Yellowstone Science A quarterly publication devoted to the natural and cultural resources

The Spirit of Yellowstone Fire Effects on Streams Tracking Wolverines

Volume 6 Number 3 Another , r • voice

I couldn't let the Yellowstone Sdence (V. 6, No. 2) interview with Dr. Richard Sellars go by without commenting on its irony. Despite his background in geology, no recognition of the heritage of the national parks and its science intruded on the biologically centered discussion. To be blunt: My perspective of modern geoscience in the parks is that it is at the same level as bioscience was 50 years or more ago. The primary raison d'etre for most of the western national parks is geological. The isolation imposed upon Canyonlands, Mount Rainier, Yosemite, Yellowstone, etc. by their geology also delayed homesteading, thus preserving wildlife. Because we see geology as a static stage on which ecological dramas are played out, most parks don't even have a resident geoscientist. Thus, geological research needs in the parks are almost entirely driven by the curiosity of outside scientists rather than national needs. Does this matter? It does when a national outcry arises over the potential of geothermal development affecting Yellowstone. The single best tool to address that issue would have been baseline data on temperature, discharge, and chemistry of thermal features-a database which, to my knowledge, neither exists nor is envisioned. Geology may change slowly but it lacks the flexibility of some biological systems, where managers can be successful at both extermination and introduction, depending on the societal context. We ignore it at our peril. The Park Service can no more allow their priorities regarding geological research in the parks to be established by outside scientists than they can their bioscience priorities. That science may be good science or even wonderful science (as in Margaret Hiza's article preceding the interview!). but it doesn't necessarily serve national needs. But even goal-setting requires knowledge that, with due respect to the Park Service colleagues, is rare. And knowledge doesn't come cheap. If the Park Service is serious about real science of all kinds rather than knee-jerk responses to issues like fire, bison, and groundwater, it is going to have to find some powerful friends of science in high places, and put their money where it> interests lie. The economic theme is emphasized by Ranger Suderman's review of Dr. Sellars' book. In twenty years of exposure to the national parks I have observed interpretive rangers to be grossly underpaid, enthusiastic, and often highly qualified translators of park science to the public. In our society, however, it is often assumed that "you get what you pay for." The enthusiasm which draws teachers to spend their summers informing and educating at less-than-minimum wages (after housing deductions) also costs them credibility in the long run. Very little could be more effective in the cause of science in the national parks than a successful strike by ranger-interpreters!

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Searching for "Skunk Bears": The Elusive Wolverine 2 One of Yellowstone's least-known carnivores prowls the wilderness leaving little trace of its presence-tracks, hairs, and a few photo- graphs to tantalize researchers until further studies can be done. by Betsy Robinson and Steve Gehman

Yellowstone and a Sense of Place: Stasis and Change 6 in the Park Experience A geographer looks at change and commonality among visitors' experi­ ences over time, and encourages managers to integrate historic places and cultural values into plans for current and future users. Interview with Judith Meyer

..! .. & .. ~ Review ~\ !J!I The Spirit of Yellowstone: The Cultural Evolution of a National Park 13 by Judith Meyer. Reviewed by Carol Shively

Editor Stream Ecosystem Responses to the 1988 Wildfires 15 Sue Consolo-Murphy A decade after the record wildfires, scientists describe dramatic Art Director changes documented in the morphology, chemistry, and Renee Evanoff macroinvertebrate communities of park stream systems. Associate Editor by G. Wayne Minshall, Christopher T. Robinson, and Sarah Broadbent Todd V. Royer Assistant Editor Mary Ann Franke News and Notes 23 Printing New Publications • Whooping Cranes Released• Yellowstone Artcraft Inc. to Collaborate With INEEL • Upcoming Conferences •Wolves •Errata Bozeman, Montana _:-y~zli>WStb~_e/;~;~-~~~:j~:p~bliS~~;d_-lij¥teriJ;_,_:ari~--~~b:in.i~~-ici;;ss~\ve_Jf6:~~--:frO,_m,:~~-,~~e_~-tigii-~~is_·_ _'/_c?~dJl~iliii _friffil_ai r:~~-~h_Jn -!he _)1: ell9\y~t6n~ ar~_:_ ;_-c~r,r~~?na:,~~-~,'ShOtii_d_ be_ s~nt _to, the_ -'> 5: On the cover: Photo of :;i-::_>/-_-_hi '_'._f!qi't~~);r~?f91:v~f9~~ '$cie?s_~~ _y~_~O~,S~-?ri~ (:~~t~f:fo~_Res?urc_~-s~-;P·_?:-· ;s_~:( _f6,S_i;------>:-> captive wolverine in the :_,E-;:_:'-_-i::fl~:,,:,;;-;>~:-:'.~z-_::>,:·;;:~<:~:-::;:;_,;~:< '\:\:,~~~9,"',~~pne~_~ti-~~~, Park.,;)yx ?,7i~8'."'"~;_, S_;_ _:»:_,,;,::_ ;~- :_>"--> _-,<:-:,, ,, \" · - Bridger Mountains, by ,_,:<-<~6-:,~P~-~ni ~~7~:s,_~»in:re~r~~i,t~,~~'~ft,en~~"ar~:»pie -~~!h9rs' -~~,,nia!' 11-_o,~ r~fle,Tt~i~~(' '- -~:-:'-'_;:,:--::-~ff''\:Y_<_&f,Jf)O.;<," > ,\~,_,,_r~l_£o_}Vii9_,_,,~,-Ss~~f~t7}; P~!~~ -?~ {~-CY9_1_~~:P,ap_~r,,~yiil,t,_?-;-~,_~,e~:9µ?-b,~~4,~: , Searching fa

fur-bearing ani This largest te weasel family ( us for its ferocity in story and legend, but tional statements about wolverine p indeed only two scientific studies of wol­ ence. Consolo Murphy and Meagher verines have been conducted in the lower press) searched park records from 188 ozen ones. 48 states. Homocker and Hash (1981) through 1995 for evidence from in and During winter, wolverines are known conducted a seven-year study of wolver­ around the park and found 104 sightings, to visit avalanche chutes where unwary ines in northwestern Montana during the 25 track reports, 4 additional records, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, elk, or 1970s, and Copeland (1996) studied wol­ and 1 museum specimen. However, moose may have been caught and buried verines in central Idaho from the winter of records were often lacking in the detail by a snow slide. In the winter of 1993- 1992-93 through 1995. necessary to evaluate their reliability 1994, Steve discovered just such a scene Wolverines may never have been nu­ and accuracy. They concluded thatthere in upper Cache Creek. A bull elk had been merous, but their numbers and distribu­ was a likelihood that Yellowstone Na­ buried in several feet of snow by an ava­ tion have been drastically reduced in the tional Park helped support a resident lanche. Two wolverines used their acute lower 48 states since the arrival of Euro­ wolverine population and that more in­ sense of smell to locate the carcass, their pean humans. Outside of Alaska, the larg­ formation was needed on this rare long claws to excavate the frozen animal, est wolverine populations in the United carnivore's status and distribution. and their powerful jaws to gradually con­ States are thought to be in Montana and sume it. By the time Steve happened on Idaho, with sightings also reported in Wyo­ Natural History of the "Skunk Bear" the scene all that was left was the elk's ming, Colorado, California, Oregon, and skull and piles of its hair, along with a Washington. Montana and Alaska are the Wolverines are known as "skunk series of trails made by the wolverines as only states that still allow wolverines to bears" because of physical features and they visited'the carcass over a period of be legally trapped. Currently, an average behavioral characteristics that remind days or perhaps weeks. Wolverines feed of eight wolverines are trapped in Mon­ people of both skunks and bears: light almost exclusively on carcasses during tana each year. stripes that often extend from the face winter, but are omnivorous the rest of the Information about the historic and down the sides of the wolverine; a habit year, consuming berries, insect larvae, present abundance and distribution of of marking carcasses on which they are bird eggs, and even porcupines. 2 Yellowstone Science Wolverines seem to require true wil­ Wolverines have an unusual reproduc­ The Yellowstone Study: derness, and in sizeable chunks. Some of tive strategy that is shared by other Slowly Accumulating Evidence the animals in Copeland's study had home mustelids as well as bears. In all cases, the ranges of 770 square miles, and wan­ animals mate in spring or early summer, For the past five winters we have dered up to 125 miles while dispersing. the egg is fertilized and develops for a searched for wolverines and other carni­ These figures put wolverines in the com­ short time, and then development is sus­ vores on the northern range of pany of other wide-ranging carnivores pended for many months. In the case of Yellowstone National Park and the adja­ such as grizzly bears and wolves. Male the wolverine, the period of suspended cent Shoshone and Gallatin national for­ wolverines require larger home ranges development may last for almost a year ests. Our work has focused on determin­ than females, and often a single male's before the fetus implants in the mother's ing the presence/absence of a number of range overlaps with the ranges of several uterus and development continues. Once medium-sized mammalian carnivores: females. that happens, gestation lasts approxi­ weasels, pine martens, fishers, river ot­ One adaptation that helps wolverines mately a month. Young are born in Feb­ ters, wolverines, bobcats, mountain li­ cover such large ranges in winter is the ruary or March and stay with their mother ons, lynx, foxes, coyotes, and wolves in large size of their paws in relation to their through the summer. Evidence from various locations and habitats across the body. All members of the weasel family Copeland's study suggests that extended northern range. In particular, we have have five toes, compared to four toes for family groups may stay together even been interested in determining the extent the canids and felids. In addition, the longer. He found wolverines visiting den to which the three rarest of these carni­ wolverine has a distinctive chevron­ sites of animals believed to be cousins, vores (fisher, wolverine, and lynx) are shaped interdigital pad. The wolverine and fathers seemingly sharing parental present in the northern portion of the tracks that we have found in the duties. Perhaps the most surprising dis­ ecosystem. Yellowstone area measured 4 to 4 1/2 covery of his study is that wolverines are The northern Yellowstone carnivore inches wide. not loners, as once was assumed. study was begun by Sue Consolo Murphy

Map showing locations of remote carnera stations and study area used by the authors .

