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MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1998 |
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PARK
WEATHER MORE NEWS The Yellowstone Net Newspaper is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
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PUBLISHER EDITOR IN CHIEF INTERN CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS
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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. (YNET) -- Fishing season in Yellowstone is now underway. Many of the waterways in the Park are now open to fishing, although some will be closed, due to spawning, until later in the summer. In addition, some waters are permanently closed to fishing. Fishing is a popular activity in Yellowstone, which is considered to have some of the finest trout fishing in the world. Cutthroat, brown, brook and lake trout are found in Yellowstone. The latter -- lake trout -- is a non-native species which threaten the native cutthroat in Yellowstone Lake. Park officials are trying to eradicate the lake trout population, and as a part of their efforts, anglers are required to keep all lake trout caught. Otherwise, catch-and-release or limited take regulations govern fishing in Yellowstone. Individuals 12 years of age or over are required to purchase a Park fishing permit, which costs $10 for ten days of fishing. Anglers may obtain Park fishing regulations and information by calling 307-344-7381 or by stopping at a ranger station or visitor center in the Park
Cody Nite Rodeo CODY, Wyo. (YNET) -- Cody lays claim to the title, "Rodeo Capital of the World." It is not an idle claim: the famous Cody Nite Rodeo marks it's 60th year this summer. This summer's edition of the Cody Nite Rodeo began last night and will continue each night through August 31. Staged nightly at Stampede Park, the Cody Nite Rodeo is a "must see" attraction for visitor's to the Yellowstone region who want to experience the "Old West." For more information, call 307-587-2992. Forty-Four Years with YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- John Colter was a skilled hunter and a scout. There are many reports of him using those skills when he was with the Corps of Discovery. Lewis, Clark and other men wrote in their Journals examples of Colter using his tracking skills to find lost men and horses. They also recorded his successful hunting trips that provided food for the party. His hunting and tracking abilities were recorded before the expedition left present day Missouri. Colter probably found that hunting and scouting the river bottoms for food was much easier and more pleasant than rowing, polling, and cordelling the keelboat up the river with blistered hands! The Detachment Orders for May 26, 1804 give the prescribed rations for the men. Provisions for the men will be issued and cooked each evening and a proportion of the food will be reserved for the next day as no cooking will be allowed in the day when on the march. The rations issued were with this order: The day after tomorrow lyed corn and grece will be issued to the party, the next day Poark and flour, and the day following indian meal and poark; and in conformity to that ration provisions will be continued to be issued to the party untill further orders. No poark is to be issued when we have fresh meat on hand. The following record is found in the Lewis and Clark Journals beginning on August 26th, 1804. Capt. Meriwether Lewis sent George Drouillard and George Shannon to search for two missing horses. George Drouillard reported that he did not find the horses and that he and Shannon had become separated from each other. On August 28th Joseph Fields and John Shields were sent out to find Shannon and the horses, but they found neither! On August 29th Capt. Lewis sent John Colter to find George Shannon and the two missing horses. On September 6th, 1804, Colter met Lewis and Clark and reported that George Shannon had the missing horses and was ahead of them because he had the mistaken belief that he was behind the main party and had hurried to catch-up with them. Shannon was nearly starved. He had killed only one rabbit and had survived by eating wild grapes. The hunter Colter had a scaffold of meat along the Missouri River bank for the Party of men. Sgt. Ordway recorded in his Journal that Colter had killed: 1 buffalo, 1 elk, 3 deer, 1 wolf, 5 turkeys, 1 goose, and a beaver. The reader can imagine the men's appreciation of Colter's hunting skills after reading the daily diet of rations of salt pork or greasy hominy! Colter had firmly established himself as a hunter and was relieved of some of the labors involved in sailing the keelboat up the Missouri River to the winter camp at the Mandan Villages in North Dakota. Joseph Whitehouse recorded in his journal that Captain Lewis had wounded a wolf, but that John Colter had killed it. That incident proves that Colter was an excellent marksman with a rifle and probably did not waste gunpowder. Colter killed a deer and shared half of it with an Indian hunting party when game was scarce. That incident tells us much about the character of both Colter and the Indians that he came into contact with. Language was not an impenetrable barrier between Colter and the Indians. Communication with the Indians was possible. Colter was generous and willing to share what he possessed with others. The information recorded in the Journals of Lewis and Clark and by some of the men in the expedition, give us insight into the life of John Colter. The Corps of Discovery experiences prepared Colter for his ability to travel alone and survive in the Yellowstone area in 1807-1808.
