Bear Spray

[  Please start reading at the first post, which is several posts below.  ]

Sam--  “I heard it was a suicide.”

Rob--  “No, it wasn’t.  I don’t know precisely what happened.  I wish I’d been there.”

Sam--  “But there was a bear there, the news release said a bear was there.”

Rob--  “There’s there’s no mention of an attack.  The news release didn’t say bear attack. Bears are everywhere in Yellowstone.  I see them all the time.”

Sam--  “Do you suppose, could it be that he saw the bear and it scared him to death?”

Rob--  “Well, sure, to hear people talk, it would scare any human being to be there in the backcountry and run into a grizzly.”

Sam--  “So, it was a grizzly bear?”

Rob--  “Well, that’s what I hear everyone saying, as I move about from place to place.  Black bears don’t attack people, do they?”

Sam--  “I don’t think so…   A grizzly, hmmm….  Did they find it?”

Rob--  “How could they find it?  I mean, what do you look for?  Very few griz in the Park are collared.  So… really…”

Sam--  “Was he carrying bear spray?”

Rob--  “I heard that he wasn’t.  Kinda stupid…   Just to hear people talking now, they’re carrying bear spray between the tent and the outhouse in the campgrounds at night, let alone setting foot on any path beyond concrete.  I hear those folks at the general store say sales are way up on bear spray.”

Sam--  “I hear that he was in a closed area and that he was camping there.”

Rob--  “Really?  I don’t think so…  It happened on the Mary Mountain trail.  That’s not a closed trail.  I heard somebody say that they found his tent in the Canyon Campground.”

Sam--  “Then what was he doing so far back into the back country?  Mary Mountain Trail runs about twenty-one miles between the upper end of the Hayden Valley and the Upper Geyser Basin.”

Rob--  “He wasn’t using any sense, that’s what he was doing.  Anyone with a drop of sense would know to avoid hiking alone back there.  . ”

Sam--  “Is that a bear area?”

Rob--  “Bear area?  Are you kidding?  The whole park is a bear area, but people say the trail guides all have clear precautions about there being frequent bear activity on the Mary Mountain trail.”

Sam--  “But, I mean… well… can’t they control them?  Like… know where they are and put up signs and things?  I see those signs all the time.  ‘Warning:  you are entering an area in which bears are known to travel.  Use caution.  Travel in groups of three or more is recommended.’  You know?  Just use common sense.”

Rob--  “Common sense?  Listen, half the people who come here don’t use common sense, just watch the drivers of those cars.  Sheez, car accidents are the leading cause of death here in the Park.  What people need to carry is crazy driver spray.  Those idiots behind the wheel need to be maced, the way they drive.” 

Sam--  “Is that true?  Car accidents?”

Rob--  “Yep, and I kinda like to be there to look as I see those wrecks happening, too.  You know me, gore doesn’t bother me.  The number two cause of death is pre-existing conditions.  You know, heart problems, old age, etc.”

Sam--  “Then bears are third?”

Rob--  “Not even close.  Third is drownings, fourth is falls.”

Sam--  “What about that man from Southern California who was killed by a mama grizzly in early July… he was right there in Canyon area.” 

Rob--  “Well, sort of Canyon area, but it was in backcountry… on the Wapiti Lake trail.  They said he and his wife were trying to take pictures of the mother grizzly and her two cubs.”

Sam--  “Did he have bear spray?”

Rob--  “The man killed in early July?”

Sam--  “Yes, that guy from L.A..”

Rob--  “Him?  He did.  Someone told me he did.  And he didn’t use it.”

Sam--  “Hmmm… didn’t use it or didn’t have enough time to use it?”

Rob--  “Well, and did he know HOW to use it?”

Sam--  “You’re right, I think.  People don’t know how to use it, do they?”

Rob--  “They get off the plane, into the rental car, and get the bear spray at the first store.  No thought… no practice… no idea… Sheez, which reminds me… You heard about the dumb-ass twenty-year-old guy at the Mammoth Visitor Center?  Went into the Yellowstone Association Bookstore in the Center, buys bear spray, opens it up to demo to his friends how it works, and don’t you know, he releases the safety and sprays it right in the face of a woman, accidentally so he claims.”

Sam--  “Then what happened?”

Rob--  “Entire Mammoth Visitor Center had to be evacuated.  Cleared out for the rest of the day.  And then… there was the guest in her room in Old Faithful Inn.  She sees a mouse, gets out the spray, goes after the mouse with it, and damned if the entire Old Faithful Inn had to be evacuated.  A mouse!  Bear Spray!  Oh, now I’m started on this.  And there was an Asian tourist, comes up to the store counter with the bear spray, and asks how it works, do you spray it on yourself to repel the bears….”

