On This Date: Yellowstone National Park is established

On this date in 1872, Yellowstone was established as the world’s first national park. Prior to the mid-1800s, trappers and mountain men recounted “wild” stories of seeing spouting geysers, multicolored hot springs, boiling rivers, bubbling mud, noxious fumes and hissing earth while roaming through the future park. These reports were largely dismissed as delusions or tall tales before formal expeditions of the region began in 1869. In that year, the first of three expeditions to explore and document the region were launched, culminating with the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871. After Thomas Moran’s artwork and William H. Jackson’s photographs provided proof that Yellowstone’s geothermal and geologic features were indeed real, Congress was convinced they needed to protect this unique landscape from development. Less than six months after the conclusion of the Hayden Geological Survey, Yellowstone became a national park.

There are many histories and videos about Yellowstone; however, I found a short clip about the park that I thought was quite interesting. This is a public service announcement created by Wilding Picture Productions for the Ford Motor Company - likely in the 1950s, but possibly from the late 1940s. In addition to its age, what makes this clip remarkable is the advertisement of the "bear feeding grounds" in the park. Obviously, bear management practices have improved a little since then!



The video clip also mentions that Yellowstone’s buffalo were “a symbol of our vanished frontier.” Ramble On: A History of Hiking discusses the remarkable story of how George Bird Grinnell saved the buffalo, as Yellowstone was its last refuge.

Yellowstone Opens New Trail at Grand Prismatic Spring

Significant resource damage and visitor safety concerns from off-trail travel on the hills south of Grand Prismatic Spring has led the park to construct and recently open the Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook Trail. To alleviate traffic congestion, safety concerns, and resource impacts, the park also made a parking area near the Fairy Falls Trailhead at Midway Geyser Basin. Parking is very limited at this popular destination.

Trail crew rehabilitated the hillside resource damage. They also designed and built the trail with assistance from the Montana Conservation Corps and Yellowstone’s Youth Conservation Corps. The new trail gradually climbs 105 feet over 0.6 miles from the Fairy Falls Trailhead to an overlook with views of Midway Geyser Basin.

The trail and overlook protects a heavily visited part of the park. Superintendent Dan Wenk remarked that the trail and overlook, “provide a different view of Grand Prismatic Spring and minimize the growth of unsightly, unofficial social trails in the process.”

The park also advises visitors to pack their patience. Anticipate traffic, limited parking, and delays at this and other popular park destinations.

Photos are available on Yellowstone's Flickr site.



Jeff
HikinginGlacier.com
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Yellowstone Seeks Additional Public Input on Effects to Historic Mt. Washburn Lookout

Yellowstone National Park seeks additional public input on potential direct and indirect effects of a project involving the historic Mt. Washburn Fire Lookout. The park proposes to erect a three-sided mounting structure around the lookout. This effort, which is part of a larger project to improve the park’s wireless infrastructure, may have adverse effects per Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The law requires agencies take into account effects on historic properties.

The park believes the effects from most of the project to improve wireless infrastructure (in other areas) would be negligible based on visual simulations; the exception being the visual effects to Mount Washburn.

The park is seeking public comment on whether the construction of this mounting structure would cause an adverse effect to the historic fire lookout. Information on this project is available online through the Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) system.

Submit comments through PEPC, by hand-delivery, or by mail. Comments will not be accepted by fax, e-mail, or by any other means. Comments must be received by June 22, 2017.

Hand deliver comments during business hours to:

Albright Visitor Center
Attention: Mt. Washburn Determination of Effect
Mammoth Hot Springs
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190

Mail comments to:

Yellowstone National Park, Compliance Office
Attention: Mt. Washburn Determination of Effect
 P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190

Public Comment Considerations

• Bulk comments in any format (hard copy or electronic) submitted on behalf of others will not be accepted.

• Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable information, be aware that your entire comment – including your personally identifiable information – may be made public at any time. You may ask us to withhold your personally identifiable information from public review, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

• The park has already completed a 45 day public comment period for environmental resource impacts related to this project which included comments on effects to historic properties



Jeff
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Brink of the Lower Falls Trail in Yellowstone Closed Due to Rock and Mud Slide

Heavy rain and snow over the weekend has caused a rock and mud slide across the Brink of the Lower Falls Trail in Yellowstone National Park, prompting rangers to close the trail until further notice. One rock that crashed down is nearly 7 feet tall and 8 feet long, effectively blocking the trail.

"We know this is a popular trail, and as soon as conditions dry out, we will work to clear the trail," said Canyon District Ranger Tim Townsend. "Right now the entire slope above the trail is still wet and unstable making it unsafe for crews to work in the area."

Due to the wet conditions, the trail crew is evaluating the area to determine the likelihood of more slides and the best course of action to reopen the trail. Visitors may still hike the North Rim Trail, but rangers ask that people respect the closure on the Brink of the Lower Falls Trail.

As the busy holiday weekend approaches, rangers remind visitors that many trails and other areas are saturated by recent rain and snow. Visitors need to be aware of their surroundings and footing throughout the park. Current trail condition reports are available at Yellowstone visitor's centers or backcountry offices.



Jeff
HikinginGlacier.com
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Yellowstone Making Changes To Backcountry Permit Fees

Yellowstone will implement an overnight backcountry permit fee starting May 1. The money raised from the new fees will help defray the costs of running the park’s backcountry program.

Anyone obtaining a permit to stay overnight in the backcountry between Memorial Day and September 10 will have to pay a per-person, per night permit fee for all individuals 9 years of age or older.

Backpackers and boaters will pay $3.00 per-person, per night, with groups of 5 or more paying a total of $15 per night. Stock users will be charged $5.00 per-person, per night.

Visitors may purchase an Annual Backcountry Pass for $25, which covers the per-person, per-night backcountry fees for the individual pass holder for the calendar year in which the pass is purchased.

Yellowstone has accepted advanced backcountry reservations since 1996. The advance reservation fee remains $25 for trips reserved more than two nights in advance.

Reservations are currently being accepted for backcountry trips for 2015. Applications submitted prior to April 1 are processed in random order by lottery. Reservations received after April 1 are processed in the order in which they are received.

The park’s Backcountry Trip Planner and reservation applications are available online.

Revenues from the advanced reservation and per-night fees are expected to cover just over 40-percent of the costs associated with operating the park’s nine backcountry offices. This reduced dependence upon the park’s base operating funds will allow Yellowstone to reallocate money to support other important park operations.



Jeff
HikinginGlacier.com
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Yellowstone Breaks Monthly Record for September Visitation

Yellowstone National Park recorded its highest ever September visitation in 2014. A total of 571,764 recreational visitors came to Yellowstone in September. That is an increase of 2.48% compared to the September 2013 numbers.

There were a total of 3,288,804 recreational visits to Yellowstone during the first nine months of 2014, which represents an increase of 5.68% over the same period in 2013.

With three months left in the calendar year, Yellowstone has already received more visitors in 2014 than it did the entire previous year. Park visitation in 2013 was 3,188,030, the fifth highest visitation year in the park’s history.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Yellowstone Seeks Public Input on Proposal to Update and Repair Canyon Rim Overlooks and Trails

Yellowstone National Park is considering a proposal to update and repair many of the overlooks and trails located on the North and South rims of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

This project is being proposed to address aging and deteriorating infrastructure, provide improved accessibility to visitors, improve pedestrian flow, address safety issues, and improve the visitor experience in the area, all while retaining the historic integrity of this extraordinary portion of the park. Areas to be addressed in the plan includes the Brink of the Upper Falls, the Brink of Lower Falls, Uncle Tom’s Point, Inspiration Point, Red Rocks Point, Crystal Falls, and their associated connecting trails.

