Vol 2, # 115

   Wednesday, November 11, 1998

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EDITOR-IN-
CHIEF
Bruce Gourley

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK (NPS) --  On Tuesday and Wednesday, November 17th and 18th, 1998, Glacier National Park and School District 5 of Kalispell Montana have teamed together to host an Electronic Field Trip . Students in over 40 cities from 19 states will be learning about Glacier National Park over the Internet. This innovative program uses a variety of new technologies to reach out to students that would otherwise not have an opportunity to visit the park. One unique aspect of the field trip is that it is free. "I've heard of other field trips being conducted in a similar manner, but as far as we know this is the only one that is completely free," stated Barbara Anderson, one of the field trip coordinators and Peterson School elementary teacher.

This website-based tour uses 'RealAudio' and the Internet to connect students 'live' with subject matter experts from the National Park Service and the USGS Biological Resources Division. Topics this year include grizzly bears, fire, fish and amphibians, botany, and glaciers. Through a series of live phone-in sessions, students will be able to ask questions directly to the speakers and hear their answers over their computers. Questions will also be accepted in special chat rooms and via e-mail, giving students three methods of interaction with the park.

"While most participants are from public schools, one of the things we discovered during last year's field trip was how valuable this type of distance learning can be to home schooled children," said Bill Hayden, Glacier National Park Interpretive Specialist.  Everyone is welcome. Just point your browser at: http://www.sd5.k12.mt.us/glaciereft/ to tune in. Instructions for downloading the required free plug-ins are available on the Electronic Field Trip Website.

To register for the field trip contact dixon@digisys.net for information.

Session topics and times:

November 17th
9:00am - Welcome and Introduction
10:00am - The Role of Fire in Nature
11:00am - Glacier's Botanical Diversity

November 18th
9:00 am - Fish and Amphibians
10:00am - Glacier's Grizzlies
11:00am - Glaciers and Global Climate Change

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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. Robert Bara

BILLINGS, Mont. (YNET) -- Recently I have said some very unkind (but true) things about television commercials for Planters Peanuts and Ford Motor Company. Today I want to salute a commercial I recently saw and share my feelings with you.

Georgia Pacific is currently running a commercial where they have someone real folksy looking taking a group of school children on a tour of one of their forests. The tour leader makes a vague statement about being an employee of Georgia Pacific but its difficult to tell if he's an actor or a real employee who just by coincidence happens to look real folksy. What you do know is this is one dude who loves trees and loves telling kids about trees. Obviously trees are his passion.

So in just a 60 second commercial we discover that Georgia Pacific really loves trees and I want to salute them.

End of column.

Wait, you say the kids probably asked some questions while on the tour. Well, I don't know what they asked but lets try to guess and then lets guess at what kind of folksy answer our tour guide might give.

Lets have Suzie ask the first question:  "Mr Folksy Tour Guide, where are the animals?"

"Well Suzie, we at Georgia Pacific love animals as much as we love trees. We have a lot of big trucks that drive around here so we keep the animals out of where our trees are so we don't accidentally run over them like Disney did when they were building animal kingdom."

OK, Billy can ask the next question:  "Mr Folksy Tour Guide, where are the flowers and other plants?"

"Well Billy, we at Georgia Pacific love plants and flowers as much as we love trees and we have big trucks that drive around here and we don't want our big trucks squashing the plants and flowers like the trucks did to the animals in Disney's Animal Kingdom so we don't have plants and flowers here."

OK, a couple more questions. Mr Folksy Tour Guide is getting nervous. Go ahead Mary, what's your question?

"Mr Folksy Tour Guide, why are all the trees exactly the same height?"

"Well Mary, we at Georgia Pacific love trees and we think trees are most happy when one is not bigger than another and did you know when they were building Disney's Animal Kingdom that the big trucks squashed a bunch of animals and flowers and plants and we at Georgia Pacific love animals and flowers and plants and keep them out of here to protect them."

"No more questions, its time for lunch and Mr Folksy Tour Guide is getting a headache." "Follow me kids."

I guess Mr Folksy Tour Guide did not hear Emily's question which was more directed at her friends than at Mr Folksy Tour Guide: "Where did the trees go that used to be here before they planted all these trees in rows?"

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) --
Private automobiles first entered Yellowstone in 1915.  Yellowstone officials were making plans for the coming of the automobile several years earlier, however.  Haines The Yellowstone Story, Vol II quotes a memorandum from May 31, 1913

"Automobiles will be allowed to travel over the wagon road between Gallatin Station, Yellowstone National Park, and the town of Yellowstone, Montana, of which road 17 miles lies wholly within the park.  This authority is granted upon condition that extraordinary care be exercised not to jeopardize life or limb of persons using road with animal-drawn vehicles; that speed limit does not exceed 15 miles per hour; that rules and regulations of the park be strictly observed; and with further understanding that additional regulations and toll charges may be exacted later by the Department if found desirable."

Now, some 80-plus years later, the automobile is the standard way to visit Yellowstone.  In 1913, many certainly thought that this "new contraption" would never catch on.

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (YNET) -- Some 3 million people visit Yellowstone each year.   Many others would like to come to see the world's first national park, but have not made the trip to the northwest corner of Wyoming.  Although the Yellowstone experience cannot be duplicated or fully captured on video or film, some photographers and cinematographers come as close as possible in capturing the magic of Yellowstone.   Russ Finley is the one individual who has perhaps captured more of Yellowstone's wonders on film than any other.  And now Russ has made available to the public the first online video tour of the Grand Old Park.

Russ Finley's online tour of Yellowstone, plus much more, is found at http://www.yellowstone.ent/russfinley. And be sure to watch for Russ' upcoming film, Russ Finley's Winter in Yellowstone, due to be released this month.

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