Sam--  “Yeah, right… people don’t have sense… they think it’s foolproof.  Poof… spray it… bear disappears…  or, mouse disappears…easy.”

Rob--  “Right.  Take the wind… if it’s coming towards you, the wind I mean, then the spray’s gonna come right back into your face.”

Sam--  “And what does it do?  I mean, what’s in bear spray?”

Rob--  “Capu___... capusocin?… anyway, it’s some ingredient made from red pepper. The mucous membranes get all irritated.  I hear it’s pretty terrible.”

Sam--  “And it stops the bear cold, right?”

Rob--  “Not always, according to what I’ve heard.  Not all the time, anyway.  It varies.  Is it a griz or is it a black bear?  Is it a curious bear or an attacking bear?  Is it a mama griz defending her cubs?”

Sam--  “So… what does a hiker do?  Use it or not?  I mean, you don’t have time to think through all the variables and situations and stuff.  Use it or don’t use it.  Decide quickly.”

Rob--  “You got it.  Sums it up clear as mud.”

Sam--  “Do you have bear spray?”

Rob--  “Me?  What are you?  Ridiculous?”

Sam--  “Well, I mean… you’re always following around after bears, aren’t you?  I think I should get some.  You know, backup insurance and all… If that guy from Michigan had packed bear spray…”

Rob--  “You?  Carry bear spray?  You must be joking!”

Sam--  “No, this guy, this guy who got killed by the grizzly a few days ago… he’d be alive if he had been carrying bear spray.”

Rob--  “I heard that he definitely didn’t have any with him.”

Sam--  “Who told you?”

Rob--  “I overheard the recovery team jawing about it afterwards.  Seems they were upset after bringing out the body.  The way they talked, this guy wasn’t just killed by the griz, he was chewed on from head to foot and then dragged into the woods and partially buried.”    

Sam--  “So they didn’t find bear spray there?”

Rob--  “No.  They found his pack, but no bear spray.”

Sam--  “What are they going to do about these bears?  Can’t they move them to some other area?”

Rob--  “Humans are already everywhere else using the land, or else the land isn’t useable habitat for bears, or there are already too many bears there.  Yellowstone’s one of the last place for them.  And people seem to want to see them, to know they’re there.”

Sam--  “But I want to feel safe when I’m out in the woods.”

Rob--  “Well, you’re just a squirrel, you can’t be toting around a can of bear spray.  Besides, the bears want you to keep burying those whitebark pine nuts so they can dig ‘em up and eat ‘em.” 

[And with that remark, the raven flew off, sniffing the air for a carcass, calling kuh-WHAK, kuh-WHAK, kuh-WHAK, and the squirrel returned to running up the trunk of the whitebark pine, cutting loose pine cones to drop on the forest floor, then zooming to the ground, extracting the seeds, and caching them nearby.  Squirrel knew that grizzlies would thieve about half of his cache, so he knew to work extra long days gathering enough for winter.]

Grizzly attack--the aftermath...article from local newspaper

[  Please start reading at the first post, which is several posts below.  ]
Michigan man is second to be killed by a Yellowstone grizzly this summer

CARLY FLANDRO, Bozeman Chronicle Staff Writer | Posted: Tuesday, August 30, 2011

John Wallace was unmistakably a man who loved nature.

On nice days, he often wished aloud that he were someplace hiking, rather than working at the Portage Lake District Library in Houghton, Mich.

But the library had a waterfront view of the Portage Waterway, where several times a week a boat would pass by, carrying tourists to the nearby Isle Royale National Park. Each time Wallace heard the boat’s horn, he would watch it from the library windows until it was out of sight.

“He was longing to be on that boat going back out to Isle Royale,” said Jay Fedorocko, the library’s business manager.

But Wallace, 59, won’t be standing by those windows anymore.

Last week, his body was found along Yellowstone National Park’s Mary Mountain Trail. Park officials confirmed Monday that he was killed by a grizzly bear — marking the second fatal bear attack in Yellowstone this summer.

“Two bear-caused human injuries in a year has become rare, let alone fatal attacks,” said park spokesman Al Nash. “We haven’t seen any significant changes that we could point to that might help us understand why this has occurred.”

Nobody witnessed the attack, so Nash said it’s “just not possible for us to determine why this bear attacked Mr. Wallace.”

Wallace, of Chassell, Mich., a small city in the Upper Penninsula off Lake Superior, was discovered Friday morning by two hikers. He was traveling alone and had pitched a tent at the Canyon Campground sometime Wednesday. Officials believe the attack likely occurred sometime Wednesday or Thursday.