The Yellowstone Park Foundation, official fundraising partner of Yellowstone National Park, is presently funding an effort to obtain design proposals from landscape architectural firms for the overlooks and trails in question.

An Environmental Assessment will be prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. As part of the planning process, the park is reaching out to the public and asking them to share their comments, concerns, and ideas which will be used to aid in the development of a range of alternatives.

Comments may be submitted online, hand-delivered during normal business hours to the mailroom in the park’s Administration Building in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, or mailed to the Compliance Office, Attn: Canyon Rim Overlooks and Trails, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY, 82190.

Comments will not be accepted by fax, e-mail, or in any other way than those specified above. All comments must be received by midnight MDT, October 24, 2014.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Search Underway For Man Missing In Northern Yellowstone

A search is underway in Yellowstone National Park for a young man from Georgia who was swept down the Yellowstone River near Tower Junction Monday evening.

Three young concession employees reportedly used inner tubes to float the Lamar River on Monday. Floating the river is prohibited by park regulations due to safety concerns.

Shortly after reaching the confluence of the Lamar and Yellowstone Rivers, two of the men got out of the water.

The third man, 22 year old Darien Latty, was last seen about 7:30 p.m. Monday being propelled downstream by the rushing water, without either an inner tube or life jacket.

Initial search efforts Monday evening failed to turn up any sign of Latty, who is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, 140 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Search efforts were increased Tuesday, with a helicopter, 3 dog teams, and several small groups of people searching the Yellowstone River corridor from Tower Junction downstream to Gardiner, Montana. Approximately 50 people had been dedicated to the search effort as of mid-afternoon Tuesday.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Darien Latty is asked to call Yellowstone National Park at 307-344-2642.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Are Animals Fleeing Yellowstone as ‘An Alert’ to a Volcanic Eruption?

Are animals fleeing Yellowstone as ‘An Alert’ to a volcanic eruption? That is a question being asked in an Epoch Times article that was published in light of the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the park on Saturday. The article, published on Sunday and currently linked to the Drudge Report, states that:

A number of bloggers are posting videos that show bison and other animals allegedly leaving Yellowstone National Park, prompting theories that as earthquakes ramp up the seismic activity will set off the Yellowstone supervolcano.

The article quotes one of the bloggers as saying, “But I’ll tell you this, whatever the case may be, that their running away from Yellowstone is an alert of some sort”, and uses this video as proof of their assertion:



The only problem with this theory is that it appears to be a normal annual event. In fact, just yesterday the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks published this news release on their website:

This is the time of year bison migrate out of Yellowstone National Park in greater numbers leaving the snow and higher elevation behind them to roam adjacent lands in Montana. Right now, bison are distributed throughout the Gardiner basin, and many are foraging within the Highway 89 corridor. For this reason, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is urging caution when traveling the southern portion of Highway 89. Drivers should pay particular attention south of Yankee Jim Canyon and reduce speed during nighttime hours.

In addition to bison, elk and deer are abundant within the Highway 89 corridor and frequently cross the highway. It’s important that drivers take this risk seriously, slow down, and obey posted signs.

For perhaps some more clarity on the matter, Yellowstone Public Affairs Chief, Al Nash, recently published this video in hopes of setting the record straight on a few rumors and stories circulating with regards to earthquakes and volcanoes in the park:





Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

IBMP Partners Conclude Bison Population Management Efforts Around Yellowstone

Approximately 600 bison have been removed this year from Yellowstone’s herd of approximately 4,600 bison.

The Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) partners use an adaptive management strategy to manage population abundance and distribution. Last summer the partners determined that the removal of approximately 600 bison from the northern range herd should be conducted through harvest by state and tribal hunters or culled directly through capture and consignment to slaughter or research.

Federal, state, and tribal members of the IBMP agreed to use hunting as the primary method for removing bison from the population. This year half of the removal was conducted through capture and consignment from the Stephens Creek capture facility in Yellowstone National Park. This management approach was adopted in the 2014 IBMP Winter Operations Plan approved by all of the partner agencies in December 2013.

