Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
This area includes excellent places to see water-loving birds and large animals—the Hay-
den and Pelican Valleys and along the shores of Yellowstone Lake. Here the soil is better but
drainage is poor, creating marshy areas where trees don't do well. Grasses and sedges thrive
here and create a nourishing habitat for wildlife.
Trees and shrubs of the forests and lakeshores
What you'll see most of in the central plateaus are trees, mile upon mile of
lodge-pole pines
(Pinus contorta)
with trunks close together, tall and straight, their needles growing only near
the tops where they can reach sunlight. These trees got their name by serving as framework
for Native American Indian dwellings.
Lodgepole needles always grow in twos and are stiff and twisted. The reddish-brown cones
have short scales and a slender prickle. Some lodgepole cones (serotinous cones) can open
and release seeds only in the intense heat of a fire.
Grouse whortleberry
Under stands of lodgepole you may find
grouse whortleberry
(Vaccinium scoparium)
plants with tiny, fine leaves and white or pink hanging bells for flowers. The berries are a staple
of the diet of bears, birds, and small mammals.
There are only eight species of evergreens and three of deciduous trees in the park. This is
due to high altitude and poor soil, but also to the relatively short time that trees have had to
become established since the end of the last ice age—about 10,000 years.
You'll see
Engelmann spruce
(Picea engelmannii)
and
subalpine fir
(Abies lasiocarpa)
along the drive from West Thumb Junction to Fishing Bridge Junction. These species would
eventually dominate Yellowstone's forests if it weren't for the lodgepoles' superb adaptability
to fire. Check the cones and needles to tell these spruce and fir trees apart. Spruce cones hang
down from the branches. Their needles have sharp points but are relatively soft to the touch,
occur singly on the branch, and are square in cross-section. To remember that, notice that the