Park officials are setting traps in hopes of catching the grizzly that killed Wallace. If one is caught, the park will analyze its DNA to determine if it was the same bear involved in the attack. At that point, Nash said there would be “a very serious discussion” to determine what to do with the bear.

“We aren’t even there yet,” Nash said.

Local biologists have also been left to guess at what caused this grizzly’s deadly behavior.

“It’s just one of those rare things where we’ll probably never know why,” said Kerry Gunther, a bear management biologist for the park.

He said it’s been a good food year for bears. And besides these fatalities, there has been only one other conflict in the park involving bears. In that case, a grizzly was euthanized for aggressively approaching and charging a man.

Gunther did note, however, that more people are living in and moving to the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and park visitation has been increasing. Plus, over the past decade, the bear population has increased by about 4 to 7 percent. Currently, about 600 bears live in the ecosystem.

“More bears, more people, more interactions,” Gunther said.

On July 6, 57-year-old Brian Matayoshi was killed by a grizzly sow. He’d been hiking with his wife on the Wapiti Lake trail near Canyon Village when the two happened upon the bear, which was with cubs. Park officials determined the attack was defensive rather than predatory and did not attempt to capture that bear.

Last summer, a sow with three cubs ravaged the Soda Butte Campground near Yellowstone National Park and killed Kevin Kammer of Grand Rapids, Mich. Two others were injured. The bear was captured and euthanized, and its cubs were taken to a zoo.

Kevin Frey, a bear specialist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, also noted that the increasing use of backcountry areas is coinciding with a growing grizzly population.

“The thing we have to admit or realize is that the potential for bear-human encounters is going to increase,” he said. “The situation last year and this year we hope is not a continual thing.”

He and Nash said their respective agencies will continue working to educate the public, but they have not considered changes in policy because of the fatalities.

Outside the park this year, a grizzly bear attacked and injured two hikers in the Deer Creek area near Big Sky, and another grizzly was euthanized in July for “frequenting” a private campground near West Yellowstone.

While those in the Yellowstone area work to understand why this bear attacked, those in Michigan are still shocked by their loss.

Fedorocko said the library where Wallace was a maintenance worker has a small staff of 15. They plan to close the library the day his services are held and are considering the possibility of a memorial garden for Wallace. The garden would go between the building and the waterway.

Fedorocko said he remembers Wallace, who was married with no children, as a man who loved to be in the outdoors, to garden and cook, and who adored his dog. But he said Wallace’s death is still sinking in.

“I can’t believe it’s actually happened,” Fedorocko said. “Somebody I talked to last week is not here and won’t be here again.”

Grizzly Bear Attack--three

[  Please start reading at the first post, which is several posts below.  ]

Date: August 29, 2011

U.S. Department of the Interior

Yellowstone National Park

P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2011            11-090  
Al Nash or Dan Hottle (307) 344-2015  

---------------------------------------------------------
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK NEWS RELEASE
---------------------------------------------------------

Identity Of Dead Hiker Released

A 59-year old man has been identified as the hiker found dead on a trail in Yellowstone National Park on Friday.

John Wallace was from the community of Chassell, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

His body was discovered Friday morning by two hikers along the Mary Mountain Trail. The twenty-one mile long trail crosses the center of Yellowstone, connecting the west and east sides of the lower portion of the

Grand Loop Road

.

Wallace was discovered along the trail, about five miles west of the Hayden Valley trailhead, which is off the Grand Loop road between Mud Volcano and Canyon Junction.

Wallace was traveling alone, and had pitched a tent in a park campground sometime Wednesday.

Rangers discovered signs of grizzly bear activity at the scene Friday afternoon, including bear tracks and scat.

Results from an autopsy conducted Sunday afternoon concluded that Wallace died as a result of traumatic injuries from a bear attack.

The Mary Mountain Trail, the Cygnet Lakes Trail, and the section of the Hayden Valley west of the

Grand Loop Road

have been closed to hikers.

Park rangers, wildlife biologists, and park managers continue their investigation of the incident.

Visitors are advised to stay on designated trails, hike in groups of three or more people, be alert for bears, make noise, carry bear spray, and not to run upon encountering a bear.

Hikers and backcountry users are encouraged to check with staff at park visitor centers or backcountry offices for updated information before planning any trips in the central portion of the park.