Editor-in-Chief Needed Yellowstone Net Newspaper is looking for
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A YNET Weekly Feature
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- Last week the National Park Service in Washington announced that $5 million has been allocated to replace Old Faithful Village's aging, leaking sewer system. The old sewer system has been leaking for sometime, and has threatened to pollute nearby streams as well as Old Faithful Geyser itself. The allocation of funds to replace the sewer system is indeed good news. Early press reports appear to paint Congress as the good guys in this story and the National Park Service as the bad guys. Some of the press releases read as if Congress persuaded the National Park Service to address a major problem which NPS had been refusing to address. Such an interpretation, which is far from the truth, is just another in a long list of incidents in which Congress has tried to trump the Park Service as being the bad guys. Since the Reagan era, Republicans have pitted themselves against almost anything that smacks of environmentalism, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Park Service. The Reagan administration sought to dismantle the EPA and hamstring the NPS. The Republican-controlled Congress during Clinton's tenure has continued this legacy. In regards to the Old Faithful Village sewer system, Yellowstone officials have been warning about the problem for several years now. And despite claims to the contrary by certain Republican congresspersons, the National Park Service in Washington has been concerned about the problem and has wanted to replace the sewer system. The Republican-controlled Congress have been the ones who have held the project up by ignoring the need. In fact, the Republican-controlled Congress has been manipulating the National Park Service at will. Each year, the NPS, under the watchful eye of Congress, submits a lean budget (it would be useless to submit a budget that truly reflects the needs of the Park Service). Congressional committees then go to work, paring off substantial amounts from the already lean budget, then tacking on much more money for pork barrel pet projects. The end result is an overall increased budget for NPS, but one in which NPS many priority projects are junked while tens of millions of dollars worth of Congressional pork barrel projects are added. In 1998, for example, more money was allocated for Congressional pork barrel projects than for NPS priority projects. The net result is that Congress gets credit for increasing the NPS budget, while in reality the increases come from Congressional pork barrel politics. Congress knows they can sucker the public, and they have no hesitation in doing so. As far as the replacement of the Old Faithful sewer system goes, the Republican-controlled Congress will assuredly try to make certain that the NPS gets all the blame for waiting so long to fund the project. In reality, something prompted Congress to suddenly take action on the matter. Up until a few weeks ago, they had ignored Park Service requests to replace the sewer system. Then Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo) suddenly decided to make a big deal about the need to replace the sewer system, and Congress saw to it that the money was allocated. Yellowstone officials are certainly grateful for the money to replace the sewer system. And Congress, as always, is glad to paint themselves as the good guys and the NPS as the bad guys. But the question remains: what led Congress to suddenly act favorably on a project which they had long ignored out of spite for the NPS? The truth has yet to be determined. Are you concerned about the health and vitality of Yellowstone National Park? Join the campaign to Protect Yellowstone from those forces which would exploit and destroy the Park!
College Guide to a Summer Job in
Yellowstone  This column is based on my interactions with people who have worked
in Yellowstone (or who want to work in the Park). Some of these stories will be the
"behind the scenes" story of why I wrote a particular story in my book. If
you have a story to contribute to this column, email
me. For more information about my book, College Guide to a Summer Job in Yellowstone, click here.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- The
following is a BOOK REVIEW by Deirdre Stoelzle of the Casper Star Tribune: Wilkes writes, "here is a place with several million tourists visiting it each year. There are no major colleges or large cities close by. The employers must must hire workers from wherever they can find them. This includes from all over this country and even foreign countries." Wilkes gives descriptions of many different service oriented jobs in Yellowstone, including wait-staff, bus person, desk clerk and tour guide. Wilkes also give the addresses to contact the employers in the park. Chapter 14 is entitled "Mean People Suck" and in this chapter Wilkes doles out awards of the same name to those few people he encountered at Yellowstone who he thought sucked. Recipients included a man who made rude remarks about Texas women and vandals who stopped up a backcountry geyser with rocks and branches.
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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.