As of Monday, March 3, state and tribal permitted hunting outside the park boundary in Montana had removed 199 bison from the north boundary area and an additional 64 bison from the west boundary area.

The National Park Service has concluded bison population management operations at the Stephens Creek facility after consigning 258 bison to tribal partners for nutritional and cultural purposes and transferring 60 bison to UDSA-APHIS for an ongoing research project.

The Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior and the Governor of Montana signed a court-mediated agreement in 2000 that included guidelines to limit the bison population in Yellowstone to around 3,000 to 3,500 animals.

The cooperating agencies operating under the IBMP are the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Montana Department of Livestock, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the InterTribal Buffalo Council, the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes, and the Nez Perce Tribe.

Information on the IBMP is available online. Additional information about Yellowstone bison and their management can be found here.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Yellowstone Winter Season Begins Sunday

Yellowstone National Park will open to the public for the winter season as scheduled on December 15.

Beginning at 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning, visitors will be able to travel to the park’s interior roads on commercially guided snowmobiles or snowcoaches from the North, West and South Entrances. Travel through the park’s East Entrance over Sylvan Pass is scheduled to begin December 22.

The road from the park’s North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, through Mammoth Hot Springs and on to Cooke City, Montana, outside the park’s Northeast Entrance is open to wheeled vehicle travel all year.

At Old Faithful, the Geyser Grill, the Bear Den Gift Shop, and the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center open for the season on December 15. The Old Faithful Snow Lodge and Cabins and the Obsidian Dining Room open on December 18.

The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, dining room and gift shop will open for the season on December 20. The Yellowstone General Store, the medical clinic, campground, post office and the Albright Visitor Center at Mammoth Hot Springs are open all year, as are the 24-hour gasoline pumps at Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower Junction.

Communities surrounding Yellowstone are open year-round, and local businesses offer a wide range of winter recreation opportunities. Extensive information and assistance for planning a visit to Yellowstone during the winter is on the park’s website.

Park staff members will continue to closely monitor road conditions and weather forecasts that can have an impact on roadways and guided oversnow travel operations. Weather during the winter season is extremely unpredictable in Yellowstone and road closures or delays can occur with little or no warning. Visitors are reminded to come prepared by carrying personal emergency survival equipment in their vehicles and dressing appropriately for outside activities in extremely cold weather.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Yellowstone’s Ecological Health Revealed In Updated Reports

Yellowstone National Park’s 2013 “Natural Resource Vital Signs” report and annual wolf and bird project reports are now available as valuable tools used to assist park managers and scientists more fully understand the status of important indicators of resource condition.

In the Vital Signs report, park scientists and their cooperators report on data from more than two dozen indicators to study the influences, both inside and outside of the park, that affect Yellowstone’s overall ecological status and the condition of cultural resources. Ecological indicators include ecosystem processes such as wildland fire, as well as the status of native species and stressors such as wildlife disease and non-native species.

This year, several indicators on the status of Yellowstone’s cultural resources were included. As the world’s first national park, rich in America’s history, the National Park Service steward and continue to use an incredible collection of over 800 historical structures that help tell the story of transportation, lodging, and park management. The park also contains more than 1,600 known archeological sites that demonstrate at least 10,000 years of evidence showing deep human connections with the ecosystems. Hundreds of thousands of historic documents, ethnographic artifacts, fossils, pieces of clothing, souvenirs, and works of art also reside in the park’s museum collections, providing priceless data and precious stories on the park’s rich history.

All three reports, published by the park’s Yellowstone Center for Resources, help inform resource management decisions and support ongoing and future research needs.

Highlights from this year’s Vital Signs report include:

• Climate: Precipitation data suggest that Yellowstone is still in a long-term drought. Recent data support a continued trend of warming with average low temperatures increasing by 4.6 degrees since 1989.

