Yellowstone Science a Quarterly Publication Devoted to the Natural and Cultural Resources
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Yellowstone Science A quarterly publication devoted to the natural and cultural resources 1960s Winter Atmospheric Research The Murie Legacy Is There Life in Well Y-7? Bear on Bear Predation Volume 10 Number 4 COURTESY THE MURIE CENTER,COURTESY MOOSE, WYOMING The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shapes of things, their colours, lights, and shades; these I saw. Look ye also while life lasts. Legacy n the 25 years I’ve lived and worked in Yellowstone, one of Imy fondest memories is a trip I took As the pages of this Yellowstone Sci- knowledge on which those in the future many years ago from Yellowstone Lake to ence began to take shape, a common may build; somehow, I’m certain that Vin- Moose, Wyoming. The occasion was after- thread emerged, weaving its way from cent Schaefer would be pleased to know noon tea with Mardy Murie. A few other story to story: that of legacy. Yellowstone, that he shares these pages with John Spear young seasonal naturalists and I had the itself, is a legacy. It is, if all goes well, a et al., as they carry on the tradition of opportunity to meet this extraordinary physical place preserved forever. It is also investigation in a most unusual search for woman, who in partnership with her hus- a testament of the importance of wildness life “beneath” Yellowstone. band, Olaus, has done great things in her to a people, and to their will to protect it Reflecting on the lives and work of lifetime for the cause of wilderness preser- for future generations. Yellowstone, the these people, the question arises, “What vation. At the time, I remember wondering place and the idea, has brought many peo- legacy will we leave?” As we mark Mardy how many scores, if not hundreds, of per- ple to this corner of Wyoming, Idaho, and Murie’s 100th birthday, my thoughts are fect strangers had made their way to her Montana. Some never left; others come drawn back, as they often are, to that after- doorstep. For a moment on the drive south, back year after year. Vincent Schaefer noon at the Murie Ranch. I now under- I wondered how she tolerated it all. When found a winter home here for over a stand why she tolerated, even welcomed, we arrived, I found that the answer was decade thirty years ago. In the first of a so many intrusions into her life and her simple—with hot tea served in china cups two part series, Dr. Thomas Brock chron- living room. She made us feel like fellow from a silver service accompanied by icles Schaefer’s pioneering atmospheric travelers, worthy colleagues who shared a freshly baked cookies. research and the legacy of his Yellowstone common vision to preserve and protect the Never before had I met a person more Winter Research Expeditions. last best places. While her voice no longer grounded to the earth, nor nobler in her In this issue, we pay tribute to three speaks out in the name of wilderness as it generosity. She did not carry herself like friends of Yellowstone who we’ve recent- once did, she has nurtured generations the “mother of wilderness” or the “grand- ly lost––Jay Anderson, J. David Love, and after her to do the same, just as she carried mother of American conservation,” regal- Boyd Evison. We remember the dedica- on for Olaus when he was no longer able. ing us with tales of her adventures with tion each of them brought to their work As much as anything, this is the Murie Olaus in the Arctic or of their efforts, in and what they leave us: Jay Anderson’s legacy, alive and well––cookies, tea, and this very cabin, to create the Wilderness passion for the Greater Yellowstone hope. I smile when I think of Mardy who Act. In fact, we were hard-pressed to get Ecosystem and equal love for sharing that in 1998, journeyed to Washington, D.C. to her to speak of these accomplishments. knowledge with his students; Dave Love’s be honored with the Presidential Medal of Instead, we found a gracious host––a interpretation of the Teton landscape and Freedom. As President Clinton leaned over woman who lived simply and who held mentoring of this generation of geologists; her wheelchair to place the medal around forth not about herself, but who seemed and the NPS’s Boyd Evison, who recog- her neck, this conservation matriarch in more interested in us. I remember that she nized the importance of science through- her late-nineties, never quitting, never asked more questions than she answered. out his NPS career, and long championed missing an opportunity, whispered to the She made us feel like we were the only its use in managing national parks. Their president, “We still have work to do.” ones who had ever thought to come to her passing calls us to remember that research, door. too creates a legacy. It lays a foundation of RJA Yellowstone Science A quarterly publication devoted to the natural and cultural resources Volume 10 Number 4 Fall 2002 Contents The