Gat!atiri• Gat~Wii}'. Bozeman•

D = Study Area G> = Remote Camera Sites Big Sky N

89 A 0 10 20 miles

GALLATIN NATIONAL FOREST

SHOSHONE NATIONAL FOREST

Summer 1998 3 on these wide-ranging animals. In Janu­ ary 1997, we obtained a second set of photographs of a wolverine, taken south of Cooke City approximately 3.7 miles (6 km) from the park boundary. Betsy discovered the tracks while on her way to check a remote camera, and followed them into the camera site. The camera system indicated that the wolverine had investigated the site at 10:30 a.m. the previous day. In December 1997 we shifted our car­ nivore survey efforts from Yellowstone's northern range to the northwestern cor­ ner of the park and nearby portions of the Gallatin and Madison ranges. Between December 3, 1997 and March 18, 1998, Two photos of what have been identified as wolverines captured with infrared we used 10 camera systems at 20 sites, cameras at the remote camera sites. Photos in this article courtesy ofthe authors. and conducted 53 track transects cover­ ing 155 miles (250 km). of Yellowstone National Park's Center densities could be compared among habi­ A ski trip along the Specimen Creek for Resources using hair-snagging de­ tat categories and among years. drainage in February, 1998 yielded some vices, then expanded by Dr. Robert exciting and mysterious findings. After Crabtree ofYellowstone Ecosystem Stud­ Results of Our Search Efforts discovering fresh tracks made by a group ies (YES), under whom we have been of fourorfive wolves in thelowerreaches conducting the study. We have employed Wolverines or their tracks were de­ of the drainage, we skied on and found three methods in searching for our target tected 19 times during the first five win­ tracks of a wandering wolverine that in­ species: hair-snares, remote camera sta­ ters of YES survey efforts. No confirmed tersected the trail three times in a 1.2- tions, and snow-track transects. wolverine hairs were collected during ntile (2-km) segment. Upon reaching our Hair snares consisted of barbed wire 2,668 nights of hair-snare operation at 42 camera station located approximately 4.3 spirals surrounded and encased by cy lin­ sites. However, Consolo Murphy did col­ miles (7 km) up the trail, we immediately drical tubes of wire mesh. Snares were lect a wolverine guard hair from a snare noticed something amiss. All that re­ placed under fallen trees, root systems, or located on the north slope ofMt. Washburn mained of the infrared transntitter unit dense branches to minimize snow accu­ during the winter of 1989-90. Wolverine was its back plate and nylon strap that mulation on them, and were baited with was one of six carnivore species to visit held it to a tree. The main body of the small amounts of ungulate flesh, fish, or our 55 camera stations. During 2,600 transmitter had been broken off, though processed sardines. Commercial trapping total nights of camera operation, wolver­ four stout screws had originally attached lure was applied to vegetation near each ines made two visits and were photo­ the back of the unit to the main body. site to lure animals. graphed eight times. Most of our wolver­ There were no human tracks in the vicin­ Each remote camera station consisted ine data were obtained from track obser­ ity of the camera site, and all other com­ of a Trailmaster Infrared Game Monitor­ vations. Wolverine tracks were observed ponents of the camera station remained ing System, a bait package, and an appli­ five times during 140 snow transects that undisturbed. What animal could have cation of trapping lure. The camera was covered403 ntiles (648 km), and an addi­ done the damage? Perhaps a moose or elk triggered when an animal broke the infra­ tional 12 times during other aspects of the kicked it. But then the transntitter body red beam position under the suspended project. should have been lying nearby in the bait. The system was capable of daytime Our first wolverine photos were ob­ snow; we searched the area thoroughly, and nighttime photographs, and recorded tained during the winter of 1993-94 in digging down through the top 16 inches the date and time of all animal visits. Cinnabar Bas in, approximately 3 ntiles ( 40 cm) of snow, but found nothing. We used two types of transects to col­ (4.5 km) north of the park. We had re­ Perhaps the wolverine whose tracks we lect carnivore track data. Detection or ceived several reports of wolverine activ­ saw earlier in the day was the culprit; its reconnaissance surveys were conducted ity in that area, and decided that it would tracks came within 0.3 mile (0.5 km) of primarily to cover as much distance as be a good place to test our skill at using the the camera site on that day; maybe it had possible in areas of suspected high-qual­ camera system. After 51 nights of camera visited the site two to three weeks earlier ity habitat. Enumeration surveys were operation, a wolverine showed up and when the damage was done. Unfortu­ conducted to document all carnivore took two photographs of itself. This inci­ nately the camera system was malfunc­ tracks observed while following prede­ dent taught us a valuable lesson about the tioning at the time of the incident and no termined transect routes, so that track level of patience required to obtain data photographs were obtained of the de- 4 Yellowstone Science Wolverine Observations • Yellowstone Area Observations (n = 151)*

• 0 "' 0 • 0 • • * .. • ' 0 0 0 • '~ •

N

• ing their cu1Tent distribution and popula­ ! tion status. In order to use the wolverine as an indicator species, we must frrst +Data collected during authors' surveys (1992-1998) n = 14 develop a more complete database on its • Others (1944-1997) n = 137 abundance and distribution. Our goal is to assist in the compilation of such a * Park records contain some reports without sufficient data to display a map location. database; we hope to spend the next ten structive animal. We will never know human activities. Their historic numbers winters helping to survey the wildlands what happened, but we place our bets on and distribution were drastically reduced, of the Yellowstone ecosystem for wol­ the skunk bear. probably as a result of some combination verines, as well as for fishers and lynx. We documented an additional three of factors such as decimation of prey The more we learn about these rare carni­ wolverine track sets during our efforts populations, widespread predator con­ vores, the better we will be able to protect this past winter: a second set in the Speci­ trol programs, and habitat alteration and them and their habitat for long-term sur­ men Creek drainage, and two sets in the fragmentation. Recently, Copeland docu­ vival in greater Yellowstone. Gallatin National Forest within 22 miles mented a wolverine abandoning her den (35 km) of the northwest corner of in response to a skier traveling through a Betsy Robinson and Steve Gehn1an are Yellowstone National Park. mountain bowl where her den was lo­ self-employed wildlife biologists based Since mid-1995 the park has received cated, indicating the wolverines' vulner­ in Bozeman, Montana. Both authors in­ 19 reports of24 wolverine sightings and ability to human presence. struct college-level field ecology courses two additional reports of tracks, bringing With increasing pressure being placed for the Wild/ands Studies program ofSan the total to 164 observation records­ upon wildland habitats by recreationists, Fra11cisco State University, and lead natu­ only slightly more than one for each year industry, and land developers, the poten­ ral history tours in the western United of the park's history. tial for further impacts to wolverine popu­ States. Steve has worked on various re­ lations is significant. In August 1994, the search projects in greater Yellowstone The Future of Wolverines in Greater U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was peti­ since 1984, and has been the lead project Yellowstone tioned by several environmental groups scientist on the northern Yellowstone to list the wolverine as a threatened or carnivore study since 1992. Betsy has Wolverines have the potential to be · endangered species under the Endangered been involved in several research projects important indicators of ecosystem health Species Act. Ironically, the petition was on 1nammalian carnivores in greater and integrity. We know that, like other refused in April 1995 on the grounds that Yellowstone and Alaska, but descrii;_es carnivores, they have been affected by not enough information existed regard- her passion as birding. Summer 1998 5 Yellowstone Science Interview: Judith Meyer

Yellowstone ·ense of Place: is and Change in Park Experience

Judith Meyer came to Yellowstone as a tour guide in 1980, and em­ braced the park as in­ tegral to her personal and professional life. As the author of The Spirit of Yellowstone: The -:'. Cultural Evolution of a '/;;/, National Park, she returned to the park for the fourth biennial science conference on "People and Place: The Human Experience in Greater Yellowstone," where she was a speaker and panelist. The editor and associate editor interviewed her on familiar turfin the Mammoth Hotel before she (somewhat reluctantly) left Yellqwstone to return to her current position as a geography professor at Southwest Missouri State University.