• Bears: Grizzly bear numbers appear to be stable in the GYE this year; supporting recent discussion that bears have reached carrying capacity in the ecosystem.

• Wolves and elk: Elk surveyed along the northern range of Yellowstone continued to decline as a result of multiple factors, but show signs of stabilizing at a new low. The number of wolves that spend most of their time in Yellowstone declined slightly.

• Bison: The conservation of Yellowstone bison continues to be successful with population numbers over 4,000 bison.

• Historic structure conditions and archeological sites: Historic structure assessments of the 880 buildings, roads, bridges, and grave markers have been completed for 80 percent of the sites. About 77 percent of historic structures and 65 percent of known archeological sites are in “good” condition.

• Native fish: There are signs that the number of Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake is increasing. Efforts to reduce the population of non-native lake trout have resulted in the removal of over 1 million lake trout from Yellowstone Lake. Artic grayling and westslope cutthroat trout restoration efforts began in 2013 as part of the native fish preservation effort.

The 2013 Vital Signs report can be found online here.

The wolf and bird program reports are available here and here.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Primordial: Yellowstone & Grand Tetons

Excellent video that captures the stunning beauty of Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons:


Primordial ---- Yellowstone / Grand Tetons from Voortex Productions on Vimeo.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Last Chance to Drive To Old Faithful, Canyon Until Spring

The roads to many favorite Yellowstone destinations will close to automobile travel in the next few days as the park begins preparing for the winter season.

The only road in the park which is open to wheeled vehicle travel all year is the section from the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, through Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Junction and the Lamar Valley on to the park’s Northeast Entrance and the communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana.

All other roads will close for the season at 8:00 a.m. Monday, November 4th, so park staff members can begin preparing the roads for limited, commercially guided snowmobile and snowcoach travel beginning December 15th.

At Mammoth Hot Springs, the Yellowstone General Store, Post Office, medical clinic, campground and visitor center remain open all year. Pay-at-the pump fuel is available 24 hours a day all year at all park service stations.

All communities near and on the way to Yellowstone are open all year, with local businesses offering a wide range of fall and winter recreation opportunities.

Visitors driving to and in the park during the fall and winter are encouraged to have flexible travel plans and be prepared for changing weather conditions. Temporary travel restrictions or closures can occur at any time without notice. Mud and snow tires or tire chains may be required. Updated information on road conditions in Yellowstone is available 24-hours a day by calling 307-344-2117.

Extensive information and assistance for planning a visit to Yellowstone is available on the park’s web site at http://www.nps.gov/yell.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

National Park Service Releases New Rule for Winter Use in Yellowstone

The National Park Service has published a final rule to guide winter use in Yellowstone National Park following extensive public review and comment. The final rule authorizes oversnow vehicle (OSV) use in Yellowstone and contains provisions that allow greater flexibility for commercial tour operators, provides mechanisms to make the park cleaner and quieter than what has been allowed during the previous four winter seasons, rewards oversnow vehicle innovations and technologies that improve the Yellowstone experience, and allows for an increase in visitation. The final rule relies on impact analysis conducted through the 2013 Winter Use Final Plan/Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (final Plan/SEIS).

“This is a balanced and flexible plan that we believe will work for tour operators, for park visitors and for the iconic landscapes with which we are entrusted to protect,” said Superintendent Dan Wenk. “We appreciate the public comment and review that has gone into informing this science-based approach that will provide a safe and positive experience for the millions of visitors who come to Yellowstone every year.”

The 2013/2014 winter season will be a transition year to the new rule during which the park will allow snowmobiles and snowcoaches under the same conditions in place for the past four winters. The one-season transition period will also allow time for the NPS to advertise and award concession contracts and for commercial tour operators to adequately prepare for the new rule.

Beginning with the 2014/2015 winter season, the previous management approach of fixed maximum number of OSVs allowed in the park each day will be replaced with a more flexible concept of managing vehicle access by transportation events, defined as one snowcoach or a group of up to 10 snowmobiles, averaging seven seasonally. New best available technology standards will be required for snowmobiles no later than the 2015/2016 season, and for snowcoaches by the 2016/2017 winter season.

