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| FRIDAY May 11, 2001 Vol 5, # 47 |
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| FRIDAY May 11, 2001 Vol 5, # 47 |
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| Site Search | Support Yellowstone! Discussion $7.95 Internet, Email, More Email Newsletter | |
YELLOWSTONE ROAD
REPORT PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-
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OLD FAITHFUL INN OPENS FOR
THE SEASON by National Park Service
During the ceremony, a formal agreement will be signed between the Yellowstone National Art Trust, a non-profit corporation, and Yellowstone National Park to establish a cultural arts program for the park. The purpose of the agreement is to enhance public interpretive programming in Yellowstone National Park utilizing the arts; to provide for the creation and donation of original art by leading American artists; and to encourage the use of the park for recreational artistic development. The cultural and environmental legacy of the Rocky Mountain West is vast, and the art of Yellowstone National Park has played a vital role in shaping our perception of public lands. During the nineteenth century, paintings based on observations of Yellowstone documented a critical piece of our nation's natural history and helped to shape our national identity. Artists such as Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran and photographers like William Henry Jackson brought the wonders of Yellowstone to a wide and influential audience. The collaboration of Moran and Jackson fired the legislative imagination in Washington and was a major force for the establishment of the first park in our national park system. In this age of vanishing landscapes and cultures, it is vital that we capitalize on this legacy and continue the precedent of those who visually documented this national treasure. What more fitting way to accomplish this worthy objective than through an art program at Yellowstone National Park? Historically, the art created in and about Yellowstone has had the power to stir emotions and evoke the spirit of the landscapes, wildlife and colorful peoples, past and present, which have woven its rich tapestry. A highlight of the ceremony will be the official donation and dedication of an oil painting of Old Faithful geyser by celebrated artist Paco Young of Bozeman, Montana. The painting will hang above the fireplace in the Old Faithful Inn Dining Room. Major sculpture installations will also be made by Montana artist Charles Ringer and Oregon artist Brent Lawrence. The opening ceremony is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in the dining room of the Old Faithful Inn. The public is welcome to attend, and refreshments will be served. Editor's Note: To make your reservations for the Old Faithful Inn, call toll-free 1-888-255-7710. |
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS Russ Finley
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NEW
YELLOWSTONE SUPERINTENDENT NAMED
Walker, a thirty-year veteran of the National Park Service began his career as a seasonal ranger at Yellowstone National Park in 1967. He received his first permanent position in 1970, serving as a park technician at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. Walker worked as an urban intake ranger at Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, Missouri, from 1972-1973, and as a park ranger at Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi, from 1973-1977. He returned to Yellowstone National Park in 1977, where he worked as the district naturalist until 1980. From 1980-1985, Walker served as the Chief of Interpretation in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. In 1985, Walker was named to his first superintendency at Fort Clatsop National Memorial in Oregon – a position he held until 1990. From 1990-1998, he served as superintendent at Nez Perce National Historical Park, Idaho. In 1998, Walker was named superintendent at Saguaro National Park, Arizona. During his tenure with the National Park Service, Walker has received numerous awards including the Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award (1996), the General Council Award from the New Perce Tribe (1996), the Vail Partnership Award (1995), the Western Region-Superintendent’s Award for Cultural Resources Stewardship (1995), the 1985 Southwest Region’s Freeman Tilden Award.Walker received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology, from New Mexico State University in 1967. He also served in the U.S. Army, Fort Lewis, Washington, as a 1LT, from 1967-1969. Walker and wife, Judy, have two sons (Mark and Phillip) and one daughter (Kathy). |
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| SOUTH ENTRANCE NOW OPEN News Brief YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- As of today, all of Yellowstone's entrances are now open to automobile traffic. The South entrance was the last entrance to open. However, some roads near and within Yellowstone are not yet open. The popular Beartooth Highway outside the Northeast entrance is not yet open, and Dunraven pass (between Tower-Roosevelt and Canyon) within the Park is not yet open. In addition, some roads in and near the Park will be undergoing road construction during the summer months. For more information, click here. |
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| YOSEMITE BEARS IDENTIFIED
BY DNA by National Park Service YOSEMITE, Cal. (NPS) -- In the wee hours of March 27th, ranger Kevin Harrison was conducting a midnight patrol of Yosemite Valley and came upon a vehicle whose window had been bent down by a black bear in search of a post-hibernation meal. No early season bear sightings had been reported, and no bears were seen in the area of the vehicle break-in, leaving a veil of mystery around the incident. The bear, however, had left behind valuable clues to its identity which wildlife biologists hope to use to discern which bear is causing vehicle damage in Yosemite Valley. Later that morning, wildlife biologist Kate McCurdy was able to collect a tuft of hair left behind as the animal entered and exited the small sedan's broken window. The hair sample was shipped to the National Fish and Wildlife Service's Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, where serologists will extract DNA from the hair follicles and create a DNA map of the animal. Since 1991, Yosemite wildlife managers have sent hundreds of blood and tissue samples to the forensics lab to establish a DNA database of park bears. If the bear in question has been captured and marked over the past ten years, its DNA has been catalogued and its identity will soon be revealed. Wildlife biologists will use this information to make a management recommendation regarding the animal in question. No food was present in the vehicle, indicating a level of habituation and a tendency to cause property damage that may not be reversible. Extensive damage was caused to the vehicle, including a doubled-over window frame, a chewed headrest, and a trunk that the animal accessed by tearing out the back seat. Since that break-in, an average of only two cars per week have been broken into by bears, a vast decrease from the levels of bear-inflicted property damage normally committed by black bears during spring months in Yosemite. This improvement in the black bear-human situation is being attributed to an extensive visitor education campaign, an increase in law enforcement patrols to reduce human food sources, evening trash collection, the removal of food-conditioned bears, and intensive efforts to haze bears from developed areas. Since 1998, when these protective measures were begun, the park has seen the number of reported bear incidents decrease by 59% and the amount of damage drop by 81%. While some bears still occasionally break into vehicles, it is becoming a rare event, and no new bears are become food conditioned since an interdivisional black bear management program was enacted in 1998. |
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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) --
Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn opens today, Friday, May 11, 2001, for its 97th summer
season on Friday, May 11, 2001, denoting the official kickoff of the summer season.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) -- Regional Director Karen P.
Wade has announced that Franklin C. Walker, Superintendent, Saguaro National Park,
Arizona, has been named acting superintendent at Yellowstone National Park, effective June
3. "I am very pleased to announce that Frank will be assuming the role of acting
superintendent at Yellowstone National Park," said Karen Wade. "He has an
outstanding ability to communicate with diverse audiences, has a proven and effective
community relations and outreach record, and first-hand knowledge of many of the issues
facing Yellowstone National Park and the Idaho-Montana-Wyoming region," she said.
Walker will be assigned to this position on a temporary basis, assuming the
superintendency roles and responsibilities previously overseen by outgoing superintendent
Michael Finley, who retires on June 2. Meanwhile, the National Park Service is working to
fill this position on a permanent basis.