annual report 1 9 9 9 - national park serviceprocess management, an “experimental management”...

YELLOWSTONE CENTERFOR RESOURCES

1 9 9 9ANNUAL REPORT

YELLOWSTONE

CENTER FOR RESOURCES

1999 ANNUAL REPORT

Yellowstone Center for ResourcesNational Park Service

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

YCR–AR–992000

Yellowstone Sand VerbenaPhoto by Jennifer Whipple.

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Suggested Citation: Yellowstone Center for Resources. 2000. Yellowstone Center for ResourcesAnnual Report, 1999. National Park Service, Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, YCR–AR–99.

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Contents

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

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

Part II. Cultural Resource Programs ............................................................... 7Archeology ...................................................................................................... 8Ethnography .................................................................................................. 11Historic Roads and Bridges .......................................................................... 14Historic Buildings and Structures ................................................................. 16History ........................................................................................................... 18Museum......................................................................................................... 18National Historic Preservation Act ............................................................... 23Paleontology ................................................................................................. 24Partnerships ................................................................................................... 25Research Library and Archives ..................................................................... 25

Part III. Natural Resource Programs ............................................................. 27Air, Land, and Water ..................................................................................... 27Aquatic Resources ........................................................................................ 29Bears ............................................................................................................. 38Birds .............................................................................................................. 46Bison ............................................................................................................. 53Geology and Geothermal Resources ............................................................. 56Vegetation ..................................................................................................... 60Wildlife Management and Monitoring.......................................................... 61Wolves ........................................................................................................... 66

Part IV. Yellowstone Center for Resources and Parkwide Support ............. 71Spatial Analysis Center ................................................................................. 71Resource Information .................................................................................... 74Research Support .......................................................................................... 76Funding and Personnel .................................................................................. 77

Appendix I. Personnel Roster for 1999 ........................................................... 81Appendix II. Publications, Reports, and Papers ........................................... 83

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Introduction

The last year of the twentieth century marked the sixth year for the Yellowstone Center for Resources.

It was a good year. After securing an improved budget foundation in 1998, continued progress was made

toward the conservation of cultural and natural resources through sound science and management.

Paleontologists and park staff identified Eocene mammal fossils on Mount Hornaday. Toward

the end of the year, Yellowstone at last gained a full-time park archeologist to oversee a growing

program devoted to these prehistoric and historic sites, and associated researchers discovered an

intact buried hearth along the Madison River. Another new staff specialist with a background in

architecture and preserving historic structures joined the cultural resources team. Of cross-disciplin-

ary interest was the participation of 100 American Indians in the “Buffalo March” from Rapid City,

South Dakota, to Yellowstone to honor and bring attention to the plight of the park’s bison herd,

which is the subject of a decade-long effort to produce an interagency management plan. And

special funds supported the collection and transcription of oral history interviews on ecological

process management, an “experimental management” concept adopted by Yellowstone some 30

years previous and still undergoing an extensive evaluation process.

It was another good year for some of the rare or endangered species in the region. Grizzly bear

reproduction was fairly high and mortalities were low. Gray wolves continued their recovery throughout the

park and beyond. The peregrine falcon was removed from the list of endangered species due to the nation-

wide success of recovery efforts; a record 14 eyries were found in the park. But all news was not good, as

trumpeter swan populations continued to decline across the tri-state region, the Rocky Mountain population

of whooping cranes diminished, several species of native fishes were petitioned for listing as “threatened,”

and several other species of concern do not show any promise of population increases.

While the park endured seismic shakeups without sufficient geologic staff expertise, we were grateful

for the continued cooperation of hundreds of researchers from other government agencies, universities, and

private institutes. We sponsored our fifth in a series of science conferences about greater Yellowstone, in

which experts from many disciplines shared concerns about the pervasive invasion of exotic organisms and

how they threaten native biodiversity. We also produced, with the help of many park employees in other

divisions, the State of the Park report—a detailed summary of the status of park resources, programs, and

challenges to tackle in the coming century. There is no shortage of work yet to be done. Yet, as we close

the twentieth century—the first full century of park management—we take some pride in our small steps

toward an improved baseline of information on cultural and natural resources, as well as in their ongoing

protection. For more information about specific topics of interest, readers may contact us or investigate the

park’s web site at www.nps.gov/yell.

John D. Varley

Director, Yellowstone Center for Resources

Part I. Resource Highlights

UNDERWATER SPIRES DISCOVERED IN YELLOWSTONE LAKE

Geologists in Yellowstone recently discovered an extraordinary new world of hydrothermalfeatures below Yellowstone Lake. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the University ofWisconsin at Milwaukee, and Eastern Oceanics continued a long-term study of the bottom of Yel-lowstone Lake with new equipment capable of conducting high-resolution bathymetric, seismicreflection, and magnetic mapping surveys. Although only able to intensively map the northernquarter of Yellowstone Lake, they discovered an array of interesting features, including dozens ofcircular steep-walled depressions from 5 to 800 meters across, and hundreds of pinnacles and spires.

The spires occur singularly or in clusters and may be up to 35 meters tall and 50 meters indiameter. The few spire samples studied so far had a light-colored, porous interior mantled with acoating of iron oxide. Laboratory analysis indicates that the spires are chemically composed ofamorphous silica; images from a scanning electron microscope reveal that samples contain remainsfrom a broad variety of diatoms and botryoidal and filamentous bacteria. The spires also have traceamounts of heavy metals commonly associated with hydrothermal vents.

The formation of both spires and circular depressions is related to deep-seated fluid circulationthat occurred over the past 12,000 years and left visible vents on the lake bottom. Other featuresseen during the survey include recent faults and submerged former shorelines. Though researchershypothesized that the vent field in Bridge Bay is now inactive, the sheer number of features nowknown on the Yellowstone Lake bottom suggests very active vent sites, some of which may yet becreating spires and other formations.