Commercial tour operators will be able to use their allocated transportation events for snowmobiles, snowcoaches, or a mix of both, as long as no more than 50 of the authorized 110 daily transportation events are snowmobile transportation events. This approach allows the proportion of snowcoaches or snowmobiles in the park each day to be adjusted, allows for an increase in the size of snowmobile groups to meet demand on peak days, and permits an increase in vehicle group size per transportation event if voluntary enhanced emission standards are met.

The plan also allows one non-commercially guided group of up to five snowmobiles to enter through each park entrance every day. The park will be working with interested stakeholders to develop the Non-commercially Guided Snowmobile Access Program, along with the Yellowstone Snowmobile Education Certification. The rule also continues to allow OSV use on the East Entrance road over Sylvan Pass.

To reinforce the central approach of the agency and a key tenant of this successful rule making, park managers will continue to collaborate with the public by implementing an Adaptive Management Program, which will combine science with public input, to ensure that OSV use impacts stay within limits predicted in the final Plan/SEIS. The kick-off meeting for this program is November 22, 2013 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. Interested members of the public are encouraged to attend. More information can be found here.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Albright Visitor Center at Yellowstone Receives an Upgrade

The Albright Visitor Center in Mammoth Hot Springs will be upgraded over the coming months to be retrofit for seismic activity and bring better accessibility to the building.

The facility was originally built as bachelor officer’s quarters by the United States Army in 1909. Named after Horace Albright, the first Superintendent for Yellowstone and the second Director for the National Park Service, the building had been through a variety of uses before officially becoming the Albright Visitor Center in 1979.

Yellowstone National Park often encounters the unique challenge of adaptive use while protecting the historical structures. The current project will involve a seismic retrofit of the existing historic stone building, as well as, addressing some accessibility and life safety concerns. The seismic retrofit requires the installation of a steel frame inside the structure and attaching the frame to the stonework.

In addition to the structural changes, the exhibits will also be receiving a makeover. While each visitor center throughout the park has a specific focus, this visitor center will feature exhibits on park history and the Northern Range area of Yellowstone, with its diverse and abundant wildlife. A new and dynamic orientation area with interactive displays will offer enhanced trip planning information for visitors. Rounding out the services that will be available in the renovated facility is a backcountry permit office where hikers can obtain permits and up to date information for backcountry trip planning. The park’s nonprofit cooperating association, the Yellowstone Association, will operate a bookstore in which visitors will find a variety of educational materials about Yellowstone and the surrounding region.

Swank Enterprises, which also completed the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center and the Mammoth Justice Center, plans to complete the project by spring of 2015. The projected opening date for the new visitor center is the summer of 2015. During the project, the visitor center operations will be relocated into a temporary building located nearby. All visitor services, including the Yellowstone Association store, will continue in the temporary location.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier.com

Visitors Invited To Celebrate Hayden Valley Hawk Watch

Celebrate the spectacle of raptor (bird of prey) migration in Yellowstone National Park’s Hayden Valley this Sunday, September 22. Join education ranger and raptor enthusiast Katy Duffy to watch and learn about raptors, their ecology and their migration strategies.

If you would like to learn some raptor identification tips, meet Ranger Duffy at 9:00 a.m. Sept. 22 at the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center for a 45-minute presentation involving the mounted raptors on display there. Then travel to the park’s famed Hayden Valley to observe and learn about the raptors that flow through Yellowstone each fall.

For the field portion of the tour, visitors are invited to meet at 11:00 a.m. at the turnout 6.6 miles south of Canyon Junction and 9 miles north of Fishing Bridge Junction. Each end of this turnout will have a sandwich board indicating the program location. Also look for a uniformed ranger with a spotting scope.

Observation of raptors will occur from 11:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m.