Yellowstone Field Research Expeditions 2 In the 1960s, an interdisciplinary group of scientists braved Yellowstone’s winters to conduct pioneering studies in atmospheric science and biology. Thomas Brock participated. by Thomas D. Brock The Murie Legacy 13 On the occasion of Mardy Murie’s 100th birthday, Paul Schullery looks back at the environmental legacy of Mardy, Olaus, Adolph, and Louise Murie. by Paul Schullery A Search for Life in Well Y-7 15 In the 1960s, the USGS dug thirteen exploratory wells in Yellowstone’s thermal areas. Four microbiologists wondered if there might be something alive down there today. by John R. Spear, Jeffrey J. Walker, Susan M. Barns, and Norman R. Pace Editor Bear on Bear Predation in Hayden Valley 22 Roger J. Anderson Two biologists chronicle the results of an unusual meeting. [email protected] by Kerry A. Gunther and Mark J. Biel Assistant Editor and Design Alice K. Wondrak Passages 25 Assistant Editors Greater Yellowstone has recently lost three great conservationists. Tami Blackford Tributes to JayAnderson, Dave Love, and Boyd Evison. Mary Ann Franke News & Notes 28 Printing Artcraft, Inc. Experimental animal detection system • Alaska quake seems to trigger Yellow- Bozeman, Montana stone jolts • 2003 GWS conference • Wondrak wins MHS award • Yellowstone film earns high honors for locals • FSEIS released to Cooperators Cover photo: Ice crystal cloud produced by Yellowstone Science is published quarterly. Submissions are welcome from all investigators throwing hot water into air with a tempera- conducting formal research in the Yellowstone area. To submit proposals for articles, to subscribe ture of -45°F. to Yellowstone Science, or to send a letter to the editor, please write to the following address: Above: Photomicrograph taken from a Editor, Yellowstone Science, P.O. Box 168,Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190. replica snow crystal prepared by the 1962 You may also email: [email protected]. Yellowstone Field Research Expedition. Support for Yellowstone Science is provided by the Yellowstone Association, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to serving the park and its visitors. Both photos are from the Yellowstone For more information about the association, including membership, National Park archives, courtesy Vincent or to donate to the production of Yellowstone Science, write to: Schaefer. Yellowstone Association, P.O. Box 117, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190. Left: Christmas at the Murie Ranch in The opinions expressed in Yellowstone Science are the authors’ and may not Moose, Wyoming. reflect either National Park Service policy or the views of the Yellowstone Center for Resources. Copyright © 2002, the Yellowstone Association for Natural Science, History & Education. Accompanying quote: Denys James Yellowstone Science is printed on recycled paper with a linseed oil-based ink. Watkins-Pitchford, as carved by Olaus The Yellowstone Field Research Expeditions Winter Research in the Interior, Part I by Thomas D. Brock YNP ARCHIVES, VINCENT COURTESY SCHAEFER Using a fist-sized chunk of dry ice fragments fastened to the end of a wire and swung in a circle overhead, a member of the 1962 Yel- lowstone Field Research Expedition (YFRE) seeds a supercooled cloud upwind of Old Faithful Geyser and along the road in front of the Old Faithful Inn. During the 1960s, an extensive and research in a cold, clean, wilderness envi- The operation was moved to Norris Geyser pioneering series of field research expedi- ronment under nearly ideal conditions. Basin, where the last expedition was held tions was carried out in the Old Faithful Financial support for the whole operation in January and February of 1971. area of Yellowstone National Park. These was supported by National Science Foun- I was privileged to participate in the expeditions, under the leadership of dation grants. Yellowstone Field Research Expeditions atmospheric scientist Vincent J. Schaefer, The Yellowstone Field Research Expe- for two winters. It was my first opportuni- brought into the park a wide variety of sci- ditions operated for 11 years, from 1961 ty to study microbial mats during the win- entists interested in doing winter research. through 1971, and brought hundreds of ter, and it also enabled me to study hot Although initially focused on ice crystal scientists to the park during winter. In the springs in the Old Faithful area that were formation, cloud seeding, and related phe- later years, the Old Faithful area became not available in the regular season because nomena of atmospheric science, the expe- no longer suitable for this sort of research. they were so public. During my two win- ditions soon broadened out into other Air pollution from snowmobiles became a ters, I was also able to observe the atmos- areas, including biology, atmospheric serious factor, and the buildings used for pheric scientists at work, and to appreciate chemistry, and geothermal phenomena.