Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The striking blue Steller's jay has a black crest, head and nape. Its grating 'ack-ack-ack'
is unmistakable. Although it consumes pine nuts, berries and insects, it's also an incorri-
gible scavenger and frequently raids camps for scraps.
Fish
Yellowstone Lake is at the heart of one of North America's most significant aquatic wil-
dernesses, home to 21 gilled species, including non- natives like rainbow trout, brown
trout, brook trout, lake trout, lake chub and a cutthroat-rainbow trout hybrid. Fish provide
critical forage for bears, waterfowl, otters and raptors throughout the ecosystem.
Yellowstone has more than 220 lakes and at
least a thousand streams. Yet when it became a
national park, 40% of its waters were fishless.
The stocking of some 310 million fish drastic-
ally altered the aquatic environment. Current
threats to Yellowstone's near-pristine aquatic
ecosystem include the illegal introduction of
predatory lake trout (the biggest culprits in the decline of endangered native cutthroat) in-
to Yellowstone Lake, and the invasion of New Zealand mud snails, which have been
found in densities of ½ million snails per square yard and crowd out native aquatic in-
sects. Invasive mussel species are also a threat.
Today 40 of the park's lakes are fishable, with native sport fish being catch-and-release.
It's worth watching cutthroat trout spawn in spring at the outlet of Yellowstone Lake at
Fishing Bridge and LeHardy's Rapids.
Plants of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National
Parks,
by Richard J Shaw (Wheelwright Press,
2000), is a well-illustrated introduction to the re-
gion's rich vegetation.