YS: You were a tour guide in Yellowstone, and because of that, you became more interested in studying Yellowstone academically. JM: My arriving as a tour guide in Yellowstone is a classic example of how one little chance event-initially insignificant or unrelated to what happens later-sets in motion a whole series of events that later result in something completely different. I was first hired as a tour guide not because of any particular interest in Yellowstone or national parks or nature interpretation, but because in the early 1980s, the dollar was weak relative to the French franc and the German mark, and a lot of Europeans were taking vacations to the United States. Hence, global economics created a market for foreign-language-speaking tour guides in American national parks, and I could speak German, so I got a job in Yellowstone. However, once here, it was the strangest thing. Although I'd traveled quite a bit, I had never really felt at home anywhere. But I got off the bus here at Mammoth, and for the first time in my life, I felt I didn't want to leave. I felt I belonged here. After three summers in the park, I enrolled in a master's program in environmental communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and took my first geography course as an elective. The course was "Space and Place" with Yi-Fu Tuan. Tuan introduced me to geography as an academic discipline and to the idea that one could study not just the impact people have on the 6 Yell9wstone Science landscape, but the impact the land has on sions, the points at which species appear periods of time during which species do people. Tuan suggested that literature, or disappear. Gould and his partner, Niles not change, do not split off and evolve music, and paintings-media often con­ Eldridge, were the first to suggest that the into other species. I looked at the aca­ sidered too subjective to provide any real long periods during which nothing hap­ demic literature on the national parks, at or quantifiable information about the pens should be considered important, too. Aubrey Haines' history of Yellowstone world-can and should be studied by At the same time, geographers were and all the Yellowstone histories, and geographers because of what these things grappling with how to study the relation­ found that the authors always focused on reveal about the relationship between ship between people and places. We know change: "This was a transitional time; people and places. So, I quickly finished that every place is urtique, but should we this was when the car was introduced; an M.S. in environmental education and just describe individual places-this place this was when the first hotel was built." moved across campus to do a Ph.D. in here, that place there-or should we at­ Very little attention was paid to the Jong geography, all the while following for tempt to categorize them somehow? Can periods of time during which nothing fun the writings of Stephen J. Gould and we generalize about the types of houses changed. his punctuated equilibrium model of bio­ built by people living in the tropics, or the For example, for many people, logical evolution. All of a sudden, things types of agriculture developed by people Yellowstone is (or was) the place where started to come together. living on grasslands? What set the evo­ one feeds bears along the road. Much has YS: Was it your dissertation that culmi­ lution of these individual places or cul­ been written when and why feeding the nated in the book, The Spirit of tures or landscapes in motion? Do all bears started and ended, and whether it Yellowstone? industrializing nations go through ape­ was good or bad, but few have tried to JM: Yes, the book is my dissertation, riod of exploiting nature and then later explain how integral this beggar bear thinly disguised. begin protecting it? I started thinking image was to experiencing "the YS: Did you base your conclusions on about how Gould might explain how Yellowstone" and not "the Yosemite" or interviews with people, on the historic Yellowstone evolved from terra incog­ "the Grand Canyon." Why here? Why record, or on other kinds of documenta­ nita to what it is today: an internationally not there? Why is this image of tion? recogrtized place. If the world is just a Yellowstone so powerful and why has it JM: On the historical record. I think the collection of discrete places that have no been so powerful for so long? Gould difference between history and geogra­ urtity, then what does that say about the suggested biologists should begin think­ phy is that with history you're looking at national parks? Should each park be ing about how long a species has existed, a sequence over time, and geographers managed autonomously, or should they how well-adapted or fortuitous it must be look at events in a place, but still over all be managed out of Washington, D .C.? to have been around for so long. Why did time-how did the passage of time affect YS: Was that the fundamental question feeding bears in Yellowstone last such a this place. you asked in your dissertation? long time and make such a lasting im­ YS: I was sparked by the comparison JM: Well, not the fundamental question; pression on the American public? you made between Stephen J. Gould's there were several questions, but that's Another point Gould makes with punc­ punctuated equilibrium theory of natural an important one. First of all, I have to put tuated equilibrium is the lack of deter­ evolution and human cultural evolution. in a disclaimer regarding punctuated equi­ minism or progress in biological evolu­ Can you explain that a bit more? librium as an explanation for cultural tion. The ancestors of an amoeba in a JM: I began every chapter of my disser­ evolution. Biological evolution is driven primordial sea were not somehow pre­ tation with a quote from Gould explain­ by natural selection; cultural evolution is destined to ooze out of the ocean and ing one more piece of the punctuated driven by human forces: greed, politics evolve into dinosaurs or human beings. equilibrium model-at least the pieces (which may be the same thing), religion, Evolution is based on chance events. It that related to what I perceived as love, compassion, and so on. But punctu­ was the culmination of a series of histori­ Yellowstone's evolution as a place (as ated equilibrium emphasizes stasis. Gould cally contingent but nonetheless chance opposed to the space around it). Punctu­ made people pay attention to the long events that formed the ozone layer and ated equilibrium (I think the groupies now call it "punk eke"!) suggests that the ''Maybe we should stop condemning history and accept it for evolution of different species on the planet what it was (and is). In Yellowstone's origins lay the potential of can be explained, at a very broad scale, by long periods of stasis (equilibria) and everything the park is and will become: beggar bears, horse­ brief episodes of change (the punctua­ drawn carriages, automobiles, the "Let it Burn" policy, the tions). Most speciation occurs during and following the punctuations, the times of wildfires of '88. We are stuck with this particular landscape, this environmental change, whereas most of geography, and this human history ... there is much that the park geologic time has been spent in stability. Until the idea of punctuated equilibrium has come to mean, and park managers need to be sensitive to this appeared, most biologists explained evo­ history and these meanings when enacting new policies." lution in terms of the changes, the divi- Summer 1998 7 allowed life to crawl out of the ocean. It be sensitive to this history and these mean­ types of units (such as national recreation is not progress or predetermination that ings when enacting new policies. areas versus parks) typically is the ex­ causes meteors to strike Earth. There is YS: Is it fair to describe the historian's job changing of one strategy for another, nothing inherently "good" or "better" not so much to judge what was done in a although I recognize that management about one particular organism that allows previous time, but to set it in the context strategies are not usually contradictory. it to survive changing environmental con­ of that time? In 1872 we didn't have a Rarely does the Park Service make a 180° ditions such as nuclear radiation, forest complete idea of what Yellowstone Na­ change on management policies the way fires, or floods. Species are limited by tional Park was or should be, and we've it did in Yellowstone with bears, wolves, their genetic heritage in terms of whether added to that idea over the years. or swimming in hot springs. they have what it takes to survive distur­ JM: I think you're exactly right. Our My point is that even within one park, bances. perception of Yellowstone, what it is, one place over time, our affection for this Another part of this same idea is that what it does to us, has branched over place has been an accumulation rather ancestral species are entities in their own time, grown richer. We haven't forgotten than replacement of meanings. A portion right. For as long as they exist, species are the old experiences, but have added new of the public-I'm related to some of not "in a state of becoming," they simply ones as well. That's what makes manage­ them!-still thinks that it's not are. Evolution is a branching process, not ment so difficult. Now there are parts of Yellowstone if you can't feed the bears. a ladder where one thing is necessarily this gloriously bushy Yellowstone expe­ That particular part of the Yellowstone replaced by something else. rience that conflict with one another. The experience or expectation is fading, times Gould warns thatweshouldmoveaway national park idea, in terms of manage­ are changing, but some ofus see the little from thinking about "higher" or "more ment policies, I think, has evolved as a salt shaker bears and other beggar-bear­ complex" or "better" when we talk about linear replacement. In Yellowstone's ear­ days memorabilia, and we shudder (or the environment. These are human con­ liest decades, there really weren't many laugh). We know that the Yellowstone structs, not natural divisions. rules. You could do just about anything that produced those cute bears isn't a In thinking about the history of the you wanted: fish, hunt, build hotels, swim "pristine ecosystem" or the "wilderness" national parks and the idea of an "ideal" in the hot springs. Now you can swim/ we want to think Yellowstone is today. national park, I think in the back of our soak in the hot springs. OK, you can't But it was, and still is, an important part minds it's comforting to think that really swim in the hot springs, either (not of what Yellowstone means. We all need progress is inevitable, that we're going to legally), but you can soak in a hot tub, or to remember that, whether we are park reach some more perfect state of national in the rivers warmed by the hot springs. managers, outdoor enthusiasts, environ­ park-ness. However, it may be that we You can't hunt. And at first you could mentalists, whatever! I worry that in our should consider thinking about the parks feed the bears, but now you can't. Now rush to "do the right thing" in terms of as end products or entities in their own you can hear wolves how 1 again. I think ecosystem management and nature pres­ right. Ratherthansayingthat Yellowstone that the people who were in the park in ervation we may lose part of the was incomplete or inadequate, or that we 1872 felt that Yellowstone was some­ Yellowstone experience that hasn't had the wrong idea of what Yellowstone thing, something real. It was not in the changed until now, the stasis. should be when we fed the bears, why not state of becoming something else. For my dissertation, I looked at every­ admit that we have changed our minds YS: That's within the park. Certainly it thing I could find describing individual about what Yellowstone should be? Now could be argued that within the National tourists' experiences in the park. Initially, we have a better .. . no, now we have a Park System there has been branching; I was looking for signs of change. I hoped different conception about what national we have different parks with different to track the course of change, the impetus parks represent. Maybe it has been the policies. for change, the moments of change. I ideal Yellowstone National Park-not JM: I think there has been branching, looked at the earliest accounts first, the the ideal national park-all along. Maybe incredible branching, in terms of the "discovery accounts," and tried to make we should stop condemning history and Service's attempttoprotectnature-look my way chronologically through the lit­ accept it for what it was (and is). In at the national seashores, historic sites, erature and noticed that much of the ma­ Yellowstone's origins lay the potential of and recreation areas. As the nation's per­ terial in the earliest accounts was simply everything the park is and will become: ception broadened as to what sort of na­ copied into later accounts. Even Ferdinand beggar bears, horse-drawn carriages, au­ ture should be protected, so did the geo­ Hayden, one of Yellowstone's "official tomobiles, the "Let it Burn" policy, the graphic extent and variety of NPS juris­ discoverers," copied from other explor­ wildfires of '88. We are stuck with this diction. We now have the NPS protecting ers' accounts of thermal features in Ice­ particular landscape, this geography, and and interpreting the Statue of Liberty as land and New Zealand as well as from this human history. We can't rewrite the well as Sandy Hook. The NPS has been descriptions from the Washburn­ past, and managers can't expect the pub­ very responsive to the needs of America. Langford-Doane and Folsom-Cook­ lic to forget the past so quickly. There is But we know that national seashores are Peterson expeditions to Yellowstone. much about Yellowstone that people have different from national recreation areas, Nathaniel Langford, too, pretty much always loved, there is much that the park which are different from Yellowstone knew what he was going to see here and has come to mean, and managers need to and Glacier. Management of different what he was going to say. Once the dis- 8 Yellowstone Science covery accounts were published, how­ ever, everyone started copying the Yellowstone experience and it was codi­ fied very early. For example, it was stan­ dard practice to write that when you pull up to Old Faithful, it will give you a greeting salute. I honestly can't believe that for every person who wrote that when he or she pulled up to Old Faithful, the geyser erupted, it really happened! Or, hundreds ofpeople wrote letters home or wrote in their diaries that "as we said good-bye to Old Faithful and Geyser Hill, Giant, Beehive, Giantess, Grand, Old Faithful, and Castle erupted as if in a parting salute." YS: Based on the geysers' eruption pat­ terns today, I've always found that very suspect! Drawing depicting simultaneous eruptions of1nany geysers on Geyser JM: But that's not the point. This was a Hill in Edwin Stanley's 1880 Rambles in Wonderland. creation myth. We need to be careful not to discount that now, because not every­ Yellowstone belonged to them, too. We have discounted history, and the sta­ body got here, and these accounts made Historians and other academics like to sis part of the evolution of Yellowstone other people feel good about Yellowstone, point out that Yellowstone was popular as place, as being something inferior or which may be one reason why it's still because is was "commodified." The rail­ incomplete or on its way to becoming here. roads, especially, but also politicians and what the park is. In terms of where we YS: So do you describe the Yellowstone others wanting to be rich and/or famous, look to determine management strate­ experience as many different things? turned Yellowstone into a commodity­ gies, history is often discounted in favor JM: What I tried to say in Spirit of made it available, accessible, and desir­ of science or politics or economics. Yellowstone is that these historical ac-· able. Yellowstone was marketed to the When Malcolm Forbes put his ranch counts are not just interesting as public, and the public "bought" it, so this just north of Yellowstone up for sale, the Langford's account or Washburn's ac­ school of thought goes. But my point is government was not especially aggres­ count. If you look at the accounts collec­ that whether Yellowstone was created by sive in its attempts to acquire the land, tively, as a body ofliterature or evidence, the words and images of the discoverers despite the fact that the Forbes ranch there are the origins and subsequent evo­ or by its marketers (or both), the included a urtique landform called the lution of the elements of the Yellowstone Yellowstone idea did sell, and we did Devil's Slide. Instead, the Church Urti­ experience that we recognize today. The save this place. And some of the reasons versal and Triumphant bought the land themes, even the words, I found woven for saving this place can be traced over and it's now known as the Royal Teton throughout the earliest accounts are still time. In the literature, and in people's Ranch. Someone should have looked at evident today in descriptions of hearts, there is something about this place Yellowstone's historical record and no­ Yellowstone. In my dissertation, I tried to that hasn't changed. ticed that almost every person entering quantify the information in the accounts, YS: Do you recommend preserving some the park from the north, upon coming I suppose because academics need statis­ of those core experiences which have around the bend in the Yellowstone River tics to verify the existence of anything. I been there all along? and seeing Devil's Slide, said something then tried to graph the persistence of JM: Yes. Some of them can't be saved; along the lines of, "What a strange geo­ certain themes. It turns out that almost all they're gone, and for most of them that's logic feature! Now I know I'm entering of the earliest accounts remark on the a good thing. Wonderland." This isn't just an isolated beauty of the park or make some mention YS: For example, offering the opportu­ anecdote; this is evidence that Devil's of the park as wild. That's what was/is nity to feed the bears? Slide is a part of the Yellowstone experi­ important here. Or nationalism or patrio­ JM: To feed the bears, or swim in a hot ence and should be a part of the park. It is tism or respect for the democratic gov­ spring. I'm worried now that we're mov­ a shame that it's not. If one looks at the ernment of this country: that we would ing really fast and some things are being historical record, Grasshopper Glacier establish a people's park. Whether it re­ inalterably replaced. The corkscrew and the whole Cody Road belongs to ally was a people's park or not, whether bridge on the old East Entrance road is Yellowstone. I know it's unfeasible to minorities came or not, wasn't as impor­ gone because now we have cars and a add these places to the park now (you tant as the idea that Yellowstone wasn't road that comes up over Sylvan Pass. The can't get things through Congress like going to turn anyone away, that swimming pool at Old Faithful is gone. you could in 1872), but if someone had Summer 1998 9 "I think making the roads wider and faster isn't necessarily a good thing. Maybe waiting in line, bumper-to-bumper, is part of the Yellowstone experience, and we don't need to drive 45 miles an hour ... people sacrificed to come to this place ...If they were going to climb mountains, they had to do it on foot ... They were going to get dirty. I don't think we need to try so hard to make Yellowstone 'easy' today."