 - www.nps.gov/yell -

Death of a hiker--two

Date: August 27, 2011
Contact: Al Nash or Dan Hottle, 307-344-2015 National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior

Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
     
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2011            11-089     
Al Nash or Dan Hottle (307) 344-2015 ----------------------------------------------------
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK NEWS RELEASE
----------------------------------------------------


Hiker Found Dead Along Trail In Yellowstone

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of death of a hiker found along a trail in Yellowstone National Park.

Early Friday afternoon, a pair of hikers reported finding what they believed to be the body of a human male along the eastern section of the Mary Mountain Trail.

The twenty-one mile long trail runs between Hayden Valley and the Lower Geyser Basin in the central section of the park.

Park rangers responding to the scene found the deceased victim along the trail about 5 miles west of the Hayden Valley trailhead.

There were signs of grizzly bear activity at the scene. Nothing uncovered so far allows for a conclusive cause of death, which apparently occurred on Wednesday or Thursday.

The identity of the victim, a male approximately 60 years of age from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, is being withheld pending notification of family members.

An aerial search of the area Saturday morning failed to turn up any current bear activity.

The Mary Mountain Trail, the Cygnet Lakes Trail, and the section of the Hayden Valley west of the

Grand Loop Road

have been closed to hikers.

Park rangers, wildlife biologists, and park management are continuing the investigation and discussing management options as more details emerge.

Park visitors are advised to stay on designated trails, hike in groups of three or more people, be alert for bears, make noise, carry bear pepper spray, and not to run upon encountering a bear.

Hikers and backcountry users are encouraged to check with staff at park visitor centers or backcountry offices for updated information before planning any trips in the central portion of the park.

 - www.nps.gov/yell -

Death in Yellowstone--one

By now you've no doubt heard about the man who was killed by a grizzly bear a few days ago here in Yellowstone.  Only a bare minimum of information was shared, leaving a big gap in one's mind that the human wants and needs to fill.  Here in the next few posts is some more info for you.

         Paul

Return

July 18, 2011

The town of Gardiner hugs the banks of the Yellowstone River at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Montana, just downstream from where the Gardner River pours its turbulent, muddy waters into those of the wider, fiercer, eponymous Yellowstone that eventually co-mingles with the Missouri River near Buford, North Dakota, and flows from thence to join with the Mississippi just north of St. Louis.  Gardiner is, and always has been, a jumping off point for venturing into Yellowstone National Park.  Named for Johnson Gardner, a fur trapper who explored the area in 1830-31, it was born in the 1870s from the fervor of a few entrepreneurs catering to the tourist business and was officially incorporated in 1880. 

It is a town beset with contradictions.  They begin with its name.  The Gardner River, yet the town of Gardiner, traced to confusion and misunderstanding and a forgetting of its early explorer Johnson Gardner.  U.S. 89, a well-paved smooth highway, brings tourists down from Interstate 90 at Livingston, through the achingly beautiful Paradise Valley, then into Yankee Jim Canyon, and ends at the junction of

2^nd Avenue South

and

Park Street

in Gardiner, Park County, Montana, USA. 

Park Street

is officially within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park and is very occasionally patrolled by National Park Service rangers.  Step out inebriated from a bar on

Park Street

and one steps into the jurisdiction of enforcement rangers who have absolutely no patience with silliness or safety violations.  Step outdoors anywhere else in town and the grip of law is nonexistent.  Drive onto

Park Street

and one rolls along a stretch of road  well-paved, well-maintained, and generally well-ordered.  Travel on most other streets in Gardiner give hints of past paving projects and offer evidence of a slow devolution of asphalt back to gravel, dirt, and potholes.  The homes lining these streets can, for the most part, be charitably described as “modest,” while those that rest on the nearby slopes of Sheep Mountain to the northeast bespeak wealth and the privilege of breathtaking views.  The few attempts of residents and businesses to brighten the sere, brown, dusty landscape of Gardiner with flowerboxes, small well-watered patches of lawn, and other signs of life are a welcome contrast to the eye.  Shade from trees is rare.  Shrubbery growing here and there in a haphazard attitude has been chosen with the purpose of being resistant to nibbling from the hungry mouths of elk, deer, and bison who in winter increase the town’s population tenfold. 

Gardiner is the jumping off point for pleasuring oneself in the delights of nature and the nurture of singing streams, superb mountain views, and the amazing,  intoxicating intermingling of geysers, waterfalls, fumeroles, hot springs, and the richest display of wildlife outside the Serengeti.  Gardiner lives off the blood of those who come to Yellowstone to immerse themselves in the magic of spaces that remain undefiled, places where one can wander wild, experiences that bring back the wonder of the child, a landscape that constantly leaves one beguiled.