A seven-meter-tall spire in Bridge Bay. The spire field in

Bridge Bay has approximately 12–18 individual spires and

was originally discovered in 1997 by scientists at Eastern

Oceanics (Dave Lovalvo) and the University of Wisconsin

at Milwaukee (Val Klump, principal investigator). Photo

courtesy Tony Remsen.

2 Resource Highlights

YELLOWSTONE HERITAGE AND

RESEARCH CENTER PROGRESSES

The planning process continues for theYellowstone Heritage and Research Center, amuseum and archival collection storage facility.In 1999, Yellowstone’s request to the NationalPark Service (NPS) Line Item Constructionfunding program was accepted, and the park islisted to receive $4.8 million in 2002 for con-struction. On May 5, 1999, current sites underconsideration were examined and scored, andfour sites in Mammoth and near Gardiner wererated most highly. These sites will be includedin the environmental assessment for the project.

Other planning includes the drafting of acomparability study using program informationfrom recent NPS and outside museum construc-tion projects. The cultural resources branchchief assisted in formulating a proposal for a“Greater Yellowstone Geoecosystem LearningCenter” in response to a servicewide call forlearning centers as part of the Natural ResourceChallenge. She also met with potential fundersfor the Heritage and Research Center and facili-tated logistics for a January curatorial meetingwith national curators and consultants. A surplustrailer for temporary archival and museumcollection storage was acquired from ZionNational Park.

FIFTH BIENNIAL SCIENCE

CONFERENCE A SUCCESS

Resource information staff provided plan-ning and logistical support for the park’s fifthbiennial science conference on the GreaterYellowstone Area. Planning actually began in1998, with the chosen theme of “Exotic Organ-isms in Greater Yellowstone: NativeBiodiversity Under Siege.” The “virtual” pro-gram committee convened in February 1999 andaccepted papers from more than 35 speakers.Highlighted guest speakers were Dr. DanielBotkin from the University of California at SantaBarbara, who presented the Superintendent’sInternational Luncheon Lecture; Dr. Holmes

Rolston from ColoradoState University, whopresented the Aubrey L.Haines Lecture; and Dr.Barry Noon, also fromColorado State, whopresented the A. StarkerLeopold Lecture.

About 150 personsattended the conference,which was held at theMammoth Hotel. Conference registration feesadequately covered the expenses associated withspeakers’ travel and conference logistics andpromotion. An arrangement was made with theeditors of the former Great Basin Naturalist,now the Western North American Naturalistjournal, to peer review and publish acceptedmanuscripts submitted by conference partici-pants in lieu of the less-prestigious conferenceproceedings. Publication will likely occur in2001.

THREE MUSEUMS DECLARED AT RISK

The Secretary of the Interior included threeYellowstone buildings in his America’s Land-marks at Risk annual report to the U.S. Con-gress—the Norris, Madison, and Fishing Bridgemuseums. The report cited physical deteriora-tion stemming from the effects of weather anddeferred maintenance, extensive rodent prob-lems, and thermal activity at Norris as reasonsfor the listing. The report also recommendedthat the park prepare condition assessmentreports on these buildings.

The Norris, Madison, and Fishing Bridgemuseums were designated National HistoricLandmarks in 1987. The designation recognizedthe museums as the best examples of Rustic stylebuildings in the National Park System. Thebuildings were designed by architect HerbertMaier in 1929, and the Laura SpelmanRockefeller Foundation funded their construc-tion through the American Association of Muse-ums. The museums served as models for hun-dreds of buildings constructed throughout the

1999 Annual Report 3

nation, especially for projects under the auspicesof New Deal programs of the 1930s.

National Historic Landmarks, a step abovethe National Register of Historic Places listing,have exceptional value in illustrating or inter-preting U.S. heritage in history, architecture,technology, and culture. The Old Faithful Inn,the Northeast Entrance Station, and ObsidianCliff are also National Historic Landmarks.

Park staff are preparing text for an interpre-tive brochure to explain the museums’ historyand their influence in the evolution of the Na-tional Park Service Rustic style of architecture.Funding sources to rehabilitate the buildings arealso being investigated.

LAKE TROUT THREAT CONTINUES

For the past four years, the Aquatic Re-sources Center has devoted a majority of thesummer field season to removing lake trout fromYellowstone Lake. Knowledge gained about theseasonal and vertical distribution of this largepredator has been regularly applied to the park’sadaptive management approach. Informationgained from 1998 tagging studies andhydroacoustic surveys was used to select themost promising gillnetting locations in 1999. Asno additional tracking or other lake trout move-ment surveys were conducted in 1999, the laketrout program was dedicated solely to lake troutremoval.

The combination of intensive gillnetting inWest Thumb and angler catches throughout thelake suggests that the NPS lake trout removalprogram is meeting the goal of preservingcutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake. The follow-ing summary observations can be made:

• Gillnetting results since 1995 indicatethat mature lake trout reside primarily inWest Thumb, which has consistentlyyielded the highest catches of lake trout.

• All identified spawning areas are in theWest Thumb/Breeze Channel area.

• Hydroacoustic assessments also indicatedthat most of the lake trout reside in WestThumb.

These short-term results suggest that thecurrent capacity of park staff to maintain thislevel of lake trout control is adequate. Theseresults must be interpreted with caution, how-ever, because almost all the gillnetting effort hasoccurred in the West Thumb area. Telemetrystudies in 1998 confirmed that although largeadult lake trout reside mostly in the West Thumbportion of the lake, they do move to many otherareas. Late summer distribution gillnetting andangler reports suggest that medium-size laketrout are widespread throughout much of thelake. These factors suggest that in the long-term,new spawning sites will be established andadditional subpopulations established. As theabundance of either existing or newly estab-lished populations declines, a much higher levelof netting effort will be required to sustain highlake trout mortality rates.

