YELLOWSTONE CENTER FOR RESOURCES

2000ANNUAL REPORT

RESOURCE

Information

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SPATIAL Analysis

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Resources

RESEARCH Support

YELLOWSTONE CENTERFOR RESOURCES

YELLOWSTONE

CENTER FOR RESOURCES

2000 ANNUAL REPORT

Yellowstone Center for ResourcesNational Park Service

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

YCR–AR–20002002

Trumpeter swans. Photo by Jennifer Whipple.

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Suggested Citation: Yellowstone Center for Resources. 2002. Yellowstone Center for ResourcesAnnual Report, 2000. National Park Service, Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, YCR–AR–2000.

Photographs not otherwise marked are courtesy of the National Park Service.

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Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................ iv

Part I. Resource Highlights ................................................................................ 1

Part II. Cultural Resource Programs ............................................................... 7Archeology ...................................................................................................... 8Ethnography .................................................................................................. 10History ........................................................................................................... 13Museum Collections ..................................................................................... 18Research Library and Archives ..................................................................... 23Other Projects ................................................................................................ 24

Part III. Natural Resource Programs ............................................................. 25Air, Land, and Water ..................................................................................... 25Aquatic Resources ........................................................................................ 26Geology and Geothermal Resources ............................................................. 33Vegetation ..................................................................................................... 39Wildlife Resources ........................................................................................ 42

Bears ....................................................................................................... 42Birds ....................................................................................................... 49Bison ....................................................................................................... 51Elk and Other Ungulates ........................................................................ 52Lynx ........................................................................................................ 53Wildlife Management and Monitoring ................................................... 53Wolves .................................................................................................... 57

Part IV. Yellowstone Center for Resources and Parkwide Support ............. 59Spatial Analysis Center ................................................................................. 59Resource Information .................................................................................... 62Research Support .......................................................................................... 63Funding and Personnel .................................................................................. 64

Appendix I. Personnel Roster for 2000 ........................................................... 67Appendix II. Publications, Reports, and Papers ............................................ 71

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Introduction

John D. VarleyDirector, Yellowstone Center for Resources

On May 2, 2000, the world’s tallest active geyser, Steamboat, erupted for the first time since October2, 1991. An eruption of Steamboat is always an exciting and historic event and seems a fitting way to cel-ebrate the first year of the new millennium for the Yellowstone Center for Resources (YCR).

The YCR experienced some major changes in leadership this year. Laura Joss accepted the position assuperintendent at Fort McHenry National Monument. Laura made great strides toward increasing the aware-ness and preservation of cultural resources in Yellowstone, and we acknowledge the important legacy sheleaves. The Branch of Cultural Resources is left in the capable hands of Sue Consolo Murphy, who will keepthe momentum going to fulfill this important part of the national park mission. Tom Olliff takes the helm asthe branch chief of natural resources. Tom’s longevity in the park, his depth of experience, and his dedicationto preserving park resources leave him well prepared to lead this branch.

Park archeologist Ann Johnson did a laudable job as acting branch chief of cultural resources, inaddition to overseeing the archeological inventory of 1,441 acres and the recording of 64 new sites this year.Cultural anthropologist Rosemary Sucec was reassigned from the regional office to be the liaison with the 24Native American tribes affiliated with the park, highlighting the park’s commitment to the cultural aspect ofthe Yellowstone story. In addition to this ethnographic work, several significant Euro-American oral historieswere completed. Park staff interviewed park rangers and scientists involved in ungulate management duringthe 1960s, when a major elk reduction program brought about the natural regulation experiment. Excerptsfrom these interviews were published in two issues of the park’s quarterly magazine, Yellowstone Science. Thepark archivist conducted an interview with former President Gerald S. Ford about his experience as a parkranger in 1936.

It was a good year in court for Yellowstone. Judges from the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appealsreversed the Wyoming District Court’s decision ordering wolves to be removed from the reintroduction area.In April, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed with prejudice a legal challenge toYellowstone’s “bioprospecting” benefits-sharing agreement with the Diversa Corporation. The NPS is initiat-ing a study to determine the environmental impacts of entering into such agreements in national parksthroughout the U.S. After more than eight years of negotiations and seven months of mediation betweenfederal agencies and the State of Montana, a joint management plan for bison was agreed to in December. Byallowing bison the opportunity to seek winter range outside the park, the plan reflects a commitment to endthe unnecessary killing of bison.

The year 2000 was another year of great successes and further challenges in preserving the naturaland cultural resources of the park. Five new native plant species were discovered, as well as six more exoticones. A 16-year-old whooping crane that had been nesting in Yellowstone died in March after colliding with apower line in Colorado. By the end of the year, only two whooping cranes remained in the Rocky Mountains.Yellowstone is a stronghold for the peregrine falcon, a species of special concern. Two new eyries were foundthis year, bringing the total to 16 and the number of fledglings to 29, the most ever recorded in the park. Inaddition, a new species was added to the park’s Field Checklist of Birds, the glossy ibis. This year, the lynxwas listed as a threatened species. Despite evidence that lynx have been present in Yellowstone, historicallyand currently, little has been done to document their numbers and distribution. The Yellowstone Park Founda-tion provided a grant to assist a lynx survey and fieldwork will begin in January 2001. As the year comes to aclose, it is clear that the search for species, and the search for knowledge in general, will continue at theYellowstone Center for Resources. From the beginning, Yellowstone has always represented the spirit ofdiscovery, and it always will.

Part I. Resource Highlights

ARCHEOLOGISTS DOCUMENT 9,300-YEAR-OLD SITE

In 2000, an archeological site documented in 1958 but not revisited by archeologists since revealed newinformation about old uses of the park. This summer, a volunteer crew from Wichita State University, underthe direction of Dr. Donald Blakeslee, re-identified a major site eroding on the shore of Yellowstone Lake.Following this initial work, a crew from the Museum of the Rockies spent four days at the newly dubbedOsprey Beach.

The single cultural horizon, 60 cm (two feet) below the present ground surface, was radiocarbon dated at7350+50 B.C. Drs. Ken Pierce of the U.S. Geological Survey and Paul Doss from Yellowstone interpreted thesoil profile as showing that early people camped on the then-extant shoreline of the lake. Archeologistsunearthed chipped obsidian tools and two “Cody knives,” named for a culture known as the Cody Complex.The knives are made of a dark green chert whose origin is the Absaroka volcanic rocks that line the park’seastern boundary across the lake. Obsidian tools found in the lakeshore site come from at least four places—Obsidian Cliff, a natural National Historic Landmark within the park; Teton Pass west of Jackson Hole; andtwo places in southeastern Idaho, indicating to park archeologist Dr. Ann Johnson that the people who campedon the lakeshore moved or traded across the region.

Of particular interest was the immunological analysis of eight artifacts (seven points and one abrader)for blood residue. Artifacts yielded blood residue from rabbits, sheep, deer, and an unidentified canid, amember of the dog family. Though there is as of yet no clear evidence to prove it, archeologists believe theCody Complex people hunted the now-extinct Bison antiquus, a species similar to the bison commonlyobserved in the park today.

The Osprey Beach site contains important information about early human use of the park and has thepotential to add to our understanding of the local environment some 9,300 years before present (B.P.). In2001, archeologists hope to put in several additional test units to better understand how much of the siteremains away from the lakeshore.

Tom Besom and Doug Mitchell from the Museum of the Rockies working at theOsprey Beach site.

2 Resource Highlights

WORLD’S TALLEST GEYSER SPOUTS

AGAIN

Around 6 A.M. on May 2, 2000, Steamboat, theworld’s tallest active geyser, erupted for the first timesince October 2, 1991. At around 7 A.M., a parkemployee spotted a tall vapor column as he nearedthe Norris Geyser Basin and, suspecting a possibleeruption, stopped to investigate. Two visitors whohad been sleeping in their truck at the Norris parkingarea stated that they were abruptly awakened by whatthey thought was an earthquake. By the time theemployee arrived, a heavy, wet mist enveloped mostof the area, and Steamboat was in full steam phase—emitting a tremendous roar, with a huge, visiblevapor plume approximately 500 feet tall. During amajor eruption, Steamboat’s water phase can reachheights of over 300 feet, lasting three to 40 minutes,and for 12 or more hours after, Steamboat thunderswith powerful jets of steam. In the twentieth century,eruption intervals of Steamboat varied from threedays (in 1989) to 50 years (between 1911 and 1961).

ADDITIONS TO PARK COLLECTIONS

In 2000, park staff completed an oral historyproject focussing on ungulate management in Yel-lowstone. Project leader Charissa Reid and assistantSally Plumb interviewed dozens of former parkrangers and scientists who had been actively involvedin ungulate management, particularly during the1960s when a major elk reduction program gave wayto implementation of the so-called “natural regula-tion” experiment. The project, funded through thepark’s Recreation Fee Demonstration Program,wrapped up with a luncheonhonoring former park biolo-gists Glen Cole and DouglasA. Houston, and with thepublication of two issues ofthe park’s YellowstoneScience magazine thatincluded several features andexcerpts from the oral historyinterviews. Publication of thatand an article in CulturalResources Magazine brought positive feedback fromparticipants, Yellowstone Park staff, and employeesin other NPS areas. In May, park archivist LeeWhittlesey conducted an interview with formerPresident Gerald S. Ford about his experiences as apark ranger in 1937. The oral history interviews havebeen transcribed and placed in the park archivescollection for use by present and future researchers.

Several notable museum objects were acquiredduring the year. A bronze sculpture, “Buffalo Charg-ing,” made by Avard Tennyson Fairbanks in 1911,was presented as a gift to the White House, fromwhere it was transferred to Yellowstone. Using fundsraised by the Yellowstone Park Foundation, the parkacquired the original stagecoach ledger kept by theYellowstone National Park Transportation Companyfrom 1892 to 1906. The ledger is an importantvolume long missing from the set of ledgers alreadyin the park archives. The curator successfully bidmore than $3,700 for the ledger on the eBay onlineauction service. Yellowstone Park Foundation fundsalso made possible the purchase of several diaries forthe archives and an 1884 photo album from an eastcoast collector documenting a guided horseback tripthrough Yellowstone. The archives gained throughdonation several valuable old volumes, and pur-chased buffalo keeper David W. Pierson’s collection,including his diary, letters, awards, and photographs.

Steamboat Geyser, May 2, 2000.

2000 Annual Report 3

10TH CIRCUIT COURT OVERTURNS

ORDER TO REMOVE WOLVES

On January 13, 2000, the Tenth Circuit of theU.S. Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado, issued itsruling on multiple appeals filed by parties concernedwith the reintroduction and management of graywolves. The original plaintiffs—including the Idaho,Montana, Wyoming, and American Farm BureauFederations and Cat and James Urbigkit—challengedhow the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fishand Wildlife Service, and other agencies used section10(j) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), regard-ing a “nonessential, experimental” population ofwolves in Yellowstone National Park and centralIdaho. In December 1997, the District Court forWyoming held that wolf reintroduction rules lessenedprotection for naturally occurring wolves (such asthose migrating south from Canada, or born in theGlacier National Park area) in the experimentalpopulation areas. The lower court judge ordered thatwolves be removed from the reintroduction areas, buthe immediately stayed his order pending appeal.

The three court of appeals judges found noconflict between the challenged experimental popula-tion rules and the ESA, and unanimously reversed thedistrict court’s order and judgment. The court ac-knowledged that occasional disperser wolves fromanother geographic area might enter areas in whichwolves designated as experimental populations exist,but determined that “the paramount objective of theEndangered Species Act [is] to conserve and recoverspecies, not just individual animals.” The opinionalso said that “the rules did not present complicatedlaw enforcement obstacles...the legal protectionafforded any particular wolf is clearly known,depending entirely on where the wolf is, not where itmight once have been.”

The court found that the Urbigkits’ claims thatwolf reintroduction influenced an existing populationof a distinct subspecies “boil down to a disagreementover scientific opinions and conclusions...[but]simply does not constitute a National Environmental

Policy Act viola-tion.... Agenciesare entitled to relyon their ownexperts so long astheir decisions arenot arbitrary andcapricious.”

LAKE TROUT REMOVAL

Although lake trout may have been illegallyplanted in Yellowstone Lake as long as 20 years ago,their presence was not confirmed until 1994, bywhich time they had become well-established in theWest Thumb area of the lake. Each mature lake troutcan consume 50 to 90 Yellowstone cutthroat trout ayear, and cutthroat trout numbers have been lower inrecent years than at any time during the 25-yearmonitoring effort. This could ultimately affect 42species of mammals and birds that feed on thecutthroat trout.

Since 1995, gillnetting hasremoved more than 27,000 laketrout from Yellowstone Lake,and the strategy forremoving as many laketrout as possible whileminimizing the by-catchof cutthroat trout has been con-tinually refined as more is learned aboutwhere the lake trout reside and spawn. Interms of the number of lake trout re-moved, the 2000 field season was the most successfulyet, with 12,792 lake trout captured by gillnetting andabout 250 by anglers. The catch rate (number of fishcaught per unit of effort) remained about the same,indicating that the netting effort may be preventingthe lake trout population from increasing. Theaverage size (and potential reproductive capacity) ofspawning lake trout has continued to decrease atknown spawning locations, and the lake trout mortal-ity goal of 50 percent appears to be nearly met in theWest Thumb/Breeze Channel portion of YellowstoneLake, where all of the known spawning grounds areand most of the adult lake trout reside. However, thegillnetting program will need to be expanded, be-cause juvenile lake trout have been found throughoutthe lake, and it is expected that new spawninggrounds will be established at other sites.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST COMES

TO YELLOWSTONE

In March 2000, Rosemary Sucec was reas-signed to Yellowstone from the NPS regional officein Denver, although she was still on a temporaryappointment. Her skills as a cultural anthropologistwere immediately put to use as she assumed respon-sibilities for being the park’s primary liaison with 24

West

Thumb

Yellowstone Lake


affiliated Native American tribes. She coordinatedgovernment-to-government consultations; tookopportunities to obtain information about parkethnographic resources for planning, resourcemanagement, and visitor education purposes; andcreated training opportunities for park staff.

In June, an interdisciplinary team of park staffincluding the cultural anthropologist visited a sampleof Nez Perce sites associated with their 1877 flightthrough Yellowstone. These sites have the potentialfor wayside interpretation. In September, in conjunc-tion with the annual meeting of the Nez PerceNational Historic Trail Foundation meeting in Cody,Nez Perce tribal members from Colville, Lapwai, andUmatilla visited four sites in the park: the LowerGeyser Basin at the Nez Perce Creek pullout, OtterCreek, Nez Perce Ford (formerly called BuffaloFord), and Indian Pond. At each site, Nez Percehistorians and elders relayed oral accounts of theflight and of customary use of the area by Nez Percebands. The Nez Perce-interpreted tour was video-recorded and is available upon request.

Also in June, members of the Coeur d’AleneTribe in Idaho visited Yellowstone Lake and itstributaries. The Coeur d’Alene have oral accounts ofmerchant families who traveled to Yellowstone toharvest rare materials subsequently used in trade andfor other purposes upon their return home. Theyacquired stone such as obsidian and items harvestedduring bison hunts. Tribal biologists and fisheriestechnicians came to observe spawning cutthroat troutin their native habitat. They gleaned technicalknowledge from park biologists that they hope willhelp the tribe sustain a viable population of westerncutthroat trout on reservation lands (including Coeurd’Alene Lake) and renew their tradition of subsis-tence fishing.

BIOPROSPECTING AGREEMENT

UPHELD

On April 12, 2000, the U.S. District Court forthe District of Columbia dismissed with prejudice alegal challenge to Yellowstone’s “bioprospecting”benefits-sharing agreement with the Diversa Corpora-tion of San Diego, California. The suit had beenbrought by the Edmonds Institute, the InternationalCenter for Technology Assessment, the Alliance forthe Wild Rockies, and a Bozeman, Montana, citizen.The 1997 agreement provided that Diversa wouldshare with Yellowstone specified economic andscientific benefits that might result from its researchactivities involved with microbes sampled from thepark’s geothermal features. Although collection ofbiological specimens from Yellowstone for researchpurposes dates to the 1890s, the Yellowstone-Diversaagreement (known as a Cooperative Research andDevelopment Agreement or CRADA) marked thefirst time that researchers agreed to share any result-ing benefits with the park for conservation purposes.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that the CRADAwas “consistent with the governing statutes because itwould produce direct concrete benefits to the park’sconservation efforts by affording greater scientificunderstanding of Yellowstone’s wildlife, as well asmonetary support for park programs.” The opinionrejected the plaintiffs’ allegations that the agreementviolated several park-related laws and regulations,and found that the CRADA “plainly constitutes anequitable, efficient benefits-sharing arrangement.”

As a result of a prior order from the same court,the NPS is initiating a study to determine the envi-ronmental impacts of establishing additional re-search-related benefits-sharing arrangements innational parks throughout the U.S.

Duncan Foley sampling hot spring temperatures.

Coeur d’Alene biologist Richard Allen with a cutthroat.


HISTORIC PROPERTIES RECOGNIZED

Yellowstone eval-uated several historicproperties for the Na-tional Register of HistoricPlaces in 2000. After theNational Park Servicetook over the administra-tion of Yellowstone fromthe U.S. Cavalry in 1917,it continued to use asystem of backcountrycabins built by the Armyto patrol for poachers. In1920, the NPS beganconstructing its own cabins, carefully designing themto harmonize with their surroundings. In 1930, thepark adopted a standardized cabin design, which wasused until World War II. A multi-year inventory ofsnowshoe or backcountry patrol cabins resulted in thedetermination that 15 of the park’s 38 cabins wereeligible for listing on the National Register.

In 1956, the National Park Service undertook aten-year development program to upgrade visitorservices across the nation. The plan, called “Mission66,” was designed to serve the needs of automobiletourists and bring facilities up to contemporarystandards. NPS architects abandoned the traditionalrustic park architecture and embraced a more modernbuilding style. Canyon Village was the first develop-ment constructed under the Mission 66 program andit was intended to showcase the program to theAmerican public. While planning a major rehabilita-tion of the Canyon Visitor Center, the park re-searched the history of Canyon Village and deter-mined that it was eligible for listing in the NationalRegister. The park also requested and receivedconsensus determinations of eligibility from theWyoming State Historic Preservation Officer forformer U.S. Bureau of Fisheries cabins at PealeIsland and Clear Creek, historic road bridges overOtter Creek and Tower Creek on the Grand LoopRoad, the Mammoth Hot Springs Campground, andthe Canyon Service Area Historic District.

AGREEMENT REACHED ON JOINT

MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR BISON

After more than eight years of negotiation andseven months of mediation between three federal

Bison at thermal pool on Geyser Hill. Photo by JenniferWhipple.

agencies and the State of Montana, a joint manage-ment plan for bison in Yellowstone was agreed to inDecember. The controversy over bison that migrateout of the park in the winter goes back more thanthree decades, when culling ended and more bisonbegan seeking winter range at lower elevationsoutside the park. This land is part of the bison’straditional range, but it includes national forest andprivate property where the animals may come incontact with domestic cattle. Bison entering Montanahave been shipped to slaughter or shot because theymay carry brucellosis, which could be transmitted tocattle. In the severe winter of 1996–97, when anunusually large number of bison left the park insearch of forage, more than 1,000 were killed.

An interagency effort involving the NationalPark Service and the USDA Forest Service andAnimal and Plant Health Inspection Service resultedin the release of a plan and Environmental ImpactStatement (EIS) for long-term bison management inYNP and Montana in June 1998. About 67,500 publiccomments were received and analyzed in the finalEIS released in August 2000. On December 20, thefederal agencies agreed on a joint management plan


that is a slightly altered version of the plan presentedin the FEIS. The State of Montana incorporated theFEIS into its own FEIS for bison management andsigned their Record of Decision on December 22,which implements the same joint management planas that agreed to by the federal agencies. By allowingbison the opportunity to seek winter range outside thepark, the plan reflects a commitment on the part ofthe agencies to end the unnecessary killing of bisonoutside the park. The agencies also agreed to increaseimplementation of non-lethal management measuresshould severe winter conditions result in a largemanagement removal or natural winter die off. Bisonwill not be allowed to intermingle with cattle and willbe hazed back into the park when winter weathertypically moderates in the spring.

GREATER YELLOWSTONE AREA PARKS

BEGIN INVENTORY EFFORT

Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parksand Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area willsoon benefit from a servicewide initiative to improvebaseline inventories of natural resources. The threeparks, combined as the greater Yellowstone network,submitted a plan to complete priority inventory workfor vertebrates and vascular plants in the region. Aninventory coordinator will be hired and, thoughstationed in Yellowstone, will oversee projects in allthree parks, including efforts to improve baselineknowledge of exotic and native plant distributions,reptiles, bats, and fishes in alpine lakes. The networkexpects to receive approximately $700,000 forprojects to be completed in three to four years.

Part II. Cultural Resource Programs

During 2000, the Branch of Cultural Resources continued to add to the professionalism and perma-nence of its staff. Lon Johnson, a term employee focusing on historic structures and Section 106 compliance,was converted to a permanent full-time position. Still, despite the dedicated work done by professionals intemporary and term appointments, several major programs lacked permanent staff to provide strategicplanning and tend to their long-term program needs. To supplement the branch’s base budget of $402,000and support specific projects, an additional $101,000 was obtained from special emphasis project fundingsources, $205,000 from the park’s Recreation Fee Demonstration program, and $115,600 from the FederalLands Highway Program. The Yellowstone Association and the Yellowstone Park Foundation also continuedto support cultural resource programs, particularly in the operations of and new acquisitions for the museum,library, and archives.

Laura Joss, who had been the branch chief of cultural resources since 1994, was appointed superinten-dent of Fort McHenry and Hampton House national historic sites and left the YCR in March. In her wake,archeologist Ann Johnson did noble duty as acting branch chief until October of 2000, when Sue ConsoloMurphy, former senior writer-editor and head of the center’s resource information group, was appointedbranch chief.

Park managers and cultural resource staff noticed increased interest in the ethnographic program, partlyrelated to the long-range bison management planning efforts, in which more than 100 American Indian tribesacross the nation exhibited significant interest. Working with park managers, the Yellowstone Center forResources is continuing to spend more time consulting with Native Americans to identify traditional culturalproperties, issues of interest, and appropriate ways to handle the protection, interpretation, and research ofethnographic resources.

The paleontology program is covered under Natural Resource Programs this year (see page 37).

48YE409Specimen A

48YE409Specimen B

Two Cody knives from the Osprey Beach site (both surfaces of each knife are shown).The artifacts are manufactured from a dark green chert believed to be derived fromthe Absaroka volcanics on the park’s east boundary.

8 Cultural Resource Programs

ARCHEOLOGY

In 2000, park archeologist Dr. Ann Johnson,cooperators, temporary staff, and volunteers werebusy conducting site inventories and advising stafffrom other divisions as to whether their projectsaffected archeological resources. Parkwide, 1,441acres were intensively inventoried and 64 new sitesrecorded. Volunteers donated 2,032 hours to parkarcheology and significantly reduced the catalogingbacklog of incoming materials.

New AcquisitionsA large collection of prehistoric artifacts from

the park was returned in July 2000 by someone whohad been a park ranger between the 1930s and the1950s. The collection is notable because it containsmore than 700 tools and projectile points, and itsvalue is tremendously enhanced because the collectormade extensive notes identifying the date and loca-tion of each collection and included many mapsshowing the specific sites where artifacts were found.Some of the sites were already known, but the arche-ological staff are eager to visit and record the others.

Field InventoriesField work was accomplished by several crews

of professional and student archeologists, particularlythose from the Museum of the Rockies (MOR) inBozeman, Montana, and the Office of the WyomingState Archaeologist (OWSA). Much work was doneto record sites and test them to determine their eligi-bility for listing on the National Register of HistoricPlaces. Due to workload limitations, archeologicalinvestigations often focussed on areas for whichother work—such as trail rehabilitation or roadreconstruction—was planned or underway.

Yellowstone Lake shore. A volunteer crewfrom Wichita State University under the direction ofDr. Donald Blakeslee re-identified a Cody Complexsite that is eroding on the shore of Yellowstone Lake.The site had been documented in 1958 by researchersfrom Montana State University but not revisited byarcheologists since then.

MOR crews devoted four days to clarifying thecultural component at the Cody Complex site(48YE409) recorded by the Wichita State volunteers.This site was named Osprey Beach. The singlecultural horizon was 60 cm (two feet) below thepresent ground surface and was radiocarbon dated at7350+50 B.C. (Beta-148567). Drs. Ken Pierce

(USGS) and Paul Doss interpreted the soil profile asshowing these early people were camping on thethen-extant shoreline of the lake. Of particularinterest was the immunological analysis of eightartifacts (seven points/knives and one abrader) forblood residue. The blade and haft areas of the points/knives were analyzed separately and four producedpositive results. Two haft elements were positive forrabbit, suggesting that rabbit sinew/blood had beenused to attach the artifacts to shafts. One of theartifacts with rabbit on the hafting element also testedpositive for sheep on the blade. Two additional pointblades were positive for canid and deer, respectively.

This site clearly contains important informationabout early human use of the park and has thepotential to add to our understanding of the localenvironment at that time. As a result of this field-work, we now have a reasonable understanding of thepart of the site that is eroding along the lake. In 2001,archeologists hope to put in several additional testunits to better understand how much of the siteremains away from the lakeshore.

Backcountry investigations. MOR crewsinventoried around Heart Lake, including locationspotentially affected by the Red Creek trail rerouteand the trail crew campsite, the trail to Basin CreekLake and Sheridan Lake, the Beaver Creek trailreroute, and several backcountry campsites aroundHeart Lake.

The Jones Pass trail was inventoried from thepark’s east boundary to Turbid Lake. Given that theJones Pass trail has been well-documented fromhistoric records, archeologists were surprised thatonly a few sites were identified and that these werevery small. A possible interpretation is that the trail inthe park was used only for movement between campson the east side of the park boundary and areas downnear Yellowstone Lake.

The Hellroaring Creek trail was partiallyinventoried; of interest was the identification of tool-quality rock that had been quarried prehistorically.The rock is multi-colored with reds, gold, white,browns, and purples. Some are opaque and others aretranslucent; these would ordinarily be classified ascherts and chalcedonies, respectively. In this case,however, a chunk may contain both varieties, whichdemonstrates the artificiality of the classificationscheme. It appears that quarries in the HellroaringCreek drainage may have been the source for manyof the stone tools found in the Black Canyon sitesand in the greater Yellowstone area.


Finally, MOR inventoried the trail loop connect-ing the Warm Springs trailhead to the Pebble Creekcampground.

In the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone, twoknown sites were tested for National Register signifi-cance. Results showed that site 24YE9 did not con-tain significant subsurface cultural deposits, while24YE26 contains four buried, stratified campsites.One is in the grass roots, close to the surface, whichsuggests it is a fairly recent site, although its age andcultural affiliation are not yet known. Pelican Lakepoints were identified in the third cultural levelbelow the surface with large corner-notched knives.It is possible that because a positive association withthe Pelican Lake culture has been made for theseknives, they will allow assignment of cultural identi-fication at sites that lack projectile points.

Archeological crews also documented a sitenear Trail Creek, reported by Tom Murphy of Living-ston (48YE252). The site contained diagnostic pro-jectile points that range in age from Late PaleoIndian(~8000 B.C.) through Late Prehistoric (possibly aslate as A.D. 1450). Pelican Lake (A.D. 200–1000B.C.) is the most commonly recovered point at thissite, as it is throughout the park. An eroding hearthwas salvaged and produced a radiocarbon date ofA.D. 140–100 B.C. (cal) (Beta-150250). This is agood date for the Pelican Lake use of the area. Floralanalysis of the hearth contents identified dwarfmistletoe, pine, maple, juniper, spruce, and willowpollen, and pine, fir, and willow charcoal.

Roadside investigations. Thecrew from Wichita State Universityworked for a week on the west sideof the Gibbon River and docu-mented five prehistoric campsites.Mack Shortt led a MOR crew inevaluating nine prehistoric sites bytesting on the Mammoth-to-Gardinerhighway corridor. Reports of finalresults on these sites’ eligibility werestill underway at year’s end.