Above: Devil's Slide drawn by Thomas experience that people sacrificed to come YS: We still present the park boundary Moran for Nathaniel Langford's first to this place. They knew it was going to that exists today, not some of those his­ article on Yellowstone in Scribner's in be hard; it was not necessarily going to be torically and geographically important 1871. (This was drawn sight unseen, expensive, but there was some hard work features that you mention. The Devil's sinceMorandidn 'tmake it to Yellowstone involved. If they were going to climb Slide, the Cody Road; Grasshopper Gla­ until the following year when he came mountains, they had to do it on foot. If cier aren't on any of the maps. Other with Hayden.) they were going to cross streams, they specialists such as hydrologists and bi­ Below: Tfze real Devil's Slide. All photos had to ford them. They were going to get ologists are annoyed by that very arbi­ in this article courtesy the author. dirty. I don't think we need to try so hard trary boundary. Perhaps for an equally to make Yellowstone "easy" today. I re­ important but different reason the histori­ ally did worry a bit when the hot tubs ans and geographers are annoyed by it went in behind the Mammoth Hotel (al­ becauseitignores the wholeness of place. though I've since soaked in one with Maybe we should try and change what we about ten other "savages"!) To me, that interpret and promote. The maps could be experience (except for the friends) could expanded to include these things as im­ have been "anywhere U.S.A." You can portant to the history and the experience. do that in a Ramada Inn. That's not part of JM: Someone read atthe conference from thought to consider the historical or per­ the Yellowstone experience historically. John Stoddard's 1898 observation of ceptual importance of Devil's Slide when YS: There are many people who would Eagle's Nest Rock, that little piece of deciding whether to buy the Forbes ranch, vote for you to be a future superintendent. sedimentary rock with the osprey nest on this vital piece of Yellowstone might But let's go back to something more top (which was only intermittently occu­ physically be a part of the park today. basic. I think of geographers as making pied) along the Gardiner Road. YS: Could we preserve those experiences maps, using maps. Are maps and images YS: And incidentally, has been recently without legislatively changing the bound­ still important in helping define this place? reoccupied. aries of the park? JM: I didn't focus on maps in my disser­ JM: I thought I saw a nest up there again! JM: Those are just examples. I don't tation, but I did look at how maps were Eagle's Nest Rock was such an important think anything will ever happen to in­ used in guidebooks. It is interesting that stop on a tour of Yellowstone, especially crease the size of the park now, but I think before 1915, when automobiles were first in the 1870s and 1880s, when the United it's important that we understand that allowed in the park, most Yellowstone States had just lived through a civil war, history matters and history can be a tool guidebooks had a one-page map of the and again during and after World War I. of managers and planners and environ­ whole park showing the Grand Loop road. The eagle's (orosprey' s) presence repre­ mentalists. When we make policy, we Or, there was a big fold-out map tucked sented a sort of religious and political need to remember there are cultural expe­ inside a pocket glued to the back. In any sanctioning of the park and of the na­ riences in this place, not just ecosystems. case, there was a map of the whole park. tional park idea. Now, no one stops there; Maybe considering history will build a After 1915, one starts to see guidebooks there isn't even a little sign. Maybe that's stronger case against adding new recre­ with maps of different segments of the good, because if osprey are nesting there, ational activities that don't hurt the envi­ park: a map of the northeast quadrant, a we don't want to disturb them. But to ronment but just don't belong here. map of the northwest quadrant. The mes­ those who understand the significance of I think making the roads wider and sage sent by the format of the guidebook Eagle's Nest Rock, that place has mean­ faster isn't necessarily a good thing. had changed from "come see the whole ing. Every time I drive by there, I look up Maybe waiting in line, bumper-to­ park; get a sense of this place" to "come and I feel good. I feel good about bumper, is part of the Yellowstone expe­ see Mammoth Hot Springs; come see Old Yellowstone and the nation. rience, and we don't need to drive 45 Faithful." It is as if the park experience YS: As we rebuild the park's roads, we miles an hour through the park. It is could be broken down into discrete bits or talk about whether or not to interpret this obvious from descriptions of the park pieces. piece of natural history or cultural his- 10 Yellowstone Science tory. As we plan to reconstruct the road in the early years. and the only way to do that cost-effec­ the Gardner Canyon we have an opportu­ Gould calls this the importance of ini­ tively was to build the same thing in all nity to consider safety of parking and tial conditions. He suggests that in bio­ the parks. But that's presumptuous, that disturbance of little ospreys. Part of what logical evolution, the "disturbance" (for nature is just a stage and we could plop helps us -make that decision is having Yellowstone, the designation of the na­ down our artifacts and that they wouldn't someone point out to us the value of a tional park) and conditions following the disturb the experience or have an impact; place, because that may have gotten some­ disturbance set the parameters for what they did. what lost. happens next, who gets a foothold on the YS: We have this debate as some of the As a researcher, how else would you available resources or niches. I think the Mission 66 structures approach 50 years like to contribute to the body of knowl­ initial conditions that spurred the cre­ old-the point at which we must evaluate edge about Yellowstone and therefore to ation of a park, the effectiveness of the them for their potential historic value­ its continued management and conserva­ early movers and shakers, and the public's and some of us say, ''Please, let's have an tion? initial response to that park are ve1y im­ earthquake before we have to save some JM: First, I think we need to look at each p01tantin determining what that park will of them!" Yet other people comment, parkindividually. Yellowstone's particu­ come to mean as well as be. only somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that they lar model of preservation and use isn't YS: You mentioned the automobile as an are also representative of a national trend going to work for Indiana Dunes or Sandy event that really changed the way we in the tourism industry, toward making Hook or the Everglades or the parks of view the park. What were some of other all the hotels into motels that looked Kenya or Iceland. The Yellowstone model events throughout history that were ma­ familiar and comf01table, so you knew works for Yellowstone. jor changes? when you set out across the country what Second, I think we need to pay more JM: Mission 66 (and the horror of Can­ to expect. That unifo1mity in entrance attention to the people in each park who yon Village!) This all goes back to my stations and motels and restaurant facili­ tell us what is historically appropriate for fear of uniformity and the idea that one ties in parks was an accurate reflection of that particular place. Does that mean we way of doing things works for every­ what society seemed to want at that time. now have to go back and read every body. "Hey! Let's build the same build­ JM: And Yellowstone accommodated single thing ever written about Yosemite ings in all the parks" -even though that is that. But we never tore down the Old and Glacier to understand the sense of not in keeping with this place. [Ed. note: Faithful Inn, and we still spend the night place in those parks, or to figure out what Mission 66 was a major effort begun in there. The uniqueness of place and re­ is historically appropriate? No, not nec­ the 1950s to modernize roads and facili­ specting the influence of the past in mak­ essarily. If nothing else, my examination ties in many national parks for visitors ing it unique, I think, is evidenced in of Yellowstone's evolution as a "place" and employees; the goal was to complete Yellowstone in such a beautiful way. I reveals that the early years are really the construction by the National Park worry because the fires of '88 could have most important in terms of setting the Service'sfiftieth anniversary in 1966.] taken out the Old Faithful Inn, could have stage for the park's development. Every­ YS: Many park employees have com­ taken out our archives. And the caldera's one copied the discovery accounts. The mented "I've worked in this visitor center going to explode, so our time is limited. conditions following Yellowstone's "dis­ before, three parks ago! I've lived in this We don't need to speed up that natural covery"-Langford publicizing the park house in another park; it's the same floor deterioration or change by embracing (and himself), Hayden telling tourists plan." modernity with open arms at the expense where to stop and how to feel-set the JM: And now that's part of Yellowstone; of our past. We need to be careful. stage for subsequent evolution. We don't we have the imprint of Mission 66 and the YS: Since you were in the park as a tour need to do years of research to get a sense standardization. This was the nation's guide throughout the early 1980s, what of each park. We should concentrate on real attempt to bring the parks up to snuff, kinds of changes have you observed in Summer 1998 11 of the day. But in the eyes of the public and academics, the " ... we all know that if we kick Park Service is good and everyone out of here and don't concessioners are bad. All concessioners do is speed up 'sell' the park, it will cease to and contribute to the exist. Yellowstone cannot exist "c.ommodification" of the park: "Buy your piece of the solely as an ecosystem for sci­ park at my souvenir shop and entists to visit once a year to then get out so you can make room for the next person in take measurements . .,[M]any Tam Woods and Lee Whittlesey-in an example line." That attitude is abso­ oftraditions kept alive in the park-polishing one concessioners wanted people to lutely contrary to my experi­ of the old touring cars in anticipation of William ence as a concessioner em­ know, understand, appreciate, Penn Mott's visit for the dedication of the re­ ployee in the park. stored ranger station at Lake. and appropriate money for YS: Wasn't the concessioners' role-the Haynes' photo shops Yellowstone, I don't think we how Yellowstone treats its culture or its and the postcards and stereo cards-in should cast all concessioners in sense of history? We think we've come a documenting and interpreting the park long way, at least in establishing more history very important? We've neglected a bad light, as greedy capital­ positions in cultural resource manage­ for a long time the important role that the ists. Most of them were (and ment and science, but it helps us to have concessioners have had not only in sell­ the opinions of other folks on whether ing the Yellowstone experience but in are) in love with this place." we've actually made progress. preserving it. JM: The Yellowstone attitude is com­ JM: It was very important. Certainly, mendable. I think the Park Service, sur­ concession employees today reach more rounding communities, and individuals people than NPS staff. When we talk JM: I think the general public still sees are all paying more and more attention to about Haynes' contribution, academics the park as magnificently beautiful and history. People who care about the park's especially (one of our roles is to critique) wild. Unfortunately, what we too often past are.here, working to preserve it. Lee say, "Oh, he only promoted the park to remember is all the little comments we Whittlesey was my teacher in 1980, and make money; he was a business man." hear along the lines of, "It looked better now he is the park archivist. Leslie Quinn No, he did it because he loved this place. on the postcard," or "I was here 50 years and Paul Shea were in those first batches He did it because he wanted to share the ago when Old Faithful Geyser was higher, of tour guides and tour-bus drivers to be park with the public. and the mudpots were more colorful." trained in the late '70s and early '80s by And we all know that if we kick every­ We hear those sorts of things, but we Lee; Paul now runs a bookstore in West one out of here and don't "sell" the park, don't hear the people who just stand at Yellowstone and Les trains tour guides/ it will cease to exist. Yellowstone cannot Artist Point and look at the falls. People drivers, drives a tour bus, and writes the exist solely as an ecosystem for scientists are still moved by the beauty and power commentary handbook. There are a lot of to visit once a year to take measurements. of this place. Even though we know that people around who are working actively This place lives in people's hearts and the bison are being shot, that elk popula­ to keep the spirit of the stagecoach driv­ minds as the birthplace of the national tions were managed, trees were cut, and ers alive. park idea (although it wasn't really the crops were planted, most visitors still YS: Some of the folks you mentioned, birthplace; the national park idea was a respond to the wildness of it all. We like yourself, point out that the role of the long time coming before Yellowstone respond to the patriotism. We come to be concessioner in portraying Yellowstone, National Park was established). We are educated and take part in ranger pro­ in saving and interpreting its history, is all a bundle of purposes. We all love grams, pick up brochures and read about still underrepresented and undervalued. nature. And we all love to buy things. By how much travertine is laid down over JM: I definitely had a sense of "Oh, the same token, many concessioners the course of a year. We come to recreate. you're just a tour guide~ you're not a wanted people to know, understand, ap­ We still think hiking in Yellowstone is in ranger" when I worked in the park. This preciate, and appropriate money for some way healthier than walking through came both from the public and from some Yellowstone. I don't think we should cast downtown Chicago. If we polled visitors of the rangers. But I loved being a tour all concessioners in a bad light, as greedy at the gates today and asked, "Give me 12 guide and preferred the work, I suppose, capitalists. Most of them were (and are) words that describe the purpose of this to that of some of the rangers' jobs. I in love with this place. park or what you got out of your trip," I would much rather travel for three days YS: What has stayed the same since 1872 think the same themes that were in the with a group around the park than give in the sense of place? What are the simi­ earliest accounts of a Yellowstone expe­ five tours of Old Faithful over the course lar ideas and visitor experiences? rience would still be there today. if 12 Yelloi,vstone Science Book Review