To address these long-term needs, the NPShas acquired new funding to obtain a commercialgillnetting boat and additional staff that will besolely dedicated to a greatly expanded nettingeffort throughout the lake. Design and boatconstruction phases are underway, and theadditional control measures will be fully opera-tional during the 2001 field season. This level oflong-term commitment will greatly assist theNPS in meeting its responsibility to preserve theYellowstone cutthroat trout in its native habitat.

WHIRLING DISEASE STUDIED

After whirling disease was confirmed inrainbow trout in the Madison River near Ennis,Montana, Yellowstone fishery biologists initiateda testing program for park fish populations.Between 1995 and 1998, young rainbow trout,Yellowstone cutthroat trout, brown trout, andmountain whitefish captured duringelectrofishing surveys of several boundary areastreams were examined for the presence ofdisease-causing spores. No evidence of infectionor population declines attributable to the diseasewas found during these early surveys. In the fallof 1998, however, a small sample of cutthroattrout from Yellowstone Lake indicated the


presence of whirling disease spores in approxi-mately 10–25 percent of the fish. Length-agerelationships suggested that the infected cut-throat trout were between two and five years old.

Although the information gained in 1999has not adequately provided the answers requiredto make assessments or recommendations relatedto the Yellowstone Lake cutthroat trout popula-tion, preliminary observations can be summa-rized as follows:

• Many of the adult cutthroat troutthroughout the lake have a mild inci-dence of whirling disease infection.These fish range from four to eight yearsold, suggesting that the parasite has beenin the basin for a number of years.

• If the older infected fish identified in thisstudy were parasitized as fry, it appearsthat some cutthroat trout in YellowstoneLake are able to survive infection withoutany obvious long-term effects.

• The failure to detect the parasite throughsentinel cage tests may be indicative ofless than optimum environmental condi-tions (particularly water temperature) forthe infectious stage of the whirlingdisease parasite. Unlike the typicalspringtime infection observed in streamsadjacent to the park, the peak period forinfection in Yellowstone Lake may be inthe fall, similar to high-elevation lakes inColorado.

Continued monitoring of stream tempera-tures, ongoing examination of incidental catchfrom gillnetting surveys, and additional sentinelcage exposure studies in the next several yearsshould provide considerable clarification relatedto these preliminary observations. This willenable park biologists to determine whethercutthroat trout fry in Yellowstone Lake may beless vulnerable to whirling disease because mosthave already migrated downstream into the lakeby the time of peak parasite emergence. Contin-ued examination of distribution with a focus onparasite densities, age classes of fish affected,and protective habitat should assist the NPS inpreserving this valuable native fish species.

PEREGRINE FALCON DELISTED

The peregrine falcon was removed from thelist of endangered species on August 26, 1999,and is now managed as a species of specialconcern. Provisions afforded by the EndangeredSpecies Act require that the peregrine be moni-tored closely for the next five years to ensure itsrecovery. The park continues to be a strongholdfor peregrines in the Northern Rockies. A neweyrie was found in 1999, bringing the totalnumber to 14. In spite of unusually cold and wetweather conditions in the spring and earlysummer, which typically result in the loss ofyoung, 19 young fledged in the park.

ORAL HISTORY PROJECTS

Two private groups initiated projects tointerview members of American Indian tribesaffiliated with Yellowstone in 1999. Ehnamani,a Native American group from Bozeman, Mon-tana, led by Crow/Santee Scott Frazier andOjibwe John Potter, worked with Crow historianLawrence Flatlip to gather Crow oral historiesabout the park and potential ethnographic infor-mation. In September, the cultural resourcesbranch chief, cultural resources assistant, andpark exhibit specialist represented the park atEhnamani’s “Prayer for Wolves” at the LowerBlacktail cabin.

Cutthroat trout fry held in a sentinel cage in a Yellowstone

Lake tributary to test for whirling disease. NPS photo.


The Idaho Mythweaver group planned towork with high school students on the NezPerce, Confederated Salish and Kootenai,Shoshone-Bannock, and Crow reservations onoral interview techniques they can use to inter-view their elder family members about Yellow-stone. This information will be presented to thepark for use in interpretive programs and exhib-its, and documenting place names and past tribaluses of the park for the cultural resources pro-gram and the archives.

Cultural resources assistants continued towork on an oral history project to interviewimportant figures in the park’s management ofnatural resources. The Fee Demonstrationprogram provided funds for the project, whichinitially targets the history of ungulate manage-ment in Yellowstone. Charissa Reid and SallyPlumb interviewed former park employees whoworked on the ungulate management program inthe park’s past. Yellowstone’s former chiefbiologist, Glen Cole, a pioneer of natural regula-tion in the NPS, attended the park’s fifth biennialscientific conference in the autumn of 1999 andwas interviewed twice during his visit.

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK

NOMINATIONS

In the fall of 1999, the National Trust forHistoric Preservation contracted with FrontRange Research Associates, Inc., of Denver,Colorado, to prepare a National Historic Land-mark nomination for Fort Yellowstone and forother U.S. Army-constructed buildings through-out the park. Included are the Bechler andNorris Soldier Stations, the Buffalo Lake snow-shoe cabin, and the Roosevelt Arch. The nomi-nation will focus on the army’s role in protectingthe park, and will be submitted under the Na-tional Historic Landmark theme of “Conserva-tion of Natural Resources.”

The importance of Fort Yellowstone as aphysical representation of the U.S. Army’s rolein the history of our national parks has long beenrecognized. The U.S. Army entered Yellowstonein 1886. The 35 army buildings, dating from

three main construction periods (1891, 1897,1908), present an almost complete “picture of anextraordinarily handsome Western Army post atthe turn of the century” (Battle and Thompson,Fort Yellowstone Historic Structure Report,1972).

Front Range Research is also preparing aNational Register of Historic Places nominationfor the larger Mammoth Hot Springs area. Thenomination will include about 200 buildingsconstructed by the U.S. Army, the National ParkService, and concessioners. The significance ofthe Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District liesin its association with the development of theNPS administrative and concessioner policies,and in its architecture.