OWSA archeologists com-pleted National Register testing anddocumentation of eight prehistoricand two historic archeological sitesalong the Canyon-to-Fishing Bridgeroad. Five prehistoric sites werefound to contain limited remains andwere recommended as not eligiblefor the National Register of Historic

Places. Both historic archeological sites lackedintegrity due to demolition and “clean-up” that hadoccurred in the past. Prehistoric site 48YE545produced a radiocarbon date (Beta-145818) of A.D.880+50 on wood from a buried fire-cracked rockfeature (interpreted as a hearth), while a non-culturalorganic layer in the lower sediments of prehistoricsite 48YE241 had a radiocarbon date (Beta-145819)of 4510+50 B.C.

The Yellowstone River corridor was usedintensively in the past, as it is today. The sum ofinventories and site testing along the river throughHayden Valley has shown use by the Cody Complex(Scottsbluff point) between 7,000 and 8,000 B.C. andby other peoples up through the past several hundredyears.

The North and South Rim drives around Can-yon were inventoried, resulting in documentation ofhistoric archeological sites. No prehistoric sites wereidentified, although historic water works, historictrash scatters, and the remains of an historic hotelwere located. These were determined to be ineligiblefor listing on the National Register.

Inventory was conducted at limited locationsalong the East Entrance Road east of Sylvan Pass toidentify several historic sites and determine if theywere within the area of potential effect of the recon-struction and widening of this road segment. Onehistoric road camp was located within 100 meters ofthe road corridor. For one site located within thecorridor, field documentation was completed. Three

Archeological crew and volunteers at the Osprey Beach site.


additional sites were found to be outside the roadcorridor and area of potential effect.

Quarries and staging areas. Archeologicalinventory was also conducted at three quarry sites:the Natural Bridge quarry and staging site, the SedgeCreek pit, and the Lone Star pit. This work was donein conjunction with the Wyoming Abandoned MineLands program, which intends to use the excessexcavated materials being stored at Fishing Bridge tofill in the Natural Bridge pit. The program would alsomake reclamation of the Sedge Creek pit possibleusing the excess materials that are likely to beavailable from the Pelican Creek viaduct and theSylvan Pass-to-East Entrance road projects.

Eligibility for the National Register. Thecount of the archeological sites associated with theFederal Highway Administration program improve-ments for which Yellowstone National Park requesteddetermination of eligibility for inclusion to theNational Register of Historic Places in 2000 includes:

93 prehistoric sites, of which:30 were determined eligible,19 were determined ineligible, and44 remain unevaluated or their eligibilitywas undetermined.

10 historic sites, of which:1 was determined eligible,4 were determined ineligible, and5 remain unevaluated.

4 multi-component sites, of which1 with both prehistoric and historiccomponents was determined eligible;2 were determined to have prehistoriccomponents eligible, historic componentsineligible; and1 with both components was unevaluated.

Archeological Research and ManagementThe park archeologist participated in a five-day,

70-mile backcountry trip on the eastern park bound-ary and upper Lamar area. This trip provided anunparalleled opportunity to observe the countrythrough which the U.S. Army chased the Nez Percein 1877. Primary among the sites that were observedwere the prehistoric and historic campsites docu-mented by Superintendent Norris in 1879 near ParkerPeak and the Parker Peak obsidian source. So far,Parker Peak obsidian has not been identified beyondits immediate area, but archeologists expect to clarifythis as they obtain additional samples on the easternpark border and possibly to the east outside the park.

An ongoing obsidian sourcing project contin-ues, and this year two obsidian sources were identi-fied for the first time in park specimens. Specimensfrom the south shore of Yellowstone Lake and aroundHeart Lake were identified as coming from CrescentH (south of Wilson in southern Jackson Hole) andConant Creek (south of Grassy Lake Reservoir).

General patterns of prehistoric obsidian usagein the park are gradually beginning to emerge. In allareas, Obsidian Cliff obsidian dominates, and BearGulch obsidian (imported from northeastern Idaho) isthe next highest in percentage of specimens sourced.In the Mammoth/Black Canyon area, about 92 per-cent of the source specimens are Obsidian Cliff obsi-dian, while perhaps 7 percent are from Bear Gulch innortheastern Idaho. Around Madison Junction to theWest Entrance there is significant diversity, includingObsidian Cliff, Gibbon River, and Cougar Creek(from in the park), and Grassy Lake Reservoir,Malad, Teton Pass, and Bear Gulch (from outside thepark). Around Yellowstone Lake, Hayden Valley, andthe center of the park, Park Point obsidian has localuse. The southern park of the park contains moreobsidians derived from outside the park such as TetonPass, Crescent H, Conant Creek (all south of Yellow-stone in the Jackson Hole area), and PacksaddleCreek and Malad (southeast-central Idaho).

About 3 percent of the obsidian artifacts arefrom sources that have not yet been identified.Future work is planned to provide more details,clarify the above observations, and fill in some blankareas including the eastern park border, the northeast-ern quarter, and the southwestern corner of the park.As spatial patterning is becoming clearer, it isbecoming more urgent that we look at what thetemporal patterning for the use of different obsidiansources might be.

ETHNOGRAPHY

Ethnographic resources are the natural and cul-tural resources that a traditionally associated commu-nity identifies as significant to its present way of life.Such resources help to maintain community identity,including cultural traditions. A “traditionally associ-ated community” is one whose relationship withresources endures at least two generations or beganprior to the park’s establishment. At Yellowstone, thatincludes 24 American Indian tribes with histories ofusing what is now park land. The National ParkService devotes attention to ethnographic resources


because of various laws, executive memoranda andorders, and administrative policies that require con-sultation, particularly with Indian tribes.

In March 2000, cultural anthropologist Rose-mary Sucec assumed the responsibilities of acting asliaison with tribes, coordinating government-to-government consultation with tribes; overseeingopportunities to obtain information about parkethnographic resources for planning, resourcemanagement, and visitor education purposes; andcreating training opportunities for park staff.

Intergovernmental ConsultationsThe United States government recognizes tribal

sovereignty—the right of an Indian tribe to beindependent and self-governing. Essential principleshave been established by which the federal govern-ment interacts with Indian tribes. One of these, the“trust responsibility,” speaks to the obligation thefederal government has to advance tribal interests.The relationship has been likened to that of a ward toa guardian engendering legal and moral duties. TheNPS affirms tribal sovereignty and provides guide-lines for how parks should interact with Indian gov-ernments. Parks and tribal governments should workcollaboratively and cooperatively in arriving at mutu-ally acceptable protocols to guide park actions con-cerning land and resources with which tribes havereligious and cultural ties.

General consultation meetings. In partialfulfillment of these requirements, YNP conductedtwo general consultation meetings in fiscal year2000. Fourteen tribes and organizations were repre-sented at one or both meetings: Eastern Shoshone;Shoshone-Bannock; Nez Perce Tribe of Lapwai;

Prairie Band of Potawatomi; Lower Brule, Oglala,Rosebud, and Yankton Sioux; Confederated Salishand Kootenai; Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska; GrosVentre and Assiniboine of Fort Belknap; Crow;Northern Cheyenne; and Intertribal Bison Coopera-tive.

On April 9–10, nine tribes and Native Americanorganizations sent 13 representatives to a generalmeeting at which major environmental planningefforts were discussed. These included the DraftEnvironmental Impact Statement (EIS) for theInteragency Bison Management Plan for the State ofMontana and Yellowstone National Park; the DraftWinter Use Plan EIS for Yellowstone and GrandTeton National Parks and the John D. Rockefeller,Jr., Memorial Parkway; the Draft EIS for the JacksonBison/Elk Management Plan; and the Grizzly BearConservation Strategy. Other Yellowstone wildlifeissues discussed included lynx listing and wolfreclassification and management. Updates wereprovided on activities within the cultural resourcesprogram. The chief of interpretation, Diane Chalfant,discussed future plans including the construction ofnew visitor centers.

Eleven tribes and Native American organiza-tions sent 19 representatives on October 11–12.Again, major planning efforts were discussed, includ-ing bison management and the final winter use plan.Other planning issues such as road improvementswere discussed, and updates were given on culturalresource projects. An overview was given on thesummer fire season. Tours were taken of the bisoncapture facilities at Stephens Creek and of the buffaloherds at Lamar Valley. Transcripts of both meetingsare available upon request.

Community potlucks. Potluck dinners held onthe first night of the general consultation meetingsbecame a tradition this year. These events enabledpark staff, community members, and affiliated tribalmembers to become acquainted with each another.Yellowstone employees and the Bear Creek Councilco-sponsored the events on behalf of tribal guests.The community of Gardiner was also invited. Anafter-dinner program was initiated at the springpotluck. Representatives from the ConfederatedTribes of Salish and Kootenai (Dale Becker) and theGros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of Fort Belknap(Mike Fox) spoke about “Wildlife Management onTribal Lands.”

Bison management issues. When the Recordof Decision for the Final Environmental Impact

A visit to a bison capture facility during a generalconsultation meeting in October 2000.


Statement and Bison Management Plan for the Stateof Montana and Yellowstone National Park wassigned on December 20, copies were sent to thepark’s 24 affiliated American Indian tribes and to 72other tribes interested in bison. It included a sum-mary table prepared by the park anthropologist thatidentified tribal comments from the planning processand how they were incorporated into the Record ofDecision. Copies of the table can be obtained fromthe Branch of Cultural Resources.

Resource Management and ResearchEthnographic overview and assessment. Park

staff completed their review of a report entitledAmerican Indians and Yellowstone National Park:Restoring a Presence, A Documentary Overview byresearchers Peter Nabokov and Larry Loendorf.Based on documentary sources and limited inter-views, the report identifies American Indian tribeshistorically associated with what is now the park andprovides a foundation for beginning to identifysignificant ethnographic resources associated withnine tribes. The report will be published by the YCR.

Affiliated tribes. “Affiliation” carries with itcertain privileges as authorized by laws, regulations,and policies. Consultation with affiliated tribes helpsthe park to become more knowledgeable about itsresources, including the values placed upon them,and to manage and interpret them in a culturallyinformed, sensitive manner. Methods for determiningaffiliation include documentary evidence and evi-dence from the oral tradition of tribes themselves.

In 2000, three tribes were added to the list ofthose that have been identified as having historiesaffiliated with Yellowstone. The Coeur d’AleneTribe, who visited the park’s native trout spawninghabitat, relayed accounts from their oral tradition ofcoming to Yellowstone country to harvest certainresources. The Confederated Tribes of the ColvilleIndian Reservation and the Confederated Tribes ofthe Umatilla Reservation were added because descen-dants of Nez Perce bands reside at those reservations.Some of their ancestors participated in the 1877flight through the park.

The total list of 24 affiliated tribes includes 11Sioux tribes that were added in 1999: CheyenneRiver, Crow Creek, Flandreau Santee, Lower Brule,Oglala, Rosebud, Sisseton-Wahpeton, Spirit Lake,Standing Rock, Yankton, and Assiniboine and SiouxTribes of Fort Peck. The other 13 affiliated tribes are:Blackfeet, Coeur d’Alene, Confederated Tribes of the

Colville Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes ofthe Umatilla Reservation, Confederated Tribes ofSalish and Kootenai, Crow, Eastern Shoshone, GrosVentre and Assiniboine, Kiowa, Nez Perce ofLapwai, Northern Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne, andShoshone-Bannock.

The Nez Perce National Historic Trail.Yellowstone was already a national park when 800Nez Perce and 2,000 horses fled to it after the battleat Big Hole in 1877. Led by Chiefs Joseph, WhiteBird, Looking Glass, Too-hool-hool-zote, andHahtelekin, this entourage chose a difficult routethrough the park to avoid detection by the U.S. Army.That route is part of the 1,170-mile Nez PerceNational Historic Trail established by Congress in1986 to memorialize the Nez Perce’s journey andfocus attention on a cultural collision that continuesto shape the American West. The Nez Perce’s routethrough the park is regarded as a precious resource tocontemporary Nez Perce that represents both pro-found suffering and heroic achievement in the face ofoverwhelming hardship. It is a critical piece ofhistory for the Nez Perce people, unifying them andcontributing to who they are. It was near the end ofthe trail that Chief Joseph famously declared, “I willfight no more forever.”

In June, an interdisciplinary team of park staff,including the cultural anthropologist, visited a sampleof Nez Perce sites associated with the 1877 flight thathave potential for wayside interpretation, and dis-cussed plans for arranging a visit to the park by NezPerce historians and elders. In September, in conjunc-tion with the annual meeting of the Nez PerceNational Historic Trail Foundation meeting in Cody,

Nez Perce tribal representatives at Nez Perce Ford of theYellowstone River, where five bands of Nez Perce crossedin 1877.


Wyoming, Nez Perce tribal members from Colville,Lapwai, and Umatilla visited four sites in the park:the Lower Geyser Basin at the Nez Perce Creekpullout, Otter Creek, Nez Perce Ford (formerly calledBuffalo Ford), and Indian Pond. At each site, NezPerce historians and elders relayed oral accounts ofthe flight and of customary use of the area by NezPerce bands. The Nez Perce-interpreted tour wasvideo-recorded and is available upon request.

Yellowstone history of the Coeur d’Alenes.Members of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in Idaho visitedYellowstone Lake and its tributaries in June. Called“pointed hearts” by the French for the exactness withwhich they traded, the Coeur d’Alene have oralaccounts of merchant families who traveled outsidetheir aboriginal territory to Yellowstone to harvestrare materials subsequently used in trade and forother purposes upon their return home. They acquiredstone such as obsidian and items harvested duringbison hunts. Tribal biologists and fisheries techni-cians came to Yellowstone to observe spawningcutthroat trout in their native habitat. They gleanedtechnical knowledge from park staff that will enableabundant numbers of western cutthroat trout tosurvive on reservation lands (including Coeurd’Alene Lake). The potential exists for the tribe tosustain a viable population of cutthroat and renew thetradition of subsistence fishing.

Youth of affiliated tribes. In August, geologistNancy Hinman led a tour of the park’s thermal areasfor 14 Indian high school students who were selectedto participate in the American Indian ResearchOpportunities (AIRO) Program at Montana StateUniversity. AIRO’s mission is to provide learning andcareer opportunities for Indian students in science,engineering, and mathematics. Most of the partici-pants were enrolled members of affiliated tribes whoconveyed traditional knowledge about the parkreceived from their elders. They provided placenames and stories about their ancestors trading withthe Tukudika or Sheep Eater Indians, residents of theYellowstone area plateaus and valleys at time ofcontact.

Educational Opportunities for Park StaffNative cultures of the GYA. In April, Dr. Larry

Loendorf taught a week-long class for 22 parkemployees from three divisions. Affiliated tribeswere invited to attend and two sent representatives.Lawrence Flat Lip, from the Crow (Apsaalooke)Tribe, also gave a presentation.

Anthropogenic fire history. In October, Dr.Henry T. “Hank” Lewis, an internationally recog-nized expert on indigenous fire management prac-tices, visited the park for a week-long series ofpresentations, discussions, and meetings with indi-viduals and work groups. Based on his cross-culturalexperience, Hank was able to help staff from inter-pretation, fire management, and the YellowstoneCenter for Resources sort out appropriate researchquestions about indigenous fire history in the parkand the greater Yellowstone area. Knowing howIndians used fire contributes to our understanding ofthe integration of ecological and human history inYellowstone. Research projects and a symposium arebeing discussed for the future.

HISTORY

As the park continued to function without afull-time historian in 2000, the park archivist per-formed part-time duties for this program.

Kamiah DuMontier, an English major at Mon-tana State University-Billings, was hired as a culturalresource clerk during the summer. Kamiah undertookhistorical research on several buildings and structuresbeing considered for National Register listing andprovided general assistance to cultural resource staff.

The oral history project focussing on ungulatemanagement in Yellowstone was completed. An issueof the park’s Yellowstone Science magazine thatdescribed the purpose and process of the oral historyproject and included several features and excerptsfrom the interviews brought positive feedback fromparticipants, park staff, and other NPS areas. By theend of the year, staff had either completed or were inthe final stages of reviewing all transcriptions fromthis project. Interviews, including both a hard copy ofall the transcripts and a CD-ROM wav file of theaudio recordings, had been placed in the park ar-chives. The project lead, Charissa Reid, was up-graded to a GS-7 park anthropologist.

National Historic LandmarksMuseums. As noted in last year’s annual report,

the Secretary of the Interior included three ofYellowstone’s five National Historic Landmarks inhis America’s “Landmarks at Risk” report to the U.S.Congress: the Norris Geyser Basin, Madison, andFishing Bridge trailside museums. The report citedphysical deterioration stemming from the effects ofweather and deferred maintenance, extensive rodent


problems, and thermal activity at Norris as reasonsfor the listing, and recommended that the park pre-pare condition assessment reports to better under-stand the condition of these buildings. The park isactively seeking means to address these recommen-dations. A special funding request competed success-fully for exterior maintenance work and pest manage-ment at the Norris Geyser Basin Trailside Museum.The work will be undertaken in FY2001.

Fort Yellowstone. The importance of Fort Yel-lowstone as a representation of the U.S. Army’s rolein the history of our national parks has long beenrecognized. As park administrators from 1886 until1918, the U.S. Army constructed a military post thateventually housed four cavalry troops. About 35army buildings, dating from three main constructionperiods (1891, 1897, 1908), present an almost com-plete “picture of an extraordinarily handsome West-ern Army post at the turn of the century” (David G.Battle and Erwin N. Thompson, Fort YellowstoneHistoric Structure Report, 1972). In the fall of 1999,the National Trust for Historic Preservation con-tracted with Front Range Research Associates, Inc.,of Denver, Colorado, to prepare a National HistoricLandmark nomination for the fort and other U.S.Army-constructed buildings in the park, including theBechler River and Norris soldier stations, the BuffaloLake Snowshoe Cabin, and the Roosevelt Arch.

The National Trust for Historic Preservationdelivered the Fort Yellowstone National HistoricLandmark nomination to the park in June 2000. Thenomination documents the significance of the army’sprotection policies and the impact those policies hadon the emerging conservation and national parkmovements in the late nineteenth and early twentiethcenturies. The park plans to submit the Fort Yellow-stone National Historic Landmark nomination to theNational Park System Advisory Board in 2001. TheSecretary of the Interior designates landmarks basedon the board’s recommendations.

National Register of Historic PlacesUnder National Park Service management

guidelines and Section 110 of the National HistoricPreservation Act, the park is required to identify,evaluate, and nominate to the National Registerhistoric properties under its stewardship. Suchproperties listed in or determined eligible for listingin the National Register are managed and maintainedin a way that considers the preservation of theirNational Register qualities. (The following list does

not include archeological properties.)Nominations to the register. The contractor for

the Fort Yellowstone National Historic Landmarknomination also prepared a nomination for the Mam-moth Hot Springs Historic District. This districtoverlays the Landmark District and, in addition to theU.S. Army buildings, includes the historic conces-sioner buildings, National Park Service administra-tive and residential buildings, and the MammothCampground. The contractor found the historic dis-trict eligible for listing because of its architecture andits association with the development of administra-tive and concession policies in the national parksystem. The park plans to submit the nomination tothe National Register in 2001.

Historic properties sharing the same signifi-cance can be nominated to the National Register ofHistoric Places using a Multiple Property Documen-tation form. Common information like the historiccontext, bibliography, and methodology are docu-mented once, and then individual nomination formsare prepared referencing the information.

In 1999, a Multiple Property Documentationform for Yellowstone’s historic administrative andconcessions buildings was submitted to the NationalRegister. It was returned for substantial changes. TheNational Trust for Historic Preservation contractedwith Allan Mathews, a Missoula, Montana, historian,to begin revisions to the form.

Determinations of eligibility. To meet its on-going responsibilities under the National HistoricPreservation Act, Yellowstone evaluated severalhistoric properties for the National Register ofHistoric Places this year. The park requested consen-sus determinations of eligibility (DOE) from theWyoming State Historic Preservation Officer for the“snowshoe cabins” and Canyon Village.

The Mammoth Campground, the first “planned”campground in Yellowstone, 1939.


After the National Park Service took overadministration of Yellowstone in 1917, it continuedto use a system of backcountry cabins built by theU.S. Army to patrol for poachers. In 1920, it beganconstructing its own cabins, carefully designing themto harmonize with their surroundings. In 1930, thepark adopted a standardized cabin design, which wasused until World War II. A multi-year inventory ofsnowshoe (backcountry patrol) cabins resulted indeterminations of eligibility for 15 cabins.

In 1956, the National Park Service undertook a10-year development program to upgrade visitorservices nationwide. The plan, called “Mission 66,”was designed to serve the needs of automobile tour-ists and bring facilities up to contemporary standards.NPS architects abandoned the traditional rustic parkarchitecture and embraced modern architecture. Can-yon Village was the first development constructedunder the Mission 66 program, and was intended toshowcase the program to the American public. TheDivision of Interpretation has proposed a major reha-bilitation of the Canyon Visitor Center. As part of theproject planning process, cultural resources andinterpretation employees researched the history ofCanyon Village and determined that it was eligiblefor listing in the National Register. The WyomingState Historic Preservation Officer concurred.

Determinations of eligibility were also com-pleted for the former U.S. Bureau of Fisheries’ PealeIsland and Clear Creek cabins, the Canyon ServiceArea Historic District, the Mammoth Campground,and the Tower Creek and Otter Creek bridges.

List of Classified StructuresThe List of Classified Structures (LCS) is the

nationwide computerized database containing infor-mation about National Park Service-owned historicbuildings and structures. The LCS shows Yellow-stone has 912 buildings and structures eligible forlisting in the National Register of Historic Places.Much of the information on Yellowstone’s buildingsdates from the 1980s and does not include morerecent research and building inventory information.The Intermountain Regional Office is making a con-certed effort to update the Yellowstone forms. SayreHutchison and Pam Holtman of the IntermountainRegional Office and Lon Johnson, Yellowstone’shistorical architect, spent several days verifyingbuilding-specific information at the Lamar BuffaloRanch, Roosevelt Lodge, Yellowstone Park Transpor-tation Company (Gardiner), and Mammoth Hot

Springs historic districts. The goal is to have 500building forms current by the end of FY01.

Compliance with NHPAAs required under the National Historic Preser-

vation Act, each park division is responsible for initi-ating and completing Section 106 review, under theguidance of and assistance from cultural resourcestaff, for projects that could potentially affect Na-tional Register-eligible or listed properties. LonJohnson coordinated this compliance, addressedother regulatory and NPS cultural resource require-ments, and provided technical assistance to helpproperly manage and care for the park’s historicproperties.

The National Park Service has a programmaticagreement with the National Council of State His-toric Preservation Officers and the Advisory Councilon Historic Preservation exempting specified workitems from Section 106 compliance. Lon developed aform to document exempted projects in the park thatwas approved by the Wyoming State Historic Preser-vation Officer. A letter implementing use of the formin Yellowstone was sent to the superintendent inDecember.

Lon represented historic preservation concernsto the sponsoring divisions regarding several build-ings proposed for construction in Yellowstone: a newvisitor center in the Old Faithful Historic District,rehabilitation of the Canyon Visitor Center, a newYellowstone Heritage and Research Center near theNorth Entrance or in the Mammoth Hot SpringsHistoric District, and a new public restroom buildingin the Mammoth District.

In 2000, Yellowstone National Park submitted11 projects to the Wyoming State Historic Preserva-tion Officer for formal review and comment underSection 106 of the National Historic PreservationAct. Findings of no effect or no adverse effect werereached for 10 undertakings: interior rehabilitation ofthe U.S. Commissioner’s (Judge’s) House; movingthe West Thumb Comfort Station to the MammothCampground; constructing a vault toilet at WestThumb; demolition of two non-contributing cabins inboth the Canyon Service Area and the Lake historicdistricts; rehabilitation of Peale Island cabin; install-ation of a webcam on Old Faithful Inn; an addition toa building adjacent to the Tower Ranger StationHistoric District; and construction of a fireplace inthe Mammoth Hotel lobby. One project, the re-routing of a portion of the Grand Loop Road at


Tanker Curve due to annual debris and mud slides,was found to have an adverse effect on the road,since a portion of a National Register-eligible roadwill be isolated and removed. This will be mitigatedby providing some roadside interpretation.

Historic roads and bridges. A programmaticagreement provides the mechanism to completeSection 106 requirements for the park’s principalpark road system improvements. This document wassigned in January 1993 by the National Park Service,the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, theWyoming State Historic Preservation Officer(WYSHPO), and the Montana State Historic Preser-vation Officer (MTSHPO). In 2000, the Councilissued notice that consultation agreements developedprior to the new regulations would be grandfatheredwith no new provisions being required. The park hasan interdisciplinary road team that provides primaryplanning and compliance work for road projects andmonitors on-site construction impacts. The positionheld by the cultural resources representative to theroad team, Elaine Hale, was funded by the FederalLands Highway Program.

In an annual on-site review with WYSHPO andYellowstone staff, conducted October 10–12, partici-pants discussed various aspects of the Canyon-to-Tower (Dunraven) road reconstruction, improve-ments to the Artist Point and Grandview Pointviewing areas, the North Rim Drive road rehabilita-tion, and the new bridge to be constructed across theGibbon River above Gibbon Falls. The semi-annualtribal consultations were taking place in the park atthe same time, which gave WYSHPO staff theopportunity to join the affiliated Native Americans ata community potluck and resource managementprogram on October 11. Native cultural representa-tives voiced strong support for the repair and widen-ing of the existing road system in the park.

Fishing Bridge-to-Indian Pond.—Redesign ofthe parking area west of Fishing Bridge was com-pleted. The historic stone curbing was liberated,cleaned, and repaired (or replaced), and vegetationplanted to provide a more natural pedestrian areabetween the west parking lot and Fishing Bridge.Stone curbing transitions the pedestrian viewing areaonto the wood bridge structure and the repaired stair-way to the river.

Excavation of the west bridge abutment wasnecessary to reset the bridge deck on the abutment,repairing damage probably caused by the 1959 Heb-gen Lake earthquake. Repairs to the cross bracing

under the bridge were completed and metal sleeveswere placed around some piers from ground level tothe high water mark to protect the wood from icedamage.

Difficulty was encountered laying the asphalttiles on the bridge deck. Original specifications forthe asphalt deck tiles were located and, although thereplacement tiles were made as closely as possible tothose specifications, the asbestos used in the originalformula was omitted due to current legal constraints.This resulted in the new tiles being less pliable thanthe original tiles. Chip sealing of the asphalt tiles wascompleted in mid-October.

Consultation on the removal of excess exca-vated material currently stockpiled behind the Hamil-ton Store east of Fishing Bridge continued. The parkhopes to use the excess material to reclaim aban-doned open pits located in Yellowstone. Three pitswere identified as candidates: Natural Bridge, SedgeCreek, and Lone Star pits. In conjunction with theWyoming Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) reclama-tion program, an archeological inventory report andan environmental assessment were begun for thisaction. All of the material currently stored at FishingBridge will probably be used in reclamation of theNatural Bridge pit. Excess material generated onfuture East Entrance Road projects will be used toreclaim the Sedge Creek pit. Correspondence fromWYSHPO confirmed their support for the project.

Indian Pond-to-Lake Butte.—The remainingrepairs to this section of road, which was damagedduring a washout due to high water in 1997–98, werecompleted. The road was paved to the full 30-footwidth along the north side of Mary Bay, where itjoins the previously reconstructed segment of theEast Entrance Road. Repairs were also completed tothe stone masonry guard wall at Steamboat Point thatwas damaged after it was struck by a constructionvehicle.

Sylvan Pass-to-East Entrance.—Reconstruc-tion and widening of this road was the subject ofnumerous on-site planning sessions for park staff,Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) engineers,and geo-technical experts. The road team and FHWAdesign engineers spent time on the site of the SylvanPass material source to discuss the final landscapedesign of the area.

Research was being conducted to find the mostappropriate protection for the problematic rockfall/avalanche area known as Brown Drift. A fill-sloperetaining wall located partially up the slope was


being considered to provide protection for theabandoned historic Corkscrew Bridge (Loop Bridge)area. A new pullout viewing area was also beingdesigned for the Corkscrew Bridge area. Design ofthe widened road was planned with care to retainmost of the curves in the road and the natural charac-ter of the rock cuts. The masonry guard walls con-structed in the 1970s were of poor quality and willneed to be repaired, although the masonry retainingwalls appear to be in good repair.

