INVESTIGATORS’ ANNUAL REPORTS 2000 YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK Yellowstone Center for Resources P.O. Box 168 Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190 December 2002 YCR Annual Report: YCR-IAR-2002 Cover: USGS geoscientists launch a remotely-operated-vehicle as part of their investigations of hydrothermal features on the bottom of Yellowstone Lake. NPS photo. Acknowledgements: The National Park Service thanks the researchers that have contributed to our knowledge and understanding of Yellowstone. This report was compiled and edited by Christie Hendrix and Alice K. Wondrak. Yellowstone National Park 1 FOREWORD Since the dawn of scientific wondering, human inquiry has led to the exploration, and often alter- ation, of almost everything in our world, at every scale—from the landscape of the moon to the human genome. In the national parks, however, through varying definitions and to varying degrees of success, we have attempted to “preserve natural conditions” for the past 130 years. Their long-term preservation of natural resources makes parks reservoirs of information of great value to humanity, and perhaps today more than ever before, America’s national parks are being rec- ognized as being more than pleasuring grounds and nature preserves. The NPS’s Natural Resource Challenge urges that in addition to using science as a means to improve park management, parks can and should be centers for broad scientific research and inquiry. The national parks have long-captured the imagination of scientists, who recognized them as places where we could observe natural processes operating in places that had been less subject to human alteration than most others throughout the nation, and indeed throughout the world. In Yellowstone, those kinds of observed processes have ranged from macro-scale studies of landscape changes affecting the local ecosystem to micro-scale studies of tiny organisms that have the poten- tial to change the lives of people the world over, making the protection of this wilderness relevant and crucial even to those who will never know its aesthetic and recreational wonders. There are more than 300 index entries in this year’s Investigators’ Annual Report. That is a lot of science; a lot of knowledge being collected that needs to be shared. This report should not be seen as the body of that knowledge, but rather as its skeleton. Contact information is provided so that readers may learn more about the projects and results described here. All persons who wish to con- duct their own research in Yellowstone are required to apply for a permit. Information on permit- ting procedures is available from the Research Permitting Office, Yellowstone Center for Resources, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190. 2 2000 Investigators’ Annual Reports TABLE OF CONTENTS ANTHROPOLOGY..................................................................................................................4 ARCHEOLOGY ......................................................................................................................5 BOTANY ...............................................................................................................................9 CLIMATOLOGY ...................................................................................................................12 ECOLOGY...........................................................................................................................13 ENTOMOLOGY ...................................................................................................................36 ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING .......................................................................................40 EXOTIC ANIMALS...............................................................................................................43 FIRE ...................................................................................................................................46 FISHERIES MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................51 FORESTRY ..........................................................................................................................54 FUNGI................................................................................................................................55 GEOCHEMISTRY .................................................................................................................56 GEOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................64 GEOLOGY ..........................................................................................................................66 GEOMORPHOLOGY ............................................................................................................71 GEOPHYSICS.......................................................................................................................72 GIS....................................................................................................................................73 HERPETOLOGY...................................................................................................................74 HYDROLOGY......................................................................................................................76 LIMNOLOGY.......................................................................................................................78 MAMMALOGY ....................................................................................................................79 MICROBIOLOGY .................................................................................................................86 ORNITHOLOGY................................................................................................................114 PALEONTOLOGY...............................................................................................................115 RANGE MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................117 RECREATION....................................................................................................................118 VOLCANOLOGY................................................................................................................119 WATER QUALITY .............................................................................................................124 WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................125 INDEX OF INVESTIGATORS ...............................................................................................130 Yellowstone National Park 3 ANTHROPOLOGY Project title: People and Nature: Yellowstone as Landscape Principal investigator: Mr. Raymond Fenio Phone: 812-333-4037 Email: [email protected] Address: 9645 East State Road 45 Unionville, IN 47468 Objective: This research will provide an ethnographic study of a national park. The descriptive data pro- vided by ethnography are not easily assembled by other methods. By living in a place and observing, as well as talking with the people who visit, work, and reside within it provides a greater depth of under- standing. In discovering what people do when they experience Yellowstone, what they expect and how these expectations shape their attitudes about parks, wilderness and recreation, this research should provide a valuable contribution to park management and hopefully encourage and invite thoughtful dialogue over what culture and nature means and their relative value in emerging policy. Findings: This research is ongoing. However, some interviews were conducted with visitors and employees. Observations about what visitors actually do have been recorded but without any results or conclusions at this time. 4 2000 Investigators’ Annual Reports ARCHEOLOGY Project title: Geochemical Investigations of Obsidian Source Material Principal investigator: Mr. Kenneth Cannon Phone number: 402-437-5392, ext. 139 Email: [email protected] Address: Midwest Archeological Center Federal Building, Rm 474 100 Centennial Mall North Lincoln, NE 68508-3873 Additional investigator(s): Richard Hughes Objective: To collect provenence and geochemical data on geologic sources of toolstone quality obsidian. This database will be used to compare geochemical data of artifacts for discerning aboriginal use of obsidi- an sources. This information will be useful in determining patterns of lithic procurement and land use in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and beyond. Findings: No fieldwork was conducted in YNP during 2000. Project title: Archeological Research in Yellowstone National Park Principal investigator: Dr. Leslie Davis Phone number: 406-994-6614 Address: Museum of the Rockies Montana State University Bozeman, MT 59717-0272 Additional investigator(s): Brian Reeves Objective: To carry out cultural resource compliance National Register testing, testing for preparation of data recovery plans, inventory in support of the trails rehabilitation program, salvage of eroding sites 48YE252 and 48YE409, and shoreline inventory on Yellowstone Lake. Findings: Sites on the highway between Mammoth and Gardiner were evaluated for their significance. Some sites in this corridor remain to have their subsurface remains evaluated. Trails work included inventory around Heart Lake, Jones Pass, and Warm Creek-Pebble