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| WEDNESDAY February 28, 2001 Vol 5, # 21 |
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| WEDNESDAY February 28, 2001 Vol 5, # 21 |
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| Site Search | Support Yellowstone! Discussion $7.95 Internet, Email, More Email Newsletter | |
YELLOWSTONE ROAD
REPORT PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN- |
WEST ENTRANCE ROAD CLOSES by National Park Service YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) -- Because of the current warm weather conditions and minimal snowpack, efforts to create a reasonable oversnow driving surface on Yellowstone National Park’s West Entrance Road have proven impossible. Therefore, unless conditions change, the West Entrance Road will close to all inbound oversnow traffic at 5 p.m. on Sunday evening, February 25, to provide the opportunity for park staff to plow the road from the West Entrance to Old Faithful. It is expected to take at least a full day (if not longer) to complete this operation which includes plowing and sanding the road, plowing out parking space at Old Faithful, and to reopen the road to wheeled, mass transit only. Once the road has been cleared, park visitors will be able to enter the park through the West Entrance in vans or buses operated by National Park Service-authorized winter concessionaires. Visitors should check with their service provider to determine what their options are for entering the park. Normal operations will continue (as long as conditions are favorable) for the other oversnow routes in the park for the remainder of the winter season. Every reasonable effort was made to keep the West Entrance Road open, but with continuing warm weather and deteriorating conditions, as well as safety concerns, it became necessary to take these drastic steps. The West Entrance Road will continue to be plowed for wheeled, mass transit traffic until March 12 at 8 a.m., which marks the end of the winter season.
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS Russ Finley
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FROM THE
BANKS OF THE FIREHOLE This is the latest 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. -- The winter season is now winding down, and with that comes some of the most interesting events of the whole season. Over the past two weeks we have had the best snowfall of the whole season. In some places, at least two feet of snow fell. On the the other hand, the road conditions have become so bad that they decided to plow the road from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful starting this past Sunday night. With only two weeks left you have to pray for great snow conditions to finish the season. The decision to plow and warm fronts make me wonder if we will make it all the way to the end. The snow that fell before the recent warm spell was great. It really felt like winter at its best had truly found its way to Old Faithful. For a few straight days not a moment could be spent outside without seeing snow. With the extra snow came better skiing conditions and more joyous winter attitudes. For me, the best was when I had to ski to work at 6:30 in the morning. With the days getting longer, the sun has begun to rise early and it gives the snow a spectacular blue glow. I can't remember having seen something as surreal from nature as that. As I mentioned, though, even with the great snow and the wonderful sightseeing it provides, the conditions of the roads between Old Faithful and West Yellowstone have deteriorated considerably. Many people have come in with stories about miles and miles of moguls and bare road. Some people are even complaining that that have had to waste at least one day of their trip recuperating from their snowmobile ride. So, the plowing of the road brings brings the common summer sight of busses back to Old Faithful. Guests coming from Mammoth will transfer to busses at Madison. Snowmobiles will only be allowed to enter and exit the Old Faithful to the East toward the Lake. I guess that this move won't be too much of an inconvenience with only two weeks left in the season, but it will be interesting to see what happens. It is hard to believe that a whole winter has already gone by. To finally be able to spend this season here in the park was incredible to me. It is amazing how the snow and cold temperatures give the park an entirely different feel. I would have to say that this experience will prevent me from seeing it in the same way again. This is not a bad thing, but a special thing that I think I could only have found by working a winter here. |
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| WOLF UPDATE by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service HELENA, Mont (USFWS) -- Wolf research continues in the Yellowstone area. New wolf "training" collars include a loud sound device in addition to the regular dog collar and will be tested by Wildlife Services. It is hoped that the sound alone will be enough of a conditioning tool to stop predatory behavior and that the dog training collar will no longer be required. The 5 Boulder wolves now in captivity will be tested using the standard dog training collars before they are released in NW Montana this spring. Monitoring indicates that the 3 Sheep Mountain wolves are still in the old Sheep Mountain territory but have split into 2 groups and that both will likely be breeding pairs this spring. One group of 3 uses an area west of Highway 89 and have the two shyest "conditioned" wolves and a dispersing female from the Rose Creek pack. The other bolder "conditioned" wolf hangs out with 4-5 wolves near Dome Mtn. These wolves were seldom seen by the hundreds of hunters in this area which suggests they are wary of people (a good thing). There have been no suspected problems with livestock. The Sheep Mountain (and possibly Chief Joe when they are in the Paradise Valley) wolves will be intensively monitored during Yellowstone National Park’s semiannual 30 day winter predation study starting March 1. Biologists from the Turner Endangered Species Fund will be picking up wolf kills to get species, sex, age, and condition information to add to the Park data base for their studies and to get more insight into the concerns of local residents about the potential impact of these wolves on elk and deer populations in this area. Local WS, FS, MT FW&P contacts and local residents were informed about the expected increased level of field activity in the lower Paradise Valley for the next month. Volunteers with the Wyoming wolf program are again tracking and following wolves in the Gros Ventre, Teton, and Sunlight Basin areas. Volunteers are investigating wolf kills and monitoring the potential effect of wolves on the winter elk feeding programs in Wyoming. Cooperators include the Service, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Teton National Park, National Elk Refuge, and several National Forests. |
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| NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES UPDATE News Brief The Yellowstone Net Newspaper Archives have been updated and re-organized to make searches easier. Each year now has its own page, which are easily accessible by clicking here. The Yellowstone Net Newspaper has been in existence since 1997. |
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