Arnica Creek-to-Little Thumb Creek/BridgeBay-to-Lake access.—Reconstruction of this GrandLoop Road segment was completed to a 30-foot roadwidth between Arnica Creek and Little Thumb Creek.Resurfacing of the Bridge Bay to Lake access seg-ment was also completed. Staff monitored workassociated with the center island removal and drain-age sub-excavation and repair of the road at theBridge Bay Marina to ensure that no new impact toarcheological resources occurred. Stone masonry wasplaced over the four concrete abutments of themodern bridge at Bridge Bay, creating a more his-toric appearance for both motorists and boaters.

Madison-to-Gibbon Falls/Tanker Curve-to-Gibbon Meadow.—Final road designs for TankerCurve-to-Gibbon Meadow (segment C) were com-bined with the previously completed design packagefor Madison-to-Gibbon Falls (segment A). A modi-fied bid process was adopted to allow review anddiscussion of sensitive areas such as the rebuilding ofhistoric bridges. The park road team brought in aconsultant to assist in the design of a new bridge overthe Gibbon River, connecting the Tanker Curvereroute section of road to the historic alignment justnorth of Gibbon Falls. Architect Kevin Peterson ofthe Seattle-based design firm of Parsons Brincker-hoff, Quade, & Douglas, Inc., met with the road teamto view the Madison-to-Norris road and its historicbridges and culverts. A survey of the new bridge sitewas conducted in November 2000.

Tower-to-Canyon (Dunraven Road).—Recon-struction and widening of this segment of the GrandLoop Road is scheduled to begin in spring 2002.Due to delicate geologic resource issues at and nearOverhanging Cliff, as well as the park’s goal of min-imizing the overall impacts of road reconstruction oncultural and natural resources, this segment will becompleted to a 24-foot rather than the standard 30-foot width. Geologists identified a large landslideslump between Tower Junction and Calcite Springs.During the 2000 field season, alternatives were

explored in an effort to identify possible repairoptions for the fault at Overhanging Cliff. The feasi-bility of constructing a retaining wall to check theslumping was looked into but considered too expen-sive. Rerouting the road away from the area was alsoconsidered, but no good location for a new bridgeover Tower Creek was found. The historic TowerCreek Bridge is wide enough to accommodate the24-foot roadway and is in good repair. The dry-laidstone retaining wall connecting to the north abutmentof the bridge is unraveling due to high water duringspring run-off and will need repair. Parking lots at theDunraven trailhead and at Calcite Springs will bereconfigured to provide safer access and a moreaesthetic appearance, similar to what has been donein other parking areas along the Grand Loop andentrance roads. Resource information was beingcompiled for the environmental assessment, andinitial road designs were being generated.

A completed inventory of historic structureslocated on the Dunraven Road was submitted toWYSHPO in June. An archeological inventory ofpart of the Chittenden Road corridor (off the GrandLoop) and several abandoned road segments wascompleted in 1999. Tower Creek Bridge andChittenden Road were eligible for the NationalRegister, and unnamed features contributed to theeligibility of the Tower-to-Canyon segment.

After several attempts to avoid impacts to theTower Soldier Station archeological site, staff deter-mined that data recovery would be necessary for asmall portion of the site. Correspondence discussingthe intended data recovery of this military ruin wassent to the park’s affiliated tribes, but by the end ofthe year no tribes had expressed concern about theproposed archeological work.

Overhanging Cliff on the Tower-to-Canyon road. Aerialphoto by Lee Snapp.


Fishing Bridge-to-Canyon.—National Registertesting of eight prehistoric sites and two historic sitesadjacent to this 15-mile segment of the Grand LoopRoad was completed during summer 2000. A total of27 archeological sites located within the area ofpotential effect of this overlay have been tested forNational Register eligibility. Documentation of theOtter Creek bridge and the historic road features wasprepared and provided to WYSHPO.

Road team/FHWA evaluation of the road’s con-dition revealed several areas of road slump and drain-age damage that will need to be repaired. Geologicdrilling was conducted in several slump/landslideareas just south of Canyon to ascertain appropriatecorrective measures. Inadequate drainage of anancient wetland area near the Nez Perce Ford (for-merly called Buffalo Ford) picnic area has causedmajor road degradation. Additional drilling at aNational Register-eligible prehistoric site wasconducted within the road corridor at Nez Perce Fordto reveal whether buried cultural deposits existed atthe “dig-out” depth necessary to make repairs. Nocultural materials were found.

Staff continued to study the thermal featureemerging in the Mud Volcano parking area, whichwas re-surveyed to ascertain if a slight dome pave-ment structure would correct drainage problems.

North and South Rim drives.—On-sitescoping for the rehabilitation of the North RimDrive’s current road alignment was conducted in2000. Archeological inventory of the road corridorwas completed, and road features documentation wasdone for this segment and the South Rim Drivesegment known as Artist Point road. Research wascompleted to document the history of the North andSouth Rim segments in preparation for determiningtheir eligibility to the National Register.

North Entrance Road.—The current alignmentis unstable, and occasional minor rockslides oc-curred. National Register testing was conductedduring the 2000 field season on sites within the roadcorridor along the current alignment and along thepreviously used Gardiner High Road.

Northeast Entrance-to-park boundary.—A0.4-mile section of road from the Northeast EntranceStation to the park boundary was included in theMontana Forest Highway Program/FHWA recon-struction of an 8.34-mile segment of the BeartoothHighway. Fieldwork was conducted in 2000 to docu-ment two historic type-A masonry culverts. Thisinformation was combined with the recently com-

pleted road features documentation for the remaining29+ miles of Northeast Entrance Road, and providedto MTSHPO.

Monitoring.—To ensure that park resourceswould not suffer adverse impacts, cultural resourcestaff monitored the structural repairs completed onFishing Bridge, the drainage repair sub-excavation ofthe road as it passed through a prehistoric occupationsite near Bridge Bay, the sub-excavation and repair ofa utility line running through a prehistoric site nearFishing Bridge, and construction activities at theexcess material stockpile in the Fishing Bridge devel-oped area.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

In 2000, Yellowstone’s museum staff consistedof Susan Kraft, the supervisory museum curator;Beth Raz, a museum aide; and museum techniciansSean Cahill, Vanessa Christopher, Jon Dahlheim, andKirk Dietz (on detail from the Presidio). Most of themuseum technicians’ salaries and a portion of themuseum aide’s salary were funded using projectmonies raised from NPS sources.

Preservation and AccessA variety of projects contributed to the preser-

vation of important components of the museumcollection and to the accessibility of these collectionsfor research, education, and other purposes.

Works of art. Private Charles Moore, an ama-teur artist on the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedi-tion of 1870, made the first known sketches of whatwould become Yellowstone National Park. Five ofthese drawings are in the park’s custody, but theywere soiled and had residues of tape and labelsapplied to them decades ago, before their fragilityand historic significance were fully appreciated. Thedrawings were transported by courier to a paper con-servation lab in Denver, where they were treated andplaced in archival mounts that will allow them to behandled and shown in moderation without damage.In 2001, the drawings will be professionally photo-graphed and digitized for use on the park’s web site.

Photographs. Approximately 12,000 images inthe park collection previously remained only in theform of cellulose nitrate negatives, which are highlyflammable and must be stored in freezers. Thecurator estimated that it would take at least 10 yearsto complete reformatting of all the park’s nitrate film,at a cost of more than $100,000 in contract lab fees.


However, special funding that began in 1999 is beingused to copy all of the negatives onto safety film.This project will enable reformatting to be completedby 2002, at no direct cost to Yellowstone, and at asavings to the NPS of more than $30,000.

Yellowstone shipped its first batch of nitrates tothe Northeast Document Conservation Center inMassachusetts in September. Safety negatives ofthousands of images that have been inaccessiblesince their creation between the 1930s and the 1950sare now available to researchers. A large portion ofthe museum aide’s time was devoted to this project in2000, organizing the nitrates into batches; document-ing and tracking outgoing and incoming batches; andlabeling, sleeving, boxing, and shelving the resultingsafety negatives and interpositives (an intermediatestep between original negatives and safety negatives).

The museum staff also began a two-year pro-ject, funded by the NPS Museum Collections Preser-vation and Protection (MCPP) program, to properlyre-house several thousand other photographs andobjects using archival enclosures and museum-quality storage trays, boxes, cabinetry, and shelving.Unframed works of art and glass negatives areamong the types of collections benefiting from thisproject.

Cataloging. Yellowstone had two NPS backlogcataloging projects funded—the most for which asingle park can receive funding. One of the projects,planned with the NPS Midwest Archeological Center(MWAC) in Lincoln, Nebraska, allowed MWAC tocatalog the Chittenden Bridge archeology collection.This collection, housed at MWAC and consisting ofapproximately 700 artifacts important for theirresearch value, had been left in a state of disorder byits collector. Items were mixed up and mislabeled,while some artifacts and field notes had sufferedfrom water damage and were in need of professionalconservation. MWAC was able to leverage the cata-log funding secured by Yellowstone to access fundssufficient to contract for the conservation treatment.

Yellowstone also received NPS backlog cata-loging funds to catalog 3,070 historic objects andphotographs. Museum technicians were able to cata-log 3,419 objects with this funding by processingsome materials, such as aerial photographs, in bulk.This cataloging has made several thousand photo-graphs accessible for research, publications, exhibits,and other purposes. It also enabled museum staff,with the assistance of a blacksmith from Bozeman,Montana, to identify and catalog the historic tools in

the Mammoth blacksmith shop.A significant number of archeological artifacts

(8,940) were cataloged during the year under theterms of contracts that generated them. With fundingassociated with the NPS Inventory and Monitoringprogram, 529 vertebrate biological specimens werecataloged.

Digitization. The Yellowstone Park Foundationfound a donor for a project that will enable docu-ments associated with the Hayden Survey and otherearly exploration parties to be professionally photo-graphed, scanned for web site use, and transcribed forresearchers. During the summer, a volunteer begantranscribing Thomas Moran’s autobiography and partof his diary.

In a separate project funded by the RecreationFee Demonstration program, the park’s most fre-quently requested historic images were identified,retrieved from storage, scanned, and organized bytopic in preparation for their placement on the park’sweb site. Captions, copyright information, and cita-tions for these images will be prepared in 2001, usingdata from the museum collections cataloging data-base.

Historic vehicles. Preservation of the park’scollection of historic vehicles also continued in 2000,thanks to another Fee Demonstration project. Theproject, which will continue through fiscal year 2001,funds preservation and maintenance of the park’sstagecoaches, wagons, buses, touring cars, and otherhistoric vehicles, as well as repairs and safety im-provements to the warehouse in which they arestored. While much of the focus in 2000 was on the

MSU farrier Tom Wolfe (right) and NPS Yellowstonehorseshoer George Altenbriete (left) demonstrating the useof historic blacksmith tools prior to cataloging for themuseum collection.


motorized vehicles, the last major significant horse-drawn oversnow vehicle in the park, a haying sled,was also preserved in situ at the Lamar BuffaloRanch and covered to protect it from the elements.Conservators who specialize in historic vehicle con-servation were brought in to perform a collectioncondition survey, and park staff have begun to imple-ment their recommendations. The conservators’reports have also served as the basis for other fundingproposals aimed at preservation of this importantcollection.

Field collections. Collections of natural sci-ence specimens and cultural artifacts made underapproved collecting permits were, as usual, a signifi-cant source of new museum items. The number ofspecimens in natural science collections (includingbiological, paleontological, and geological speci-mens) that are either physically in the park or havebeen reported to the park by outside collectors hasmore than doubled in the last two years, reaching46,042. The archeology collection grew to 107,762items, with more than 95,000 artifacts from Yellow-stone housed at the NPS’s Midwest ArcheologicalCenter in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Most natural science specimens collected in thepark are, under the terms of their permits, removedfrom the park for research and storage. In 2000, thepark issued 125 permits authorizing the collection ofspecimens. Federal regulations governing collectingpermits stipulate that materials collected underresearch permits and retained in any repositoryremain the property of the United States. Suchmaterials are managed as part of the park’s museumcollection. Although collectors are requested to

contact the curator’s office for an accession number(establishing federal ownership) before they leave thepark, by the end of the year only six collectors,approximately 5 percent of the total, had contactedthe curator’s office.

Herbarium. The park herbarium, which ismanaged as a separate collection, contains approxi-mately 7,600 specimens of vascular and non-vascularplants that are identified and mounted. More than6,100 specimens of vascular plants are also cata-loged, and cataloging data have been entered into theNPS Automated National Cataloging System(ANCS+). During the 2000 field season, 171 speci-mens were collected for the herbarium. A backlog ofapproximately 2,500 specimens remains to beidentified, labeled, mounted, and cataloged. Fiscalyear 2001 NPS backlog cataloging funds weresecured to begin cataloging 2,000 specimens, includ-ing lichens, fungi, and bryophytes.

Notable AcquisitionsThe Yellowstone archives. Museum collections

in the National Park Service are managed on a fiscalyear basis. The total size of Yellowstone NationalPark’s collections, as reported on the NPS Collec-tions Management Report (CMR), jumped from306,439 in fiscal year 1999 to 5,111,291 by the endof fiscal year 2000. This increase resulted fromaccessioning the Yellowstone National Park archives,which comprise approximately 3,000 linear feet ofrecords. (The archives profession uses a figure of1,600 items per linear foot to estimate the number ofindividual items in an archive.) The Yellowstonearchives are subject to a 1978 Memorandum ofAgreement (MOA) with the National Archives andRecords Administration (NARA) that allows recordsthat would normally be shipped to a federal recordscenter (such as the one in Denver) to remain in thepark. However, until 2000, these records had neverbeen accessioned in accordance with either theNARA or NPS requirements. As Yellowstone Na-tional Park is the first NPS affiliate of NARA,officials have not yet reached an agreement as towhether the records may still be considered NPSproperty or must be considered NARA property. Ifthe records are ultimately determined to be NARAproperty, the accession will be considered a loanfrom NARA.

Regardless of the type of accession under whichthe records are documented, the act of accessioningthem makes them eligible for crucial funding under

A haying sled, the last significant horsedrawn oversnowvehicle in the park.


NPS museum collections preservation and backlogcataloging programs. The park’s collection of gov-ernment-produced photographs, managed by the cur-ator but also subject to the MOA, was accessionedmore than 15 years ago, and has regularly benefitedfrom both backlog and MCPP funding.

The National Park Service considers archivesone facet of a park’s museum collection. The acces-sioning of Yellowstone’s archival records has madearchival materials the single largest component onthe park’s fiscal year 2000 CMR, reflecting anoverall trend in the NPS. Traditionally, archeologicalcollections outnumbered every other type of collec-tion in the NPS. However, in recent years, as parkshave conducted archival surveys and begun account-ing for their archival records in a more professionalmanner, archival collections have, item for item,become the largest component of NPS museum col-lections. Yellowstone National Park has not yet con-ducted a formal archives survey. Such a surveywould likely identify even more records, storedthroughout the park, that should be formally added tothe archives.

Museum objects. Other notable acquisitionsmade during the year included a bronze sculpture of abison, “Buffalo Charging,” made by Avard TennysonFairbanks in 1911, presented as a gift to the WhiteHouse, from where it was transferred to Yellowstone.Using funds raised by the Yellowstone Park Founda-tion (YPF), the park acquired the original stagecoachledger kept by the Yellowstone National Park Trans-portation Company from 1892 to 1906, an importantvolume long missing from the set of ledgers alreadyin the park archives. The curator was the successfulbidder on the ledger, which sold on the eBay onlineauction service for more than $3,700. YPF funds alsomade possible the purchase of an 1884 photo albumfrom an east coast collector documenting a guidedhorseback trip through Yellowstone, and severaldiaries for the archives.

During the summer, the park received the paint-ing “Old Faithful” as a loan from the artist, Ray“Paco” Young of Belgrade, Montana. The painting,made specifically to hang over the fireplace of theOld Faithful Inn dining room, will be donated to thepark next year.

During the year, a YPF board member beganraising funds to purchase the Susan and Jack Daviscollection, the finest private assemblage of Yellow-stone-related photographs, postcards, stereographs,souvenirs, poster art, and ephemera in the world.

Appraisal of the collection is expected to be com-pleted in the first quarter of 2001.

Research, Technical Assistance, and OutreachAs in past years, demand for access to the

museum collection was extremely heavy. More than800 research and reference requests—about 30 per-cent from park staff and 70 percent from outsideresearchers—were met during the year, often con-suming nearly 40 hours per week of staff time. Useof the museum collection by park staff doubled sincelast year, occupying more than 40 percent of the timethe museum staff spent assisting researchers. Thenumber of requests from outside researchers re-mained relatively constant. The curator and othermembers of the museum staff conducted 28 tours ofthe museum collection, averaging just over an hourapiece. During the year, research and referencerequests, as well as requests for VIP tours or accessto the collection for special projects, came fromauthors of books, magazine articles, dissertations,and theses about Yellowstone; filmmakers, video-graphers, and producers of CD-ROMs; park inter-preters and resource managers; visiting scientists;environmental organizations; members of the media;members of American Indian tribes in the park forconsultation meetings; Elderhostel groups; Yellow-stone Association Institute classes; the YellowstonePark Foundation; neighboring museums; and thegeneral public. The greatest demand continued to befor historic images (including photographs, post-cards, and stereographs); artwork; ephemera (such ashistoric brochures); and for access to the vehiclecollection. Use of the herbarium also continued to beheavy, particularly during summer months.

During 2000, there were 31 active outgoingloans involving a total of 56,363 objects and speci-mens. The purposes of these loans included exhibits,analysis of archeological artifacts, identification offossils, conservation of museum objects, educationaluses of artifacts and specimens, reformatting ofimages from the photograph archive, and long-termcuration and storage.

The curator delivered several talks on behalf ofthe park during the year, most notably a slide presen-tation at the Montana Historical Society’s annualMontana History Conference. The talk, part of apanel focusing on Yellowstone photographs andfilms, highlighted Yellowstone’s most important his-toric photographers and illustrated the importance ofphotographs in documenting and revealing changes


to the natural and cultural landscape and the visitorexperience in Yellowstone.

The museum staff provided technical assistanceand guidance on curatorial issues to staff at numerousother parks by telephone and electronic mail, asrequested by regional curators and the parks them-selves. The museum staff hosted a new curator fromDinosaur National Monument on a shadow assign-ment, and provided hands-on training in the use ofthe NPS cataloging system to collateral-duty museumstaff from Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.The curator participated in a meeting of the NPSMuseum Management Program Council (an organi-zation of senior NPS curators) at Glacier NationalPark, where she was named to the NPS ArchivesWorking Group in order to contribute expertise in themanagement of field records.

The curator participated in meetings of the Yel-lowstone Museum Partnership that resulted in assis-tance to several neighboring museums (such as theLivingston Depot Center) and the sharing of knowl-edge on disaster planning. Yellowstone’s museumstaff also provided technical assistance on curatorialmatters to other non-NPS museums and agenciesaround the country, including the California stateparks.

The curator participated in scoping and plan-ning meetings on the proposed new exhibits at theCanyon Visitor Center and the proposed new OldFaithful Visitor Education Center, and providedwritten comments on concept plans and film scripts.The museum staff continued to work with the conces-sions division and park concessionaires to ensure pre-servation and appropriate care and maintenance ofexhibits and specific museum objects at the OldFaithful Inn, Roosevelt Lodge, and Mammoth Hotel.At the end of the visitor season, the clock over thefireplace in the Old Faithful Inn lobby receivedrepairs under the direction of a clockmaker fromBozeman, Montana. Historic components removedduring the repairs, along with newer components thatserve as evidence of previous repairs, are beingdocumented and retained in the museum collection.Museum staff also worked with the park’s historicalarchitect and the ranger and maintenance divisions ona display for the Bechler River Ranger Station.

Yellowstone Heritage and Research CenterThe curator continued work on the park’s pro-

posed new museum, archives, and library facility,tentatively named the Yellowstone Heritage and

Research Center (HRC). Museum, archives, andlibrary staff, as well as staff from other divisions,reviewed schematic plans that would use a site onpark land adjacent to the high school in Gardiner,Montana. The building program will be phased inbecause the available line-item construction funds of$6.1 million would cover some, but not all, long-range collections needs. Proposals to fund theremaining phases were revised and resubmitted to theYellowstone Park Foundation and the Save America’sTreasures program. The curator gathered and submit-ted all comments on the plans and participated innumerous meetings, including a review of the planswith representatives from the Wyoming State His-toric Preservation Office. A team that included theregional curator from the NPS National CapitalRegion and one of the nation’s top environmentalengineers advised the park on its space needs andenvironmental requirements for the facility.

Old Faithful Inn’s clock received repairs by aclockmaker from Bozeman, Montana.


As a temporary solution to the severe over-crowding in the museum and archives storage areas,the curator and archivist were granted permission touse the Scout House, a former Civilian ConservationCorps administration building in the YCC camp, asoverflow storage. The building entrances wereequipped with digital door locks for improved secur-ity, the locks on doors inside the building were re-keyed, and archives and museum staff began movingsome collections into the building. More collectionswill be moved after the building’s previous occupantshave finished vacating the space.

RESEARCH LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES

The Yellowstone Research Library and Ar-chives are jointly managed by park archivist LeeWhittlesey, who also functioned as defacto historianin 2000, as time allowed. Librarians Alissa Cherry,Kathryn Kirby, and Barb Zafft recorded a total of1,467 patrons in 2000, an increase of more than 40percent over 1999. The library, which includes a rarebook collection among its more than 20,000 titles,obtained a computer terminal for public Internetaccess, which was very busy throughout the year,particularly in the summer months. The staff beganthe process of placing the library catalog on theWyoming Libraries Database. When this project iscompleted and the library is online (anticipated inJuly 2001), the staff expects to see a great increase inthe library’s patronage.

Staff began cleaning, organizing, and securingthe additional storage and work space made availableat the historic Scout House to accommodate acquisi-tions that overflow the existing capacity of the libraryand archives space. Staff continued to work witharchitects and engineers to plan the new collectionsstorage building, the Yellowstone Heritage andResearch Center.

With funds provided by fee demonstration for amajor multi-year preservation project, conservatorRenee DeVille from the University of Texas providedtraining to library staff on appropriate conservationtechniques and supplies. Park librarians identifieditems in need of conservation, made boxes and enclo-sures to house fragile items, and repaired a variety ofbooks and printed materials.

Fee demonstration funds also made it possibleto obtain copies of records from the National Ar-chives in Kansas City that cover a wide range ofYellowstone topics, including roads, wildlife man-

agement (especially bison), snow removal, develop-ment and maintenance of park buildings, and thermalfeatures. Processing these records and other archivaldocuments, including administrative and naturalresource records from the Yellowstone Center forResources, was undertaken by archives specialistHarold Housley and archival intern Tara Cross.Harold and contract employee Frankie Collins con-tinued work on converting records from a MicrosoftWord archival system to a newer Re:discovery/ANCS+ system, in compliance with NPS guidelines.

On May 23, 2000, a sewer-pipe from the publicrestrooms in the adjacent Albright Visitor Centerbacked up into the park archives vault room while athird-floor restroom simultaneously overflowed,causing water to cascade down the building’s eleva-tor shaft and onto the floor of the library’s rare bookroom. Many days were spent cleaning up and disin-fecting the collections, reporting on this event, andmaking plans to prevent its reoccurrence. Subse-quently, two kinds of water alarms were installed inthe library and archives, paper items were movedfrom the bottom map drawers, and other materialswere placed on risers in the rare book room andarchives room. Staff conducted frequent testing ofalarms to ensure proper operation in the event of aleak.

Assisted by other library and archives staff whohelped catalog maps in the collection, contractemployee Cynthia Keller improved the organizationand physical condition of the collection by enclosingmany maps in Mylar, placing items in acid-free mapfolders, and identifying them on the computerizedfinding aid.

The librarians and the archives specialistattended a week-long training course at the NationalArchives in Washington, D.C., and College Park,Maryland. The archivist took two trips to southernCalifornia to tape five oral-history interviews withformer park employees, including former PresidentGerald R. Ford, who worked as a park ranger duringthe summer of 1936. He also visited the photocollection at the University of California-Riverside togather information on Yellowstone photographs heldby that repository.

The archivist also completed a written historyof landscaping in the Mammoth area, presented apaper to the annual Montana Historical Societyconference with Paul Schullery on the history oflarge mammals in Yellowstone, and presented a paperon early Yellowstone photographers at the University


of Wyoming symposium “Packaging Places andImaging Landscapes.” He presented a speech onbibliographical sources at a symposium at Cody,Wyoming, entitled “The Nez Perce in the Yellow-stone Country,” and gave a speech to the WestYellowstone Historical Society entitled “On theGrand Tour in Yellowstone.” He and Frankie Collinstranscribed the 1863 diary of gold prospector Cal C.Clawson, information from which should be useful inSchullery and Whittlesey’s continuing efforts toproduce a book about the history of large mammalsof the Yellowstone region.

The archivist presented a field trip on the“Madison Campfire Myth” to 30 participants duringthe annual Greater Yellowstone Coalition meeting atWest Yellowstone. He helped organize and attended a

three-day reunion at Old Faithful of former conces-sioner bus drivers and tour guides that was attendedby 128 people, some of whom gave many historicphotos to the park archives. Lee also laid groundworkto conduct dozens of future oral history interviewswith attendees. He taught two classes at the Yellow-stone Institute: “Southern Yellowstone RoadsideHistory” and “Yellowstone’s Artists and Photogra-phers.” The latter was co-taught by Dr. PeterHassrick of the University of Oklahoma, author of aforthcoming new book, Drawn to Yellowstone: AHistory of Artists in the National Park.

Notable AcquisitionsThe park archivist and curator attended the

annual national park paper show at Billings, Mon-tana, and purchased many items for the park library,archives, and museum collections. Some of the mostsignificant items added to the archives in 2000include an autographed copy of Eugene Burns 1953Advanced Fly Fishing (donated); J.J. Aubertin’s 1888A Flight with Distances: the States, the HawaiianIslands, and Canada (donated by Ron Lerner); E.H.Scott’s 1925 Panama, Yosemite, Yellowstone (do-nated by Lee Silliman); buffalo keeper David W.Pierson’s collection, including his diary, letters,awards, and photographs (purchased by the park); ananonymous gift of a collection of Bloom Brotherspostcards; rare separates from Harper’s Weekly,Frank Leslie’s Weekly, and the New York Tribute;and Northern Pacific and Union Pacific railroaditems.

OTHER PROJECTS

The Branches of Cultural Resources and Land-scape Architecture, with the assistance of the NorthDistrict rangers and the paint shop, jointly hosted anElderhostel Service Program from September 5 to 9at which Elderhostel volunteers donated about 200hours of work to the park. Participants painted thefence surrounding the U.S. Army Cemetery nearMammoth Hot Springs and removed weeds from thecemetery. They also cleaned museum artifacts andspent 1.5 days gathering seeds for revegetationprojects.

Ranger Ford, circa 1936.

Part III. Natural Resource Programs

AIR, LAND, AND WATER

Air QualityResource management specialist Mary Hektner continued to represent the park in the Greater Yellow-

stone Area Clean Air Partnership. The primary focus of the group’s efforts was to prepare an assessmentidentifying GYA air quality issues and conditions, air pollution sources, and monitoring efforts. The assess-ment also summarized known information and identified monitoring needs with recommendations for futuremanagement actions.

Snowmobile emissions and air quality concerns remained in the news as the park’s controversial winteruse planning and compliance process continued. Mary assisted the NPS Air Resources Division with thecompilation of a service-wide report on air quality concerns related to snowmobile use.

Disturbed Lands and Mining ImpactsReclamation of the 2.5-mile long segment of the Turbid Lake road between Turbid Lake and the Pelican

Valley trailhead continued in 2000. Park and Montana Conservation Corps staff used Fee Demonstrationfunding to de-compact about 0.8 miles of the roadbed, excavate stream crossings, reshape road cuts to restoreoriginal drainage, and mulch, transplant, and seed the area with native plant species. Reclamation of theremaining 0.6 miles of road will be completed in 2001.

Mary Hektner helped prepare a general agreement that was signed with the Wyoming Department ofEnvironmental Quality Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Division to secure funding (currently budgeted at$828,000) for restoration of three abandoned park gravel pits (Lone Star Geyser, Natural Bridge/Bridge Bay,and Sedge Creek) totaling 23.6 acres. She also helped select an engineering firm that will prepare designs,specifications, and an environmental assessment, and met with Wyoming AML, the contract engineer, and parkstaff to develop a task directive that outlines project items and a schedule for restoration of the pits in 2001.She supervised the wetland and rare plant surveys and arranged for cultural resource surveys of the areas asneeded for environmental compliance and permitting.

