegetation, geology, etc.), maintain hundreds of miles of roads and trails and hundreds of facilities, and salary enough rangers to oversee the 2.2 million acres which is Yellowstone. Only in America does the government spend $50,000,000 of your money and mine to ensure that a few thousand cheeseburgers (enough, perhaps, to supply all the McDonalds restaurants in the Atlanta, Georgia metro area for about fifteen seconds) are given higher priority than Yellowstone National Park, the world's first and foremost national park. Yes, Virginia, the truth is stranger than fiction, and insanity is in abundant supply. (To obtain a copy of the above press release, email hostage@yellowstone.net 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.) |
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS Russ Finley |
BABBIT TO
VISIT YELLOWSTONE THIS WEEKEND YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt plans to visit Yellowstone National Park on Saturday, January 13, just one week before his term with the Clinton administration comes to an end. Babbitt's schedule will consist of a morning briefing on the wolf reintroduction program and a visit to the Lamar Valley, where he hopes to see some of Yellowstone's wolves. Babbitt has previously called Yellowstone's wolf reintroduction program one of his "most successful" accomplishments. |
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| WINTER CONDITIONS UPDATE News Brief BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Following an early winter season marked by harsh weather conditions, recent weeks in the Yellowstone region have witnessed warm and dry weather. Snow accumulation is rapidly dropping, and Yellowstone officials anticipate closing the Park to snow machines later this week, unless significant snowfall takes place soon. This winter has also turned out to be a bad year in terms of avalanches. A week ago, a retired National Park Service employee and his son were killed in an avalanche on the top of Emigrant Peak, just north of Yellowstone National Park. Donald Cory, 50, and son Samuel, 14, were caught up in the avalanche while scaling the west slope of the peak. That same weekend, backcountry skiers near Big Sky triggered an avalanche, but managed to escape without injury. The day after Christmas, a snowmobiler was buried by an avalanche on Daisy Pass just northeast of Yellowstone. He was rescued in time by friends and was not seriously injured. Also, on Christmas day, a North Dakota family was caught in an avalanche while snowmobiling in the Lionhead area just west of Yellowstone. One family member was buried in snow and sustained injuries. In light of the ongoing avalanche danger, outdoor recreationists in the Yellowstone region should consult nearby ranger stations before venturing into the backcountry. |
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| FROM THE BANKS OF THE
FIREHOLE by Matthew McLean This is the fourth in a series of articles written by Matthew McLean, Associate Editor of The Wyoming Companion and contributor to Yellowstone Net who is living and working in Yellowstone this winter. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- New Year's Eve in Yellowstone was not much different than it is in a major city. There was a celebration at both the Snow Lodge and the employee pub. New Years was here in full force and there was no doubt about that!
The first week of the New Year has not felt like winter in Yellowstone. While the entire Northeast and Midwest section of the country has been subjected to sub-zero temperatures and several inches (to feet) of snow, it has been almost tropical here. The past three to four days have witnessed blue skies and temperatures in the upper thirties. We haven't had a snowstorm with decent accumulation since at least the middle of December. The road and ski trail conditions are not the best and recently, when I go to work or around the basin, I walk. I hope for snow soon - if you have any extra, send it our way! Besides the lack of snow things have been great. The blue skies have allowed me to take some great "sunny winter day" photos. The animals are providing photographers and watchers alike with plenty to do. There have been bison, elk, coyotes, bald eagles, and even a red fox in the basin. Also, it has been great to hang around in the Snow Lodge in the evenings and talk with the visitors. It is nice to meet people from all over the country and make some friends who I hope to see back in Yellowstone in the future. I hope to get around the park a bit over the next month. If I do, you can be sure I will give the scoop in an upcoming article. For now, take care and have a Happy New Year! WebCam capture of Old Faithful provided by James Steeby |
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Yellowstone
National Park is the world's oldest and best-known national park. Yellowstone is
renowned for its wildlife and geysers. The two symbols of Yellowstone National
Park, known the world over, are Old Faithful Geyser and the Bison (sometimes called
Buffalo). Bison, which once numbered 60 million in North America, were hunted to the
very brink of extinction in the late 1800s. Yellowstone became a place of refuge for
the remaining few. The bison slowly made a comeback from the edge of extinction, and
today the world's largest free-ranging herd (some 3000) resides in Yellowstone.
I spent my evening in
a bit of a calmer fashion. I was able to catch the last Old Faithful of 2000 and the first
Old Faithful of 2001. I sat at the end of the Old Faithful boardwalk nearest to Geyser
Hill and the Inn so I could look down the basin while I waited. The evening was
surprisingly warm and I was comfortable without gloves or a hat. There was a nice thick
cloud cover that caught the illumination from the Snow Lodge and gave Old Faithful a nice
glow. At about 10:47, Old Faithful gave its final performance of the year. At midnight, a
crowd gathered (including a coyote) to bring in the New Year in front of one of America's
treasures. At 12:07 (on the dot) Old Faithful gave its first performance of 2001. It was
an excellent thing to see and I am glad that I had a chance to be a part of it. For those
of you who might have a chance to be in Yellowstone for the winter at some future time,
come on New Year's Eve and experience it for yourself.