Cultural resources staff continued to workon revising National Register nominations forsome of the park’s historic roads and, in coopera-tion with the Division of Resource ManagementOperations and Visitor Protection, gatheredsupportive documentation to seek determinationsof eligibility for the park’s snowshoe cabins.

A GOOD YEAR FOR BEARS

In the Yellowstone ecosystem, 1999 was ayear of average to above-average abundance ofmost high-quality bear foods. The winter of1998–99 was considered to be a mild one onupper and lower northern winter ranges and inthe Madison-Firehole valley. Despite the mildweather, the number of winter-killed elk andbison carcasses counted on transect sites washigher than the long-term average.

During early to mid-spring, the most com-monly observed grizzly bear feeding activity wasscavenging on ungulate carcasses. Grizzly bearsalso dug up pocket gopher caches in localizedareas where they were particularly abundant.Elk calves, an important late spring and earlysummer food source, were preyed upon exten-sively by some individual bears. The numbers ofspawning cutthroat trout counted in YellowstoneLake tributaries were similar to the long-termaverages on most streams, except for those in theWest Thumb area, which were below average.


Throughout the summer, grizzly bears grazedclover and dug up yampa roots in localized areaswhere these foods were abundant.

Army cutworm moths, an important bearfood in late summer and fall, were present andattracted large numbers of bears to high-eleva-tion moth aggregation sites on the eastern side ofthe ecosystem. The production of whitebarkpine cones, as measured at transect sites, wasabove average in most areas of the ecosystem.The one exception was the Pitchstone Plateauarea, where few cones were observed. Excava-tion of red squirrel middens for whitebark pineseeds was the most frequently observed fallgrizzly bear feeding activity. In some areas,biologists also found evidence that grizzly bearshad climbed into whitebark pine trees andbroken off branches to obtain cones. DuringOctober, localized areas where grizzly bears haddug up pocket gopher caches were again evident.

Fifteen females with 26 cubs-of-the-yearwere observed in the park in 1999. The averagelitter size was 1.7 cubs per litter, with 5 one-cub,6 two-cub, and 3 three-cub litters. There weretwo known grizzly bear mortalities (one naturaland one management removal) and one knownblack bear mortality (vehicle collision).

There were 78 reported incidents of bear-human confrontations (incidents of actual orperceived aggression in which no one was hurt).Grizzly bears were involved in 52 of theseconfrontations and black bears were involved in19. Seven confrontations were with an unknownspecies of bear. There were only two injuries tohumans inflicted by bears, both by grizzlies.

There were seven reported incidents inwhich bears damaged property but did not obtainhuman foods, all involving grizzly bears. Thisnumber was a significantly greater number thanthe 10-year average of 1.2 per year reported from1989 to 98. There were four incidents in whichbears obtained human foods or garbage in thepark in 1999. Three incidents involved grizzlybears and one involved a black bear.

In 1999, there were 201 bear-related inci-dents in which management action was taken.Two grizzly bears were captured in management

actions within the park. One was translocated toanother area of the park, and one was removedfrom the population and sent to a zoo. Fourgrizzlies were translocated into the park. Nonewere known to be involved in further bear-human conflicts for the rest of the year. Noblack bears were captured or removed, and nonuisance black bears were accepted.

All the capture efforts that were related tobear-caused property damage occurred in theIndian Creek Campground area in July andAugust. In August, a 180-pound subadult malegrizzly that had damaged six tents was capturedadjacent to Indian Creek campground. The bearstepped on, tore, and crushed a decoy tent placednear the trap and was caught. DNA extractedfrom hair collected from the captured bearmatched DNA from hair collected from a tentdamaged at a nearby backcountry campsite. Dr.Lisette Waits at the University of Idaho calcu-lated that the chance of a DNA match to anyother grizzly bear in the park was approximatelyone in 20,597. The bear was deemed a danger topublic safety and not suitable for release backinto the wild. Under a special permit from theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the bear was heldat the Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellow-stone until park staff could find a suitable zoo-logical institution to house the bear. In Septem-ber, the young bear was shipped to the WildlifeWay-Station, a private, non-profit sanctuary forinjured, neglected, and homeless wild animals inSylmar, California.

The decoy tent, used in combination with a blueberry-

baited trap, to lure the Indian Creek tent-crushing grizzly.

NPS photo.

Part II. Cultural Resource Programs

The Branch of Cultural Resources continued to grow through additions in staff and programfunding. In June 1999, Rodd Wheaton, the Intermountain Region’s Assistant Director for CulturalResources and Partnerships, and Pat O’Brien, Program Manager for Cultural Resources and NationalRegister Programs, made a visit to the park and reviewed the cultural resources program, physicalresources, and long-range plans. In January, as newly rehabilitated office space became available inthe historic cavalry barracks which houses the Yellowstone Center for Resources (YCR), four cul-tural resources branch staff moved their offices from the old Fire Cache building.

Dr. Ann Johnson joined the park staff as a full-time, permanent archeologist toward the end of1999. Ann was duty stationed at Yellowstone from the Rocky Mountain System Office in 1995, butat long last can devote more of her energy to Yellowstone’s program, coordinating archeologicalresearch and overseeing ongoing National Register inventory and evaluation of the park’s archeo-logical resources. Elaine Hale, who had previously worked for four years as a seasonal employee onthe cultural compliance portion of the park’s Federal Highways program, was hired as a term culturalresources technician whose duties, in addition to continued road-related work, are to assist otherdivisions with cultural compliance, work with cultural landscapes, and facilitate paleontologicalsurveys of the park.

Lon Johnson also joined the staff as a term cultural resources technician, functioning as thepark’s primary coordinator for implementing requirements mandated by Section 106 of the NationalHistoric Preservation Act. Lon oversees the National Register inventory and evaluation of the park’shistoric buildings and other structures. He is assisting with the review and editing of historic re-source studies on The History of the Concessions of Yellowstone National Park and History of theAdministration of Yellowstone National Park, and associated National Register multiple property

A rare view of a U.S. Army encampment in Lower Mammoth, 1912. Photo

postcard purchased at the National Parks Antique Show.