The southeast arm of Yellowstone Lake. Photo by Jennifer Whipple.

26 Natural Resource Programs

Mary Hektner continued to participate inplanning meetings and to monitor reclamationprojects associated with three mines located outsidethe park: the New World Mine, the Mineral Hill GoldMine, and the McLaren Mine tailings. Reclamationof the Mineral Hill Gold Mine began in 2000. Parkstaff are working with staff from NPS Water Re-sources and the Wyoming Department of Environ-mental Quality to explore options for treatment andremoval of tailings from the McLaren Mine that arelocated upstream and just outside the park’s northeastboundary.

Greater Yellowstone Network Inventory PlanPark staff representing YNP participated on a

team that developed a $665,000, four-year plan toinventory vascular plants and vertebrates in Yellow-stone and Grand Teton national parks and BighornCanyon National Recreation Area. Inventories tobegin in 2001 in YNP will include non-native andalpine plants, bats, amphibians and reptiles, andYellowstone cutthroat trout.

WetlandsMore than 130 wetlands were mapped and

described along 12 miles of the Grand Loop Roadbetween Mud Volcano and Fishing Bridge, andbetween Sylvan Pass and the East Entrance as part ofthe parkwide road reconstruction program. A semi-technical full color publication about the park’swetlands, Wetland Resources of Yellowstone NationalPark, was completed and 1,400 copies were printedfor distribution by the park and the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service.

More than 10 projects were reviewed to ensurethat impacts to wetland resources would be avoidedor minimized.

AQUATIC RESOURCES

Lake Trout RemovalThe 2000 field season was the most successful

yet for control of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)in Yellowstone Lake since the non-native species wasdocumented there in 1994. The park fisheries staffcontinued to employ three gillnetting strategies:control, distribution, and spawner nets.

• Control nets continued to be the mosteffective method for removing lake trout.This effort primarily targeted smaller laketrout in water 50 to 75 meters deep to maxi-

mize the removal of lake trout and minimizethe by-catch of Yellowstone cutthroat trout(Onchorhynchus clarki bouvieri). Small-mesh, monofilament gillnets (19–44 mm barmeasure) were used from May throughOctober. Larger mesh nets (51–89 mm) wereused from ice-off to the beginning of thermalstratification in an attempt to capture largerlake trout when they were found in shallowerwater five to 15 meters deep.

• Distribution nets were used to determine thevertical and spatial locations of lake trout in16 randomly chosen sites over a two-weekperiod in August. Pairs of nets containing 11different mesh sizes were used for one nightin water 15 to 40 meters deep at each site.

• Spawner nets targeted lake trout from mid-September through mid-October when theymoved onto their spawning grounds.Monofilament gillnets (51–70 mm) wereused at two known spawning locations inWest Thumb and three possible spawningsites in Breeze Channel. Various otherlocations throughout the lake were alsosampled in an attempt to locate additionalspawning grounds.

By using different sizes of gillnets, the fisheriesstaff were able to target two of the lake trout’s threelife history stages: small non-predatory (<400 mmtotal length [TL]), and large predatory (>550 mm TL)fish. Mid-size lake trout (400–550 mm TL) tend toreside in the same areas of the lake as do the nativeYellowstone cutthroat trout, so targeting them forgillnetting could result in large by-catch of cutthroat.

Gillnets are being used extensively on Yellowstone Lake toremove the predaceous lake trout in order to protectYellowstone cutthroat trout.


Refinement in gillnetting techniques andextended set duration resulted in more than doublingour 1999 netting effort. In 2000, 3,355 units of effort(control and spawner nets combined) netted 12,792lake trout and 1,334 cutthroat trout (of which 642were released back into the lake alive). Distributionnetting obtained another 81 lake trout and 207cutthroat trout (110 released). Most of the capturedlake trout caught were juvenile fish netted in deepwater, but spawner nets captured 861 fish, of which765 (89%) were mature spawners. The cutthroat-to-lake trout catch ratio of 0.10:1 was similar to that ofthe previous two years (Table 1).

Although the number of lake trout capturedincreased by more than 50 percent from 1999 to2000, the catch rate (CPUE in Table 1) remainedabout the same, indicating that the netting effort maybe preventing the lake trout population from increas-ing. The average size (and potential reproductivecapacity) of spawning lake trout continued to de-crease at both confirmed spawning locations (Table2, Figure 1).

Angler catch. Anglers were again encouragedto fish for lake trout during a two-week early season(June 1 to June 15) on Yellowstone Lake and toreport their catches. Reports showed that the numberof lake trout captured was not enough to offset theincidental mortality of cutthroat trout spawnerscaught during this period. The opening of anglingseason on Yellowstone Lake will therefore revert tothe traditional June 15 date in 2001.

Anglers reported catching about 250 lake troutduring the fishing season, which was consistent withthe previous three years. Although angler lake troutremovals are much lower than gillnet catch totals,they are important to the overall control program.Anglers primarily catch the medium-size life historystage of lake trout that cannot be targeted withgillnets due to the high by-catch of cutthroat trout.

Long-term prospects. Since 1995, gillnettinghas removed more than 27,000 lake trout fromYellowstone Lake, most of them from West Thumband Breeze Channel. Bioenergetics modeling (esti-mates of how many cutthroat trout a lake troutpotentially consumes) suggests that a mature lake

Figure 1. Length frequency of mature lake trout caught atCarrington Island.

LAKE TROUT CAUGHT IN SPAWNER NETS

Year Area Lake Trout Mean TL Median TLCaught (mm) (mm)

1996 Carrington 151 623.47 6101997 Carrington 222 588.18 5951998 Carrington 121 625.43 6211999 Carrington 461 589.12 5852000 Carrington 437 586.65 5961997 27 144 612.80 6051998 27 203 617.38 6131999 27 271 611.85 6072000 27 211 602.63 5971999 24, 25, 26 72 577.13 5702000 24, 25, 26 118 599.48 606

Table 2. Spawner gillnet totals by area. Carrington Islandand area #27 are in West Thumb; areas #24, #25, and #26are suspected spawning sites in Breeze Channel.

1996N = 152

1997N = 239

1998N = 122

1999N = 495

2000N = 436

Total Length (mm)

% F

req

uen

cy

200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 10000

4

8

12

160

4

8

12

160

4

8

12

160

4

8

12

160

4

8

12

16

CONTROL AND SPAWNER GILLNETTING EFFORT

Year Effort Lake Trout CPUE Cutthroat:Caught Lake Trout

1994 39 2 0.05 252.00:11995 250 153 0.61 6.60:11996 401 580 1.45 1.70:11997 538 863 1.60 2.50:11998 1,415 7,792 5.51 0.13:11999 1,626 5,748 3.54 0.08:12000 3,354 12,792 3.81 0.10:1

Table 1. Gillnetting effort (number of 100-m net-nights),number of lake trout caught, CPUE (catch per unit effort), and cutthroat trout-to-lake trout catch ratio.


trout can eat between 50 to 90 cutthroat trout peryear, so the gillnetting effort has saved a largenumber of cutthroat trout. The gillnetting, telemetry,and hydroacoustic data collected since 1996 indicatethat:

• Most lake trout reside in the West Thumb/Breeze Channel portion of the lake.

• All known spawning grounds for lake troutare in the West Thumb/Breeze Channel area.

• Most adult lake trout reside in West Thumb.• Juvenile lake trout are found throughout the

lake.

The combination of intensive gillnetting andangler removals suggests that the program is ap-proaching the lake trout mortality goal of 50 percentin the West Thumb/Breeze Channel portion ofYellowstone Lake, and that current removal effortsare adequate for this area. However, the gillnettingprogram will have to be expanded lake-wide in orderto control population expansion throughout the lakebasin. The data also suggest that over the long term,new spawning grounds will be established at othersites throughout the lake.

To address the long-term needs of the program,the NPS has acquired funding for a new commercialgillnetting boat that is expected to be fully opera-tional during the 2001 field season. This vessel andits crew will be used solely for the lake trout removalprogram.

Westslope Cutthroat Trout RestorationUntil 1997, only limited genetic information

was available about selected populations ofwestslope cutthroat trout (Onchorhynchus clarkilewisi) in the park. The Aquatic Resources Centerinitiated research to gather information about thegenetic status and population structure of this nativesubspecies that would lead to the protection and re-establishment of viable populations in the Gallatinand Madison river tributary streams where the troutwas once abundant. This project includes:

• an extensive genetic survey to more accu-rately describe the distribution of pure versushybridized populations;

• annual monitoring of changes in abundance,length and age structure, and collection ofseasonal distribution information; and

• a pilot study at Canyon Creek to examine thefeasibility of westslope cutthroat trout

restoration by removing non-native fish andisolating the stream with a physical barrier.

From 1997 to 1999, non-lethal genetic samples(fin clips) were removed from westslope cutthroattrout at 20 different sites from 11 streams and sent tothe Wild Trout and Salmon Genetics Laboratory inMissoula, Montana, for analysis. These analysesidentified a genetically pure population in the NorthFork of Fan Creek, and described the extent ofhybridization with introduced trout among otherstreams. Length and age structure information andbaseline abundance estimates collected from many ofthese populations will enable fishery biologists tomonitor their status.

In 2000, preliminary data were collected on thewestslope cutthroat trout distribution and reproduc-tive status at seven sites in tributaries of Fan Creek:four evenly-spaced reaches of the North Fork; twosites in the first meadow of the East Fork; andStellaria Creek nearly a mile upstream from its con-fluence with the East Fork. Trout were captured ineach stream with electrofishing gear and measuredfor length and weight, and gonadal tissue wasexamined from a subsample. Otoliths (small bonystructures that fish use for balance) were extractedfrom the heads to determine age because annualgrowth rings are often easier to see on them than onscales. A complete health assessment was made offish from the North Fork to test for whirling diseaseand other diseases to which trout are susceptible.

Mature cutthroat trout in spawning conditionwere captured in June in the four North Fork sites,and were most abundant in its headwaters. The largepercentage of spawning trout observed suggests thatthe peak of the spawn occurred around June 21.Mature trout averaged 174.3 mm in total length; thesmallest mature fish was a 132-mm male. Spawninglocations (redds) were found mainly near the middleof the drainage, and were more abundant at the lowerend of a large meadow. Only one redd was observedat the other three sites.

At the two East Fork sites, most of the troutexamined (63%) had completed spawning, butbecause these surveys were not finished until lateJune, the two forks were thought to have similarbreeding periods. The mature trout had a mean totallength of 281.6 mm, more than four inches longerthan in the North Fork. The total length of thesmallest mature fish was 160 mm. Specific breedinglocations in the East Fork could not be determined


since trout redds and spawning activity were notobserved at either site.

The breeding period of cutthroat trout inStellaria Creek occurred about the same time as inthe East Fork. Nearly 90 percent of the adults cap-tured during the survey were classified as post-spawning, and no spawning or redds were observed.The mean length of the adult fish was 225 mm; thesmallest mature fish was 183 mm.

The NPS is funding a graduate research projectwith the Cooperative Research Unit at Montana StateUniversity to examine seasonal movements of west-slope cutthroat trout in the Fan Creek drainage.Previous data on spawning activities and the lengthand age structure of cutthroat trout suggest that twodifferent life forms may be present: fluvial, whichtypically use many areas within a drainage; andresident fish that remain in a single tributary. Acombination of radio telemetry and Passive Inte-grated Transponder tags will determine if twodifferent forms exist, and the data will be used todevelop conservation strategies for protecting andrestoring this subspecies of cutthroat trout in thepark.

Canyon Creek restoration site. Park fisherystaff continued to use electrofishing gear to removeintroduced trout (brook trout [Salvelinus fontinalis],brown trout [Salmo trutta], and rainbow trout [Onco-rhynchus mykiss]) from Canyon Creek while testingthe effectiveness of a barrier constructed near themouth of the creek to prevent upstream fish migra-tion. From July through September, 659 trout werecaptured. Since 1997, a total of 13,768 non-nativetrout have been removed. However, length structuredata indicate that 35 percent of the fish captured in2000 were age 0, with a total length of less than 70mm. Since it was estimated that 98 percent of themature trout in the stream were removed in 1999, thefew remaining adults were apparently able to sustainthe current population. Consequently, other removalmethods, such as chemical treatment, are beingconsidered.

In 2000, 67 of the captured fish were markedwith fin clips and released below the barrier, bringingthe total number of marked and released fish since1998 to more than 800. None of the marked fish havebeen found upstream of the barrier since improve-ments were made to it in 1998, indicating thatupstream migration by non-native fish need not be aprimary threat to the goal of re-establishingwestslope cutthroat trout in Canyon Creek.

Arctic GraylingFor the second year, the Gibbon River was

sampled for Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) todetermine if a fluvial (river-dwelling) form existsanywhere in the drainage. Anglers frequently reportcatching grayling above and below Gibbon Falls, butthese fish may have dispersed from the headwaterlake-dwelling populations in Wolf and Grebe lakes.Crews using a 16-foot raft equipped with electro-fishing gear sampled separate river sections inGibbon Meadows, Gibbon Canyon, below GibbonFalls at the mouth of Canyon Creek, and furtherdownstream near Tuff Cliffs. A total of 11 graylingwere captured in the Canyon Creek and Tuff Cliffssample areas, but none above Gibbon Falls. The totallength of the captured fish ranged from 254 to 363mm and averaged 317 mm, with the mean lengthslightly larger at Tuff Cliffs (328 mm) than at CanyonCreek (312 mm). No young fish have been capturedduring the two years of study. Tissue samples fromthe fins will be analyzed to determine if they differgenetically from those of Grebe Lake grayling.

Previous Gibbon River studies have markedgrayling captured near Wolf and Grebe lakes withelastomer tags to document downstream dispersalfrom these lakes. In 2000, however, low water andearly snow melt resulted in unusually early spawningruns, preventing fishery staff from tagging a suffi-cient number of fish for the study. Adequate numbersof grayling will be tagged in spring 2001 beforefishery surveys are completed in the Gibbon Riverduring the summer.

Whirling DiseaseWhirling disease primarily affects young trout

whose skeletal systems are not fully developed. Lossof equilibrium, skeletal deformities, changes incoloration, and an inability to avoid predators or feednormally may occur as the parasite that causes thedisease (Myxobolus cerebralis) destroys cartilage inthe head of the fish. The standard method for detect-ing the presence of M. cerebralis in a stream involves“sentinel exposure trials,” in which young trout areplaced in a stream cage for a 10–14 day period whenthey are most susceptible to infection. The exposedfish are then kept in an isolation facility until theyreach six months of age, when they are microscopi-cally examined for cranial parasite spores.

After M. cerebralis was verified in YellowstoneLake cutthroat trout in 1998, the park fishery biolo-gists initiated a program to test cutthroat fry as well


as larger cutthroat that are incidentally capturedduring lake trout gillnetting. When cutthroat fry wereplaced in sentinel cages at 14 sites (12 YellowstoneLake tributaries plus Fishing Bridge and Nez Perce[formerly Buffalo] Ford) in the spring of 1999, theparasite spores were found only at Fishing Bridge,where they were detected in seven of the 50 exposedcutthroat fry. All of the exposed fry appeared normalboth before testing and after parasite exposure.Disease severity was rated mild in all but one of theseven infected fish.

The small extent of infection found in 1999may indicate a less than optimum environment forthe infectious stage of the parasite. The most impor-tant variable affecting release of parasites during thisstage appears to be water temperature. Recentresearch suggests that about 1,800 temperature units(average water temperature in ºC multiplied by thenumber of days >0oC) are needed annually forcompletion of the parasite cycle. In colder high-elevation streams, the peak infection period maytherefore occur in the fall rather than the spring.

Based on these temperature criteria, seven ofthe tributaries tested in 1999 were used again in2000, when 10-day exposure tests were conductedwith about 100 cutthroat fry in sentinel cages begin-ning September 10. At each of four other sites(Fishing Bridge, Bridge Creek, Clear Creek, andPelican Creek), multiple exposure trials (threeseparate 10-day exposure tests) were conductedduring the period from September 10 to mid-Octoberas water temperatures declined. Because theseexposure tests occurred later in the year, the test frywere 60–80 days post-hatch and could have devel-oped some resistance to the parasite infection.

After 100 days, microscopic examination foundthat some of the fry from the Fishing Bridge andPelican Creek sites were infected. Although detailedhistological analyses are not yet complete, thewhirling behavior exhibited by the fish at the PelicanCreek site suggested a more severe infection thanwas observed in 1999.

Examination of all 637 cutthroat trout gillnettedin 1999 yielded some preliminary observations aboutthe lake-wide distribution of whirling disease and itspotential effects.

• Older cutthroat trout from many locations inthe lake had a low-level of whirling diseaseinfection.

• If these older infected fish acquired theparasite when they were fry, it appears that

some cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake areable to survive the infection without anyobvious long-term effects.

• Prevalence of the disease is higher insamples from the northern portions of thelake (24.2%) than in the arms (6.5%)(Figure 2).

• The broad age range of infected cutthroattrout (3–8 years old) suggests that theparasite has probably been in the Yellow-stone Lake basin for a number of years.

In 2000, only a stratified subsample of gill-netted cutthroat trout were examined for M. cere-bralis spores. Again, none of the fish exhibited anyclinical sign of the disease, and infection severity wasrated mild. This finding is not unexpected, becausemore severe infections in cutthroat fry would likelyreduce the fish’s chances of long-term survival.

Although the level of infection appears to below, expansion of the parasite to other sites in theYellowstone Lake basin could have serious impactson the cutthroat population. Park fishery biologistsplan to expand the sentinel cage exposure studies inthe next several years. Partitioning stream sites byannual temperature profiles or unique habitat shouldassist in describing focal points of parasite abun-dance. These studies and the ongoing examination ofincidental cutthroat trout catch should yield informa-tion about the vulnerability of Yellowstone Lakecutthroat trout to whirling disease that park managerscan use to develop protections for the preservation ofthis native fish.

Figure 2. Whirling disease-infected cutthroat troutcaptured in the northern Yellowstone Lake gillnetting sites.

0

5

10

15

20

25

Total Length (mm)

Fish testing positive for M. cerebralis

Rela

tive F

req

uen

cy (

%)

150

1999 Cutthroat Trout Gillnet Surveynorthern areas of Yellowstone Lake

200 250 300 350 400 450 500


Cutthroat Monitoring at LeHardy RapidsAnnual sampling. The short section of the

Yellowstone River known as LeHardy Rapidsprovides an excellent dipnetting site where matureYellowstone cutthroat trout are accessible when theytemporarily congregate in pools along the edges ofthe rapids as they move upstream to spawn. Since1974, cutthroat have been collected at LeHardyRapids to monitor size, age, sex ratios, and growthrates. In 2000, every Monday from May 31 to June26, three-person crews placed the captured fish inlarge tubs, anesthetized them, measured each fish’slength and weight, and visually identified sex andstage of maturity. Scales were collected from the first20 mature fish captured each week to obtain lengthspecific stratified age and growth data (10 fishsamples of each sex in each 10-mm size class). Allfish were marked with a caudal punch, revived, takenupstream of the rapids, and released.

A total of 228 mature cutthroat trout was nettedat LeHardy Rapids during the 2000 field season. Thelargest sample (100 fish) was collected on June 5.Mature cutthroat averaged 403 mm in total length,slightly larger than the 25-year average of 392 mm.The mean length of males was typically larger (411mm) than that of females (395 mm).

Brood stock. For the past several years, theWyoming Game and Fish Department has dipnettedat LeHardy Rapids to collect wild gametes to supple-ment their Yellowstone cutthroat trout brood stock.In 2000, fish were captured weekly from June 8 to 29and visually identified to sex and stage of maturity.Those fish that were expected to spawn within the

week were transported to live cages and separated bysex; the others were released. At the end of eachweek, the brood fish were paired (a total of 150 pairsduring the sampling period), and one ounce of eggswas taken from the female and fertilized with a smallamount of milt from the male. The females weretested non-lethally for the infectious hematopoeticnecrosis virus; all tested negative. After they werespawned, the fish were measured to total length,weighed, marked, and released upstream of therapids.

Cutthroat Monitoring in Lake TributariesTo assess the current and potential impacts of

the presence of lake trout in Yellowstone Lake, parkfishery staff are monitoring the population structureof the cutthroat trout entering three tributaries of thelake to spawn.

Clear Creek. Data on spawning trout numbersand size has been collected at Clear Creek since themid 1940s. In 2000, park fishery staff operated thefish trap from May through July and counted 11,453trout migrating upstream. More fish (14,290) werecounted passing downstream through the trap on theirreturn to the lake, indicating a likely equipmentmalfunction; the upstream count probably measuredonly the portion of the run that occurred before andafter peak runoff. The upstream and downstreamcounts for 2000 are comparable to those recordedfrom 1997 to 1999, indicating that this component ofthe population has remained relatively stable for thepast few years. However, the upstream counts aresignificantly less than the highest counts recordedduring the late 1970s and early 1980s (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Upstream spawner counts of cutthroat troutentering Clear Creek, 1945–2000.

Year

Up

stre

am

Fis

h

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 20100

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

Yellowstone cutthroat trout can be seen ascendingLeHardy Rapids from mid May to late June most years.


Beginning in 1995, several years of high waterin Clear Creek eroded stream banks, degraded someof the trap structures, and compromised the biolo-gists’ ability to obtain accurate fish counts. Therefore,with assistance from the YCR’s supervisory geolo-gist, a rehabilitation project was completed in Augustthat is expected to lead to more accurate counts in thefuture. All necessary permits were secured from theWyoming Department of Environmental Quality andthe U.S Army Corps of Engineers; project approvalwas obtained from the park’s Resource Council. Sixvolunteers from the Montana Conservation Corpsworked with fishery staff to stabilize the streambanks by planting trees angled in a downstreamdirection. The trap structures were reinforced withlarge rocks and concrete, and modifications weremade to the weir to facilitate the flushing of gravelduring high water. Fish counting chutes were reposi-tioned in the weir so that high water and associatedgravel will not affect their function.

Arnica Creek. In 1997, park fishery biologistsexpanded the number of monitoring streams byinstalling a fish trap in Arnica Creek, which histori-cally contained one of the largest spawning migra-tions of cutthroat trout in an area of the lake wherelarge predatory lake trout have become abundant.During 2000, 853 cutthroat trout were countedpassing upstream through the fish trap and electronicfish counters, and 417 passed downstream to returnto the lake. These estimates represent a more than200 percent increase from the 1999 counts; spawnercounts from 1997 to 1999 were lower than expected.Changes to the trap design and efficiency haveoccurred during the past several years that may havepermitted more precise counts in 2000.

Bridge Creek. Beginning in 1998, park fisherybiologists began to monitor a spawning run ofcutthroat trout in Bridge Creek by installing a fishcounter near the mouth of the stream. In addition to

its close proximity to the Lake field office, BridgeCreek supports a large spawning run of Yellowstonecutthroat trout relative to the size of the stream. Thefish counter was also used to test a design intended toreduce the amount of required maintenance so that itcould be used to monitor small backcountry streamsin remote areas of the lake. In 2000, upstream anddownstream migrating trout were counted as theypassed through an electronic fish counter, but no trapfacility was used. In total, 1,250 fish were countedmigrating upstream, and 696 trout passed down-stream through the counter on their return to the lake.These estimates are lower than the previous year,when nearly 2,400 trout were counted. Thaws duringApril likely triggered an early spawning run beforethe counter was installed. For example, more than350 fish had passed through the counter during thefirst four days of operation. A significant decline inthe total spawning run for 2000 was not expected,although lower water levels may have been a factor.

Road Construction InventoriesGibbon River. For the past two years, aquatic

resources staff have been collecting fishery andhabitat data from the Gibbon River in connectionwith the Madison-to-Norris road reconstructionproject. Most of the survey effort focused on deter-mining the distribution of Arctic grayling in the Gib-bon River watershed (see section on Arctic grayling,above), but mottled sculpin and brown, rainbow, andbrook trout were commonly caught. Detailed abun-dance estimates and population structure analyseswill be completed by the end of the road constructionproject.

This road project is unique because a portion ofthe road will be removed and an entirely new roadsegment will be constructed. Because it is unknownhow these activities will affect the river resources, acooperative study with the USGS was initiated in2000 to monitor natural sediment loads and docu-ment changes in sedimentation rates during construc-tion.

Antelope Creek. Electrofishing was used todetermine species composition and relative abun-dance of fish in three sections of Antelope Creek,which flows adjacent to the Canyon-to-Tower road,in order to monitor impacts from proposed roadreconstruction. The first section was located 25 yardsbelow the confluence of an unnamed tributary andabout two miles upstream from the outlet. Thesecond section was a few hundred yards downstreamfrom the first, and the third was in the canyon below

Yellowstone cutthroat trout caught migrating up ClearCreek to spawn are subsampled to obtain length, age, andgrowth data.


a waterfall barrier about a mile upstream from theoutlet. Yellowstone cutthroat trout was the onlyspecies found in the creek. Relative abundanceaveraged 53 fish per 100 meters of stream or about533 fish per kilometer. Fin clip samples taken fromeach fish to determine genetic composition have notyet been processed. Although there have been noofficial stocking activities in Antelope Creek, anglerreports indicate cutthroat trout have been caughtthere since at least 1974.

Angler SurveysVisitors who purchase a fishing permit also

receive a postal catch card requesting information onfishing effort (hours and days fished), catch, skilllevel, and satisfaction for specific waters that theyfished. Fishery staff use data from these VolunteerAngler Report (VAR) cards to estimate anglingpressure, landing and harvest rates, and mean lengthsby species of fish landed and creeled.

Visitors purchased 67,687 fishing permits in2000. Surveys of visitors as they leave the parkshowed that nearly 4 percent of those who hadobtained a permit did not fish, reducing the estimatednumber of anglers to 65,990. Based on data from the3,798 usable VAR cards that were returned, the parkfishery staff estimated the number of fishing days at264,250, the fishing effort at 712,642 hours, and thatanglers landed 713,990 fish and creeled only 22,109,releasing more than 97 percent of all fish landed.Mean annual landing and creel rates were 1.00 and0.03 fish/hour, respectively, with nearly 81 percent ofsingle-day anglers landing one or more fish. Cut-throat trout were the most frequently captured fish(59%), followed by rainbow trout (16%), brook trout(9%), and brown trout (8%). Lake trout, Arcticgrayling, mountain whitefish (Prosopium william-soni), and unidentified fishes made up the remaining8 percent of landed fish.

The 33,465 landed fish reported on the VARcards had an average length of 12.9 inches (328 mm).Nearly 59 percent of these fish were >12 inches (305mm), and 47 percent were >14 inches (356 mm).Lake trout had the greatest average length (17.6inches; 447 mm), followed by cutthroat trout (14.4inches; 366 mm), mountain whitefish (12.4 inches;315 mm), and brown trout (12.0 inches; 305 mm).The average angler skill level was “experienced” at1.98 (1 = beginner, 2 = experienced, and 3 = expert),with an estimated 83 percent of park anglers report-ing satisfaction with their overall fishing experience.

GEOLOGY AND GEOTHERMAL

RESOURCESThe year 2000 marked the arrival of two

geologists at the YCR: Dr. Paul K. Doss from theUniversity of Southern Indiana as supervisorygeologist, and Dr. Nancy Hinman from the Universityof Montana as geothermal geologist. They quicklygot involved in many aspects of park management.

Notable geological events during the yearincluded the spectacular eruption of SteamboatGeyser in Norris Geyser Basin in the early hours ofMay 2 after a nine-year hiatus. Silex Spring in theFountain Paint Pots group erupted in August after a21-year eruption hiatus. While no catastrophic massmovements were reported in the park, minor rockfalls in the Gardner Canyon and small mudflows inthe Gibbon Canyon continued to require road clear-ing and monitoring by the Resource ManagementOperations and Visitor Protection, and Maintenancedivisions. At least one earthquake out of nearly 1,900in the park area during 2000 was reported as a feltearthquake that caused some minor damage.