When I last left Gardiner, it was late in the afternoon of a short winter day in February, just a few short months ago.  The temperature was 5^o, the light was soft yet sharply angled, and I was eager to return home to western Pennsylvania, following a volunteer stint of four weeks at the NPS’ research library and archives.  And now today, as I approach once again the elusive magic of this place of power and redemption, it is 95 ^o on a mid-July afternoon.  The light is so bright that the eyes hurt with an intensity suggesting migraine.  The landscape of snow and ice and bison and elk is replaced by fields and dust and automobiles and tourists.  A sense of anticipatory bewilderment is in the air as people wander about, pose for pictures at Roosevelt Arch, and search for something they cannot name or photograph.

Gardiner is just as I remember it, except for the fact that the day is about 90 degrees warmer than when I departed, another contradiction, a suggestion of the extreme polarity that is at its core. Also evident is the disappearance of the animals.  No bison roaming the streets, not a single deer leaping across the little streets in front of cars, nor any elk attempting to get a little nourishment from scruffy yard shrubbery.  And yet, the population has grown considerably.  I stop in the town grocery store that I like so much, North Entrance Food Farm—with its amazing selection for such a small town—and am stunned to see it bustling:  full parking lot, crowded aisles, and scores of young tourist-looking sunburned faces searching for caviar, pâté, and Côtes du Rhône.  Welcome to Yellowstone’s busy border town in high summer. 

So, here I am, mid-July 2011, and my new adventure begins.

Waiting For A Ride

I recently mentioned Gary Snyder and his film with Jim Harrison, THE ETIQUETTE OF FREEDOM.  I watched it again last night, first time I've seen it since I saw it on the big screen in New York City last November.  Damn, I do love that film for the energy/essence of Snyder it conveys.  I laughed out loud several times. One poem he read I particularly want to share with you:  "Waiting For A Ride"

You can hear Snyder read this poem by following this link Gary Snyder interview in Minnesota Public Radio  On this page, look on right side, under Audio, for Gary Snyder reads Waiting For A Ride.

And here's the text... but do listen to the meter of his voice reading his work.  It does make all the difference.

Standing at the baggage, passing time:
Austin, Texas, airport–my ride hasn’t come yet.
My former wife is making Web sites from her home,
one son’s seldom seen,
the other and his wife have a boy and girl of their own.
My wife and stepdaughter are spending weekdays in town
so she can get to high school.
My mother, ninety-six, still lives alone and she’s in town, too,
always gets her sanity back just barely in time.
My former former wife has become a unique poet;
most of my work,
such as it is       is done.
Full moon was October 2nd this year,
I ate a mooncake, slept out on the deck,
white light beaming through the black boughs of the pine,
owl hoots and rattling antlers,
Castor and Pollux rising strong–
--it’s good to know that the polestar drifts!
That even our present night sky slips away;
not that I’ll see it.
Or maybe I will, much later,
some far time walking the spirit path in the sky,
that long walk of spirits–where you fall right back into the
“narrow painful passageway of the Bardo”
squeeze your little skull
and there you are again

waiting for your ride

–Gary Snyder

A Poem For You, from Robert Penn Warren, via David Quammen

Last evening I lay snug in bed, propped up by sofa cushion and pillows, reading again from one of my favorite authors, David Quammen, and his book The Boilerplate Rhino <click for more info>  Last night's essay was about two writers, Jim Harrison and Robert Penn Warren.  Harrison has come to my attention only recently, in association with Gary Snyder.  They appeared live in NYC last November when I was there and I was fortunate enough to be able to see and hear them re:  <The Etiquette of Freedom>, the release of the film that accompanies the book by the same name.  Warren I have known of vaguely for much of my life but after reading Quammen's tribute to him last evening, I feel cheated out of so much insight and beauty for so much of my life.  Is it too late to get acquainted?  I'm going to find out.... 

Turns out, Quammen was one of Warren's students, and later lived a short while with the Warren family, and later still became friends with RPW. 

Here is a RPW poem that Quammen writes he would want to have with him above any other book or writing if he were lost on the proverbial desert island.  As for myself, in recognition, it takes my breath away.

                                 Grackles, Goodbye

Black of grackles glints purple as, wheeling in sun-glare,
The flock splays away to pepper the blueness of distance.
Soon they are lost in the tracklessness of air.
I watch them go. I stand in my trance.

Another year gone. In trance of realization,
I remember once seeing a first fall leaf, flame-red, release
Bough-grip, and seek, through gold light of the season’s sun,
Black gloss of a mountain pool, and there drift in peace.