The Spirit of Yellowstone: The Cultural and what our value system Evolution of a National Park by Judith L. says is appropriate." She Meyei; Rowman &LittlefieldPublishers, suggests that adopting anew Inc., Lanham, Maryland, 1996, Jl5pages, perspective, one "that re­ $26.95 (hardcover). leases park managers from society's changing attitude Like many longtime employees of toward nature and acknowl­ Yellowstone, Judith Meyer came to work edges the importance of for the park concessioner for one summer people's affection for parks and found herself returning year after as places" may resolve some year. "I had no idea how deeply of the criticism aimed at the Yellowstone's spirit would touch my NPS and bring about a new soul," she writes. In her own words, appreciation of the national "Yellowstone houses a spirit of place: an parks. infectious, irresistible force that stirs Meyer acknowledges something within so many of us." This that the leaders of the three book, a variation on her doctoral thesis, famous expeditions to the appears to be her quest to define that spirit Yellowstone were not its of place. As a professorof geography, she true ''discoverers.'' Still, she applies the rigorous scholarly tools of her notes, it was their prolific trade to this end. Though lyrically writ­ writings that captured the ten, the general public may find the analy­ imagination of the nation. sis a bit academic. But the many of us Her analysis of these writ­ who have also heard the siren's call will ings shows that each of the appreciate this intriguing and probing expedition leaders relied attempt to quantify the ideal that we too heavily on the descriptions hold dear. Whether this lofty goal is of Yellowstone written by achievable or not, the book immediately that Yellowstone is a human artifact and those who preceded them. After the park earns an impo1tant place in the literature that it is we who assign meanings to its was established, the first guidebooks and of Yellowstone merely for naming this landscape. In the course of the book, she the journals of early visitors continued to ethereal concept, "a spirit of place," and encourages park managers to take this recite the wonders of Yellowstone in lan­ inclining us to look at the park in this way. notion of "spirit of place" into account guage uncannily similar to the discovery From its introduction, we come to un­ when making management decisions. accounts. It was these original works, she derstand that this book has two primary Meyer takes a refreshingly different proves, which seared an image of objectives. First, "it is an examination of view of park history. Despite the title of Yellowstone into the collective mind of Yellowstone's profoundly evocative, af­ her first chapter, "Revolutionary Ideas the American people and began to define fective, and attractive spirit; the park's and Evolutionary Processes," instead of Yellowstone's spirit of place. Another ability to move us intellectually, physi­ framing the park's history in terms of chapter takes this line of thought deeper cally, and emotionally." It is an investi­ society's changing attitudes toward na­ by comparing the early accounts of the. gation of those "taken possession of by ture, she focuses on what has remained area's major features: Mammoth Hot it" -the generation of park visitors who, the same. Hers is a history of visitor Springs, Tower Fall, Old Faithful, the in describing and communicating their perceptions. She reviews the literature Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Up­ experiences to others, created the park as from 1870 to 1991 and finds six themes per and Lower Falls, and Yellowstone a recognized "place." This book is, at its that recur across the decades: the park's Lake. core, a literature review. In seeking out beauty, its uniqueness, its tourism and She also notes how the early art of the evasive spirit of Yellowstone, Meyer recreation capabilities, its wildness, its Yellowstone-the sketches, photographs, delves into the minds of the explorers, democratic ownership, and its scientific and chromolithographs that accompanied park promoters, and early visitors through and educational values. She notes how, in the discovery accounts -was as integral their writings. recent times, Yellowstone has been criti­ as the writings in creating the public's The second objective is even less mea­ cized for the changeable nature of its image of Yellowstone as "place." As an surable. In asserting that Yellowstone is management policies. She quotes former aside, the book includes interesting com­ not just a national park, it is "place," she Superintendent Bob Barbee saying that parisons between the artwork Thomas calls us to look beyond the park as just an park management "is an uneasy truce Moran did before he'd been to the park ecological entity. The author suggests between what science tells us is possible and that which he created after he'd seen Summer 1998 13 the area for himself. As a result of the mentdecisions. Whetherthis early descriptions and artistic renderings, goal is attained will be up to Meyer suggests that, from the outset, each reader. However, if an people have always come to Yellowstone unwritten intent of this book somewhat "preprogrammed" to encoun­ was to get people pondering ter and interpret the park in certain ways­ what the spirit of and yet such expectations do not "pre­ Yellowstone is to them, then clude fascination and surprise" in each this book succeeds ntightily. visitor's experience of the place. ii Meyer continues by investigating the changing v1s1tor experience in Yellowstone. She observes that, histori­ cally and recently, attempts to provide recreational activities have been blamed forthe degradation of park resources. She A sketch entitled "Ornamen­ points out that, from the moment of its tal Basin at Mammoth Hot inception, Yellowstone was to be a place Springs ofGardiner's River" for the people-a refrain ever familiar to from F. V. Hayden's Twelfth those aware of the dual mandate of the Annual Report. The sketch is NPS mission. She chronicles this history a highly abstracted hot spring through the park's infrastructure, from and a mythical figure. the building of roads, bridges, and hotels to transportation; from stagecoaches to touring cars to individual cars. She notes that the tradition of group travel predates the ranger campfire program, and for that This second sketch from H. matter, even the NPS itself. Through the Butterworth's Zigzag Jour­ diaries of early visitors she documents neys (circa 1892) of similar the companionship of the stagecoaches, hot springformations, clearly the legendary tall tales of the drivers, the indicating the tendancy ofthe camaraderie of the campfires at the tent times to mystify the camps, and the singing of the "savages" Yellowstone "experience," that, in her mind, made these early days but with the addition ofa more the glory days of Yellowstone. Meyer realistic view of the terraces laments the loss of this tradition. in the background. (The ex­ I think she is trying to say that, in act same sketch is found in pondering what recreational uses are ap­ F.K. Warren's California Il­ propriate, tradition and a spirit of place lustrated.) should be taken into account. She di­ verges from scholarly objectivity to oc­ casionally state some strong opinions on various visitor uses such as snowmobiling. While I was not entirely sure where chap­ ter five was taking me, it was an enlight­ ening and delightful journey down Yellowstone's memory lane. If Meyer's intent was to examine Yellowstone's spirit and those "taken possession by it," then she was successful, unearthing through meticu­ lous research compelling and little-kn9wn quotes from the massive body of litera­ Carol Shively is the Lake District Ranger-Naturalist, having served in Yellowstone ture written about the park. Her other for 11 years. She earned a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in natural resource objective was to encourage people to planning from the University of California at Los Angeles. Her Park Service career think about Yellowstone as more than a includes stints at Sequoia National Park, Fire Island National Seashore, and Santa national park and to urge managers to MonicaNationalRecreationArea. She is co-author ofthe newly revisedYellowstone: incorporate this concept into manage- The Story Behind the Scenery. 14 Yellowstone Science Stream Ecosystem Responses to the 1988 Wildfires

by G. Wayne Minshall, Christopher T. Robinson, and Todd V. Royer

The 1988 wildfires in the Greater and topography, with major ecological are the "groceries" that the park's trout Yellowstone Area (GY A) provided an changes occurring each year following consume for sustenance and growth. important opportunity to assess the ef­ the fires. We were especially amazed by fects of large scale disturbance on stream the major physical changes in streams Our Working Hypotheses ecosystems over time. Research con­ that occurred even between 1995 and ducted by the Stream Ecology Center of 1997. Indeed, some streams in fire- "rav­ Current theoretical constructs (ideas) Idaho State University has documented aged" watersheds such as parts of Cache for flowing water (lotic) ecosystems pro­ these changes and their effects on stream Creek changed more in the last three vide a rich framework from which to biota during the last nine years. We ex­ years than in the first six post-fire years. postulate ecosystem response to large amined environmental and biological re­ The changes with time and among scale disturbances such as forest fire. sponses of 20 streams in Yellowstone streams were readily apparent in photo­ Paramount to such k.nowlt:dge is recogni­ National Park (Fig. 1) each year for the graphs taken from the same location and tion of (a) the integral association be­ first five years following the extensive position each visit-a form of documen­ tween stream ecosystem responses and wildfires in 1988 and we studied a subset tation called re-photography. The condi­ terrestrial conditions of the surrounding of these streams in 1994, 1995, and 1997. tions were then documented by measure­ watershed; (b) the crucial linkage be­ Our findings demonstrate an integral re­ ments of channel morphology, substra­ tween aquatic and terrestrial food bases lationship over time between a stream tum particle-size distribution, and accu­ and the trophic composition of the fauna and its catchment (drainage basin) fol­ mulations of woody debris. We expect in streams, and; (c) the importance of lowing large-scale disturbances such as that these changes in habitat conditions stream size as a modifier of land-water wildfire. However, individual streams will be reflected in differences in the interactions. varied considerably in their responses, abundances and kinds of organisms found Based on these fundamental principles depending on such things as size and in the streams. Documenting these of stream ecology, we developed three local variations in precipitation, geology, changes is important, as aquatic insects primary hypotheses: Summer 1998 15 Creek climate, topography, geology, soil condi­ Pebble Creek tions, and forest type. The immediate and short-term effects were expected to be Cache Creek the most dramatic and to alter stream conditions profoundly, relative to those before the fires. The mid- and long-term changes in stream ecosystems were hy­ pothesized to parallel the successional replacement of the terrestrial vegetation.