Program Development and ScopingEfforts began in earnest to develop a formal

structure for geological resources management inYNP that will include geological features and pro-cesses. Priorities will focus on:

• hazard issues: participation in the develop-ment of a comprehensive Volcano andEarthquake Hazards Plan by the U.S. Geo-logical Survey that will identify large-magnitude seismic events and hydrothermalexplosion structures and response plans.

• geothermal monitoring: development andimplementation of a plan as mandated by theGeothermal Steam Act of 1970.

• NPS-State of Montana Reserved WaterRights Compact: reviewing applications fordrilling in the Controlled Groundwater Area.

• support for interpretation: assisting ininterpretive ranger training and preparationof audiovisual materials for the new OldFaithful and Canyon visitor centers.

• protection of geological resources: protectingfeatures such as hydrothermal areas andlithologies (obsidian, sinter, travertine,petrified wood, etc.), and natural processessuch as erosion, stream flow, and hydrother-mal discharge.


Much time and effort was expended in 2000documenting the need for applied geological input invarious aspects of park management. In addition toproviding assistance to park staff and researchinvestigators, YCR geologists sought advisory inputfrom park employees in all divisions, externalresearchers, and federal agency cooperators. In June2000, the supervisory and geothermal geologistsparticipated in a park field trip led by Lisa Morgan,Pat Shanks, Ken Pierce, Bob Christiansen, and otherUSGS scientists.

Working with Every DivisionDuring 2000, the geological resources manage-

ment program was able to assist, in some capacity,every YNP division. Much of that assistance andcollaboration dealt directly with geological resourcemanagement issues.

Interpretation. Major initiatives included theproduction of a hydrothermal video that will premièreat Old Faithful in the summer of 2001 and exhibitsplanning for the new Old Faithful Visitor EducationCenter. Many geologists from the USGS and aca-demic institutions provided technical expertise invideo script and exhibit development. The CanyonVisitor Center will undergo renovations and housecompletely new exhibits focusing on the large-scalegeological setting of Yellowstone. Field trips on localgeology provided exhibit specialists from Gallagherand Associates (visitor center consultants) andHarper’s Ferry a firsthand look at the task at hand.Exhibit plans include interactive media, real-timeseismic data retrieval, and scale models of theYellowstone hotspot and geoecosystem. Reviews ofexhibit plans and geological interpretive themes willbe ongoing.

Nearly all park trail guides, the environmentaleducation curricula, several wayside exhibits andinterpretive signs, and the Resources and IssuesHandbook were reviewed by staff geologists fortechnical accuracy and updating.

Resource management operations. On August22, when a thermal accident and subsequent fatalityoccurred in the Lower Geyser Basin, staff geologistsassisted in evidence collection and site documenta-tion, including water temperatures, water depths, andsediment disruptions. Staff geologists also helpedother resource management staff to assess the age ofdisturbance and wetland extent at a site in the Canyonarea for possible restoration to mitigate for theconstruction of a contractor’s camp in grizzly bearhabitat. On July 3, about 100 gallons of diesel fuel

were discharged 10 meters west of Grayling Creek asa result of a vehicular accident within park bound-aries on Route 191 north of West Yellowstone. Thecontamination was contained and removed bymaintenance personnel and outside contractors beforeit could migrate. One of the staff geologists visitedthe site twice and participated in plans to develop aprotocol to follow in future incidents of this type.Assistance was also provided to resource manage-ment personnel involved in stream flow monitoringand water-rights allocations in Reese Creek along thenorthern park boundary.

Visitor protection. At the request of the VisitorServices Office, the staff geologists responded tovisitor inquiries on subjects ranging from specificgeyser information to behavior of the Yellowstonecaldera, seismic activity, and volcanism.

Planning and compliance. The staff geologistsreviewed and provided input on the draft environ-mental assessment for the Mammoth public restroom.

Public affairs. At the request of the PublicAffairs Office, the staff geologists assisted withmedia contacts pertaining to hydrothermal features,fossil forest resources, seismicity in the park, andYellowstone Lake research, and accompanied filmcrews during location shots in sensitive thermal areasof the park.

Maintenance. Working with maintenance staff,the geothermal geologist examined the deterioratedPhysical Sciences Laboratory trailer, organized andcleaned the facility, obtained the necessary furnish-ings for chemical and sample storage, and prepared alaboratory use protocol.

An accident within park boundaries on Route 191 resultedin the discharge of approximately 100 gallons of diesel fueljust 10 meters from Grayling Creek. The contaminationwas quickly contained by maintenance and State ofMontana personnel.


The staff geologists also provided expertiseused in the Beryl Spring Bridge design and refurbish-ing, Artist’s Point construction and development, andsite investigations related to the construction of thenew Old Faithful Visitor Education Center. Theyparticipated in planning for site borings, and wereonsite during drilling on November 7 for data-collection and observation.

Concessions. One of the staff geologistsprovided a training session on park geology forsnowcoach drivers who give guided tours on routesbetween the South and West entrances and OldFaithful, and from Mammoth to Old Faithful andCanyon.

Yellowstone Center for Resources. The staffgeologists conducted reviews of research permitapplications and provided advice on proposedmethodology and study-site access. For the resource

information branch, they edited fact sheets relating togeology issues that are available to the public andother interested parties.

The staff geologists consulted with culturalresources staff on archeological sites. At a new CodyComplex site (approximately 9,300 years old)located on Yellowstone Lake near Grant Village, thesupervisory geologist accompanied Dr. Ken Pierce(USGS) to describe sediment types, provide geomor-phic (landscape) interpretations of lake terraces andsediment distributions, and collect samples forradiocarbon dating.

The supervisory geologist accompanied fisher-ies staff to the Clear Creek site where dynamicstream-channel processes have threatened theintegrity of the fish weir, and documented sedimentdeposition and accumulation immediately upstreamof the weir, channel migration, cutbank erosion, andundermining of the weir infrastructure.

Resource MonitoringThe geothermal geologist initiated efforts to

establish a conceptual model for a monitoring plan ascalled for under the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970(30 U.S.C. 1001) to protect “significant thermalfeatures” in the park. As envisioned, the plan willcharacterize the current status of the hydrothermalsystems in the park and establish a baseline todocument change in their behavior. The geothermalmonitoring plan will incorporate existing efforts suchas chloride flux measurements and external re-searcher investigations, and new initiatives toachieve comprehensive monitoring. Elements in theconceptual model include identification of dataneeds, database development, and sampling proto-cols and strategies.

On-site drilling for geotechnical review at the proposedsite for construction of the new Old Faithful Visitor Center.

A film crew conducting location shots in the LowerGeyser Basin, a sensitive thermal area of the park.

Accumulation of sediment, and resultant channelmodifications immediately upstream from the Clear Creekfish weir.


Water resources. As part of the NPS-MontanaReserved Water Rights Compact that was establishedto protect water resources within the park fromdevelopment pressures along its borders, staff geo-logists are responsible for reviewing permit applica-tions for drilling in the Controlled Groundwater Area(CGA) that extends primarily along the northern andupper western boundary of the park, and includesparts of Paradise and Gallatin valleys. About fiveapplications for water well drilling (primarily domes-tic use wells) were reviewed in 2000. The geologicalresources management program continued its supportof water resources data collection by the USGS andNPS Water Resources Division, including the LamarRiver gauging station, as well as of the gauging andwater quality stations on Soda Butte Creek below theNew World Mining District.

Earthquakes. The Yellowstone SeismographNetwork of 22 stations in and around the park that isoperated by the University of Utah recorded about1,926 earthquakes in the YNP area during 2000. Theepicenters of earthquakes recorded from October1999 through September 2000 show typical concen-trations in the West Yellowstone and Hebgen area, inthe vicinity of Norris, and around the Mallard Lakeand Sour Creek resurgent domes. The three largestearthquakes were two shocks of magnitude 3.9 onMay 23 (19.7 miles WNW of Gardiner, MT) andAugust 7 (7.3 miles WNW of Norris Junction, WY),and a magnitude 4.3 quake on November 24 (1.1miles north of Norris) that was the only “felt”earthquake reported. It caused some minor damage tosupplies in the Norris apartment of maintenanceemployee Grant Gifford.

An earthquake swarm was recorded 7.5 milesnorthwest of Norris Geyser Basin from July to lateAugust. Earthquake swarms, defined here as aconcentration of earthquakes in time and space, arerelatively common in the park, but the Norris swarmgenerated interest because of its coincidence withobserved changes to the hydrothermal features in thenorthwest side of Norris Geyser Basin.

Volcanic activity. Plans to establish a Yellow-stone Volcano Observatory (YVO) developed out ofdiscussions with Marianne Guffanti, Coordinator ofthe USGS Volcano Hazards Program. Similar to theAlaska Volcano Observatory, the YVO will be a“virtual” observatory in that it will have no tangibleinfrastructure. Robert Christiansen (USGS-MenloPark) will serve as Scientist-in-Charge, and RobertSmith (University of Utah) will act as CoordinatingScientist. In addition to formalizing the longstanding

monitoring of seismic and volcanic activity in YNPby the University of Utah, the USGS, and the NPS,establishing the YVO will contribute to the develop-ment of an Earthquake and Volcanic Hazards Plan forthe park.

Unusual geyser eruptions. Perhaps the mostnotable geothermal resource news for 2000 was thespectacular early morning eruption of SteamboatGeyser in the Norris Geyser Basin on May 2, 2000,the first major eruption documented since October 2,1991. The steam-phase eruption that followed thewater phase was reported to have continued for morethan 24 hours. Steamboat Geyser is known as thetallest active geyser in the world, but it remainsunpredictable.

Norris is regarded as the hottest and one of themost dynamic thermal basins in the park, and hashistorically displayed seasonal and annual changes inhydrothermal characteristics. West of the PorcelainBasin trail, a part of the Hundred Springs Plainknown as “the Gap” showed a substantial change inhydrothermal activity during 2000: new and expand-ing hot spring features, boiling ground, irregulareruptive episodes, and extensive areas of vegetationdie-off from thermal stress. While some of thechanges coincided with the Norris earthquake swarm,no conclusions can be reached about a definitiverelationship between the two events.

In the Lower Geyser Basin, Silex Spring in theFountain Paint Pots group erupted in early August forseveral days, including bursts to nearly 30 feet, manyof which broke and dislodged segments of the sinterplatform built around the edges of the spring, andcontinued irregular eruptions through the fall. Thelast known eruption of Silex occurred on November22, 1979.

Electronic monitoring. An increase in tem-perature in a geyser runoff-channel, as recorded by aremotely deployed thermal probe, is a direct surro-gate for measuring eruption times and intervals.Continuous records of eruption intervals and dura-tions provide baseline measurements that are aprerequisite for the development of a geothermalmonitoring plan. Moreover, the ability to predicteruption times, which can be improved by havingcomprehensive data sets of eruption intervals, isnecessary for the interpretive staff and visitor inquir-ies. Efforts were made during summer 2000 toincrease the number of deployable continuousrecorders on selected thermal features throughout thegeyser basins to about 25. The instruments are visitedregularly by thermal volunteers, interpretive staff, or


the geothermal geologist for retrieval of data that canbe processed to provide eruption duration andinterval information.

Interval data for Echinus Geyser in the NorrisBasin show the irregularity of eruptions (Figure 4).For a 15-day period during July, eruption intervalsranged from about one hour, 20 minutes, to nearlyfour hours. Old Faithful Geyser has historicallyshown a strong bimodal tendency for eruptionintervals. Long duration eruptions tended to generatea long interval of 80 to 90 minutes, and a shortduration eruption generally led to a short interval ofabout 60 minutes. In recent years, Old Faithful hasshown a strong trend towards displaying long inter-vals only. For a three-week period in November, onlyfour intervals out of 362 were short (Figure 5). Thecurrent median eruption interval is 88 minutes with astandard deviation of only six minutes.

The expanded ability to remotely monitorthermal features will permit identification of changein the park’s hydrothermal systems. The data mayindicate long-term changes in system dynamics, helppredict hydrothermal explosion hazards, and provideupdates for the interpretive staff and visitor inquiries.

Yellowstone Lake thermal features. Thesupervisory geologist worked with geoscientists LisaMorgan and Pat Shanks (USGS) as they continuedtheir investigations into hydrothermal features inYellowstone Lake. Bathymetric and video surveys ofthe West Thumb area expanded previous surveys(1999) in the northern part of the lake. Preliminaryinterpretations from the 2000 field season include theidentification and mapping of previously undocu-mented hydrothermal explosion craters, extendingthe mapped leading edges of Yellowstone Plateaurhyolite flows (tentatively the Elephant Back, AsterCreek, West Thumb, and Dry Creek flows), andidentification of small domal features, perhapsassociated with hydrothermal fluids.

Thermal volunteers. Lynn Stephens contrib-uted more than 1,000 hours to geothermal monitor-ing, primarily by compiling a database of geysereruption times and intervals. Ralph Taylor spentnearly 1,000 hours on the deployment of continuousmonitors on selected geysers and the protection andcleaning of thermal features throughout the park.Mary Beth Schwartz contributed over 700 hoursmaking detailed observations of the Grand GeyserGroup. James Grigg contributed his time for thermalmonitoring and resource protection, particularly inPott’s Basin.

PaleontologyDuring 2000, the park’s cultural resource

technician, Elaine Hale, continued to assist theBranch of Natural Resources with inventory anddocumentation of the park’s fossil resources. Hale,NPS paleontologist Vince Santucci, and the supervi-sory geologist met to discuss the park’s fossil re-sources and possible funding sources for develop-ment of a park paleontology program. A proposal fora two-year study of the Cenozoic and Mesozoicfossiliferous exposures and the stratigraphy on MountEverts was submitted to the Intermountain Region

Figure 4. Interval data for Echinus Geyser in the NorrisGeyser Basin for a two-week period in July 2000 show thecurrent level of irregularity of eruptions (data processed byRalph Taylor, VIP).

Figure 5. Interval data for Old Faithful Geyser in theUpper Geyser Basin, for a three-week period in November2000, show the current dominance of long intervalsbetween eruptions (data processed by Tom Hougham).

Echinus Geyser Eruption Intervals

1:00:00

1:30:00

2:00:00

2:30:00

3:00:00

3:30:00

4:00:00

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200

Eruptions (July 2–July 17, 2000)

Old Faithful Eruption Intervals

0:30

0:45

1:00

1:15

1:30

1:45

2:00

2:15

2:30

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

Eruptions (Nov. 3–Nov. 24, 2000)


and was awarded $29,100 in funding for fiscal years2001 and 2002. A funding request for paleontologicalresource surveys of known fossil localities was well-received by the Yellowstone Park Foundation early in2000, and the foundation is soliciting funds tosupport the summer 2001 fieldwork.

Volunteer efforts. Dr. Thomas (Les) Reevesbegan a volunteer project in February to inventoryfossils that have been collected in YNP and storedoutside the park. Review of the park’s researchpermit files identified the principal investigators, thespecimens collected, the institution responsible forthe collection, and any related reports that have beenpublished. An updated bibliography expands on thatpreviously included in The Yellowstone Paleontologi-cal Survey. Information concerning ongoing micro-bial fossil research is being separately collected andwill be added to the database later. The project willbe completed in 2001 when each institution holding aYNP fossil will be requested to provide informationdescribing the specimen and locality from which itwas collected. This will provide YNP with theinformation needed for museum record management,resource management and protection, and furtherresearch.

A proposal to relocate the trail at Daly Creek inthe northwest region of the park provided an opportu-

nity for volunteers Kamiah DeMarnier and GenevaPlumb to document the petrified sequoia forest,remnants of the Eocene epoch, located along it.

Visiting investigators. Nancy Ward, a parkcivil engineer, identified a fossil site at an erodinglocality along the Yellowstone River while fishing in1999 and led a YNP resource team there. In June of2000, Vincent Santucci, the NPS paleontologist atFossil Butte, assessed a representative sampling offossil leaf specimens collected from the site. Prelimi-nary identification of the leaves indicates the area is aPaleocene/Eocene flora site formed between 65 and45 million years ago. The site provides importantinformation about paleoclimates in the park and willbe considered for documentation and further investi-gation. For three days, Santucci was joined by Ward,volunteer Les Reeves, and cultural resources staffmembers Elaine Hale and curator Susan Kraft inassessing the need for documentation and protectionat other known fossil localities on Specimen Ridge,Pebble Creek, and Mt. Everts.

William P. Wall, a professor at Georgia College,and a group of graduate students inventoried the rockoutcrops to be affected by the widening of the EastEntrance Road, and an area in the Hoodoo Basin areaon the east boundary of the park because fossils hadbeen found in a similar geologic setting just east of

USGS geoscientists during their summer 2000 investigations of lake-bottom hydrothermal features inYellowstone Lake.


the park in the Shoshone National Forest. Wall’sgroup did not locate any fossils, but they did identifythree low-energy volcanic mudflow areas along theEast Entrance Road and reported them to the YNProad team and Federal Highway Administrationpersonnel for monitoring during construction.

Lorin Amidon, a Ph.D. candidate at DartmouthCollege, conducted research on fossil soils located inthe Lamar River Formation in the Specimen Ridgearea accompanied by YCR research technicianMichelle LeBeau.

New fossil localities. Craig Whitman of theInteragency Grizzly Bear Study Team providedlocations, photographs, and a written description of afossil locality he identified on the Buffalo Plateauthat contains fossil coral and the first ammonitesrecorded in the park. While removing debris from theroad, a maintenance crew salvaged a fern-like imprintof a Metasequoia fossil. The previously unknown

fossil occurrence also contained petrified wood. Aninterpretation staff member located a horn coral(Rugosa) fossil locality in a Paleozoic sedimentaryunit north of the Pebble Creek area. This area will berevisited in 2001 to document the fossil locality andthe fossil bearing geologic formation.

Presentations and WorkshopsThe supervisory geologist made a keynote

presentation at an interagency science meeting heldin Mammoth in September 2000 and presented aninvited talk at the national meeting of the GeologicalSociety of America in Reno, Nevada. That presenta-tion was intended as a form of peer review for theproposed structure of geological resource manage-ment in YNP.

The supervisory and geothermal geologistspresented talks at a workshop held at Lassen VolcanicPark in California that tackled the problems ofresource protection, interpretation, and research atnational parks in volcanic terranes. The supervisorygeologist represented YNP at the Plate BoundaryObservatory workshop in Palm Springs, California,on large-scale initiatives to monitor seismic andvolcanic activity in the West. Both geothermalgeologists led educational activities in the parkincluding school and college group tours.

VEGETATIONPlant Inventories

Summer fieldwork focused on rare plantsurveys associated with construction projects,primarily the road from the East Entrance to SylvanPass. In addition, possible trail reroutes were sur-veyed to prevent inadvertent impacts on species ofspecial concern. Trail sections examined included theproposed revegetation of the social trail from Bub-bling Beach at Shoshone Geyser Basin, the trail toTower Falls, the southern portion of the Red Creektrail, and a major reroute near Beaver Creek. Duringthe summer field season, 19 new sites were locatedfor “species of special concern” or rare plants, andabout 15 known rare plant sites were examinedopportunistically in order to determine the persis-tence of the species of special concern at those sites.

New native plants. As a result of new collec-tions and clarifications, five new native vascularplant species were confirmed within the park.

• Astragalus inflexus Dougl. ex Hook. (bentmilk-vetch), Orogenia linearifolia Wats.

William P. (Bill) Wall from Georgia College, with a groupof graduate students, conducting a pedestrian inventory ofthe rock outcrops to be affected by the widening of the EastEntrance Road.


(linear-leaved orogenia), and Polygonumminimum Wats. (broadleaf knotweed) wereall located, apparently for the first time, inthe park and are presumed to have been long-term components of Yellowstone’s flora thathave been previously overlooked.

• The presence of Antennaria lanata (Hook.)Greene (woolly pussy-toes) was confirmedafter it was discovered that a previous reportof the species was apparently based on aspecimen in the park herbarium that had beencollected outside the park on the BeartoothPlateau.

• Townsendia condensata Parry ex Gray var.condensata (cushion townsendia), whosepresence in the park had previously beenbased on a misidentification of a differentspecies of townsendia in the park herbarium,was located on the Absaroka Divide justinside the park boundary.

New exotic plants. Six new exotic vascularplant species were documented to occur in the parkduring the summer of 2000, primarily in developedareas and along the roadsides.

• West District resource management person-nel found and eradicated one plant of Ambro-sia artemisiifolia L. (annual ragweed) on theGrand Loop Road between Madison Junctionand Norris.

• A mature specimen of Arctium lappa L.(great burdock) that was found flowering andwith developing fruits along the road be-tween Mammoth and Gardiner was eradi-cated before any seed dispersed. Until thisdiscovery, it was assumed that any vegetativeburdock material found in the park wasArctium minus (Hill) Bernh., the morecommon exotic species. But it is unknownwhether Arctium minus is present in the park,since all other burdock plants have beeneradicated as leaf rosettes, which are impos-sible to determine to species.

• A small patch of asparagus (Asparagusofficinalis L.) was found growing in an areanear Reese Creek that is associated withranching/farming activities conducted beforethe boundary line area was added to the park.The asparagus apparently perpetuated itselfeither by long-term persistence (more than 60years) or by reseeding.

• A patch of Astragalus cicer L. (chick-peamilk-vetch) about two meters square waslocated in scree near Sylvan Pass. TheWyoming Highway Department has appar-ently used this perennial species in revegeta-tion seed mixes near the park. It has anextensive underground rhizome system, andcasual observations outside of the parksuggest that it may be highly invasive.

• Seasonal employees working on wetlanddelineation collected a new species of rush,Juncus compressus Jacq. (compressed rush)in a wetland on the east side of Sylvan Pass.However, the site where it was collectedcould not be relocated so continued vigilancewill be needed to spot and eradicate thisspecies.

• A small infestation of Tamarix chinensisLoureiro (tamarisk) was located by SouthDistrict resource management personnel onan island in the Snake River by the SouthEntrance. The presence of this highly inva-sive shrub on the Snake River suggests that itcould invade other habitats in the park.

Checklist of vascular plants. As a result of theNPS biological inventory initiative, an updatedchecklist of vascular plants for Yellowstone NationalPark was drafted that for the first time includesvarieties and subspecies. Taxa on the list for whichspecimens have been verified have been entered intothe NPS species database; this includes all cataloguedherbarium specimens housed in the park, whichaccount for 76 percent of the taxa on the list. Otherflora on the checklist will be added to the database asunprocessed material at the herbarium and specimenshoused at other institutions are documented.

Alpine vegetation study. A study to character-ize alpine vegetation on volcanic substrates in thenortheast corner of the park was initiated in 2000 as aMontana State University master’s thesis. It is thefirst extensive plant ecological work to be done in thepark’s alpine zone.

Vegetation Management and ResearchHazard tree removal. The management

biologist assisted resource management and conces-sions staff in hazard tree identification and removalin the Indian Creek Campground, along the Mam-moth-to-Norris and Norris-to-Canyon road corridors,and in the Lake concessions trailer court. He also


attended a hazard tree training course taught by theUSDA Forest Pest Management Office in Missoula,Montana.

Fire management. The management biologistserved as the contracting officer and liaison with Dr.Ron Wakimoto and graduate student Kris Sanders ofthe University of Montana, the Boise InteragencyFire Center, and Yellowstone’s fire managementprogram on a $22,000 grant to assess the utility ofFARSITE fire behavior models in comparing modeloutputs with the known behavior of fires in Yellow-stone.

The management biologist also served as thefire behavior analyst for fire management effortsduring the active 2000 fire season. This includedproviding daily updates of fire spread and predictinglong- and short-range fire behavior; compiling fireweather and fire behavior forecasts for daily tacticaloperations and shift plans; and sharing such informa-tion with public affairs and neighboring land man-agement agencies. In all, 7,200 acres burned duringthe 2000 fire season.

The management biologist contributed to fuelsmanagement efforts by conducting a GIS-basedanalysis of fuel loadings around developed areas, andsubsequently prioritizing developed areas for fuelstreatments.

The management biologist also served as thestaff fire ecologist, speaking to 20 different educa-tional, professional, and international groups. As aninvited speaker before the governor’s Upper Yellow-stone River Task Force, the management biologistspoke on fire behavior and ecology in the Yellow-stone ecosystem. The management biologist regularlyconfers with fire management personnel regardingthe collection and analysis of an array of fire-relateddata.

Pest management. Annual pesticide useproposals and pesticide use logs were compiled aspart of the parkwide integrated pest management(IPM) operation. The IPM coordinator received andresponded to 22 different pest complaints related toinsects (15), small mammals (4), bats (2), and smallbirds (1), providing mitigating actions for eachcomplaint. One such effort involved a rodent surveyand exclusion efforts at a facility in the YCC camp,yielding 3,990 trap-nights.

The management biologist continued with theresearch and evaluation of historic forest insectoutbreaks and management responses in YellowstoneNational Park. This work is being done with a retiredentomologist (M.M. Furniss) in conjunction with theUniversity of Idaho, and resulted in revisiting and re-photographing a number of sites throughout Yellow-stone and the surrounding area. A manuscript wascompiled for submission to a major scientific journal.

Exotic species. Inventory and control informa-tion was compiled on exotic plant species for apresentation at the fifth biennial science conferenceand submitted for publication to the Western NorthAmerican Naturalist.

The management biologist supervised twoseasonal employees in the establishment and sam-pling of field exclosures as part of an overall sitereclamation effort in the “triangle” area of the parkadjacent to Gardiner, Montana. A factorial ANOVAexperimental design using fencing, watering, mulch-ing, and herbicide application was employed toassess non-native plant control and concurrentattempts to germinate and establish native plantspecies.

Aspen. The management biologist cooperatedwith Oregon State University researcher Dr. WilliamRipple to establish aspen monitoring transects insideand outside established wolf territories to quantifybaseline vegetation conditions. These transects willbe sampled over time to document vegetationchanges, if any, that may be a result of reducedbrowsing pressure by elk in response to the presence

Aerial view from the south boundary of Yellowstonelooking south/southeast on the afternoon of August 16. Inthe central foreground is the Boundary Fire in the park;left foreground is the Glade Fire in Grand Teton NationalPark (GTNP) and right foreground is the Hecktman Firein the Targhee National Forest. Smoke plumes from twoother fires in southern GTNP are evident in the upperright corner, while the smoke plume from the Enos Fire inthe Bridger-Teton National Forest is evident in the upperleft corner.


of wolves. The results of initial transect establish-ment were submitted and accepted for publication inBiological Conservation.

The management biologist also presented theresults of research into postfire aspen root biomassand sucker production at a symposium on sustainingaspen in western landscapes.

WILDLIFE RESOURCESThe Wildlife Resources Team (WRT) is an

assemblage of wildlife biologists, biological techni-cians, administrative assistants, and volunteers withinthe Yellowstone Center for Resources that works toachieve the mission of the National Park Service andYellowstone National Park. During 2000, the WRTconducted a broad array of wildlife resource manage-ment, monitoring, and research activities, withprincipal emphasis on issues relevant to bear, bird,bison, other ungulates, and wolf conservation, asdescribed below. Of special note:

• Staff work that led to the issuance of afederal Interagency Record of Decision forlong-term bison management.

• Continued monitoring of threatened andsensitive species populations.

• Creative new fundraising and partnershipsfor mission-critical wildlife ecology research.

• Leadership in bear management practicesthat enabled YNP to continue to have thelowest rate of negative human–bear interac-tions in the greater Yellowstone area.

• Inventorying of herptile species richness,abundance, and distribution.

• Research on large and meso-predator life-history and predator–prey interactions; thehabitat use, population demographics, andvital rates of northern range ungulates; multi-trophic level responses to restoration of thegray wolf; and epidemiology and pathogen-esis of Brucella abortus.

• Collaboration with the park’s environmentaleducation staff to make wildlife-relatedpresentations to park visitors.

The team worked with private sector andcompetitive fund sources to supplement the FY2000park base allocation of $667,000 with funds thatbrought the total operational budget to $1,090,000.In December, permission was received to add twonew permanent GS-11 wildlife biologist positions to

the team to provide additional expertise for bison andmeso-carnivore conservation management.

BearsYellowstone National Park protects and main-

tains populations of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) andblack bears (Ursus americanus) as part of the park’snative fauna and for providing park visitors theopportunity to safely enjoy the park’s natural re-sources. The Interpretive, Maintenance, ResourceManagement Operations and Visitor Protection, andYellowstone Center for Resources divisions eachhave staff who contribute to management effortsdesigned to reduce or prevent the chances of bear-inflicted human injuries, bear-caused propertydamages, and human-caused bear mortalities. To besuccessful, bear management must be a parkwide,multi-divisional effort.