Another year gone, And once my mother’s hand
Held mine while I kicked the piled yellow leaves on the lawn
And laughed, not knowing some yellow-leaf season I’d stand
And see the hole filled. How they spread their obscene fake lawn.

Who needs the undertaker’s sick lie
Flung thus in the teeth of Time, and earth’s spin and tilt?
What kind of fool would promote that kind of lie?
Even sunrise and sunset convict the half-wit of guilt.

Grackles, goodbye! The sky will be vacant and lonely
Till again I hear your horde’s rusty creak high above,
Confirming the year’s turn and the fact that only, only
In the name of Death do we learn the true name of Love.

— Robert Penn Warren, from New and Selected Poems 1923-1985 (Random House, 1985)

I leave you in silence to ponder what this stirs within you.

Where I work--more

More on the HRC, where I am volunteering.  It is an affiliate of the National Archives and Record Center, which is very prestigious, and a recognition of the valuable and unique materials available here.  So, what’s available here?  I’ll break it into two:  the archives and the library, though the distinction isn’t as clear cut as one might ordinarily think.  Archives are generally those materials which are unique to the holding institution and are held in a secure, non-public, non-lending status.  And Yellowstone’s HRC has a rich collection of these.  I can’t go beyond the surface, the surface being what I’ve been working on for the archives area.  My first task was to go through two or three boxes of miscellaneous documents, the kind of documents that in our 2011 world of e-mail, e-documents, and e-publishing one would expect to be e-lek-tron-ick.  These, however, were assorted papers from the 1980s and 1990s:  memos, conference proceedings, reports of avalanche prevention operations (usually, detonating explosives at Sylvan Pass as a preventative for severe, unpredictable avalanches would could bury people and cars alive), procurements and requisitions, personnel disciplinary communication (for example:  Adam Baker, said NPS rank 55-1-A-b: DE, was found to be negligent in the operation of government property, namely a 1987 Ford Econoline serial no. (blah, blah, blah) and similar sundry colorless pounds of paperwork.  Said similar such communications would today be in emails, PDFs, and websites.  But, it is the job of the archives to inventory donations from Yellowstone NPS offices of any said such [sic] paraphernalia.  And so that task was saved for volunteer Paul, who happily dived into the piles of paper and listed said such stuff into official NPS Excel files.  It was fun, and thankfully didn’t go on for days and days. 

From that task I moved into the dreaded “black albums.”  Not that I found them dreaded.  The task was (and is, and will be) to list the data contained in each album, in a Word-based template system.  I am enjoying this (as many of the old photos are fascinating), but the job would become dreaded if it were to last an entire eight hour day, followed by several more eight hour days of it. Fortunately, the staff are very kind and they allow me to switch back and forth between projects every couple of hours.  I do have another project besides the black alums (see below…).

So, what are the black albums?  Reasonable question.  They are numerous, perhaps forty to fifty of them, and they contain black and white reproduction photos of Park fauna (and probably flora) from the 1920’s through the early 1950’s.  Who put them together and why is an unknown to me.  Whenever, why-ever, and whom-ever did it did a loving, painstaking piece of work.  Are you old enough to remember the soft, thick, (almost furry) black construction paper-like pages that were used in photo scrapbooks in the 1940’s and 1950’s?  Yes?  Then you can begin to visualize these albums. 

Wait—there is more, much much more.  Each album might have upwards of one hundred twenty pages in it.  And each page might hold between six and twelve photos, most of them 3”x5” or so.  Most of the photos were pasted (ouch!) onto the furry black paper (rather than the old-fashioned black photo corners being used), and beneath each photo was a description that had been typed (yep, you can just see those flying letters, overstrikes, etc) onto a piece of paper which was then cut down to size and pasted below the photo.  Each description consists of a photo I.D. number, description of the photo, name of photographer, location in the park where taken, and date or year it was taken.  Simple, eh?  Maybe not so….

§           Each photographer (most often a ranger) used his own I.D. system, totally separate from that of any other photographer

§           Usually the last name of the photographer was given:  Oberhansley, for example, but occasionally the photographer was designed by initials only, as in F.R.O.  for Frank R. Oberhansley.  How to determine for my inventory who exactly FRO is……?

§           The place described might be Mammoth, Grebe Lake, etc.  Pretty clearcut.  But then, I know a little bit about Yellowstone place names and once in a while a strange one appeared.  For example, Madison Junction Lake.  Well, certainly there’s a Madison Junction here in Yellowstone, and in my history books of the Park I found that there is a Madison Lake, which is nowhere close to Madison Junction.  But… there’s no Madison Junction Lake.  So, how to determine for my inventory what exactly MJL is…..?