Madison River Immediate Effects

Beginning in late September of 1988, we examined the fire effects in 18 burned and4 reference streams (one of each was eventually eliminated from consider­ ation). Losses in upland and riparian veg­ N etation and the almost instantaneous con­ version of terrestrial vegetation to char­ coal and ash resulted in immediate changes in the amount oflight and quality of organic matter, i.e., food resources t entering the streams. The most striking Miles immediate changes within stream chan­ 10 20 nels were the incineration and scorching of emergent mosses and heat fracturing Figure 1. Location of the streams and major water bodies in the study. Rose, (splaying) of rocks in and adjacent to Pebble, and Amphitheater (to the right of Pebble) creeks are unburned (in,; 5% smaller streams. Although most burned of catchment) reference streams; the remainder were burned (in?: 50% of the trees remained standing, many downed catchment) by wildfires in 1988. trees and large limbs were observed within and/or bridging streams. We also counted I. Stream response will reflect changes ofriparian and upland vegetation. up to 10 dead cutthroat trout in our 250-m in the structure and composition of adja­ More-specific hypotheses addressed long study sections in mid-sized (3rd cent terrestrial vegetation following wild­ major ecosystem components that were order) Cache Creek and the West Fork of fire. Since forest regeneration following associated with the general points above. Blacktail Deer Creek. These are believed wildfire is a long-term process, extend­ In addition, we predicted long-term alter­ to have died as a direct result of the fire ing up to 300 years in the GYA, stream ations associated with the recovery of (see below). However, we also know of ecosystems were expected to respond riparian and terrestrial vegetation, and another instance on a tributary to the similarly and to change progressively with consequent shifts of instream food re­ Little Firehole River where an errant drop temporal changes in plant community sources and retention characteristics. of fire-retardant was responsible for a structure within a catchment. number of fish deaths. 2. Changes in environmental condi­ Chronology of Changes in Stream Most dissolved chemical measures in­ tions will be reflected in the relative dif­ Conditions Following Wildfire creased in streams of burned catchments ferences in amounts of food resources the first year following the fires. Based produced within (authochthonous) and It was insightful to separate the tempo­ on studies by other researchers in 1988 on outside (allochthonous) a stream and, in ral responses of streams to wildfire into the effects of wildfire on Glacier Na­ turn, the trophic composition of four periods: (1) immediate changes (the tional Park streams (Spencer and Hauer macroinvertebrate assemblages will re­ time of active burning to a few days 1991), we believe dramatic and rapid flect temporal changes in the food base after); (2) short-termchanges (from a few increases in stream phosphorus and ni­ among streams. days to theend of the first year); (3) mid­ trogen levels occurred during the 3. Major differences among streams, term changes (the second year to some­ Yellowstone fires due to inputs from ash in terms of intensity of the effects of fire time beyond the tenth year); and (4) long­ and smoke gases, respectively. We specu­ and recovery rates, will occur because of term changes (from tens to hundreds of late that high ammonia levels that entered differences in stream size, watershed years). The precise length of each period the water from the smoke were respon­ slope, and aspect. Watershed slope and depends on the degree of disturbance by sible for the observed fish mortalities. aspect significantly influence the timing frre and the environmental conditions of Few or no immediate deleterious effects andrate of runoff and the type and amount burned catchments such as weather and of fire were evident in algae growing on 16 Yellowstone Science rocks (periphyton) or macroinvertebrate ever, we observed during 10 assemblages, even in the smallest streams aerial and ground reconnais­ observed. These impacts are more diffi­ sance that the catchments of cult to discern due to the small size and many fire-affected 3rd- and rapid decay rates of the organisms in­ 4th-order streams throughout volved, althoughloticmacroinvertebrates Yellowstone Park and along are adversely affected by exposure to its northern boundary were ammonia. less than 50 percent burned, Our investigation revealed distinct dif­ and those of larger streams ferences in the effects of wildfire on were even less burned. (No streams of different size. Following fire, streams larger than 6th order small headwater tributary streams (1st are found in the park.) !st 2nd 3rd 4th Reference and 2nd order-e.g., Fairy Creek and the Consequently, the impact on Stream Size upper parts of Blacktail Deer Creek) were biological properties also Figure 2. The percent catchment area burned by more physically and chemically variable appeared more pronounced wildfires in 1998for each of the four most abun­ than intermediate-size streams (3rd and in smaller streams, although dant stream sizes and the reference sites used in 4th order -e.g., Cache and Hellroaring intermediate-size burned this study. creeks) or reference streams. In general, streams located in steep ter- smaller streams had a greater proportion rain with confined flood plains (e.g., general patterns found in this study Fairy of their catchments burned than larger 3rd-order Cache and Hellroaring creeks) and Iron Springs creeks, were attribut­ streams. For our study streams, the mean experienced greater overland flow and able to one or more relatively unique catchment burned was 7 5 percent for 1st­ associated effects on the biota than features. These two streams were located and 2nd-order streams and 50 percent for did other large study streams. along the west side of Yellowstone in an 3rd- and 4th- order streams (Fig. 2). How- The most consistent outliers from the interior-type climate, characterized by a

Figure 3. The percent ofbenthic organic 1natterestin-zated as charcoal in streams ofburned catchments and nearby reference streams following the 1988 fires. 70-

c:::::J 198 8 I ,,,,,d 1989 56 11111111990 ~ 1111111 1991 0 T -1992 i:Q ...... 0 42 0 '°u ..c::a u & 28-

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 2nd 3rd Burned Streams Reference Streams

Summer 1998 17 spring peak in precipitation and Douglas­ of the streambed associated with higher regrowth and reinvasion by adjacent ter­ fir cover, and underlain by different base peaks in runoff rather than by changes in restrial vegetation. Similarly, we found a rock (rhyolite) than the other streams we food resources. direct correlation between nitrate loss examined, which are located in the north­ Spring melting of the 1989 snow pack and percent catchment burned in the eastern comer of the park on andesite was much slower than anticipated (P. Yellowstone study streams (Fig. 4 ). These rock in a montane-type climate charac­ Fames, Snowcap Hydrology, Bozeman, findings are consistent with the well­ terized by Engelmann spruce cover. In Montana, pers. commun.). Consequently, known fact that vigorously growing plants addition, the 2nd- order site atFairy Creek although several periods of "blackwater" actively sequester nutrients and delay or had the lowest gradient of any study stream associated with overland flow from heavy prevent their runoff into streams. Other and was unforested and strongly influ­ rains occurred between spring runoff and changes in environmental conditions seen enced by geothermal springs. A large our August 1989 sampling, streambed in the first year were the downstream proportion of flow in Iron Springs Creek erosion and channel alterations generally movement of charcoal and fine sediment is groundwater; thus this 3rd-order site were much less than expected or than and increases in the temperature of burned displayed little variation in flow and usu­ occurred in later years. However, several headwater streams. ally did not freeze over in winter. !st- through 3rd-order streams, particu­ larly Cache Creek and Hellroaring Creek Mid-term Changes in Short-term Changes catchments, did show substantial chan­ Post-fire Stream Systems nel alteration and rearrangement of woody From October 1988 to March 1989, debris. In addition, reductions in flow The mid-term responses (1990 to macroinvertebrate abundance and rich­ andsubstrateheterogeneitywereobserved present) of Yellowstone stream ecosys­ ness decreased in 6 of 8 sampled burned in burned streams, as indicated by changes tems to wildfire were driven primarily by sites, whereas these values increased or in annual coefficients of variation for impacts from high runoff from suowmelt remained constant in reference streams. these measures between 1988 and 1990. and localized rainstorms and by regrowth Because rainfall was minor and then the No comparable changes in either veloc­ of terrestrial vegetation. Although some ground became frozen and snow-covered ity or substratum occurred in the refer­ major effects of fire were evident in the and the streams ice-covered for most of ence streams. A number of studies in first three post-fire years, the biota in the the time, no physical disturbances from other areas of the West have documented burned streams appeared to be on a "fast runoff occurred during this period. There­ similar changes in burned streams result­ recovery track" (sensu Minshall and fore, we attribute these changes to high ing from increased sediment loads and Brock 1991), aided by relatively little amounts of charcoal (>40 percent) in peaks in runoff. change in channel morphology and pro­ stream benthos as a result of the fires Most dissolved constituents, especially gressive regrowth of the riparian vegeta­ (Fig. 3) and the absence of unburned nitrates, were higher in August 1989 than tion. However, 1991 was marked by at organic matter and algae. We had ex­ in October 1988, apparently in response least two large runoff events that caused pected that burned materials would be the to rainstorms during or immediately prior major physical changes in all burned principal source of allochthonous organic to the summer 1989 sample collections. streams having moderate to steep gradi­ matter at this time; however, we had not In contrast to other ions (e.g., phosphate) ents. Ewing (1997) also noted that sus­ anticipated that ice and snow cover would that displayed only immediate changes in pended sediment loads in the Lamar River reduce the amount of light reaching the concentrations, temporal changes in were elevated in 1991 in response to streambed and severely limit the growth instream nitrate levels typically reflected higher than average precipitation. All of attached algae. stream sizes examined (!st through 4th We believe that the input of charcoal order) were affected but changes were decreased the palatability and quality (e.g., Figure 4. Nitrate levels in stream water most dramatic in 3rd-order streams (e.g., increased carbon:nitrogen values) of or­ versus the percent ofthe respective catch­ Cache Creek, Fig. 5). In Cache, distur­ ganic matter resources as food. For ex­ ment burned. bance of the channel expanded beyond ample, in a food utilization study of some 0.8~------the recent channel bounds (unvegetated selectedstreaminvertebrates, only I taxon g by shrubs) to encompass the entire width of 11 examined could exploit burned or­ -;; '• of the historically active channel. The ~ 0.6 ganic matter as a food source (Mihuc and § existing pre-fire channel was obliterated Minshall 1995). Periphyton biomass also ~ and the historic channel was leveled from decreased in burned streams (except Iron .§. 0.4 bank to bank by a combiuation of scour Springs Creek) during this period, al­ and fill events. though comparable changes were ob­ ~ Additional channel modifications were ~ 0.2 " served in reference streams. Data since 11 observed in 1992, especially in the Cache 1989 indicate charcoal is still being added zo.o ... '• Creek headwater (I stand 2nd order) tribu­ to burned streams, but in reduced amounts. taries. In Cache Creek, headwater stream After 1990, most fire-related effects ap­ 0 20 40 60 80 lOO channel morphology changed only mod­ o/o Catchment Burned pear to be caused by physical disturbance erately during the rest of the period ( 1993- 18 Yellowstone Science Figure 5. Com­ 1997). However, in many places along parison of pho­ these streams, the flow tended to move tography and back and forth across the valley floor in a channel cross­ temporally braided fashion, as deposi­ section profiles of tion and erosion created new flow paths. a streani in a In 3rd-order Cache, in all years during burned catchment this period except 1994, dramatic changes (upper: Cache in channel conditions were seen at most Creek, a 2nd-or­ or all transects. In 4th-order Cache, year­ der site) relative to-year changes in channel form and sub­ to one in an un­ stratum conditions were relatively minor burned catchment until 1997, when a wave of cobblestones (lower: Amphi­ entered the section and the thalweg (an theater Creek) imaginary line that runs the length of the during the nine stream and stays in the deepest part of the Cache Creek 21ld Order (Tl) years of study. channel) shifted from the left side of the bankful channel to the right side. In gen­ eral, each of these major disturbances -1 was reflected in declines in biotic proper­ g ties and served as important "resets" or I delays in Jolie ecosystem recovery. Thus, ~ -2 in overview, major alterations in the Q -1988 •••0••• 1991 stream channels and (by inference) the -3 -- 1992 biotic community appeared to move pro­ _,, ... 1997 gressively downstream over time, from -4 the headwater tributaries in 1989, 1991, 0 5 10 15 20 and 1992; to Cache 3' between 1991 and Width (m) 1997; and, finally, to Cache 4' in 1997. Our results thus far show the impor­ tance of stream discharge and gradient in mediating physical disturbances associ­ ated with adverse intermediate effects (e.g., channel scouring and sediment load­ ing) resulting from wildfire. High-gradi­ ent streams responded sooner (i.e., at lower flows) than did low-gradient streams. At comparable discharges, high­ gradient streams underwent greater physi­ cal disturbance than did similar-sized low­ gradient streams. For instance, high-gra­ dient burned streams displayed major changes (cutting or filling) in channel cross-section morphology in 1991 and 1992, whereas channel morphology of o.o Amphitheater Creek 2nd Order (T3) low-gradient burned streams and refer­ ence streams remained relatively con­ stant (Fig. 6). ~ -0.S -S Data on substrata embeddedness sug­ gest that a pulse of fine sediments moved -:S0.. -1.0 0) from burned watersheds into headwater Q streams and then gradually into larger -1.5 bum streams during the first five years. Median substrate size also decreased in 1st- through 3rd-order bum streams fol­ -2.0 0 5 10 15 20 25 lowing 1988 and remained low through Width (m) 1992. An unexpected finding from our study was the maintenance of large Summer 1998 19 macroinvertebrates. Within the burned catchments, woody debris came and went 0.00 in all of the streams throughout the mid­ a -0.25 :;;- -0.50 term time interval. Initially, the 1st fr -0.75 through 3rd-order bum streams contained ~ -1.00 more large wood pieces than did 4th­ j :~:;~ order burn streams. This can be attributed u -1.75 1988 to the lower competency of high flows to -2.00-'.------l move larger pieces of wood and to the 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 closer proximity of trees to the main channel in smaller streams. The higher 0.00 a -0.25 volume of the snow-melt flows in larger ?; -0.50 streams moved even the largest pieces of fr -0.75 wood (including whole trees), leaving .,," -l.00 few pieces to stabilize the low-flow chan­ j :~:;~ nel for longer than a year. However, later u -1.75 1991 in the period (1995 to 1997), discharges -2.00.l,...------1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 were sufficiently high in the 3rd-order streams to cause them to converge with 0.00 the 4th-order sites in terms of low abun­ a -0.25 dance of large woody debris. ?; -0.50 But the high flows in the years 1995 to fr-0.75 l 1997 undercut banks and felled many .0 -1 00 snags into the 3rd- and 4th-order stream 1:(;~ channels. These collected on point bars, u -1.75 1994 at the heads of islands, and in the shal­ -2.00 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 lows of braided sections, where the lon­ gevity of the large woody debris may 0.00 extend beyond a year. Small streams had a -0.25 lower debris volumes because a large :;;- -0.50 portion of fallen trees remained outside fr -0.75 c -1 00 the channel margin. Other researchers have found an inverse relationship be­ ] :(;~ tween stored organic matter and stream u -1.75 1997 size, where 1st-order streaJilS contained -2.00-'.------" 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 75 percent and 3rd-order streams held Distance Across Channel (m) only 20 percent of the organic matter in the stream channel. Although we did not Figure 6. Cross-sectional profiles ofthe Cache Creek 3rd-order site for four selected find this response to hold initially, this years of substantial change at one (t-4) offive permanent transects established in did eventually occur in our study streams, 1988. Arrows denote locations offlowing water within the channel under baseflow due to much higher export of wood from conditions. Note the shifting and widening of the main channel after 1988. the 3rd- and 4th-order streams. We not only found an increase in woody debris amounts of fine inorganic sediments in continued input also is suggested by an loading in all stream sizes immediately headwater burn streams during the first increase in percent charcoal of the or­ following catchment fire, but we expect five years. We expected these materials ganic matter deposited on the bottoms of that many of the standing fire-killed snags to be rapidly removed and then increase streams in 1992. Although the remaining will fall and enter the channels over the again after 5 to 10 years. Because embeddedness data have yet to be ana­ next 10 years. Significant rearrangement Yellowstone streams have lost a consid­ lyzed, our qualitative impression is that of pre-fire, fire-felled, and newly-con­ erable amount of retentive capacity due most of the fine materials had been flushed tributed woody debris in channels is still to steepening of the hydraulic gradient, from the system by year 5, after which taking place. straightening of the channel, and loss of their influence was overshadowed by bed­ As noted earlier, stream ecosystems large woody debris as a result of in­ load movement of pebbles, cobbles, and are profoundly influenced by the condi­ creases in peak discharge following the boulders from 1993 to 1997. tion of their watershed. We were struck fire, we believe the "maintenance" of silt Woody debris in streams retains or­ by the fact that, many of the conifer and sand resulted from continued input ganic matter and sediment and provides seedlings that germinated in the year fol­ from the surrounding catchments. This valuable habitat for fish and lowing the fires were 6 feet or more in 20 Yellowstone Science height by 1997 (Fig. 7). We also observed that many of the charred tree trunks of whole forests killed by the fire were still standing (Fig. 8). In another 10 years, it is expected that these "seedlings" will be 18 to 20 feet tall and that almost all of the dead snags will be down. These changes, occurring over a relatively short time, will dramatically alter the kinds and amounts of food resources in streams and change the availability of large woody debris. The changes that have taken place over the past nine years and are likely to occur over the next decade are expected to be the most dramatic to occur over the postulated 100- to 300-year recovery se­ quence. Figure 7. Photograph showing the height of seedlings in 1995, indicating the Predicted Long-term Changes extent of recoveiy of the trees that will replace the snags when they fall.