The Bear Management Office (BMO) coordi-nates implementation of the park’s Bear ManagementPlan and records data related to bear managementactivities in the park. Yellowstone is a member of theInteragency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST), andstaff assist with ecosystem-wide grizzly bear policyrecommendations designed to ensure scientifically-based resource decisions. In addition, the BMO isresponsible for the oversight of nuisance wildlifemanagement and for wildlife disease, wildlife DNA,and rare mammal monitoring. In 2000, the BMOconsisted of one permanent biologist, one termtechnician, two seasonal technicians, and one sea-sonal volunteer biological technician.

Population monitoring.Bear sightings.—There were 1,166 bear

sighting reports recorded in YNP in 2000. Thesereports included 551 observations of grizzly bears,417 of black bears, and 42 of unidentified species ofbear. In addition, there were 100 observations ofgrizzly bear sign, 11 observations of black bear sign,and 45 observations of sign from unidentified speciesof bear. The first recorded grizzly bear activity of theyear was an aerial observation on March 3 in lowerCottongrass Creek. The first recorded black bearactivity in 2000 was an aerial observation north ofDruid Peak on March 1. The last recorded black bearactivity was a visual observation on December 19 inthe Biscuit Basin area. The last recorded grizzly bearactivity of the year was a bear running down the roadat Mud Volcano on December 6. Two grizzly bearsightings and one black bear sighting occurred inearly January of 2001, which would be countedtowards pre-denning activity and fall into the 2000


bear season. All three of these sightings were locatedin the Lamar Valley area.

Grizzly females with cubs.—As part of grizzlybear population monitoring in the ecosystem theIGBST counts the number of adult female grizzlybears with cubs-of-the-year (COY) each year. Adultfemale grizzly bears with COY are the most reliablesegment of the population to count. The smalleraverage home range sizes of females with COY, aswell as the number of cubs per litter and pelage-colorcombinations of different family groups, aid inidentifying individual adult females.

In the GYA, 37 female grizzly bears with 74COY were counted in 2000. Of these, 14 differentfemale grizzly bears and 26 COY were observed inYNP by experienced bear observers. The averagelitter size in the park was 1.9 cubs per litter. Grizzlybear family groups observed in YNP included 3 one-cub litters, 10 two-cub litters, and 1 three-cub litter.Some of these females had home ranges entirelywithin the boundaries of the park. Others had homeranges that over-lapped the park boundary.

Observation flights.—In 2000, as part of theIGBST grizzly bear population monitoring program,the BMO conducted two series of aerial observationflights in the Lamar, Pelican/Clear Creek, Two OceanPlateau, Washburn, and Firehole/Hayden bearmanagement units. Due to weather related events theTwo Ocean Plateau unit was unable to be flownduring the first series of flights. During the firstseries of flights (20.3 observation hours) in the fourother units, eight grizzly bears were observed in fourgroups. The mean group size was 2.0 bears/group.None of the observed grizzly bears were radio-marked. Three black bears were observed during thefirst round of observation flights. During the secondseries of observation flights (27.3 observation hours)that included all five units, 26 grizzly bears wereobserved in 14 groups. Mean group size was 1.7bears/group. None of the observed bears was radio-collared. There were two black bears observed duringthe second series of flights. The lack of markedgroups of bears observed in the two series of flightssuggests that either collared bears avoid detectionfrom overhead flights or that only a small proportionof the bears in the park are radio-marked. The IGBSTwill use this data along with observation flight datacollected from outside of the park to calculate aminimum population estimate for grizzly bears in theYellowstone ecosystem.

Bear mortality.—There were two knowngrizzly bear mortalities and two known black bear

mortalities within YNP in 2000. Both of the grizzlybear mortalities were due to natural factors. One ofthe mortalities was from an unknown/natural causewhile the other was a possible predation by wolves oran adult bear. Both bear carcasses were too old by thetime they were discovered to determine the exactcause of death. Both black bear mortalities alsoappeared to be from natural causes.

On May 30, 2000, the hide of a small grizzlybear was discovered by a Gardiner, Montana, residentphotographer while hiking in the Sulphur Mountainarea. He reported the hide as suspiciously missing thehead and paws and was concerned that it was apossible poaching. Multiple attempts by Lake andCanyon resource management personnel to find thehide via a verbal description provided by the photog-rapher were unsuccessful. On July 16, 2000, BMOpersonnel recovered the hide in the company of thephotographer. The hide contained only the rump,back, hump, and portions of the hind legs. The hide

Grizzly bear near the top of one of the park’s historicapple trees. Photo by Kerry Gunther.


was estimated to befrom a cub-of-the-yearthat died the previousfall or a yearling thathad died that spring.

On September 20,2000, a dead subadultgrizzly bear was ob-served during a wolfobservation flight overthe upper Spruce Creekarea. The bear wasobserved with a wolfstanding over it and therest of the wolf pack(Nez Perce pack)bedded nearby. It wasunclear at the time if thewolf pack had killed thebear or just happenedupon the carcass. On September 21, 2000, BMO andIGBST personnel hiked to the location but wereunable to find the carcass. On October 8, 2000,IGBST personnel returned to the site and found ahair pile and possibly a baculum, suggesting the bearwas a male, but no other sign of the carcass.

A note left on the Tower Ranger Station frontdoor on August 31, 2000, reported a black bearcarcass along the spur trail to backcountry campsite1Y9. BMO personnel found the carcass of an oldadult black bear on September 6, 2000. Sex andcause of death were unable to be determined from themostly decayed carcass. Claws from both hind feetand one front foot were missing. The remainingclaws and skull were collected and the carcass wasmoved away from the campsite so the site could bereopened.

On October 29, 2000, rangers on the SouthBoundary trail discovered an old bear skull under alog just off the trail. Tooth measurements of thelength of maxillary molar indicated the skull wasfrom a black bear. The molar length was 23 mm;grizzly bear second maxillary molars are usuallylonger than 28 mm. The condition of the skullsuggests that the bear had been dead for severalyears.

Availability of bear foods. Despite the below-average abundance of many bear foods in 2000, theoverall availability of foods was considered to beabove average throughout most of the active bearseason. The winter of 1999–2000 was mild, resultingin below average number of winter-killed elk (Cervus

elaphus) and bison (Bison bison) carcasses. Thesummer was hot and dry causing vegetal foods todessicate early. Although the current years produc-tion of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) seeds in thefall was also below average, there was an abundanceof over-wintered whitebark pine seeds left from theabove average cone production of the previous year.Grizzly bears fed on the over-wintered whitebarkpine seeds throughout the late spring, summer, andwell into the fall season.

The winter of 1999–2000 was considered to bea fairly normal, mild winter in the Madison/Fireholeand the upper and lower northern winter ranges.

During early to mid-spring, scavenging therelatively few ungulate carcasses available anddigging earthworms were the most frequentlyobserved grizzly bear feeding activities. Duringspring, grizzly bears also dug up pocket gopher(Thomomys talpoides) caches in localized areaswhere they were abundant.

Elk calves, normally an important late springand early summer food source, did not appear to bepreyed upon as extensively by bears as in past years.Instead grizzly bears dug up red squirrel (Tamias-ciurus hudsonicus) middens and fed on the whitebarkpine seeds from the previous fall. The numbers ofspawning cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki)counted in Yellowstone Lake tributaries were similarto the long-term averages (1989–1998) on moststreams except for those in the West Thumb area,which were below average. Spawning cutthroat troutare available to bears with home ranges adjacent to

Black bear “jam” at Rainy Lake. Photo by Darren Ireland.


Yellowstone Lake during the late spring and earlysummer. Trout are one of the highest sources of netdigestible energy available to bears in the ecosystem.

Throughout the summer season, grizzly bearsgrazed clover (Trifolium spp.) and dug root foodswhere abundant. Army cutworm moths (Euxoaauxiliaris), were present and attracted large numbersof bears to high-elevation moth aggregation sites onthe eastern side of the ecosystem.

The production of whitebark pine cones duringthe fall, was below average in most of the park. DeafJim Knob was the exception. Whitebark pine seedsare an important fall food source because of theirhigh fat content and potential abundance as a prehib-ernation food source.

Grizzly bear food sources. Ungulates, mostlyelk and bison, cutthroat trout, and whitebark pinenuts have been identified as three of the highestsources of net digestible energy available to grizzlybears in the park. The annual availability of thesefood sources is monitored by YNP staff.

Winter-killed ungulate carcasses.—TheYellowstone ecosystem is unique among areasinhabited by grizzly bears in North America becauseof the substantial use of ungulates as food during thespring season, as indicated by analysis of bear scats,

bear feed sites, and bear hair. On average, approxi-mately 79 percent of the energy obtained by adultmale and 45 percent of the energy obtained by adultfemale grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem isestimated to come from meat. In contrast, in GlacierNational Park, over 95 percent of the energy obtainedby both adult male and female grizzly bears comesfrom vegetation. Ungulates rank as the secondhighest source of net digestible energy available togrizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Ungu-lates are also important to bears because they providea high quality food source during early spring beforemost vegetal foods become available. Grizzly bearsfeed on ungulates primarily as winter-killed carrionfrom March through May.

Between the beginning of April and mid-Mayeach year, the BMO surveys 26 total routes covering78.9 km of winter range in the Firehole River drain-age, 19.8 km in the Norris Geyser Basin, 32.0 km inthe Heart Lake area, and 215.5 km on the NorthernWinter Range for winter-killed ungulate carcasses.Survey routes are hiked, snowshoed, or skied byteams of at least two people. All ungulate carcasses,as well as bears and bear sign (tracks, scat, feedingsign) observed from the survey routes, are recorded.Data collected include species, sex, and age class ofcarcasses located, evidence of scavenging or preda-tion by grizzly bears, black bears, and other carni-vores, and UTM locations of carcasses. In 2000, fourbison carcasses, 43 elk carcasses, and one mule deercarcass were documented along the 270.9 km ofsurvey routes completed.

The overall rate of one ungulate carcass ob-served per 8.8 km of survey route in the areas ofthermally influenced ungulate winter range (Fireholethermal area, Norris Geyser Basin, and Heart Lakearea) recorded in 2000, was lower than the long-termaverage of one large mammal carcass observed per6.3 km of survey route recorded from 1992 to 1999.The northern winter range carcass surveys have beenconducted under the current format for only threeyears and therefore a long-term average has not yetbeen established.

Cutthroat trout spawning.—Grizzly bears areknown to prey on cutthroat trout in at least 36different streams tributary to Yellowstone Lake. Eachyear, beginning May 1, eight streams within or nearthe Lake developed area and four streams within ornear the Grant Village area are checked daily todetect the presence of adult cutthroat trout. At theonset of spawning until most adult fish return to thelake, teams of two or more persons do weekly visual

The photo on the left shows a grizzly bear earthworm digat Heart Lake, and on the right a grizzly bear digging in atalus rock slope for Army cutworm moths. Photos by KerryGunther.


counts of adult trout to estimate peak periods andrelative magnitude of spawning runs. This data isused to manage visitor use and set opening dates forrecreational facilities in the Lake and Grant Village

Top photo: Staff hanging a chemical lure and setting up agrizzly hair corral. Photo on left shows a cutthroat troutpartially consumed by a grizzly. Photos by Darren Ireland.The photo on the right shows evidence of grizzly beargeophagy (consumption of soil) in a geothermal basin inthe Heart Lake area. Photo by Kerry Gunther.

developed areas, which are adjacent to clusters ofspawning streams. Management of recreationalactivities in these areas is necessary to reduce thepotential for bear-human conflict. In past years, bearpredation on spawning cutthroat trout in YellowstoneLake tributaries within or near park developed areashas led to conflicts between humans and bears. Whilemaking fish counts, observers record bear sign (bearsightings, fish parts, hair, scats, and tracks). Tracksand track measurements are used to determine thenumber, species, and association of family groups ofbears.

In 2000, a total of 904 spawning cutthroat troutwere counted during the peak week in the 12 moni-tored frontcountry tributaries to Yellowstone Lake.Grizzly bear activity was observed on seven (58%) ofthese streams and black bear activity on six (50%).The number of spawners counted in each streamduring the peak week in 2000 was similar to thelong-term averages (1989–1999); except thosestreams in the West Thumb area, which were slightlybelow average.

Whitebark pine seeds.—During years with lowavailability of natural bear foods, especially in thefall, bears often seek alternate foods in associationwith human activities; both the number of bear–human conflicts and human-caused bear mortalitiesincrease during the fall season. As part of an ecosys-tem-wide whitebark pine survey, cone counts areconducted at 19 whitebark pine transects locatedwithin the Yellowstone ecosystem. Park staff conductcone counts on the 10 transects located within thepark. Cone counts at these 10 transects averaged 3.2(± 8.6 SD) cones per tree in 2000. This was lowerthan the long-term (1987–1999) average of 14.6 (±33.5 SD) cones per tree, per year for all transectslocated within the park.

Confrontations and conflicts with humans.Confrontations.—In 2000, there were 102

reported incidents of bear–human confrontations(incidents of actual or perceived aggression in whichno one was hurt) in the park. Grizzly bears wereinvolved in 46 of these confrontations and blackbears were involved in 54. The species of bear couldnot be determined in two confrontations.

Bear-inflicted human injuries.—There werethree bear-inflicted human injuries in Yellowstone in2000. One injury was inflicted by a black bear andtwo were inflicted by grizzly bears. The two grizzlybear-caused human injuries recorded in 2000 wereapproximately equal to the 10-year average of 0.9 (±1.3 SD) grizzly bear-inflicted human injuries re-


corded per year from 1990 to 1999. The one blackbear-inflicted human injury was greater than the 10-year average of 0.1 (± 0.3 SD) per year recordedfrom 1990 to 1999.

On July 30, two 18 year-old males from Mis-souri began a day hike on the Avalanche Peak trail.When they stopped near treeline to take off their longsleeve shirts, they heard a rustling noise at the top ofthe hill just above them. They looked up and saw abear standing on its hind legs while another smallerbear came up behind it. The larger bear droppeddown on all fours and came toward the hikers as thesmaller bear moved in the other direction. Bothhikers then proceeded to drop to the ground and curlup in a defensive position (hands covering their headsand knees tucked in to their stomachs) as the bearapproached. The larger bear came to the first hikerand bit his right hand and then moved away towardthe other hiker. The bear sniffed the other hiker,circled both of them a couple times, and then movedaway in a downhill direction. Neither hiker remem-bers the smaller bear coming near them during theencounter, but thought they could hear it rustlingaround nearby. After remaining on the ground untilthey no longer heard any noises they got up andbegan hiking back towards the trailhead.

Less than five minutes later they were walkingthrough dense vegetation around a bend in the trailwhen they saw the bears again. Both hikers immedi-ately fell to the ground again and assumed defensivepositions. The larger bear, who was five to ten feetaway, approached and circled them but did not makecontact. This encounter lasted a shorter duration oftime than the first encounter. After hearing no morenoise for a couple minutes they stood up and re-mained at the site for about fifteen minutes whilethey attended to the injured hand. During this time,an off-duty park service employee arrived on thescene and radioed the communications centers toinform the local patrol rangers and BMO staff of theincident. The three then hiked back to the trailheadtogether. A park ranger met the two hikers when theyarrived at the trailhead to treat the wounds and closethe trail. One hiker sustained a puncture wound to hisright wrist and abrasions to his right hand. The otherwas uninjured.

On August 12, after eating lunch, a couple fromSweden stopped to take a nap on the Ferris Fork HotSpring trail approximately 0.5 miles from ThreeRivers Meadows. The man was suddenly awakenedby a tugging on his left hand. When he opened hiseyes he saw an approximately 150 lb. reddish brown

black bear biting his hand. In response he jumped tohis feet causing the bear to let go and run away. Theman suffered a small puncture wound to his left hand,which he treated, and he and his partner continuedtheir backcountry trip. As the man was dressing hiswound he noticed that he could still smell the “verystinky” cheese that he had eaten for lunch on hishand. He did not feel the bear acted aggressively,since it ran away as soon as he woke up. The ThreeRivers Meadows region was closed due to a fire inthe area by the time the hikers arrived at Old Faithfuland reported the incident, so no other action wastaken.

On September 1, a man on horseback that hadbeen riding by himself on the Daly Creek trailstopped for lunch. The man stated that he was sittingunder a tree trying to avoid heavy rainfall. His horsewas hobbled nearby. He reported that while eating hislunch his horse snorted, he turned to his left and sawa grizzly bear “practically on top of him.” The bearswatted him, knocking him face first into a tree. Hetripped on his rain pants and landed face down withthe bear straddling him. He got out his bear spray,rolled over, and sprayed the bear in the face andmouth. The bear rolled off of him coughing. Hereceived minor abrasions to his cheek and foreheadon the right side of his face from hitting the tree, butno injuries from the bear itself. His glasses werebroken and his shirt torn. He received medicaltreatment and was released the same day.

Bear-caused property damages.—There were13 reported incidents in which bears damagedproperty (but did not obtain human foods) in the parkin 2000. Grizzly bears were involved in six of theseincidents, black bears were involved in two, and thespecies of bear was unidentified in five incidents.The six grizzly bear-caused property damagesreported in 2000 were significantly greater than the10-year average of 1.8 (± 2.2 SD) grizzly bear-causedproperty damages per year reported from 1989 to1999. The two black bear-caused property damagesreported in 2000 were approximately equal to the 10-year average of 1.6 (± 1.1 SD) black bear-causedproperty damages per year reported from 1989 to1999. The five property damages by bears of uniden-tified species reported in 2000 were greater than the10-year average of 1.5 (± 1.8 SD) property damagesper year by unidentified species reported from 1990to 1999.

Obtaining human foods.—There were threeincidents in which bears obtained human foods orgarbage in the park in 2000. Two incidents involved


Capture, immobilization, and ear-tagging of a nuisanceblack bear from Canyon prior to helicopter translocation.Photo by Darren Ireland.

black bears and one involved a bear of unidentifiedspecies. The two incidents of black bears obtaininganthropogenic foods was approximately equal to the10-year average of 2.3 (± 2.4 SD) incidents per yearfrom 1990 to 1999. The one incident of an unidenti-fied species of bear obtaining anthropogenic foodswas approximately equal to the 10-year average of0.5 (± 0.7 SD) incidents per year from 1990 to 1999.There were no incidents of grizzly bears obtaininganthropogenic foods, which was lower than the 10-year average of 1.9 (± 1.6 SD) incidents per yearfrom 1990 to 1999.

Bear management actions. In 2000, there were324 bear related incidents in which managementaction was taken, including:

• 11 postings of bear warnings at campsites,trails, or other areas;

• 14 temporary closures at campsites, trails, orother areas;

• 270 incidents where park rangers respondedto roadside bear-jams to ensure the safety ofpark visitors;

• 28 incidents of management hazing of bears;and

• 1 incident where a black bear was trapped ina management action in a developed area inthe park and translocated to a remotebackcountry area.

Most (74%) bear management actions withinthe park occurred in the Lake (32%), Tower (26%),Mammoth (8%), and Grant (8%) subdistricts.

Grizzly bear management captures/remov-als.—There were no grizzly bears captured inmanagement actions within YNP in 2000. This waslower than the 10-year average of 1.5 (± 1.6 SD)nuisance grizzly bears captured in managementactions per year from 1990 to 1999.

No nuisance grizzly bears in YNP had to becaptured and removed from the ecosystem in 2000.This was essentially equal to the 10-year average of0.3 (± 0.5 SD) grizzly bears captured and removedper year from 1990 to 1999.

Grizzly bears trapped outside of and relocatedinto YNP.—In an effort to reduce bear–humanconflicts and promote the conservation of grizzlybears in the ecosystem, YNP sometimes accepts somegrizzly bears involved in bear–human conflicts in thestates of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. In 2000 nogrizzly bears from outside of the park were acceptedfor release into the park.

Black bear management captures/removals.—

There was one black bear captured in a managementaction within YNP in 2000. This was lower than the10-year average of 0.6 (± 1.3 SD) nuisance blackbears captured in management actions per year from1990 to 1999.

The park did not accept any nuisance blackbears from state agencies for relocation into the parkin 2000. No nuisance black bears from YNP had to becaptured and removed from the ecosystem in 2000.This was slightly less than the 10-year averages of0.1 (± 0.3 SD) black bears captured and removed peryear from 1990 to 1999.

Bear-proof food storage boxes.—Each summervisitors spend over 650,000 use nights camping indeveloped area campgrounds within YNP, and manycampgrounds are located within or adjacent to highquality bear habitat. This can lead to bear–humanconflicts. In order to reduce the chance of bear–human conflicts within campgrounds, the parkinstalled bear-proof food storage boxes in the hiker/biker loops of park campgrounds because thesevisitors are generally not traveling with a vehicle inwhich to store their food. However, the number ofbear-proof food storage boxes available in camp-ground hiker/biker loops is not sufficient to accom-modate large tour groups. In recent years, grizzlybears have obtained human foods from large biketour groups camping in park campgrounds. Bears thatobtain human foods from campgrounds are especiallydangerous because they often become aggressive andmay damage property and injure people, and eventu-ally are removed from the population.

During the summer of 2000, the Bear Manage-


ment Office worked with YCC and maintenance staffto install 11 bear-proof food storage boxes. Eight ofthe boxes had been purchased through NRPP fundsand three with park base funds. Three bear-prooffood storage boxes were installed at Lewis LakeCampground, six at Pebble Creek Campground, andone each at the Mammoth and Indian Creek camp-grounds.

BirdsThreatened and endangered species.Bald eagle.—In 1995, the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service downlisted the bald eagle fromendangered to threatened due to significant popula-tion gains made over the last three decades. Certainspecific populations, however, are not completelyrecovered due to heavy metal contamination prob-lems in the Great Lakes region, and habitat encroach-ment and development problems associated withriparian zones in the desert southwest. The Yellow-stone bald eagle population continues to incremen-tally increase, with a new nest located on the northernrange in 2000, and 18 eaglets fledged from 27 activenests.

Nest substrate instability as a result of the 1988Yellowstone wildfires caused minimal problems.However, large numbers of trees are expected to fallin the coming decades, which could result in nestfailure, loss of nest sites, and sudden changes innesting territories. Occasionally bald eagles havebeen documented taking over previously occupiedosprey nests, but the incidence appears to be gradu-ally increasing due to competition for nest sites.

Whooping crane.—This endemic NorthAmerican species continues to rank as the rarest andmost endangered crane in the world. Current esti-mates place the wild population at 265 cranes and thecaptive population at 122 cranes (Figure 6). A 16-year-old female whooping crane that had beennesting in YNP died on March 15 after colliding witha powerline at Monte Vista National Wildlife Refugein Colorado. Her carcass was salvaged and will beplaced in a YNP museum educational exhibit. As ofyear-end, only two whooping cranes remained in theRocky Mountains. One surviving crane from theoriginal Gray’s Lake experiment summered in theCentennial Valley of Montana, and the other, an“ultralight” crane, resided in eastern Idaho.

Species of special concern.Peregrine falcon.—The peregrine falcon is

managed as a species of special concern in YNP,which continues to be a stronghold for the species in

the northern Rockies. Two new eyries were found in2000, bringing the total number to 16, and thenumber of fledglings to 29. This is the most peregrineeyries and fledglings ever recorded in the park. Theyear 2000 marks the second year since the peregrinefalcon was removed from the list of endangeredspecies, and three more years of monitoring arerequired to fulfill federal requirements for fullrecovery.

Trumpeter swan.—The number of adult swansin the park has declined over the years; there were 20in 2000, the same as in 1999. Swan recruits fromParadise Valley are the most likely reason that theYellowstone swan population has stabilized. In recentyears, nest attempts have ranged from four to 10 peryear. There were seven nest attempts in 2000, com-pared with six in 1999 and nine in 1998. In 2000,seven cygnets fledged from two broods in the park.This was expected, since years with drought-likeconditions are usually favorable for swan production.The last time this many cygnets fledged in the parkwas 1988, another drought year. Except for theseanomalies, annual cygnet production has been scantduring the last 13 years, ranging from zero to fivecygnets.

Molly Islands colonial nesting birds.—TheMolly Islands colonial nesting bird census wasconducted in mid-May, early June, early August, andmid-September. The Molly Islands (two small islandsnamed Rocky Island and Sandy Island due to thenature of the nesting substrate), are closed to allpublic entry because of the sensitivity of the area.The census techniques applied this year were consis-tent with those of the last several years; however, thisyear both boat and aerial surveys were employed.

Figure 6. Worldwide whooping crane population.

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Yellowstone Lake thawed out at the normal time in2000, which was a banner year for colonial nestingbird production due to low water levels.

On the highest part of Rocky Island, 260pelican nests were initiated in one aggregation.Double-crested cormorants constructed 110 nestswithin this pelican aggregation. As the seasonprogressed, 230 American white pelican nests and104 double-crested cormorant nests remained, and allwere successful. Of the 140 pairs of California gullsthat attempted to nest, 80 were successful in raisingyoung. There was no Caspian tern activity on RockyIsland in 2000, probably due to the large numbers ofgulls.

On Sandy Island, 98 American white pelicannests were initiated in two large aggregations, and 80nesting pairs were successful in rearing 164 young.Neither double-crested cormorants nor Caspian ternsnested on Sandy Island in 2000.

The total fledging count for the Molly Islandsincluded 584 American white pelicans, 255 double-crested cormorants, and 152 California gulls. As theexotic lake trout management program continues onYellowstone Lake, the status of the Molly Islandsbirds will play a critical role in assessing the impactsof this fish on endemic piscivorous bird species. Atthis time, however, lake trout do not appear to haveadversely affected colonial nesting bird production.Climatic conditions continue to appear to be the mostimportant factor influencing bird production on theseislands.

Osprey.—The park’s osprey population in-creased slightly in 2000, when 96 nesting pairsfledged 64 young, compared to 88 pairs fledging 62young in 1999, and 87 pairs fledging 81 young in

1998 (Figure 7). Tree nest-site instability and weathercontinued to affect osprey productivity in the park.The incidence of bald eagles taking over osprey nestsites was documented at two sites.

Harlequin duck.—The harlequin duck popula-tion continues to vary slightly from year to year, withgenerally 16–20 pairs residing in the park. Monitor-ing annual productivity is not cost-effective, as datacollection is extremely time-consuming and difficultdue to the remoteness of many of the areas in whichharlequins are found. Productivity is extremelyvariable from year to year and is highly influenced byweather and flooding.

Common loon.—The common loon populationcontinues to fluctuate because of variable weatherconditions, with the adult numbers ranging from 34to 51 over the years. The low adult count in 2000 (34loons) and moderate loon production (nine nestattempts with only eight fledglings) are a result ofdrought-like conditions.

Birds added to park checklist. Two new birdspecies were added to the Field Checklist of Birds ofYNP in 2000. In August, several visitors reported awhite-faced ibis in Hayden Valley. After carefulexamination of the bird, it was found to be an imma-ture glossy ibis. This is the first record of this bird inthe park. This species has been extending its range,particularly in the western United States. The staffornithologist had observed an adult glossy ibis inJackson, Wyoming, on May 4, 1999, which was thefirst record of this species in Wyoming.

On September 13, George Henley observed twodark parasitic jaegers 40 yards east of the Mt. Holmeslookout. Ravens were observed harassing the jaegersuntil they finally left the area.

A pair of trumpeter swans on the Yellowstone River,December 2000. Photo by Terry McEneaney.

Figure 7. Osprey productivity.

Osprey Productivity

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As of 2000, 313 species of birds have beendocumented in the park since it was established in1872. A revised bird checklist will be available byMarch 2001 and can be found on the park website.

BisonFree-ranging bison continued to thrive in the

Yellowstone area, summering throughout the parkand in some adjacent, high-elevation ranges, andmigrating to winter range in geothermal areas andlower elevation grasslands both in and outside thepark. Controversy has grown over the management ofbison leaving the park in winter. Bison moving fromthe park onto public or private land in Montana havebeen shipped to slaughter or shot because some maycarry brucellosis.