§           The wonderous news in my work is that Yellowstone National Park has an official historian, and said official historian resides (8 to 4 or so) in the same HRC building in which I volunteer.  Said historian is Lee Whittlesey.  Said historian has a fascinating memory for facts, names, places, people, and events which have been associated with Yellowstone.  So, whenever I have a question about spelling, initials, place names, etc etc, I walk over to Lee’s office, pop my head in, and try to stump him.  Haven’t succeeded yet….  This man is amazing, and is fun to talk with, and… he has the greatest collection of wildlife cartoons ever taped to the inside of his office door.  More about that later….

§           In addition to the photographer’s I.D. number, the National Park Service assigns a modern inventory number to each object owned by it.  This number is merely a randomly generated number; in other words, it signifies nothing about the subject, date, etc—only the Park which owns it.  For all of the items owned within Yellowstone begin with YELL.  Everything gets a YELL number, including the refrigerators and ranges in the kitchen of the Utah Dormitory where I’m living.  In my work through each black album, if a photo does not already have a YELL numbe assigned, I have to assign one.  It is exciting.  I am a little cog in the wheel of bureaucratic accessioning and record-keeping.  And I truly am grateful for the opportunity to be here, in this Park, in this moment, assigning YELL numbers to historic photographs.

The black albums tend to be organized by animal/theme.  I have done deer, elk, mountain lion, Bighorn sheep, beaver, Trumpeter swan, etc etc.  Some of the photos in these black albums are totally shockingly outrageous.  Case in point:  mountain lion.  Most of those photos are of mountain lions, within the Park, being treed by dogs and shot, or photos of their bodies.  Shot!  Within the sacred boundaries of the national park.  Shot!  And other photos show a stuffed mountain lion from the museum which has been taken out into its natural environment, set up, and photographed.  A stuffed mountain lion photographed in its native environment.!!!  Do you see a problem here?  The painful truth is that perspectives and practices in wildlife management-preservation have changed.  As you know, before they were re-introduced to Yellowstone in 1995-96, wolves were eliminated from Yellowstone in the early 1920’s.  Eliminated with the cooperation and efforts of NPS staff. 

And here are three painfully sad photos I saw and catalogued in one of the black albums:



Wolf pups captured in Yellowstone National Park 1923



Chief Ranger Sam Woodring with wolf puppies captured in 1923



Chief Ranger Sam Woodring with wolf puppies captured in 1923

Here you are casting eyes upon undoubtedly the last live wolves in Yellowstone National Park, until their re-introduction in 1995.  It is a known fact that shortly after these three photos were taken, these wolf puppies were put to death.

Practices change.  Perspectives change.  At one time, it was the government's view that it was doing a good service to people, plants, animals, and our future as a planet to eliminate the wolf from Yellowstone. 

Just as practices change with wolves, so they change with everything:  American Indians, gay/lesbian people, blacks, infidels....  It's sobering to realize that what government and public opinion supports today may be and likely will be considered horrific and unthinkable fifty or one hundred years from now.  There's an entire book to be written about this....  but not here, today, in On Mountain Trails.

Back to barking, soon....

More shots from the lost weekend

An old NPS cabin that's been moved to Old Faithful area

Majestic--in case you can't read the fuel door

Can you see all the layers of snow that came down, one by one, over the past few months?

The hottest spot in town in July and August

Gas log fireplace at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge

I'm always a sucker for a warm fire, comfy chair, good book, and a cold beer.  This is the life.

Photoz frum my weak-end in Old Faithful

Last weekend at Old Faithful was a great, relaxing time.  Here are a few shots from the journey...

A warm drink on a cold day is always welcome--Norris Warming Hut

A mild day except for the wind

Norris has HEATED flush-toilet restrooms!!!

A classic 1950's Bombedier that is well-maintained--much faster than our Chevy Van snowcoach

Still on the road to O.F.

See the guys clearing the snow off the roof--they've done the left side

O F I --closed for the season

My attention wandered for a minute and look, I lost my opportunity for a shot of the front end.  Somehow, the ass-end ain't nearly as interesting....