8 Cultural Resource Programs

nomination forms. Lon also works on the park’scultural landscapes and National Historic Land-marks programs. Lon is licensed to practicearchitecture in Montana and Oregon, and prior tocoming to Yellowstone he was the coordinatorfor the National Register of Historic Places forthe Montana State Historic Preservation Officeand the Montana Historical Society.

Kara Mills returned for a second summer asa cultural resources assistant and worked onFederal Highways historical research and com-pliance and American Indian consultation meet-ings. She researched American Indian collectingpolicies and regulations, and provided generalassistance on ethnographic issues.

To supplement the funds available from theYellowstone base budget for cultural resources($285,000), support for 1999 projects wasobtained from the Cultural Resources Preserva-tion Program ($178,200), Backlog Cataloging($17,600), Museum Collection Preservation andProtection Program ($26,100), Federal High-ways program ($177,400), Fee Demonstrationprogram ($69,540), Challenge Cost Share pro-gram ($5,400), Cultural Cyclic Maintenancetracked by the Maintenance Division ($84,500),and private funds from the Yellowstone Associa-tion ($34,441), for a total budget of $878,181.

Additional Support to Park ManagementBranch Chief Laura Joss continued to

participate in the park’s Government Perfor-mance and Results Act process, and was respon-sible for the development, tracking, and report-ing of cultural resources components. Branchstaff also provided cultural resources informationfor the State of the Park report and the park’sforthcoming Business Plan.

The branch chief was selected to be co-chairof the park’s Board of Survey, which reviewedmore than 50 accident and property loss reportsto determine negligence and/or liability. As ateam member of the park’s Research PermitReview Panel, she reviewed more than 200 newapplications or requests to renew studies withpotential impacts to cultural resources and toensure compliance with requirements to catalog

and properly store collected specimens. Sheparticipated in the Interpretation Division’s effortto produce a Long-Range Interpretive Plan andattended associated planning workshops. Branchstaff also participated in planning efforts for therehabilitation of the Canyon Visitor Center andthe design of a new Old Faithful Visitor Educa-tion Center.

Branch staff spent considerable time partici-pating in planning efforts related to prescribedfire management, commercial services, andwinter use. Elaine Hale represented the branchon the Mammoth Quality Circle committee, anad hoc group that identifies and helps carry outprojects that address safety issues or improveconditions in the area. The archeologist, mu-seum technician, cultural resources assistant, andbranch chief assisted in archeological and archi-val research and cultural compliance followingthe December 4 rockslide in the Gardner Can-yon. Elaine Hale initiated emergency compli-ance procedures, documenting the slide andclean-up operations as requested by the MontanaState Historic Preservation Officer.

ARCHEOLOGY

It was a good year for finding and investi-gating new sites reported by both visitors andemployees. It was a challenge for the park’scultural resource staff to get out to these loca-tions and complete site documentation. Volun-teers continued to contribute to Yellowstone’sarcheology program in a variety of ways rangingfrom cataloging information and participating infieldwork to precise mapping of the ObsidianCliff quarry boundaries using global positioningsystems, a project that will continue for severalmore years.

Surveying Road CorridorsBefore ground-disturbing activities such as

road construction can occur, surveys are com-pleted to determine the presence and potentialNational Register eligibility of archeologicalresources in the affected areas. The majority offieldwork conducted in Yellowstone during 1999


by the Office of the Wyoming State Archaeolo-gist (OWSA) was in support of road improve-ments in the park, funded by the Federal High-way Administration. Under Paul Sanders’direction, OWSA undertook National Registertesting at 13 prehistoric sites between Canyonand Lake Junction. A Scottsbluff point (~6800B.C.) was excavated at site 48YE448. Half thetested sites were considered eligible for theNational Register of Historic Places. A smallinventory of 30 acres along Otter Creek, atributary of the Yellowstone River, recorded ahistoric bear-feeding site.

Another OWSA project was to identify siteboundaries and to investigate the potential forburied cultural materials at site 24YE14, west ofGardiner, Montana. Here, the cultural horizonsare exposed along an eroding ravine, and most ofthe site is buried by slope wash. Pelican Lakeand McKean projectile points were found, andseven uncalibrated radiocarbon dates rangedfrom 1700+60 BP to 5200+40 BP. It was deter-mined that the site had intact buried stratifiedcultural deposits. Archeogeologist JohnAlbanese interpreted the geology and providedclues into the local environment and how it haschanged.

The Museum of the Rockies (MOR) crewtested two prehistoric sites and inventoried the

highway right-of-way between Madison Junctionand West Yellowstone, as well as selected shortsegments between Tower and Canyon along theDunraven Pass road. Of note was an intactburied hearth found along the Madison River.This discovery is unusual, as features of any kindhave been extremely rare in the interior of thepark. This find provides hope that more culturalhorizons with integrity can be found in thefuture. More interesting were localized concen-trations of flake debris that apparently repre-sented the first stages of knapping adjacent to aprimary obsidian source between MadisonJunction and West Yellowstone. It looked as ifthe flakes had not been disturbed since theflintknapper left.

Research Investigations and New DiscoveriesMuseum of the Rockies crews also invento-

ried a backcountry trail that extends from thenorth end of Yellowstone Lake to the LamarValley. Unfortunately, rainy weather made fieldwork difficult and fewer sites were recorded onthis project than expected; some areas should berevisited in the future. Selected inventory alongthe Yellowstone River connected areas invento-ried in 1998 and 1997, which almost completedthe archeological inventory of the river fromFishing Bridge to Reese Creek, at the park’s

north boundary.MOR tested site 24YE7 in

the Black Canyon of the Yellow-stone for National Registerevaluation and research pur-poses. They identified a well-defined Late Prehistoric compo-nent and a diffuse deeper compo-nent. The park is planning adistrict National Register nomi-nation for this area.