Joint management plan. On December 20, theNational Park Service and the U.S. Department ofAgriculture’s Forest Service and Animal and PlantHealth Inspection Service agreed on a joint manage-ment plan that is a slightly altered version of the planpresented in the final environmental impact statement(FEIS) that had been released in August. The State ofMontana incorporated the FEIS into its own FEIS forbison management and signed their Record ofDecision on December 22, which implements thesame joint management plan as that agreed to by thefederal agencies. It is designed to preserve the largestwild, free-ranging population of bison in the UnitedStates while managing the risk of brucellosis trans-mission between bison and cattle. The result of morethan eight years of negotiation and seven months ofmediation between the federal agencies and the Stateof Montana will:

• use adaptive management to provide for wild,free-ranging bison and protect cattle from therisk of brucellosis transmission, primarilythrough enforcement of spatial and temporalseparation of bison and cattle on lands outsidethe park;

• maintain a spring bison population of up to3,000 animals; and

• during winter when cattle are not present,allow very limited numbers of bison in threezones north and west of the park (Reese Creek,Eagle Creek/Bear Creek, and Horse Butte) thatwould be buffered with areas in which bisonare not permitted.

By allowing bison the opportunity to seekwinter range outside the park, the plan reflects acommitment on the part of the agencies to end theunnecessary killing of bison outside the park. Theagencies also agreed to increase implementation ofnon-lethal management measures should severewinter conditions result in a large managementremoval or natural winter die-off. While the plan isnot intended to be a brucellosis eradication plan, itemploys many tools to manage and reduce the risk ofbrucellosis transmission from bison to cattle. Bisonwill not be allowed to intermingle with cattle and willbe hazed back into the park when winter weathertypically moderates in the spring (mid-April on thenorth side and mid-May on the west side). In aneffort to further reduce the risk of transmission andprotect cattle, all vaccination-eligible cattle in thenorth and west management zones must be vacci-nated within one year, paid for by APHIS. Untestedbison may be allowed outside the park in the north

Bison calf nursing.

This immature glossy ibis is the first record of this speciesin YNP. Photo by Wayne Wolfersberger.


cows was also 23:100, which is the lowest ratioobserved in the last five years. These results shouldbe interpreted as an index of population structurerather than as an absolute measure of sex and ageratios.

Mule deer. A helicopter survey of mule deer onthe northern range in and outside the park conductedby the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife andParks on April 26 and 27 counted 1,863 mule deer,slightly more than the 1,677 counted in 1999. Muledeer recruitment was estimated to be 54 fawns per100 adults in 2000, compared to 46 fawns per 100adults in 1999.

Pronghorn. A late winter survey of pronghornconducted on April 3 counted 205 pronghorn ante-lope, nearly identical to the March 1999 count of 204pronghorn. An attempt to evaluate aerial countaccuracy by comparing the result to those of asimultaneous ground count conducted by locatingradio-collared animals found that the two methodsmay have very similar counts. Two park volunteersconducted road surveys for the sixth consecutive yearto assess pronghorn distribution and evaluate thepossible effects of bison management activities onpronghorn. However, there had been no bison man-agement activities in the Stephens Creek area byyear-end for the 2000–2001 winter.

On March 16, park staff captured and radio-collared four pronghorn between Mammoth andGardiner, Montana, for two research projects, bring-ing the total number of pronghorn with active collarsto 22. (In February 1999, 30 female pronghorn werecollared.) One project is attempting to determine thebirth and survival rates of pronghorn fawns andassess the causes and timing of fawn mortality, and

and west boundary management zones after theagencies have had experience with seronegative bisonin certain areas outside the park during winter and theNational Park Service is able to initiate a safe andeffective remote delivery system to vaccinate bison inthe park.

About once a month, park staff conducted aerialsurveys of the entire bison population. The high earlywinter count located 2,494 bison on October 24. Nobison were killed or removed during the year as partof the bison management plan.

Bison research. Researchers continued testingvaccines for their safety in bison and in non-targetwildlife including coyotes, pronghorn, mule deer,moose, bighorn sheep, birds, and rodents. In 1999the RB51 vaccine was found to be safe in calf andyearling bison; in 2000, results showed that thevaccine does not cause mortality or morbidity in non-target species.

Funding from the U.S. Geological Survey issupporting several multi-year bison research projectsincluding: bison ecology in Hayden Valley, reproduc-tion and demography of brucellosis infected bison,epidemiology and pathogenesis of brucellosis inbison, genetic analyses of Brucella and developmentof a PCR-based diagnostic system, and continuationof Brucella vaccine safety trials in non-target species.A study is underway in cooperation with the Fish andWildlife program at Montana State University todevelop methods for conducting aerial surveys thatwill provide scientifically based bison populationestimates, including correction factors that willaccount for the proportion of animals not observedduring the surveys.

Elk and Other UngulatesYellowstone National Park staff again shared

costs and duties with the Northern YellowstoneCooperative Wildlife Working Group (the NationalPark Service; Montana Department of Fish, Wildlifeand Parks; USDA Forest Service; and USGS Biologi-cal Resources Division) to complete counts ofungulate herds on the northern range.

Elk. The northern range elk survey, completedon December 21, counted a total of 13,400 elk,11,282 inside and 2,118 outside YNP. During flightsconducted in and outside the park on March 4 and 5,park staff found 23 calves per 100 cows, which iswithin the range observed in late winter classificationsurveys over the last five years. The ratio of bulls to Mule deer in winter.


doe nutritional condition and stress. Another study isassessing habitat use patterns of radio-collaredpronghorn.

During the late summer pronghorn compositionsurvey on August 12, 82 pronghorn were counted(34% of the total estimated population): 56 does, 14bucks, and 12 fawns. The fawn to doe ratio was21:100, compared to 27:100 in 1999; and the buck todoe ratio was 25:100, compared to 22:100 in 1999.

Bighorn sheep. During the annual helicoptersurvey on April 26 and 27, the Montana Departmentof Fish, Wildlife and Parks located 150 bighorn sheep(75 ewes, 22 lambs, and 53 rams) in and outside thepark. This count was 31 (17%) below the 1999survey and 34 (18%) below the six-year mean of 184bighorns. Lamb recruitment for the entire survey areain 2000 was 29 lambs/100 ewes, compared to 32lambs/100 ewes in 1999. During the annual groundcount on December 14, 40 bighorn (12 rams, 22ewes, and 6 lambs) were observed with 27 lambs and55 rams per 100 ewes. Although the Northern Yel-lowstone Cooperative Wildlife Working Groupconcluded that ground counts are less reliable thanaerial counts for monitoring the total population, theyhave continued to conduct ground counts whichpermit closer observations of bighorns’ physicalcondition and age.

Lynx Historically, persecution and destruction of

habitat drastically reduced lynx numbers in thecoterminous U.S. In 2000, the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService listed the lynx as a threatened species.Despite evidence that lynx historically and currentlyhave been present in YNP, little effort had been made

to document their numbers and distribution, but in1999 park staff began preparing a study plan andfunding proposals. In 2000, park staff used a GIS-based analysis of Yellowstone topography to identifyprime lynx habitat. In late 2000, the Yellowstone ParkFoundation provided a grant to complete most of thesurvey project, and field work will begin in January2001 to document lynx presence using aerial andground-based snow-tracking surveys during winter,and to collect lynx hairs during summer using hair-snags. The hair samples will be sent to a laboratoryfor an analysis that will yield species and individual-specific information on lynx.

Wildlife Management and MonitoringRare animal records. The most notable rare

mammal observations reported in YNP in 2000 wereof mountain goat, wolverine, lynx, and fisher (Table3). All of these species are rarely observed in thepark.

Road-killed wildlife. A total of 83 largemammals were hit and killed by vehicles on YNProads in 2000 (Table 4). Elk (n=28, 34%) and muledeer (n=22, 27%) were the species most often killedin collisions with vehicles. Other species of largemammals hit and killed by vehicles on park roads in1999 included 9 bison (11%), 14 coyotes (17%), and5 moose (6%).

The average road-kill rate of all park roadscombined in 2000 was 0.3 road-kills per mile of road(Table 5). The rate of road-kills on U.S. Highway#191 was approximately 1.5 road-kills per mile ofroad, the highest road-kill rate of any park road. U.S.Highway #191 comprises approximately 7 percent ofthe paved roads in YNP but accounted for 35 percentof the road-killed large mammals documented in thepark. U.S. Highway #191 is the only road segment inthe park with a 55-mph speed limit; all other roadsare posted at 45-mph or slower. Vehicle speeds areknown to be a factor contributing to the frequency ofroad-killed wildlife (Gunther et al. 1998). The onlyother road with a road-kill rate substantially higherthan the park-wide average was the Madison Junctionto the West Entrance road (0.8 road-kills/mile).

The 83 road-kills recorded in 2000 was thesecond lowest number since year-round recordkeeping began in 1989, and was significantly lowerthan the long-term average of 107 (± 27 SD) road-kills per year recorded from 1989 to 2000 (Table 6).The highest number of road-kills previously recordedin the park was 148 in 1994.

A bighorn sheep pawing through snow for vegetation.


Radionuclide concentrations study. Atmo-spheric nuclear weapons testing from 1945 to 1980,and nuclear power plant accidents, such as theChernobyl accident in Russia in 1986, have resultedin radionuclides being distributed across the northernhemisphere. Other more local sources of radionu-clides in the environment come from researchlaboratories. Operations at the U.S. Department ofEnergy’s Idaho National Engineering and Environ-mental Laboratory (INEEL) have the potential torelease radioactive contaminants into the air andwater. Large mammals have been sampled on andnear the INEEL compound for nearly 30 years. In2000, INEEL requested tissue samples from largemammals in YNP so that they could quantify radio-nuclide concentrations over a wider geographic area.The Bear Management Office was assigned tocoordinate the tissue sample collection effort in YNP.One- to two-dozen tissue samples (1.5 lbs. each) areto be collected annually from large mammals that areaccidentally hit and killed by vehicles on park roadsor that die of natural causes.

In 2000, 12 tissue samples were collected fromlarge mammals and sent to INEEL. Samples were

collected from three elk, four mule deer, three moose,and two pronghorn antelope by Bear ManagementOffice staff (eight samples), Grant resource manage-ment staff (three samples), and Lake resource man-agement staff (one sample).

Elk management. A bull elk first came to theattention of Yellowstone managers during the peak ofthe elk rut, the third week of September 2000.Although not the biggest in the Mammoth HotSprings area, that bull was the most aggressive, andhe had formed and was successfully defending thelargest harem of cows. On September 25, the bullbehaved very aggressively, charged and gored aminimum of seven vehicles, and chased several parkvisitors and employees in the Mammoth developedarea. Due to human safety concerns, the decision wasmade to capture and translocate the bull elk awayfrom Mammoth Hot Springs to an area more remotefrom human activity. The elk was darted by bear andungulate management office employees in theMammoth employee housing area, ear-tagged withyellow tag #18, loaded into a horse trailer, andtransported to the Frog Rock area, approximatelyeight miles (straight line distance) from Mammoth.

Table 3. Most notablea rare animal sightings reported in Yellowstone National Park, 2000b.

TYPE OF REPORT

Carcass or Physical Observation by Observation bySpecies Captured Animal Evidencec Experienced Observer Inexperienced Observer TotalAmphibiand 0 0 1 0 1Badger 0 0 1 0 1Beaver 0 0 8 1 9Bighorn Sheep 0 0 3 1 4Bobcat 0 1 0 3 4Fisher 0 0 0 1 1Lynx 3e 0 0 0 0Mountain Goat 0 0 9 4 13Mountain Lion 16 0 6 15 37Muskrat 1 0 0 0 1Pine Marten 0 0 1 1 2Raccoon 0 0 0 0 0Red Fox 1 0 9 0 10Reptilesf 1 0 2 0 3River Otter 0 0 2 0 2Weaselg 0 0 1 1 2White-tailed Deer 0 0 5 0 5Wolverine 0 1 6 7 14a Common species in unusual locations are not included in this table.b Includes sighting and sign reports from calendar year 2000 turned in to the bear management office as of January 31, 2001.c Physical evidence includes photo, video, plaster cast of track, track, scat, hair, or DNA sample.d Amphibian observations include 1 blotched tiger salamander.e Three separate GPS locations of a radio-collared lynx from a Wyoming study.f Reptile observations include 1 rubber boa, and 2 prairie rattlesnakes.g Weasel observations included 2 unidentifiable weasels.


On September 26, the bull elk was observed back inthe Mammoth Hot Springs area. As a safety precau-tion, park staff monitored the animal’s behavior. BySeptember 27, the elk had reformed a large harem ofcow elk. On the morning of September 28, the elkhad charged and gored two more vehicles andcontinued to pose a threat to park visitors. Late thatsame morning, the elk was darted near the LittlePeople’s Learning Center, radio collared, loaded intoa horse trailer, transported to the Natural Bridge roadsouth of Bridge Bay near Yellowstone Lake, andreleased (approximately 33 straight line miles fromthe capture site). The bull elk remained in the generalarea where it had been released from September 28through October 5. On October 6, the bull was radiolocated and observed near Mud Volcano. On October15, the radio signal of the elk was picked up nearSolfatara Creek and on October 19, bull elk #18 hadreturned to the Mammoth Hot Springs area.

When the bull elk was first captured on Septem-ber 25, due to the potential that he could leave thepark and be taken during the hunting season, he was

Table 4. Number of large mammals (30 lbs. or larger) killed by vehicles on different sections of road within YellowstoneNational Park, 2000.

ROAD CODEa

SPECIES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 TOTAL

Antelope 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Beaver 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Bighorn Sheep 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Bison 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 4 0 2 0 0 9Black Bear 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Bobcat 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Coyote 0 0 8 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 14Elk 2 1 2 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 1 15 1 0 0 28Grizzly Bear 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Lynx 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Moose 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 5Mountain Goat 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Mountain Lion 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1Mule Deer 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 6 0 2 7 1 1 0 22Raccoon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1White-tailed Deer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Wolf 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3Wolverine 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Total 2 2 12 2 0 2 4 3 0 8 2 11 29 4 2 0 83aRoad Codes: 1 Gardiner to Mammoth 9 Fishing Bridge to West Thumb Junction

2 Mammoth to Tower 10 West Thumb to South Entrance3 Tower to Northeast Entrance 11 Norris to Madison4 Mammoth to Norris 12 Madison to West Entrance5 Tower to Canyon 13 U.S. Highway #1916 Norris to Canyon 14 Madison to Old Faithful7 Canyon to Fishing Bridge 15 Old Faithful to West Thumb Junction8 Fishing Bridge to East Entrance 16 Bechler Roads

Park rangers radio collar and ear tag a tranquilized elkbefore loading him into a horse trailer for relocation to aremote area away from Mammoth.

ear-tagged with a notice that the park should becontacted prior to consumption of the elk. The Foodand Drug Administration specifies that there be awithholding time that must expire from the date thata drug is administered to when the animal can safelybe consumed by humans. For the immobilization

56 Natural Resource ProgramsTa

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agents used on bull elk #18, a very conservativewithholding time of at least 45 days is consideredadequate. Bull elk #18 left the park and was killed bya hunter near LaDuke Hot Springs on February 9,2001.

WolvesPopulation monitoring and management.Population status.—At the end of 2000, at least

177 wolves in 18 packs were present in the greaterYellowstone area (Table 7). Thirteen of these packshad a breeding pair as defined by the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service (a breeding male and female withtwo pups that survive to December 31). Eight packs(~119 wolves) resided primarily within YellowstoneNational Park and 10 packs (four in Montana and sixin Wyoming) including 58 to 60 wolves were outsidethe park (Figure 8). The three Rocky Mountainrecovery areas (GYA, central Idaho, and northwestMontana) had a total of 28 breeding pairs. Removalof wolves from the endangered species list willrequire 30 breeding pairs distributed throughout thethree recovery areas for three successive years.Acceptable wolf management plans from the states ofWyoming, Idaho, and Montana are also required.

Reproduction.—An estimated 71 to 77 pupssurvived to year-end, 55 to 60 of them born in YNP.Pup survival was higher in YNP in 2000 (55 of 68known births in the park, 80%) than in 1999 (18 of40, 45%). The low survival in 1999 was possibly dueto parvovirus. All captured wolves in 1999 and 2000tested positive for the disease, and mortality occurredat a time (post-weaning) when pups are most vulner-able to infection. To positively identify mortality dueto parvovirus a dead pup must be collected, and nosuch carcass has been retrieved yet.

Sixteen litters were born to 13 packs. The DruidPeak pack had at least three litters, and the RoseCreek pack had two. Because each of these packs hadone breeding male who mated with more than onefemale, each had only one breeding pair as definedunder the recovery plan standards. Litter size rangedfrom 2 to 10 and averaged 5.7.

Mortalities.—In addition to undocumentedpups that died during spring and summer, 14 wolveswere known to have died in 2000 in the GYA: nineadults (6F, 3M), four yearlings (2M, 2F), and one pup(F). Eight deaths were human caused: three in controlactions, two from vehicle collisions, two as a result ofhandling/capture (both outside YNP), and one illegal.Four deaths were due to natural causes (elk, moose,

other wolves, etc.), and two could not be determined.Human-caused mortality has been responsible for atleast half of wolf deaths each year since reintroduc-tion in 1995.

Population movements.—Wolf populationexpansion was considerable outside YNP in 2000,and some established packs within YNP shifted theirterritorial boundaries. Six new packs formed in theGYA in 2000: one inside YNP (the Swan Lake pack),and five outside: Taylor Peaks (Madison Valley, MT),

Table 7. Wolves in the GYA as of December 31, 2000.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Adults Pups PupsPack & Yearlings Born Survived Total

Chief Joseph 7 8 6 13Swan Lake 2 4–5 5 7Leopold 6–8 10 5–7 13Rose Creek (2 grps) 10–13 11 5–8 18Druid Peak 7 21 20 27Mollie’s 4 0 0 4Yellowstone Delta 6 7 7 13Nez Perce 15 7 7 22Loners 2 0 0 2

YNP Total 59–64 68–69 55–60 119(8 packs; 7 breeding pairs; mean pack size = 14.6)

OUTSIDE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK


Sunlight Basin 6 4 4 10Absaroka 2 5 3 5Beartooth 3 2? 0 3Teton 4 0 0 4Gros Ventre 3 3 3 6Washakie 4–5 ? 2–3 6–8Taylor Peaks 3 4 2 5Sheep Mountain 7 0 0 7Gravelly Range ? ? ? 5?Mill Creek 3+ ? 2+ 7Loners 0 0 0 0

Outside YNP Total 35–36 16–18 16–17 58–60(10 packs; 6 breeding pairs; mean pack size = 5.8)

GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM TOTAL


Grand Total 94–100 84–87 71–77 177–179(18 packs; 13 breeding pairs; mean pack size = 9.3)


Beartooth (Sunlight Basin, WY), Absaroka (SunlightBasin, WY), Gravelly (Gravelly Range, MT), andMill Creek (Paradise Valley, MT).

Two packs outside YNP (Sheep Mountain inParadise Valley and Washakie in DuNoir Valley)reestablished themselves after management actionstaken by the USFWS due to livestock depredationsdisturbed pack dynamics.

Two YNP packs were renamed because they nolonger lived in the area for which they were named,and none of the original wolves were still in thepack, although their descendants were. The CrystalCreek pack, which resides in Pelican Valley, wasrenamed Mollie’s pack after the late Director of theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mollie Beattie, torecognize her extraordinary contribution to wolfrecovery in the northern Rockies. The Soda Buttepack was renamed the Yellowstone Delta pack afterthe Yellowstone River delta, an area of YNP wherethey were often located in 2000.

The Druid Peak pack swelled to 27 wolvesbecause of high survival in three litters (20 pupstotal) and usurped Rose Creek pack territory west ofits traditional home range. The Rose Creek packappeared to be in decline. Down from a high of 24wolves in 1998, by the end of 2000 they had splitinto two groups, referred to as the Main Rose group

(seven wolves) and the Tower group (six wolves),plus five loosely associated wolves. One territorialtrespass was observed in December on Slough Creek,traditional Rose Creek territory, when two wolves inthe Rose Creek pack survived an attack by Druidwolves.

The large Nez Perce pack (22 wolves) was alsoobserved making an extraterritorial move in Decem-ber. For about two weeks, this pack moved onto thenorthern range, an area of higher elk density thantheir traditional territory in the Madison–Fireholearea. Most of this time was spent in Leopold packterritory, but no interactions were recorded as theLeopold wolves (13 wolves) apparently avoided anencounter.

Wolf-prey relationships. Wolf-prey relation-ships were documented by observing wolf predationdirectly and by recording characteristics of wolf preyat kill sites. Wolf packs were monitored during twowinter-study sessions, periods of time in whichwolves were intensively radio-tracked each day for30 consecutive days during March and November–December. The Leopold, Rose Creek, and Druid Peakpacks were monitored by teams of two persons fromthe ground and from aircraft; the Chief Joseph,Crystal Creek (Mollie’s), Nez Perce, Sheep Moun-tain, and Soda Butte (Yellowstone Delta) packs weremonitored from aircraft only. Behavioral interactionsbetween wolves and prey, predation rates, the totaltime wolves fed on their kills, percent consumptionof kills by wolves and scavengers, characteristics ofwolf prey (e.g., nutritional condition), and character-istics of kill sites were recorded and entered into adatabase. The abundance and sex-age composition ofelk within wolf pack territories were also estimatedfrom the ground and from fixed-wing aircraft.

Kerry Murphy examines wolf #40 after shewas killed by her pack mates. Photo byDouglas Smith.

Figure 8. Wolf pack territories. At least 177 wolves—18packs and two wolves without established territories—occupied the GYA in 2000.

Greater Yellowstone Wolf Pack Territories, 2000

National Parks

National Forests

Wolf Pack Territories

Roads

0 10 20 miles

N

Grand TetonNational Park

Yellowstone National Park

Bozeman

Jackson

Dubois

Cooke CityGardiner

Cody

WestYellowstone

Gros Ventre

TetonWashakie

SunlightBasin

LeopoldChiefJoseph

Mollie'sNezPerce

Sheep Mountain

Druid

Rose

YellowstoneDelta

Absaroka

BeartoothTaylorPeaks

Swan Lake

Gravelly

Mill Creek

Part IV. Yellowstone Center forResources and Parkwide Support

This section describes the work accomplished or coordinated by the YCR staff who provide services forother YCR branches and other park divisions:

• The Spatial Analysis Center, responsible for the park’s geographic information system, global posi-tioning systems, and other resource databases;

• Resource Information, which produces publications and provides special programs on natural andcultural resource topics;

• Research Support, which oversees permitting for visiting and park researchers; and• Funding and Personnel Support for the YCR Division.

SPATIAL ANALYSIS CENTER

The Spatial Analysis Center (SAC) is the homeof the park’s geographic information system (GIS),global positioning systems (GPS), image analysis,soil information support, and a park resource data-base system. Its main business is the acquisition,analysis, organization, presentation, and storage ofinformation, especially that concerning the culturaland natural resources of the park. SAC’s goals are tomaintain an up-to-date GIS lab, provide GPS equip-ment and expertise, increase the GIS and GPS skilllevel of park staff, acquire new data and make ituseful, provide information and technical support topark staff, and make information available to outsideagencies and the public.

The percentage of time in 2000 used to fulfill requests forGIS services for different divisions.

YCR60%

RMO&VP

13%

External

8% Maintenance

8%Administration

4%Business Mgmt

3.5%%%3 %%

Interpretation3.5%

Forty-five cow elk were captured and radio collared for research into habitatselection by elk following wolf reintroduction in the park. Photo courtesy Julie Mao.

60 Support

SAC supports a wide variety of projects,including resource maps for proposed constructionsites, database construction for GYA weed locations,maps of different alternatives for the bison EIS, andprojects associated with the Federal Lands HighwayProgram, such as continuing to update databases forrare plants, archeology sites, and wetlands, alongwith providing GPS support for mapping the re-sources.

Following are some of the other projects thatSAC staff supported or initiated in 2000:

• Over the last four years SAC staff have beenworking with the Maintenance, and ResourceManagement Operations and Visitor Protec-tion divisions to create accurate spatial layersfor all the backcountry trails, campsites, trailbridges, cabins, and campsite spur trails inthe park. The database was built by walkingevery trail and visiting every campsite with aGPS unit. Almost all of the field data collec-tion was completed in 1999. In 2000 thesedata layers were completed, error-checked,and made available from the GIS lab.

• This year SAC staff began working with theMaintenance and Business Managementdivisions to begin digitizing and georefer-encing the locations of sewer lines andmanholes. The goal is to create a digital,master map that contains the most accurateinformation available. This will be availableat all locations and updated as changeshappen on the ground. In the future, waterlines will also be digitized.

• All power lines, substations, and transform-ers run by the Montana Power Companyhave been converted from AutoCad togeoreferenced GIS layers.

• An accurate GIS layer of park buildings wascompleted. The database has links to build-ing databases maintained by the Maintenanceand Business Management divisions, thecultural resources branch, and the park’sconcessioner, AmFac Parks and Resorts.

• Several SAC staff supported the Fire Cacheduring the summer of 2000 by providingdaily maps of fire starts and fire perimeters,accompanying Fire Cache staff on over-flights to take digital photographs of fires,GPS’ing fire perimeters, and error-checkingcollected GIS fire data. The daily maps wereutilized by the Public Affairs Office in their

daily press releases during the fire season.• SAC staff worked with subdistrict rangers to

develop protocols for collecting sign infor-mation along park roads with GPS units.Rangers in each subdistrict collected GPSlocations for all regulatory signs in their area,then sent the UTM coordinates to SAC staffwho entered the data into a database andcreated a GIS layer. These data will be usedto create maps of the signs in each subdis-trict.

• SAC staff began working with staff from thecommunications center to develop maps ofall roads and buildings in each developedarea. All buildings will be labeled with theirofficial and common names, then overlainwith a location grid. These maps will beprovided to law enforcement rangers in allareas for ease in locating specific buildingswhen on a call. Communications center staffwill continue working on this project in2001.

Example of a fire map provided on a daily basis to thePublic Affairs Office during summer 2000. These mapsshowed the currently burning and controlled fires inYellowstone and the surrounding area.


• A spatial inventory of thermal areas based onpoint locations collected with GPS units wascontinued for the third year. Measurementsof temperature, pH, and electroconductivitywere collected and attached to each pointlocation, along with digital photographs ofeach feature. In 2000 SAC staff collectedapproximately 1,200 new points, bringing thetotal number of thermal features in thedatabase to 3,923. The most recent points arefrom the Bear Creek area; the Norris-to-Mammoth corridor; the Gibbon, Lower,Midway, and Upper geyser basins; and theCrater Hills area.

• SAC staff began working with the inventoryand monitoring program by creating severalmaps for use at the National Park Service’sVertebrate and Vascular Plant InventoryWorkshop held in Bozeman, Montana, May2–3, 2000. Staff will continue to support datamining and data conversion for this effort.

• In the summer of 2000, SAC staff beganworking with the Aquatic Resources Centerto convert many years of aquatic researchdata from paper field notes into a digitaldatabase. The new digital informationincludes sampling locations (both points andstream segments), types of fish found, andwhether other data (macroinvertebrates,water chemistry, genetics) exists. This projectwas funded by the Greater YellowstoneCoordinating Committee and specificallyincluded mapping historic and currentYellowstone cutthroat habitat.

• As part of mapping Yellowstone cutthroathabitat, SAC staff created a spatial databaseof physical barriers that stop the upstreammigration of fish. This includes waterfalls,cascades, and other steep gradients onwatercourses. The locations of these barrierscame from field notes collected by U.S. Fishand Wildlife Service personnel, verbalcommunications with staff from the AquaticResources Center, an old push-pin map ofbarriers, and the book Yellowstone: TheDiscovery of Its Waterfalls by Paul Rubin-stein, Lee H. Whittlesey, and Mike Stevens.

• During the summer of 2000, SAC staffworked with the park’s ornithologist toconvert his data into GIS layers. They createda database of trumpeter swan locations

around the park. SAC staff accompanied himon several bird surveys, trained him to useGPS, and used GPS to create a digital layerof the breeding bird survey transects.

• In support of the Interpretation Division, amap of the 1988 fires in the park was createdfor use in an interpretive display to beinstalled on Mount Washburn in 2001.

• SAC staff continued to share cross-boundarydata of mutual interest with a variety ofdifferent agencies, including Gallatin County,Montana; U.S. Forest Service (Gallatin,Targhee, Bridger-Teton, and Shoshonenational forests); Montana Fish, Wildlife andParks; Montana State University; Universityof Wyoming; and many others.

