Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MANAGING NATURAL RESOURCES
During its formative years, the National Park Service in Yellowstone racked up a - shall we
say - checkered history. It poisoned predators, shot wolves, stocked fisheries with nonen-
demic species, destroyed habitat in the name of development and arranged bear-feeding
displays, all of which contributed to the development of an artificial and ultimately unsus-
tainable ecology. Modern managers now openly admit that many early park policies were
misguided.
Beginning in 1959 with John and Frank
Craighead's pioneering studies of Yellowstone's
grizzly population, the NPS emphasized sci-
entific study of its natural resources. The land-
mark
Leopold Report
, published in 1963, sug-
gested that 'a national park should represent a
vignette of primitive America.' The report con-
cluded that a more passive 'natural regulation'
regime should replace past policies biased toward hands-on resource manipulation.
A major test of that policy, and Yellowstone's most famous recent event, was the sum-
mer fire season of 1988, when one-third of the park went up in smoke as 25 fires raged
through the park for 3½ months. Over 25,000 firefighters were drafted in to battle the
flames at a cost of $120 million and TV anchors proclaimed 'the death of Yellowstone Na-
tional Park.' The event cast a critical spotlight on the park service's policy of letting natural
fires burn. Twenty-five years on, a mosaic of meadows and new-growth forest has rejuven-
ated the park. Regardless of our instinctive desire to protect the park, fire is in fact essential
to replenish the poor soils of the Yellowstone plateau, and Yellowstone is a healthier place
for it.
Controversy continues to reign over Yellowstone. Battles over the ever-decreasing num-
bers of snowmobiles allowed to enter the park and delisting of the grizzly bear's en-
dangered status in 2007 ricocheted through the courts in the first decade of the millennium.
Born out of the contradictions inherent in its mandate of both preservation and utilization,
Yellowstone's controversies are likely to twist and turn for some time to come.
YOGI BEAR
Jellystone's Yogi Bear, Ranger Smith and Boo-Boo
were all inspired by Yellowstone National Park,
with a little help from baseball star Yogi Berra.
TIMELINE
9000 BC− AD 1870