Both programs are free and open to the public. For more information, please call Katy Duffy at 307-344-2296.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier.com

Habituated Collared Wolf Shot in Jardine Area

A female collared wolf was shot by a private citizen in the Jardine area this past Saturday after displaying clear signs of escalating habituation. The wolf had recently come in close proximity to a number of homes, killed a cat as well as several chickens.

Over the last few months, this wolf has displayed unusually bold behavior as attempts were made by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and members of the public, to haze the animal away from properties.

Until the spring of this year, the wolf lived primarily in Yellowstone National Park as a member of the Lamar Canyon pack. It dispersed from the pack and has lived in the Jardine area since that time.

FWP investigated the wolf mortality in consultation with USDA-Wildlife Services.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Grizzly Bear Study Team Fall Research Begins In Yellowstone

Biologists with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) will be conducting scientific grizzly bear research operations in Yellowstone National Park from August 28 through October 31, as part of the ongoing monitoring of the activities and population of grizzly bears within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Team members will bait and trap bears at several remote sites within Yellowstone National Park. Once trapped, the bears are anesthetized to allow wildlife biologists to radio-collar and collect scientific samples for study. All trapping and handling are done in accordance with IGBST’s long established protocols.

None of the trap sites in the park will be located near any established hiking trails or backcountry campsites, and all trap sites will have posted warnings for the closure perimeter. Potential access points will also be posted with warning signs for the closure area. Backcountry users who come upon any of these posted areas need to heed the warnings and stay out of the area.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team was established in 1973 to collaboratively monitor and manage ecosystem bears on an interagency basis. The gathering of critical data on the protected bears is part of a long-term research effort required under the Endangered Species Act to help wildlife managers devise and implement programs to support the ongoing recovery of Yellowstone’s grizzly bear population.

The IGBST is composed of representatives of the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribal Fish and Game Department, and the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

For more information regarding grizzly bear research efforts you can call (406) 994-6675.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

NPS Announces Record of Decision for Winter Use at Yellowstone National Park

National Park Service (NPS) Intermountain Regional Director John Wessels today signed a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Winter Use Plan/Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Plan/SEIS).

The ROD officially completes the Plan/SEIS process, which was developed in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and included extensive public involvement, including a number of opportunities for the public to submit comments on the Plan/SEIS.

“This winter use plan is the product of hundreds of hours of public involvement, is based on sound science, and is a different approach to winter use management. The Plan/SEIS and ROD provide mechanisms to make the park cleaner and quieter than ever before authorized, allow greater flexibility for commercial tour operators, reward oversnow vehicle innovations and technologies, and permit increases in visitation,” said Yellowstone superintendent Dan Wenk.

Beginning with the 2014/2015 winter season, a fixed maximum number of vehicles allowed in the park each day will be replaced with a new, more flexible concept of managing vehicle access by transportation events, defined as one snowcoach or a group of up to 10 snowmobiles, averaging seven seasonally.

Commercial tour operators will be able to use their allocated transportation events for snowmobiles, snowcoaches, or a mix of both, as long as no more than 50 of the authorized 110 daily transportation events are snowmobile events. By relying upon user demand to determine the best mix of oversnow vehicle (OSV) use and focusing on the impacts of OSV use on park resources, the transportation event concept protects park resources and allows appropriate access.

The plan also allows for one entry a day per entrance for a non-commercially guided group of up to five snowmobiles and will continue to allow for OSV use on the East Entrance road over Sylvan Pass.

The 2013/2014 winter season will be a transition year during which the park will allow OSV under the same conditions in place for the past four winters. The one-season transition period will also allow time for the NPS to advertise and award concession contracts and for commercial tour operators to prepare for the shift to management by transportation events.

Because the Regional Director’s decision will allow OSV use in the park, a regulation must be promulgated before the decision can be implemented. A final regulation is expected to be published in the Federal Register in early fall.

Additional information and an electronic copy of the Plan/SEIS and ROD are available online.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park