New Hardware and SoftwareSAC continues to run its GIS software on

Windows NT. In 2000, two new servers were addedand two computers were upgraded in the GIS lab,bringing the total number of computers with GIScapability to 14. The new servers provide enoughspace to house many new GIS layers and images.Three new GPS units, a Trimble GeoExplorer 3, aGarmin handheld unit, and a Trimble ProXRS unit,were added, bringing the total number of GPS unitsavailable for staff use to 13. Finally, a new printerand plotter were added to the GIS lab. Both providehigh-quality color print-outs; the plotter provideslarge-format prints as well.

Resource Database DevelopmentSAC staff continued to work on a database

designed to make relevant resource and infrastructureinformation more accessible to people involved withproject planning, compliance, and implementation. Itinvolved the development of detailed GIS layers tiedto a database of information about each developedarea and road corridor. The information includes dataabout historic structures and other important culturalresource information, surficial and bedrock geology,soils, wetlands, important natural resources (e.g.,threatened and endangered species, species of specialconcern, important or delicate habitats), existinginfrastructure (roads, trails, and buildings), and othersubjects of interest. A help document was developedthat allows users of this database to click on aspecific area and see all corresponding information.The help document includes text (definitions, de-scriptions, methods of data collection, etc.), photo-

62 Support

graphs, images, drawings, and any other relatedinformation that can be incorporated in digitalformat. A simple interface will be developed in 2001,allowing the user to see this help file and query thedatabase and create maps, charts, and reports. It willalso be possible to attach photographs, drawings, andother scanned documents that help clarify a resourcesituation. Finally, this database will be made acces-sible over the park’s Intranet. This project will becompleted in 2001.

OutreachSAC staff continued to make GIS technology

directly available to park employees by providingequipment, data, and training. The GIS Lab isavailable to all employees, and spatial data is acces-sible over the park network. SAC staff also continuedto support GIS software on 14 computers outside ofthe lab and provided data on CDs to those who arenot networked. Several new buttons were added tothe GIS software that allow users on the network tomore easily access permanent GIS data, to seemetadata associated with each GIS layer, and to findUTM and lat/long coordinates. SAC staff alsoprovided GPS training that included collecting fielddata with GPS units, differentially correcting the GPSdata, and converting this corrected data into usableGIS layers.

RESOURCE INFORMATION

The new year brought several staff changes tothe resource information office. Tami Blackfordmoved into a permanent part-time writer-editorposition in January. Also in January, Kevin Schneidertransferred to Yellowstone as apermanent full-time writer-editorfrom the National Park Service’sWashington, D.C., Office ofCommunications. Volunteers Jimand Edna Caslick returned toYellowstone for another winter,assisting with various specialpublication and resource manage-ment projects. In June, AliceWondrak, a Ph.D. candidate andCanon National Parks ScienceScholar, accepted a position as awriter-editor under the studentcareer enhancement program.Mary Ann Franke returned to

Yellowstone for the summer and fall months as awriter-editor. In October, Sue Consolo Murphybecame the branch chief of cultural resources, whiletemporarily retaining her duties as head of theresource information group until that position couldbe advertised and filled. Throughout the year, theoffice continued to rely on the expertise of Sarah(Broadbent) Stevenson for assistance with specialprojects. Renée Evanoff maintained her intermittentstatus, providing design and artistic expertise.

PublicationsYellowstone Science,

in its eighth volume,continued to providethought-provoking articleson Yellowstone’s naturaland cultural resources. Fourissues were published in2000, and they includedarticles on the Arcticgrayling, the first touristvisit to Yellowstone, andthe architecture of parkbuildings. The spring issueof Yellowstone Science represented the latter half in atwo-part series on the history of ungulate manage-ment in Yellowstone. This issue included oral historyinterviews with the biologists and managers whooversaw the elk reductions of the 1950s and 1960s.The final edition for the year contained an interviewwith renowned geologist Dr. Robert Smith, andpresented several of his outstanding illustrations infull color. Yellowstone Science is supported bygenerous donations from its readers, as well as a

grant from the YellowstoneAssociation.

Yellowstone in the After-glow: Lessons from the Fires waspublished in late 2000. Written byMary Ann Franke, the 118-pagereport is a comprehensive look atthe 1988 wildfires and is based onpublished and unpublishedmaterials on the effects of thefires. The easy-to-read andgenerously illustrated bookappeals both to serious academicstudents of Yellowstone as well asthose simply seeking moreinformation about the fires.


Tami Blackford helped edit and design a 36-page full-color report titled Wetland Resources ofYellowstone National Park by Chuck Elliott of theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Mary Hektner ofthe YCR. In addition, she designed a color brochurewritten by Jennifer Whipple on Yellowstone sandverbena, a species endemic to Yellowstone’s lake-shores. This brochure was printed through a generousgrant from Canon, USA.

Other publications produced this year includethe 1999 Wolf Project Annual Report, the 1997–1998and 1999 Investigators’ Annual Reports, the 1999Yellowstone Bird Report, and the 1999 YCR AnnualReport. Resource information staff also producedfive issues of the ever-popular Buffalo Chip, an in-house newsletter keeping park employees abreast ofresource news, and provided writing, editing, andgraphics assistance to other YCR staff and parkresearchers.

External AssistanceAs part of a servicewide initiative to improve

the inventory and monitoring of natural resources, theGreater Yellowstone Network, consisting of Yellow-stone and Grand Teton national parks and BighornCanyon National Recreation Area, began a compre-hensive effort to inventory select vertebrates andvascular plants of the three parks. Resource informa-tion staff assisted with the organization of an “ex-perts” workshop in Bozeman and also helped coordi-nate the production of a 114-page plan to conduct theinventories.

Discovery 2000, held in September, was thefirst nationwide NPS general conference in nearly tenyears. Kevin Schneider helped coordinate mediarelations as a member of the conference communica-tions team and wrote several articles promoting theconference for various internal publications.

Resource information staff also assisted withthe preparation of a servicewide environmentalassessment regarding the environmental impacts of

using benefits-sharing agreements in national parks.Benefits-sharing agreements are collaborativeagreements with researchers that allow the park to“share” in the benefits when park-based researchleads to commercial success.

Presentations, Seminars, and GeneralInformation

The resource information group responded tohundreds of written requests, phone calls, and emailsinquiring about various topics including wolves,bears, ecosystem management, human–wildlifeinteractions, wildland fire, threatened and endangeredspecies, bioprospecting, elk and bison management,geology and geothermal activity, and finding employ-ment in Yellowstone. Resource information staffpresented 25 talks to visiting groups, including highschool and college students, community groups,seasonal Yellowstone employees, and concessionemployees. In addition, staff arranged dozens of talksthat were presented by other YCR employees accord-ing to their particular area of expertise. Unfortu-nately, staffing constraints prevented the YCR fromaccommodating all the requests from such visitinggroups.

The resource information staff also organizedseminars presented by visiting researchers, scholars,and experts for park staff. Conservation biologistDiane Debinski spoke on the use of remote sensing tomonitor biodiversity, and the director of the ColoradoBird Observatory, Mike Carter, discussed birdconservation in the “Prairies to Peaks.” Anthropolo-gist Dr. Henry Lewis presented two talks concerninghis research on how aboriginal peoples used fire inAustralia, Canada, and the United States.

Finally, the resource information office main-tains a master bibliography of publications germaneto Yellowstone National Park. This list is updatedperiodically, and selected publications are availableon racks in the YCR lobby.

RESEARCH SUPPORT

During 2000, 238 research collecting permitswere approved; 56 were new, and 182 were renewed.In addition, 100 investigators were assisted as theyexplored the possibility of performing research inYellowstone, but 50 did not submit a researchproposal in 2000. Of all the research in the park in2000, 18 percent was related to animal populationsincluding birds, fish, insects, and mammals (mam-

The National Parks Omnibus Manage-ment Act (P.L. 105–391) of 1998 statesthat “The Secretary [of the Interior] mayenter into negotiations with the researchcommunity and private industry forequitable, efficient benefits-sharingarrangements.”

64 Support

malogy made up 64% of the animal studies). Ecol-ogy, including fire and forestry studies, made up 15percent of the research. Seventeen percent wasdedicated to some form of geology, and the study ofmicroorganisms totaled 19 percent. Thirteen percentwere educational permits granted to allow studentsand their teachers to conduct simple studies in thepark. Vegetation and exotic species studies made up 5percent. Another 5 percent of the research in the parkincluded social sciences, archeology, and interpreta-tion projects. The remaining 8 percent includedmanagement studies, air and water quality studies,and miscellaneous subjects.

A Research Review Committee composed ofrepresentatives from the Office of Planning andCompliance, and the Yellowstone Center for Re-sources, Resource Management Operations andVisitor Protection, Maintenance, and Interpretationdivisions are responsible for insuring that all researchactivities are in keeping with the park mission. TheResearch Review Committee evaluates impacts topublic health and safety, environmental and scenicvalues, natural and cultural resources, and scientificresearch. They also evaluate the impacts of theimplementation of management responsibilities,proper allocation and use of facilities, and avoidanceof conflict among visitor use activities. Modificationsare made to the projects if they significantly impactone of the above areas. Researchers are required tosubmit a summary of their work, which is publishedin the park’s Investigators’ Annual Reports alongwith reprints of any publications in connection withtheir Yellowstone research. Recent reports areavailable on the park web site at www.nps.gov/yell.

FUNDING AND PERSONNEL

Base Operating BudgetSuperintendent Finley approved a base operat-

ing budget of $2,568,600 for the YCR in March2000. This represented an increase of $36,700 overFY99 funding levels. The additional funds were usedto help defray the cost of employees’ benefits in-creases.

Additional FundingRecreation Fee Demonstration funds. Fund-

ing was granted to complete or continue eight of theten resource management projects approved in FY99.Six new projects were also authorized, bringing theallocation of Recreation Fee Demonstration funds forthe YCR to a total of $631,000 in FY00 and theoverall amount allocated to the YCR since theinception of the program to $1,300,000.

Fishing fee program. The YCR receivedauthorization to use $280,000 from fishing permit feerevenue to partially cover the estimated $671,000total cost of the aquatic resources program in FY00.

Federal Lands Highway Program. FederalHighways funded $214,900 for natural resourceinventories, archeological surveys, and resourcecompliance along the road corridors in the parkscheduled for major repair or reconstruction in thenear future.

Special Emphasis Program AllocationSystem. The Branch of Natural Resources received$237,500 to implement the lake trout control pro-gram on Yellowstone Lake and to increase access topark natural resource information through GIS anddata management improvements from this fundingsource in FY00.

The Branch of Cultural Resources successfullycompeted for a total of $101,000 in special emphasisprogram funding. These funds were used for ethno-graphic resource inventories, NAGPRA consulta-tions, two cataloging projects, and to preserve andincrease the accessibility of the museum collectionshoused in the Albright Visitor Center.

Other NPS and federal funds. The YCRadministered funds and provided support for anumber of other federally-sponsored projects inFY00, most significantly the bison management planand court-ordered environmental impact statement($679,000), the Benefits-Sharing EnvironmentalAssessment ($739,000), and USGS grizzly bearstudies and bison-related research ($41,300).

Octopus Spring may be the most studied and well-knowngeothermal spring in the world. This has raised questionsabout the purported conflict between preservation valuesand the need to produce new knowledge.


Private funds. A total of $52,700 was donatedto the park by private organizations or individuals forsupport of wolf recovery program operations, whirl-ing disease surveys, archival projects, and thebiennial science conference.

PersonnelThere were 228 personnel actions processed in

FY00. Of special note were the following:• Laura Joss, branch chief of cultural re-

sources, was selected as the superintendentof Fort McHenry National Monument inBaltimore, Maryland, and left Yellowstone inMarch 2000.

• Sue Consolo Murphy, resource managementspecialist, was selected to replace Laura Jossas the branch chief of cultural resources inFY00. Her new appointment became effec-tive FY2001 (October 1, 2000).

• Geologists Dr. Paul K. Doss and Dr. NancyHinman joined the Yellowstone staff in June2000 to lay the foundation for a physicalresources and geothermal monitoring pro-gram.

• A second recruiting effort for an aquaticresources team leader proved unsuccessful,

so the process was initiated for a third time.• The servicewide Natural and Cultural

Resources Professional Development Pro-gram was signed by Director Stanton onDecember 17, 1999, and was implementedby the parks as of May 15, 2000. In accor-dance with the new career developmentguidelines, the GIS program managerposition was upgraded and two culturalresources positions were converted toprofessional series with potential for non-competitive promotion.

• S. Thomas Olliff, formerly the resourcemanagement coordinator for the ResourceManagement Operations and Visitor Protec-tion Division, was selected as the branchchief of natural resources in August 2000.Tom replaced Stu Coleman, who retired inJanuary 1999.

ContractingTwenty-four contracting actions were processed

in FY00, totaling obligations of $758,400 in contractsor task agreements. More than a third of this total($294,400) was dedicated to aquatic resourcesprogram projects, including building a new boat forthe lake trout control program, a fisheries operationreview and analysis, baseline sediment studies on theGibbon River, a New Zealand mudsnail distributionsurvey, a whirling disease distribution survey, andlake trout DNA analysis. Other significant contract-ing actions involved the Montana Water Compact,archeological surveys and evaluations, bison/brucel-losis research, a pronghorn antelope study, thebiodiversity EIS, and a study of willow persistenceon Yellowstone’s northern range in cooperation withthe USGS-Biological Resources Division.

Procurement ActionsThere were 770 procurement actions processed

in FY00, totaling approximately $953,800.

Clerical SupportThere were 1,679 pieces of correspondence and

288 travel authorizations processed in FY00.

Laura Joss.

66 Support

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APPENDIX I. PERSONNEL ROSTER FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000FTE Borrowed FTE

Headquarters/Professional SupportTami Blackford Technical Writer-Editor 0.40Wayne Brewster Deputy Director 1.00Ann Deutch Administrative Assistant 1.00Renée Evanoff Visual Information Specialist 0.44Mary Ann Franke Technical Writer-Editor 0.32Christie Hendrix Secretary 0.57Sara Housley Clerk Typist 0.31Michelle LeBeau Administrative Assistant 0.36Kendra Maas Office Assistant 0.20Melissa McAdam Supervisory Budget Analyst 1.00Sue Consolo Murphy Resource Management Specialist 1.00Joy Perius Administrative Assistant 1.00Lori Roberts Visitor Use Assistant 0.25Kevin Schneider Technical Writer-Editor 0.69Paul Schullery Resource Naturalist 0.40Lessie Sites Center Clerk 0.18Stacy Stermitz Administrative Assistant 0.44Sarah Stevenson Technical Writer-Editor 0.25John Varley Director 1.00Alice Wondrak Technical Writer-Editor 0.09

Advanced Resources Technology/Spatial Analysis CenterViktoria Magnis Cartographic Technician 0.80Steve Miller Cartographic Technician 0.61Joel Nelson Computer Operator 0.23Ann Rodman Supervisory GIS Specialist 1.00Shannon Savage Cartographic Technician 0.98Andrew Smith Computer Operator 0.23Ian Varley Computer Operator 0.19Andrew Welch Cartographic Technician 0.29

Natural ResourcesRebecca Anthony Biological Science Technician/Clerk 0.72Robert Auger Biological Science Technician 0.38Mark Biel Biological Science Technician 0.96Ben Bohmfalk Clerk Typist 0.11Sarah Bransom Senior Environmental Planner 0.01Wendy Clark Wildlife Biologist 0.56McCrea Cobb Biological Science Technician 0.27Heath Corrigan Biological Science Technician 0.25Paul Doss Geologist 0.28Shana Driscoll Biological Science Technician 0.07Brian Ertel Biological Science Technician 0.96Steve Gale Biological Science Technician 0.36Trisha Giambra Biological Science Technician 0.46Rachael Gray Biological Science Technician 0.30Deb Guernsey Program Assistant 0.96

68 Appendix I

FTE Borrowed FTEKerry Gunther Wildlife Biologist 1.00Mary Hektner Resource Management Specialist 1.00Christie Hendrix Biological Science Technician/Secretary 0.33Nancy Hinman Geologist 0.29Sara Housley Clerk Typist 0.16Michael Humling Biological Science Technician 0.31Darren Ireland Biological Science Technician 0.35Bryan Irvin Biological Science Technician 0.53Sharit Koser Park Ranger 0.05Gregg Kurz Biological Science Technician 0.90Kristin Legg Resource Management Specialist 0.04Meredee Lloyd Biological Science Technician 0.06Jeff Lutch Biological Science Technician 0.96John Mack Wildlife Biologist 1.00Dan Mahony Fishery Biologist 1.00Mimi Matsuda Biological Science Technician 0.11Kerrie McCartney Administrative Support Assistant 0.11Terry McEneaney Wildlife Biologist 1.00Richard McIntyre Biological Science Technician 0.42Kerry Murphy Wildlife Biologist 0.96Tom Olliff Natural Resource Program Manager 0.10Glenn Plumb Supervisory Wildlife Biologist 1.00Sally Plumb Cultural Resources Assistant 0.03Tiffany Potter Biological Science Technician 0.06Roy Renkin Vegetation Management Specialist 0.84Freya Ross Biologial Science Technician 0.15Jim Ruzycki Fishery Biologist 0.33William Saueressig Clerk Typist 0.11Gretchen Schenk Biological Science Technician 0.36Amy Schmoller Biological Science Technician 0.16David Schmoller Biological Science Technician 0.30Thomas Seals Biological Science Technician 0.06Jim Sinclair Biological Science Technician 0.08Doug Smith Wildlife Biologist 1.00Sarah Stevenson Technical Writer-Editor 0.01Beth Taylor Administrative Support Assistant 0.21Eric Tomasik Biological Science Technician 0.31Tim Thompson Physical Science Technician 0.12Jennifer Whipple Botanist 0.89

Cultural ResourcesSean Cahill Museum Technician 0.98Vanessa Christopher Museum Technician 0.68Jon Dahlheim Museum Technician 0.94Kamiah Dumontier Cultural Resources Clerk 0.19Elaine Hale Cultural Resources Technician 1.00Holly Hampton Archeological Technician 0.06Harold Housley Archives Specialist 1.00Sara Housley Clerk Typist 0.04Ann Johnson Archeologist 1.00


FTE Borrowed FTELon Johnson Cultural Resources Program Manager 1.00Laura Joss Chief, Branch of Cultural Resources 0.48Anne Kern Archeological Technician 0.02Susan Kraft Supervisory Museum Curator 1.00Kathryn Lancaster Library Technician 0.91Kerrie McCartney Administrative Support Assistant 0.37Sally Plumb Cultural Resources Technician 0.05Beth Raz Museum Aide 0.46Charissa Reid Cultural Resources Assistant 0.21Lisa Stanley Archeological Technician 0.04Stacy Stermitz Administrative Support 0.01Rosemary Sucec Cultural Anthropologist 0.44Lee Whittlesey Archivist 1.00

IGBST & BRDMaureen Hartmann Biological Science Technician 0.14Jason Hicks Biological Science Technician 0.50Craig Jamison Biological Science Technician 0.08Christopher McQuery Biological Science Technician 0.36

TOTAL FTE 50.62 0.92

70 Appendix I


APPENDIX II. PUBLICATIONS, REPORTS, AND PAPERS

The following publications and reports published in 2000 were authored or co-authored by YellowstoneCenter for Resources staff.

Professional PublicationsBiel, M.J., K.A. Gunther, and H.E. Hoekstra. 2000.

Bear attractant of biodiesel fuel. Pages 43–52 inCurlee, A.P., A. Gillesberg, and D. Casey, eds.Greater Yellowstone predators: Ecology andconservation in a changing landscape. Proceed-ings of third biennial conference on the greaterYellowstone ecosystem. Northern RockiesConservation Cooperative, Jackson, Wyo. 212 pp.

Consolo Murphy, S., and M.M. Meagher. 2000. Thestatus of wolverines, lynx, and fishers in Yellow-stone National Park. Pages 57–62 in Curlee, A.P.,A. Gillesberg, and D. Casey, eds. Greater Yellow-stone predators: Ecology and conservation in achanging landscape. Proceedings of third biennialconference on the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative,Jackson, Wyo. 212 pp.

Crabtree, R.L., and J.D. Varley. 2000. The ecologi-cal and sociodemographic role of the coyote onYellowstone’s northern range. Pages 63–84 inCurlee, A.P., A. Gillesberg, and D. Casey, eds.Greater Yellowstone predators: Ecology andconservation in a changing landscape. Proceed-ings of third biennial conference on the greaterYellowstone ecosystem. Northern RockiesConservation Cooperative, Jackson, Wyo. 212 pp.

Elliott, C.R., and M.M. Hektner. 2000. Wetlandresources of Yellowstone National Park. NationalPark Service, Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. 32 pp.

Franke, M.A. 2000. Yellowstone in the afterglow:Lessons from the fires. National Park Service,Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. YCR-NR-2000-03.118 pp.

Gunther, K.A., M.J. Biel, and H.R. Robison. 2000.Influence of vehicle speed and vegetation cover-type on road-killed wildlife in Yellowstone Na-tional Park. Pages 42–47 in Proceedings ofwildlife and highways; seeking solutions to anecological and socio-economic dilemma. Seventhannual meeting of the Wildlife Society, September12–16, Nashville, TN. 169 pp.

Gunther, K.A., M.J. Biel, K.A. Churchill, and R.L.Danforth. 2000. Changing problems in Yellow-

stone bear management, 23 years after the dumps.Pages 85–110 in Curlee, A.P., A. Gillesberg, andD. Casey, eds. Greater Yellowstone predators:Ecology and conservation in a changing land-scape. Proceedings of third biennial conference onthe greater Yellowstone ecosystem. NorthernRockies Conservation Cooperative, Jackson, Wyo.212 pp.

McEneaney, T. 2000. The common raven: Fieldnotes on an important Yellowstone predator.Pages 151–156 in Curlee, A.P., A. Gillesberg, andD. Casey, eds. Greater Yellowstone predators:Ecology and conservation in a changing land-scape. Proceedings of third biennial conference onthe greater Yellowstone ecosystem. NorthernRockies Conservation Cooperative, Jackson, Wyo.212 pp.

———. 2000. The Yellowstone bird report, 1999.National Park Service, Mammoth Hot Springs,Wyo. YCR-NR-2000-02. 26 pp.

McIntyre, R., and D.W. Smith. 2000. The death of aqueen: Yellowstone mutiny ends tyrannical ruleover Druid pack. International Wolf 10: (4)8–11.

Olliff, T., and S. Consolo Murphy. 2000. Seeking ascientific approach to backcountry management inYellowstone National Park. USDA Forest ServiceProceedings RMRS-P-15 vol 5.

Reinhart, D.P., S.T. Olliff, and K.A. Gunther. 2000.Managing bears and developments on cutthroatspawning streams in Yellowstone National Park.Pages 161–170 in Curlee, A.P., A. Gillesberg, andD. Casey, eds. Greater Yellowstone predators:Ecology and conservation in a changing land-scape. Proceedings of third biennial conference onthe greater Yellowstone ecosystem. NorthernRockies Conservation Cooperative, Jackson, Wyo.212 pp.

Renkin, R.A., and K.A. Gunther. 2000. Predictinggrizzly bear mortality in developed areas ofYellowstone National Park. Pages 171–176 inCurlee, A.P., A. Gillesberg, and D. Casey, eds.Greater Yellowstone predators: Ecology andconservation in a changing landscape. Proceed-ings of third biennial conference on the greater

72 Appendix II

Yellowstone ecosystem. Northern Rockies Con-servation Cooperative, Jackson, Wyo. 212 pp.

Rubinstein, P., L.H. Whittlesey, and M. Stevens.2000. The guide to Yellowstone waterfalls andtheir discovery. Westcliffe Publishing Company,Englewood, Colo. 296 pp.

Schullery, P. 2000. Yogi lives: The evolving imageof the bears of Yellowstone. Pages 3–16 in Curlee,A.P., A. Gillesberg, and D. Casey, eds. GreaterYellowstone predators: Ecology and conservationin a changing landscape. Proceedings of thirdbiennial conference on the greater Yellowstoneecosystem. Northern Rockies ConservationCooperative, Jackson, Wyo. 212 pp.

Schullery, P., and L. Whittlesey. 2000. YellowstoneNature Notes: A neglected documentary resource.Yellowstone Science 8(1): 2–5.

Smith, D.W., L.D. Mech, M. Meagher, W.E. Clark,R. Jaffe, M.K. Phillips, and J.A. Mack. 2000.Wolf-bison interactions in Yellowstone NationalPark. Journal of Mammalogy 81(4): 1128–1135.

Smith, D.W., K.M. Murphy, and D. Guernsey. 2000.Yellowstone wolf project, annual report 1999.National Park Service, Mammoth Hot Springs,Wyo. YCR-NR-2000-01. 20 pp.

Smith, D.W., and M.K. Phillips. 2000. NorthernRocky Mountain wolf. Pages 219–223 in Read-ing, R.P., and B. Miller, eds. Endangered animals:A reference guide to conflicting issues. Green-wood Press, Westport, Conn.

Whittlesey, L. 2000. Two gifted historians: AubreyL. Haines and Don G. Rickey, Jr. Pages 69–70 inRankin, C.E., ed. Montana The Magazine ofWestern History 50.

Wilson, C.L., N.W. Hinman, and R.P. Sheridan.2000. Hydrogen peroxide formation and decay iniron-rich geothermal waters: The relative roles ofabiotic and biotic mechanisms. Photochemistryand Photobiology 71(6): 691–699.

Yellowstone National Park. 2000. YellowstoneCenter for Resources, annual report, 1999. Na-tional Park Service, Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo.YCR-AR-1999. 86 pp.

Administrative ReportsEvans, S., D.W. Smith, and K. Murphy. 2000.

Evaluation of wolf activity along the Tower toCanyon road in Yellowstone National Park, 1995–1999. YNP report. 17 pp.

Gunther, K.A., and M.J. Biel. 2000. YellowstoneNational Park 1999 annual report of bear manage-ment activities conducted under endangeredspecies sub-permit #87-1. National Park Service,Yellowstone Bear Management Office, MammothHot Springs, Wyo. 11 pp.

———. 2000. Evaluation of road-killed wildlife onthe Dunraven Road, Yellowstone National Park,1989–1998. National Park Service, YellowstoneBear Management Office, Mammoth Hot Springs,Wyo. 18 pp.

———. 2000. Evaluation of road-killed wildlife onthe Canyon Junction to Fishing Bridge road ofYellowstone National Park, 1989–1998. NationalPark Service, Yellowstone Bear ManagementOffice, Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. 16 pp.

———. 2000. Bear management office administra-tive annual report for calendar year 1999. Na-tional Park Service, Yellowstone Bear Manage-ment Office, Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo.

Gunther, K.A., M.T. Bruscino, S. Cain, K. Frey, M.A.Haroldson, and C.C. Schwartz. 2000. Grizzlybear–human conflicts, confrontations, and man-agement actions in the Yellowstone ecosystem,1999. Pages 55–108 in Schwartz, C.C., and M.A.Haroldson, eds. Yellowstone grizzly bear investi-gations: Annual report of the Interagency GrizzlyBear Study Team, 1999. U.S. Geological Survey,Bozeman, Mont. 128 pp.

Ireland, D., K.A. Gunther, M.J. Biel, H. Corrigan,and E. Kiberd. 2000. Biological assessment ofCanada lynx activity and habitat along four roadsections and the proposed Canyon ContractorCamp, Yellowstone National Park. National ParkService, Yellowstone Bear Management Office,Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. 16 pp.

Kurz, G., Reinertson, E., and D. Reinhart. 2000.Winter bison monitoring. National Park Service,Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. 40 pp.

McEneaney, T. 2000. An ornithological and herpeto-logical assessment of federal highway projects.YNP report.

Yellowstone National Park. 2000. Investigators’annual reports, 1997–98. National Park Service,Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. YCR-IAR-1997–98. 158 pp.

———. 2000. Investigators’ annual reports, 1999.National Park Service, Mammoth Hot Springs,Wyo. YCR-IAR-1999. 152 pp.

ANNUAL REPORT 2000

YELLOWSTONE CENTER FOR RESOURCES

YELLOWSTONE CENTER FOR RESOURCES

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