Based on our short- and mid-term re­ sults, long-term predictions for stream habitat development can be made for streams in burned catchments. Nearly all headwater streams are accruing pieces of wood. These are important in the forma­ tion of pool habitat in steep-gradient streams. As wood stabilizes, longer-last­ ing pools are expected to form which should increase habitat for fish. How­ Figure 8. Two photos showing that many of the dead snags are still ever, because less wood was found in the standing. All photos this article courtesy the authors. larger (3rd- and 4th-order) burned sites toward the end of the first 10 years, we anticipate fewer pools will form in fire­ and diversity. These properties showed trally compressed taxa (e.g., Cinygmula, affected larger streams than in correspond­ substantial recovery within the first year Epeorus, and Rhithrogena). ing reference streams. In turn, a decrease following the wildfires, whereas assem­ Our results emphasize the importance in adult fish density should accompany blage composition displayed significant of studying stream ecosystems for many habitat development. Large trees should changes that were apparent even in post­ years following large-scale disturbance. again enter stream channels, fanning deep fire year 9. Conclusions based on only one or a few pools and maximizing fish habitat, about The changes wrought by fire can affect years of data can be misleading in terms 150 years following the fires. However, macroinvertebrates in ways other than of overall trends, as evidenced by the habitat diversity also should decrease in throughalterationsinfoodresources, such apparent "devastation" of stream ecosys­ the streams as the forests in their as via higher water temperatures. Indi­ tems immediately after the 1988 fires, catchments reach full development ( cli­ vidual life histories and life styles re­ their rapid progress toward ~'recovery" in max). spond in different ways and in different post-fire years 1 and2, their equally abrupt Macroinvertebrate communities in degrees to these vmious changes. Oppor­ downturn in post-fire years 3 and 4, and burned sites displayed major changes in tunistic species, particularly those well­ their massive reorganization in years 7 to response to the observed changes in suited for dispersal through drift and with 9 (Fig. 5). Far too little data exist on instream habitats. For example, burned relatively short generation times (such as conditions for extended periods after fire sites exhibited differences in trophic group chironomids and Baetis), seem to be es­ to know for certain whether our predic­ composition from that found in reference pecially adapted to conditions following tions for Yellowstone will prove correct. streams, suggesting alterations in food fire, regardless of their trophic niche. In In fact, the initial recovery trajectory seen resources and a shift to more trophic contrast, other species decreased in abun­ for Yellowstone streams is much differ­ generalists. However, macroinvertebrate dance soon after the fire and showed little ent-faster initially, with longer time response appeared to be more individual­ orno recovery during the study. This was delays before major storm impacts were istic rather than associated with commu­ particularly noticeable among the seen-than expected, based on research nity properties such as species richness Ephemeroptera,especiallythedorso-ven- we have done in central Idaho. The ab- Summer 1998 21 sence of comparable data on long-term Dr. G. Wayne Minshall is professor of ecology in the Department of Biological effects, high year-to-year variability in Sciences at Idaho State University in Pocatello. He has studied the effects ofwildfire post-fire disturbance impacts among on streams for nearly 20 years and initiated research on Yellowstone National Park streams of different size, and differences streams while the fires were still raging. Dr. Christopher Robinson ii currently a in recovery trajectories from those found research scientist in the Swiss Federal Institute for Environnzental Science and in other Rocky Mountain streams pro­ Technology in Duebendoif. He received his doctorate from Idaho State University vide strong arguments for obtaining an in 1992 and remained there as a postdoctoral research associate into 1995. During extended temporal perspective for that period he collaborated closely with Dr. Minshall on their Yellowstone fire study Yellowstone lotic ecosystems in the af­ and had major responsibility for the completion ofthe first five years of the project. termath of the 1988 fires. + Todd Royer is a Ph.D. candidate at Idaho State University, where he received his master's degree in 1995. He has been involved with the project since 1992 .

.:cx.eYc:i\V~!c:ine·A'.s' ·P:O,,.Box:l -·; Ye~o~!~~~~~fJft~;~(~f.:~·~:;,,: .. ·""" .. ··...... " ;.. ,~-!! .·~ ~;;;i;iai!fl!!} \l .J},_.,.;:JIJ$1 1 ~~9"'~:".:-:· ~- :=..,:_; ::, <; :;.,.:-;~ ., - ,_. ''."', •• • • ¢ • • " ·.,·:c0•·-~·.-:·.· ~, - . - ~ ._·•. - '. -~ ) ·- ~·;~,.,' We wish to thank (;zi of you who ha;~- so gener~usly contributed in-the past: and hope that you will_cga!inue to do sQJ11ethe future. __ ---~,,:~_s?:..:.s.54'!& ~··:··~:. -:xz~·:··-; '" · :.:.:_ :·· ·_±!fi ~~10..;; .. ;o,_,,,,,,..,,_,.,_,,.,_,.. "-"·"'-""'"""'""'~""'"""""'°""~-'""~