The terraces on the northside of the Madison River valleyarea of the Bannock Trail’s entryinto Yellowstone National Park(north of West Yellowstone,Montana) were inventoriedduring four days of MOR field-

Paul Sanders and an OWSA crew search for buried materials in the park near

Gardiner, Montana. NPS photo.


work. The Bannock Trail is not visible as aspecific set of ruts or trail in this area, and thedocumented sites appear to represent transitorycamps. Archeologists hypothesize that basecamps would have been present outside the parkin the vicinity of Hegben Lake but are nowsubmerged. Researchers would like to continueinventories along the Bannock Trail route in thefuture.

On August 30 and 31, and September 1,1999, eight students, one student leader, and onecamp director from the Oregon Museum ofScience and Industry (OMSI) participated in thearcheological survey of areas along the GneissCreek and Campanula Creek drainages as part ofthe Bannock Trail inventory. Park staff and theMOR crew of three worked with the OMSIstudents for three days to inventory and recordsite information. The archeologist gave an initialorientation and provided guidance for the inven-tory methodology. The students received addi-tional instruction for the remainder of the timefrom the MOR crew of professional archeolo-gists. All activities took place within the park,with the inventory beginning at the westernboundary and proceeding east. Nine new prehis-toric archeological sites were documentedthrough this combined effort.

In September, the Wyoming NationalRegister Consulting Committee and WyomingState Historic Preservation Office staff partici-pated in salvaging four large fire-cracked rockfeatures at site 48YE380 on Yellowstone Lake.John and Evelyn Albanese mapped the site aspart of this project. Preliminary analysis sug-gests that these four features are on the samelevel as the roasting pit salvaged in 1998 and thefire-cracked rock feature salvaged in 1992.Macrofloral analyses will be obtained for thecontents of the features. Radiocarbon dates wereobtained for Feature 3 of 1580+/-60 BP andFeature 4 of 1640+/-60 BP. It is interesting thatalthough seeds and lodgepole pine cones wererecovered in previous analyses, the 1999 workagain failed to recover any bone. This supportsan interpretation of plant processing and cookingin these features.

Jim Truesdale, an independent archeologistfrom Laramie, Wyoming, inventoried the Madi-son and Canyon campgrounds. Of note, hefound a reworked Eden point at Madison. Thissuggests human occupancy of the park by about7,000 B.C.

Archeologists continue to investigate pre-contact use of obsidian. Prior to 1999 fieldworkon the Madison River and associated highwaycorridor, researchers hypothesized that if peoplewere coming into the park from southern orcentral Idaho, that is where evidence of suchtravel would be present. The evidence would bein artifacts sourced to the many Idaho obsidiansources. This year, the scientists also changedtheir sampling strategy. Previously, they weretrying to get at least one obsidian artifact chemi-cally sourced from every site. There is a prob-lem of a small sample in this approach, andarcheologists decided to intensively samplespecific sites while not entirely abandoning thegoal of sampling as large a group of sites aspossible. In the first group of samples, one sitehad five obsidian sources represented. ObsidianCliff, Bear Gulch, and Cougar Creek sourcesdominated, with single specimens from TetonPass (variety 2) and Lava Creek Tuff (GrassyLake Reservoir locality). Cougar Creek is anobsidian source in the Madison River valley anddoes not appear to have a very wide distribution.Other than Bear Gulch, the expected Idahoobsidian sources were not identified. Yellow-stone obsidians are rarely identified in centraland southern Idaho archeological sites, so thereappears to have been little pre-contact movementback and forth between these two areas. Thetravel appears instead to have been east andnorthward along the Madison River.

Assistance to Other Divisions and ParksOn September 27, 1999, the archeologist

and the branch chief visited Grant-Kohrs RanchNational Historic Site to assist in an archeologi-cal survey and associated compliance activities.On November 4, staff from the InterpretationDivision and the Branch of Cultural Resourcessurveyed an area northwest of Soda Butte and


documented a possible cache of tipi poles. OnNovember 16, the branch chief and culturalresources technician surveyed the north end ofMt. Everts for reported archeological sites andpaleontological resources.

ETHNOGRAPHY

The branch chief researched the anthropo-logical, historical, and regulatory background ofrepeated requests from Sioux tribes to be consid-ered affiliated with Yellowstone. The result ofthis research was a report on Tribal Consulta-tion/Affiliation: Background Research on SiouxInterests in Yellowstone, which led to the park’sadding Lakota/Sioux tribes in Montana, NorthDakota, and South Dakota as affiliated with thepark. Also, due to new information in the park’sdraft ethnographic overview and assessment, theKiowa were added as an affiliated tribe.

At the request of the Shoshone-Bannocktribe, the branch chief traveled to Fort Hall inMay to meet with elders and tribal Land UseOffice staff. Current park issues and projects ofinterest were discussed. The branch chief alsocontinued to coordinate fee waivers for allaffiliated tribal members entering the park fortraditional purposes, and helped plan the second“American Indians and Cultural and NaturalResources Management: The Law and PracticeRegarding Federal Lands” course, which shealso attended from September 20 to 24 at theWind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming.

Intergovernmental ConsultationsThe branch chief facilitated Native Ameri-

can government-to-government consultationmeetings at Yellowstone on May 20–21, 1999.Tribes historically affiliated with the park—Blackfeet, Confederated Salish and Kootenai,Crow, Eastern Shoshone, Gros Ventre andAssiniboine, Kiowa, Lakota/Sioux, Nez Perce,Northern Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne, andShoshone-Bannock—were invited to discusscurrent issues and projects. These included thewinter use plan and environmental impactstatement (EIS), the Long-Range InterpretivePlan, current archeological and ethnographicprojects, and diversity recruitment efforts.Twenty-one representatives from the 11 affiliatedtribes attended.