The new Visitor's Center that opened late Summer of 2010

I'd like to fool you into believing this is a wolf pawprint, but... it's a coyote

The latest Buffalo news

Bison management issues are a frequent part of daily converations here in the Mammoth-Gardiner area.  The fate of the Bison themselves seems to seesaw from execution to a stay of execution from day to day.  The latest steps are:

1.  The federal judge decided that the Bison slaughter could proceed  click to follow link to read about the judge's decision
2.  In less than a day, the Governor of Montana effectively blocked the slaughter from beginning by issuing an executive order  Montana Governor Schweitzer's Executive Order

So, for now, the fate of the Bison is on hold.  If you really want to understand the issue of Yellowstone Bison, take a look at this excellent annual publication from the NPS and Yellowstone Association, Yellowstone Resources and Issues  Yellowstone Resources and Issues 2010: Animal Management Issues  scroll through this PDF to page 165 for some very clear information on why there is a slaughter every year.  It will put things into much better perspective.

And now, for a different perspective, I offer you this outrageous, insightful, right-on article titled  Is Gardiner, Montana the Selma, Alabama of Wildlife Conservation   Please read and share this excellent piece.  Congrats, Michael Leach!

Where I work

I realized the other day that I haven't really writeen much about my volunteer gig here in the Park.  People have said to me “What are you doing on your volunteer job?” and when I tell them, they find it interesting, so maybe you will as well.  If not, just skip down several paragraphs to the close--or turn on the TV.  I had posted a couple of links and will inswer them at the end of today’s post to help give you a better background. 

I am a volunteer at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center.  It is the second largest facility of its kind in the entire National Park Service system.  It is housed in a new, state-of-the-art, LEED-certified green building that sits at the edge of the town of Gardiner, Montana.  My drive to work from where I live at the Utah Dorm in the Upper Terraces of Mammoth is less than eight miles but takes close to thirty minutes:  curvy roads, animals on the road, Park speed limit of 45 miles per hour (due to blind curves I drive this about 30 mph most of the way), narrow road, rock slides, and the ugly fact that human beings as fallible as me are also driving on this road, coming towards me in the opposite direction around those curves.  And some of these people do hold cell phones as they drive.  I am a much better person than those folks because my car has a Bluetooth connection and so I can talk on my cell phone hands free.  Isn’t that special?  Besides being a good person for that reason, I am even more good because I volunteer thirty-two hours per week.  I am selfless, noble, and also interested in having a place to live here in Yellowstone rent-free for a month.  My volunteer time gives me such a place to live, a place with running water (that seldom freezes, even at 17^o below), generous heat and light, and a spacious well-equipped kitchen.  Oh, yes, and laundry facilities. 

But back to the topic at hand, which is not my living quarters but my volunteer job.  So, I volunteer thirty-two hours a week, Monday through Thursday, at a new, spacious, beautiful, and well-equipped facility called the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center.  Even though I have to drive out of the Park, into the edge of the town of Gardiner, MT, to get to the HRC, I drive back into the Yellowstone National Park boundary to get to the HRC.  This facility is the base of operations for three different functions:  library, archives, and museum.  And I have been exposed to tasks in all three areas.  It is a secure facility, meaning that I have a badge and code that gets me into the building before hours, and that can gain me entry into very secure areas.  Secure also because cameras are positioned in numerous places which continuously record activity.  And secure as well due to the fact that no one may enter the library or archives with any bags, boxes, backpacks, or even with a pen.  All note-taking done by staff or public is with pencil.  The library is open to the public, but the archives area is closed except to researchers who make previous appointments. 

I will start with the museum because that’s perhaps the easiest to describe.  Furniture and light fixtures and textiles from old hotel and other properties within YNP are housed in the museum, which by the way is not open to the public.  A large part of the museum is housed six miles away, at Mammoth, in a building shared with the recycling facility for Yellowstone.  It houses the antique vehicle collection:  Tally-Ho stagecoaches, other horse-drawn wagons,  early motorized vehicles (including the famed White Motor Company tour coaches), and fire-fighting vehicles that saw their last use during the catastrophic 1988 fires.  Perhaps the most important, or at least most interesting part of the museum collection is the artwork, principally two-dimensional paintings.  Most of us know at least vaguely of the work of Thomas Moran, and here in the museum I have laid eyes upon some of Moran’s original watercolor sketches that he did while on the 1871 Hayden Expedition of discovery into the Yellowstone area, along with Thomas Henry Jackson original prints and negatives.  These watercolors and photographs helped convince the U.S. Congress that Yellowstone’s wonders were not imagined or exaggerated and that they were national treasures worthy of protection and preservation.  The museum also holds the bones of several animals of note from the Park.  And, it holds ceremonial beadwork and other crafts from native American tribal nations that lived in or frequently visited the area, including a few items that in accordance with tribal practice, only men are allowed to view.  The HRC keeps a muslin cloth covering the item, so that the women who work there do not violate tribal customs.

For more info on the HRC, take a look at:

http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/collections.htm

More on the HRC coming soon, including the archives and the library!