22 Yellowstone Science Yellowstone and Grand Teton national New Publications Available about parks and the John D. Rockefeller Me­ Yellowstone Resources morial Parkway. The report discusses the environment and chronology for each of Several new publications are available five geographic and cultural areas within about Yellowstone resources. A long­ this region, and summarizes significant awaited book, Yellowstone and the Biol­ archeological findings in each park, as ogy ofTime: Photographs Across A Cen­ well as the state of the park's database tury, authored by two former Yellowstone and additional research and management National Park researchers, Mary Meagher needs. and Douglas B. Houston, was published A second report, The Yellowstone this spring. The book is a compilation of Paleontolo gical Survey (YCR-NR-98-1 ), Whooping Cranes Released in comparative photographs takeu in the by Vince Santucci, documents the state Yellowstone park; many of the original views date to of knowledge about the park's fossil re­ the 1870s and 1880s, while the most sources. More than20fossiliferous strati­ Two whooping cranes, led to New recent retakes come from the years since graphic units have been identified. Major Mexico last fall by an ultralight aircraft, record fires swept the park in 1988. fossil resources include the Eocene petri­ were released May 1, 1998,into northern Meagher and the research that culmi­ fied forest deposits in northern Yellowstone in an area also used by nest­ nated in the book were featured in an Yellowstone. Nearly 150 species of fos­ ing sandhill cranes. Fourwhoopingcranes interview in Yellowstone Science 5(2). sil plants from the park have been de­ were led last autumn from southeast Idaho To paraphrase from another feature in scribed, including ferns, walnuts, oaks, to the Bosque de! Apache National Wild­ this issue, the photographs offer a fasci­ sycamores, chestnuts, maples, and se­ life Refuge in New Mexico by researcher nating record of both stasis and change in quoias. Fossil invertebrates are abundant Kent Clegg, but the other two cranes the Yellowstone landscape. The book is in Paleozoic rocks. The most significant trained to follow Clegg' s ultralight were published by the University of Oklahoma vertebrate collection is the Holocene sub­ lost to predators at the refuge. Press, and should be available at regional fossil material of 36 manunalian species The two birds began their spring mi­ bookstores. collected from Lamar Cave; other known gration from New Mexico on March 5, vertebrates include a Cretaceous following the lead of sandhill cranes that plesiosaur, a dinosaur eggshell winter at Bosque de! Apache. The birds '111EILWW§JP!JJ NJE fragment, and several fossil fish traveled to the San Luis Valley in south­ ANllll 'JI'IH!JE. JIBffWyoming. Neither was 344-2203. in good crane habitat and both faced threats from nearby powerlines and fences, according to Tom Stehn, National Whooping Crane Recovery Coordinator. One of the birds was located undera large transmission line and crossed it daily to feed. Collisions with powerlines are the Mary i\fMglu:rq· Douglas B. IIomton highest cause of mortality for fledged whooping cranes. Two reports produced in part by park Clegg captured the two birds on April staff are also available, while supplies 25 and moved them to a pen on his ranch last. Systemwide Archeological Inven­ near Grace, Idaho, where the birds had tory Program: Rocky Mountain Cluster been raised and trained to follow the Plan (YCR-CR-98-1), by J.A. Truesdale 'ultralight. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife with contributions by A. Anderson and Service consulted with several Rocky A. Johnson, is a compilation of archeo­ Mountain states and other federal agen­ logical resources throughout 15 parks in cies before Yellowstone agreed to pro­ the Rocky Mountain Region, including vide a more suitable summer home for Summer 1998 23 the birds. doing seismic studies. INEEL' s consid­ ing, and Fisheries Management in The ultralight crane migration experi­ erable computer resources might be used Yellowstone National Park," to be held ment is part of a broader research effort to to supplement the park's hardware and October 8 and 9, 1998. All interested learn how to establish a new migratory software used in modeling, simulations, persons are invited. flock of whooping cranes in North and decision-support tools. Sessions will cover the history and America. The only remaining migratory INEEL has done extensive work on current management of Yellowstone park flock consists of approximately 181 birds developing alte1native energy sources fisheries, economics and fishery man­ that migrate between Northwest Territo­ and technologies to reduce energy con­ agement, how fishing regulations are es­ ries of Canada and Aransas National sumption and impacts from operations. tablished, current and future threats to the Wildlife Refuge in Texas. The whooping Ongoing work includes providing assis­ fisheries, and how to balance recreational crane population, which is listed as en­ tance to incorporate these technologies at angling and native species restoration. dangered, reached a low of only 15 birds Disney World, and to develop natural gas The conference is sponsored by the in 1941, but has shown a steady increase passenger buses (now used at INEEL) Federation of Fly Fishers, the Montana since then. There is some evidence that and high-efficiency motors for pumps Chapter of the American Fisheries Soci­ whooping cranes nested in Yellowstone, and electric vehicles. These technologies ety, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, but information is sketchy. Prior to the have natural application to Yellowstone, the Yellowstone Park Foundation, and release of the two "ultralight" cranes, as the park wrestles with how to reduce the National Parks and Conservation As­ only one or two whoopers summered in operating costs and ·visitor impacts to sociation. Registration is $30 per person; the park each year for the past decade. park resources. Other possible collabora­ for more information call (406) 585-7592 tions in vol vemanaging cultural resources, or (406) 222-9369. Yellowstone to Collaborate With such as historic artifacts or sites sacred to INEEL on Science Projects N alive Americans-topics in which both Denning Season Nearly Over for INEEL and park staff have considerable Wolves The Department of Energy's Idaho experience and interest. National Engineering and Environmen­ tal Laboratory (INEEL) will be teaming Fifth Geophysical Meeting to be Held up with Yellowstone National Park to in Yellowstone tackle environmental and energy issues under afive-yearinteragency agreement. Papers are invited on new and emerg­ The agreement was signed on May 14, ing projects in the fields of geophysics, 1998, bytheNationalParkService(NPS) geology, geochemistry, biochemistry, ge­ and DOE' s Idaho Operations Office dur­ ology, biology, hydrology, limnology, ing the "Greening of Yellowstone" con­ mapping, remote sensing, and GIS appli­ ference at the recent 1251h anniversary cations for a meeting to be held Septem­ symposium held at Montana State Uni­ ber 15 and 16, 1998, in Mammoth Hot versity in Bozeman. Springs at Yellowstone National Park. The agreement is intended to allow The meeting is open to persons conduct­ both agencies to make more efficient use ing or interested in scientific studies on of federal resources in resolving com­ such topics in the park, and is cospon­ mon problems in science, environmental sored by the U.S. Geological Survey and research and restoration, energy manage­ Yellowstone. A small registration fee is As of June 1998, about 80 wolves in­ ment, seismic monitoring, education, and required; for more information about pre­ habit the Yellowstone ecosystem, not in­ information management. It lays out a sentations and registration, contact orga­ cluding pups of the year observed by field process by which the NPS and INEEL nizer Daniel Norton of the U.S.G.S. at crews. An intensive period of denning will identify specific projects to jointly MS 973, P.O. Box 25046, Federal Cen­ studies is nearly completed. From April pursue. ter,Denver, CO 80225, (303)-674-5150, through June, two-person crews monitor For example, the agencies could jointly or Mary Hektner, Yellowstone Center for wolf behavior and litter sizes for the Druid, develop a portable biogeochemistry labo­ Resources, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone Rose Creek, Leopold, and Chief Joseph ratory that would allow field studies of National Park, WY 82190, (307)344- packs. Typically, crews monitor radio­ the park's world-famous geothermal fea­ 2151 or email [email protected]. collared wolves' locations and observe tures. INEEL could apply its expertise in wolves for one 48-hour period and two analyzing earthquake data, potential haz­ Fishing and Fisheries Management 12-hour periods each week. The crews ards, and ground motion studies; in de­ to be Discussed at Conference attempt to minimize their visibility to veloping seismic design criteria for build­ both the public and the wolves. Wolf ings in the seismically-active park; and in The International Fly Fishing Center in observers report that at least nine females collaborative research with the U.S. Geo­ Livingston, Montana will be the site of an have produced pups this spring, and 35 logical Survey and other researchers educational conference on "Fish, Fish- pups have been observed. As many as 40 24 Yellowstone Science to 50 pups may have been born. How­ year. one yearling born into the original Nez ever, due to some expected pup mortali­ The Druid Peak Pack which now num­ Perce pack. The group's former alpha ties in their first months, these animals bers three adults and five yearlings, was female was removed from the popula­ are not yet included in the population released from the Rose Creek pen after tion in the fall of 1997 for killing live­ estimate. acclimation in 1996. Since 1997, they stock west of the park. Four remaining The December 1997, court ruling that have excited park visitors by their fre­ wolves were held this winter in the Nez wolf restoration in Yellowstone and cen­ quent presence within the range of spot­ Perce pen, where a pair of the penned tral Idaho violated the Endangered Spe­ ting scopes. They are tending at least two wolves produced four pups; all were cies Act was appealed in February by the pups at their den. released into the park on June 22, 1998. U.S. Department of Justice. No date has The Chief Joseph Pack has split into A young wolf who escaped the acclima­ been set yet for the Tenth Circuit Court to two groups. The alpha male found the tion pen and is the father of the yearling hear the appeal. The ruling has not altered company of two female dispersers from in the pen, paired with a lone female in monitoring, research, or management op­ the Rose Creek pack in 1997. Each pro­ the Firehole Valley, where they too are erations by wolf project staff. duced five pups, but one of the mothers tending a den with an unknown number The Rose Creek Pack is the largest was killed in a freak accident in July of pups. pack in the ecosystem, which numbers 14 1997; she was apparently running at high The Washakie Pack roams southeast adults or yearlings that reside in the Lamar speed when she impaled herself on a of Yellowstone Park. Four pups were Valley. As in 1997, multiple litters were sharp stick. Since then, the alpha male born to the naturally forming family born to the pack this spring; 10 pups have has occupied the northwest comer of group in 1997, but the alpha male was been observed with two adult females. A Yellowstone with another female, four removed from the population in October disperser from this pack is now the alpha surviving yearlings, and at least seven 1997 after he killed cattle in the Dunoir male of the Druid Peak pack. Another pups born this spring. Another wolf from Valley. The pack stayed in the area young male disperser has apparently this pack has been seen this spring with throughout the winter of 1997-98, lack­ paired with a female formerly of the Drnid six new pups, the father of whom is ing a breeding male. In May 1998, sev­ Peak pack, and they are being refened to unknown. A female yearling who wan­ eral of the wolves again preyed upon as the Sunlight pair. dered widely from the pack's territory livestock, and two, including the alpha The Leopold Pack named after the late last winter was found dead in late June of female, were killed. The hope is that the biologist Aldo Leopold, who first pro­ as yet undetermined causes in the Ante­ remaining yearlings will find better habi­ posed wolf restoration to the park, was lope Creek area of northern Yellowstone. tat away from ranch land. the first naturally forming pack in the The Lone Star Pack was short-lived ecosystem in six decades. The founders and originally consisted of two wolves Errata were a female originally penned and re­ temporarily held in the Blacktail Pen in leased at Rose Creek and a young male 1996. Shortly after their release near Lone In the previous issue of Yellowstone originally released from the Crystal Creek Star geyser, the female, who was preg­ Science 6 (2), an error was made in the pen. The pair produced a litter of three nant, apparently fell into a thermal pool article on The Geologic History of the pups in 1996, five pups in 1997, and at and died from the bums she received. Her Ahsaroka Volcanic Province. least four pups this year. The pack makes mate traveled widely until he found the Figure 6. (see sketch) should have indi­ their home in the Blacktail Plateau area of company of a female who dispersed from cated ash-fall coming from the plume of northern Yellowstone. the Nez Perce Pack. The subsequently the eruptive column instead of ash:flow. The Crystal Creek Pack once domi­ named Thorofare Pack produced five The editors regret the error. nated territory in the Lamar Valley. Since pups in 1997 in southeastern Yellowstone. being displaced by other wolves that killed In February 1998, the alpha male was their original alpha male, they have cen­ killed by the adjacent Soda Butte pack. tered their activity in Pelican Valley, just At about the same time, the alpha female north of Yellowstone Lake. Five pups was also killed, but the cause of her death ...... --,..._r---.~ were born into the pack in 1997. The is uncertain. The mortality signal from (,... ~ alpha female denned this year in Pelican her collar originated from under an ava­ \., ~lume _ __ _ -_--J> Valley, and one pup has been observed. lanche; biologists could not ascertain this "'-L ~~~ The Soda Butte Pack started out with winter whether she died from the ava­ ' \ ,,:,1 "I '\ ' five pack members released in 1995. In lanche or whether she, too, was killed by ·1.. r~3' ' Ash-{all ' 1996, the pack was moved south of theSodaButte wolves. Thefiveorphaned Eruptive~\~ 1 l column I Yellowstone Lake, where they continue yearlings have since remained primarily ' to make their home. The original alpha in the southeastern portion ofYellowstone male of the park died of natural causes and national forest land to the east. I , \ "ifrb'aa tic flow near Heart Lake in March 1997, and the The Nez Perce Pack cunently consists ~' pack has yet to have a new alpha male; of five young adults, brought as pups thus, no denning activity occll!Ted this from northwest Montana in 1996, and Summer 1998 25