An entire day was devoted to discussionsabout the Draft Environmental Impact Statementfor the Interagency Bison Management Plan forthe State of Montana and Yellowstone NationalPark. Seventy-nine tribes from across thecountry had expressed concern about this issue,and all were invited to send designated represen-tatives to the meeting. Sixteen tribes and NativeAmerican organizations sent a total of 29 repre-sentatives: Assiniboine-Fort Belknap; CheyenneRiver Lakota; Colville; Comanche Tribe; Con-federated Salish and Kootenai; InterTribal BisonCooperative; Little Shell Band of the ChippewaCree Tribe; Nez Perce; Oglala Sioux; OnondagaNation; Rosebud Sioux; Santee Sioux; Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux; Turtle Mountain Chippewa;

A Native American consultation meeting, May 20, 1999. NPS photo.


Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska; and Yurok-Karuk.

On October 6–7, the branch chief facilitatedadditional consultations for the bison manage-ment plan and for the Draft Winter Use Plan/EISfor Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parksand the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., MemorialParkway. More than 80 tribes from across thecountry were invited to send designated repre-sentatives to the meeting. Nine tribes and NativeAmerican organizations had a total of 11 repre-sentatives in attendance: Assiniboine and Sioux(Fort Peck); Cheyenne River Sioux; Confeder-ated Salish and Kootenai; Crow; InterTribalBison Cooperative; Lac Courte Oreilles; NezPerce; Rosebud Sioux; and Winnebago Tribe ofNebraska. The InterTribal Bison Cooperative,which represents almost 50 tribes, presented aconsolidated tribal position on the bison issue.The park offered to hold a winter use plan/EISconsultation at the park during the winter season,and will continue to hold future bison and winteruse consultation meetings twice a year.

After discussing bison and winter use, tribeshistorically affiliated with the park were invitedto discuss other current issues, including plan-ning efforts, cultural resources, and fire manage-ment. A special session focused on diversityrecruitment efforts. Five representatives at-

tended from the Assiniboine and Sioux (Ft.Peck), Cheyenne River Sioux, and Crow tribes.Meeting minutes were distributed to chairs of allaffiliated tribes.

Additional Work on Bison Management IssuesOn February 8, YCR Deputy Director

Wayne Brewster and the cultural resourcesbranch chief attended a meeting of One People,One Nation, held in Big Sky, Montana, andanswered questions about the interagency bisonmanagement plan and EIS.

On February 27–28, Yellowstone rangersand cultural resources staff assisted with logis-tics and processed a public assembly permit for aceremony celebrating the arrival of approxi-mately 100 American Indian participants in the“Buffalo March,” Tatonka Oyate Mani (TheyWalk for the Buffalo People). The marchers leftRapid City, South Dakota, on February 7, 1999,to travel 507 miles by foot, car, and horse toYellowstone National Park to honor and bringattention to the plight of Yellowstone’s bisonherd. Led by Sicangu Lakota traditional leaderJoseph Chasing Horse, the group carried abuffalo pipe, three sacred staffs adorned witheagle feathers, buffalo hide and leather, and aceremonial bundle containing other items relat-ing to bison. Participants included Lakota, Nez

Perce, Navajo, Apache, Tuscarora,Algonquin, Crow, Assiniboine,Southern Ute, Northern Cheyenne,and Blackfeet tribal members.While in Yellowstone, JosephChasing Horse presented a pro-gram, arranged by the branchchief, on “Lakota Star Knowledge”to park staff and the public. Chas-ing Horse was joined by TurhanClause, a Tuscarora from westernNew York, and Tyler MedicineHorse, a Crow who resides inLivingston, Montana. Both mendiscussed the cultural history ofnative people and bison, and Tylerplayed flute music for the group.Park photographer Jim PeacoThe Buffalo March reaches Yellowstone, February 28, 1999. NPS photo.


filmed the presentation for the park’s archives.Chasing Horse also made a presentation anddrummed for the Mammoth School.

In 1998–99, the agencies working on abison plan had received 16,501 comments,mostly from Native Americans, regarding thecultural resources section of the EIS. Tribes andtribal organizations made 17 resolutions relatedto bison management in and around the park.

In March, park wildlife biologist John Mackand the cultural resources branch chief presentedtalks to and answered questions from a group of25 Lakota, Nakota, Dakota, Ojibwe, and Poncayouths and adults who had traveled to the park toeducate the youths about bison. Information waspresented about the park’s bison managementprogram, the bison management plan/EIS, andthe tribal consultation process. In July, parkwildlife biologist Wendy Clark and the branchchief made presentations to 15 Dull KnifeCollege students from Lame Deer, Montana, andthe Northern Cheyenne reservation. Topics werebison management, cultural resources, and thepark’s work with American Indian tribes.

On July 28–30, the branch chief partici-pated in a multi-park meeting in Denver withrepresentatives from the NPS Washington Officeand other agencies to assist the bison EIS team informulating responses to public comments onissues regarding Native American interests andinvolvement with bison management. A commu-nity dinner was held that evening to welcome thetribal representatives. Many tribal members tookthe opportunity to explain the personal connec-tions they have to bison, and the importance ofbison to their tribes.

Oral TraditionsTwo private groups initiated projects to

interview members of American Indian tribesaffiliated with Yellowstone in 1999. Ehnamani,a Native American group from Bozeman led byCrow/Santee Scott Frazier and Ojibwe JohnPotter, worked with Crow historian LawrenceFlatlip to gather potential ethnographic informa-tion and Crow oral histories about the park. InSeptember, the cultural resources branch chief,

cultural resources assistant, and park exhibitspecialist represented the park at Ehnamani’s“Prayer for Wolves” at the Lower Blacktailcabin.

The Idaho Mythweaver group planned towork with high school students on the NezPerce, Confederated Salish and Kootenai,Shoshone-Bannock, and Crow reservations onoral interview techniques they can use to inter-view their elder family members about Yellow-stone. This information will be presented to thepark for use in interpretive programs and exhib-its, and documentation of place names and pasttribal uses of the park for the cultural resourcesprogram and the park archives.

