Odds & Ends

Burnt Trees

More Visitors

Armed Conflict

Bear Woes
Tom's In Town

.. The fire closure in the burned area of the Madison Arm Fire has been lifted.

Even though the lands within the closure area are now open under normal travel restrictions, the public is asked to use caution and watch for trees weakened by the fire that may fall during a wind storm. . . . Billings Gazette

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.. Visitor numbers continue to rise at Yellowstone.

Park officials reported an 11.8 percent jump in the number of recreational visitors to Yellowstone in August compared with last year. In all, 710,781 people came to the park last month. . . . Billings Gazette

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.. With the additional visitor crowding comes more strife. This is so common now that it does not even rate a press release or a note in the morning report, (although former employee arrests are noted.) Kind of like vagrancy on the National Mall.

During the initial stages of the standoff, the three men alternated between yelling obscenities and threats of violence and repeatedly entering and exiting their vehicles. One shouted that “someone is going to die tonight;” . . . Desert USA Blog

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.. With the increased Grizzly longevity and recent population growth, the trophic cascade has begun to push the black bears around. The resulting human bear conflicts have led to the euthanasia and/or relocation of several bears this year, (1,2.) This is happening all over the Northwestern United States - - look for it to continue.

Fortunately, there is a place for chubby bears outside of the Chicago offensive line or the Gay Pride parade. . . . Crosscut

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.. Growing awareness of the Y2Y concept is creeping into news sources and reports.

Nature knows no borders, and if humans want to preserve animal species that straddle two nations, they need to ensure that habitats are seamless. The wildlife-corridor concept addresses this challenge. . . . Crosscut

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.. There is a photo exhibit currently at the Burke Museum in Seattle that highlights the Y2Y concept. It's called "Freedom To Roam and will run until December 31, 2007. There is a spectacular photographic preview on the museum's web page.

The great Rocky Mountain landscapes are a treasure for the world. In them, I see what we in Europe have lost. I don't want that to happen here. — Florian Schulz, photographer

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.. Fishing with friends is newsman T. Brokaw.

The Return Of Yellowstock

Infrequent though the posts are, they continue to inform us of things we should have seen here first. Welcome back Yellowstock.
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-- We're a bit late on this, but it deserves mention: Dirk Kempthorne has been doing a competent, (albiet low profile job,) in his post as Secretary of Interior. We were skeptical, however he has again surprised us by requesting the listing of Polar Bears as a threatened species.
-- It is even more surprising because of this quote from the USFWS page:

"Department of the Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced that the Fish and Wildlife Service will propose listing the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The primary threat to polar bears is the decrease of sea ice coverage due to climate change."

-- The press release can be viewed HERE.
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-- The Helena Independent lets us know that a group of 41 bison was hazed into Yellowstone National Park from nearby Church Universal and Triumphant lands

Yellowstone Cougars Have Plague

A WORD TO THE WISE

.. A note released by NBC, (via Reuters,) lets us know that the cougars of Yellowstone, (and Grand Teton,) have BUBONIC PLAGUE.

"In a little more than a year, four area mountain lions have died from the disease and several domestic cats have tested positive, said Ken Mills, a professor of veterinary sciences who diagnosed the cats’ disease in his University of Wyoming laboratory."

.. We pass this on to those of you intending to pet the big cats that you see hunting in Yellowstone this winter .
.. Here's what to look for and how to look for it.

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... This is probably a good time to direct your attention to an older story by MSNBC about the heavy pressure that our parks are under. The story has a couple of nice (?) slide shows of the problems in our parks.

The Best Time For Yellowstone

VISIT NOW,
EVERYTHING'S CLOSED!

-- The official Yellowstone 'end of season' press release has a maudlin tone that suggests that the Yellowstone Experience has ended with the closing of trinket shops, gas stations, hotels, dining rooms, and the other non-wilderness accoutrement's of the park. Sad if you want your park on a platter. Less sad if you enjoy the place without traffic jams, idiot bicyclists, and waiting at an entrance station for the tour buses to get counted.

-- The road closure schedule is found HERE. A guide for winter planning is found HERE. It's good to plan ahead.

-- The continuing saga of elk escaping from game farms continues. A second escapee from a private hunting preserve in Idaho has caused some real soul searching. The intermarriage of 'hunting' elk and 'park' elk poses some concern about mixed up genes. It seems that domesticated parks and domesticated hunting is the National Trend. You can read about it in the Helena Independent Record.

-- A reevaluation of avalanche control has been completed and Yellowstone will change it's operating strategy for this procedure. As we noted previously, artillery is dangerous because of the residual unexploded shells. Controversy surrounds the new plan, and some see it as just one more example of GOVERNMENT PORK, in a time of dwindling budgets - according to the Missoulian. The AP story is rather straight forward, and the Helena Independent Record seems to favor it.

-- Back in May we reported on the Yellowstone Wolverine Study. It now seems that the little rascals may be getting a thorough review for listing as endangered. So little is known about these secretive animals that even counting them is difficult. The Lee News Service has an interesting article about the current state of affairs.

-- An encapsulated note in the Montana Standard details the status of large predators in our region. The perspective is interesting because it points out the amount of space needed for these animals. Most apropos of the topic is the fact that the population of the United States will reach 300,000,000 by sometime on Tuesday. This places us in third place - right behind China and India - "GO BREEDERS!"