Nez Perce National Historic TrailOn July 24, the branch chief, along with

representatives from the Nez Perce Tribe andYellowstone’s Division of Resource Manage-ment Operations and Visitor Protection, rode asegment of the Nez Perce National Historic Trail(NHT) that runs through Pelican Valley. Duringthe ride, the tribal members told family storiesabout the 1877 flight of the Nez Perce, and parkstaff shared information about the trail’s locationthrough Yellowstone.

On October 18, Stan Hoggatt, Nez PerceNHT historian and outfitter, presented a seminarat the park on the “Nez Perce Triumph at ClarksFork Canyon.” He has extensively researchedthe location of the Nez Perce trail on the eastside of the park. While in Yellowstone, hepresented a great deal of new information.

The branch chief served as a non-votinggovernmental representative on the Nez PerceNHT Foundation and worked with the ForestService to revise the NHT auto route map.

Ethnographic Overview and AssessmentBranch staff distributed and gathered

additional comments on the final draft of theDocumentary Overview of Native Americans andYellowstone National Park. In October, YCRstaff met with authors Larry Loendorf and PeterNabokov to discuss park comments. The authorsagreed to produce a revised draft in early 2000.


Holiday Toy and Book Collection for OglalaIndian Children

In June, tornadoes struck the remote villageof Oglala on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservationin South Dakota. As winter set in, many Oglalafamilies were still struggling to recover from theloss of homes or property. The Oglala Lakota/Sioux are one of the American Indian tribesculturally affiliated with many parks in theIntermountain and Midwest regions. To assistthe Oglala during this difficult time, the branchchief, working with staff from Agate Fossil BedsNational Monument, Badlands National Park,Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Jewel CaveNational Monument, Scotts Bluff NationalMonument, and Wind Cave National Park,initiated a holiday collection of toys and booksfor the Oglala children. Thanks to generousdonations from NPS and concessions staff, fivevehicles full of toys and books were taken toOglala on December 11. Some employees fromYellowstone drove personal vehicles as far as1,200 miles round trip to make the delivery.Upon their arrival, all were pleased to see about75 extremely happy children and their familiesreceive these gifts.

HISTORIC ROADS AND BRIDGES

The Cultural Landscape of Park RoadsA five-person team of student architects,

landscape architects, and historians from theHistoric American Buildings Survey/HistoricAmerican Engineering Record (HABS/HAER)division of the National Park Service’s Washing-ton Office spent 12 weeks documenting historicroads and bridges in the park. The project is anupdate of a similar project conducted by HAERin 1989. While the previous work focused onthe park’s primary roads and bridges, this projectlooked mainly at secondary roads, scenic loopdrives, and bridges not previously documented.The team studied the road landscape, its signifi-cance in the development of Yellowstone’stransportation system, and its influence on thevisitor experience. Historic research resulted inthe development of a draft addendum to Mary

Shivers Culpin’s report on Yellowstone Roadsand Bridges (HAER WY-24).

The addendum provides further historicresearch into the development of the Grand LoopRoad and the creation of NPS road standards.The scenic roads documented are: the Gardinerto Mammoth High Road; Firehole CanyonDrive; Firehole Lake Drive; roads providingaccess to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone;the road to the summit of Mount Washburn; andthe Virginia Cascade Drive. The bridges docu-mented are the “Corkscrew” or Loop Bridge, theCanyon Bridge spanning Jay Creek, theChittenden Memorial Bridge over the Yellow-stone River, and an addendum to the GoldenGate viaduct. The appendix also includes docu-mentation of the Clematis Creek culvert.

At the end of the year, NPS staff werereviewing the draft HAER report. Draft draw-ings were provided to the park for comment atthe fieldwork closeout. Final drawings andhistoric contexts will be produced within twoyears, and after external review, submitted to theLibrary of Congress. The project was funded bythe Federal Highway Administration and repre-sents a continuing effort to complete documenta-tion of the park roads begun by Mary Culpin.

Road Improvement or Reconstruction WorkCurrently in Progress

East Entrance Road. Work was accom-plished towards the repair of the road washoutand thermal vent failures on the Mary Bayportion of the reconstructed segment of the EastEntrance Road. Large rip-rap was laid down in adesign that would protect the road base fromwave action damage. Smaller rip-rap still needsto be placed along the shoulder of the road in thearea being repaired. When that is completed, thefinal asphalt will be placed to the full 30-footwidth. The remaining repairs will be completedin the 2000 construction season. The failedplastic thermal vent tubes were replaced withtraditional clay pipe, and the stone masonryheadwalls were reset in their original locations atthe end of the 1998 construction season.

Redesign of the parking area west of Fish-


ing Bridge began in 1999. Repairs to the historicFishing Bridge were begun under a trafficclosure during October. Precautions were takento protect the exposed bridge deck from weatherand damage from snow-removal equipment. Allconstruction obligations should be completed forthis portion of the Fishing Bridge segment of theEast Entrance Road during 2000.

The major reconstruction and widening ofthe 7.5-mile segment between the East Entranceand Sylvan Pass is scheduled for construction in2002. Archeological resources have previouslybeen identified, and unnamed features documen-tation was submitted in 1994. The road willmaintain its current alignment, but increase to a30-foot width will be achieved by widening intothe uphill slope, leaving the retaining walls andguard walls unaltered except for repairs. Thisundertaking will involve development of a finalplan for the contouring of the Sylvan Passmaterial source. This material source willremain active until the East Entrance andDunraven Pass roads are reconstructed.

Northeast Entrance Road. In Novemberof 1999, work was completed on the resurfacingand road base repair of the Northeast EntranceRoad. The repairs to the sagging masonry walllocated at the east end of Lamar Canyon werecompleted. Construction of the new WarmCreek stock trailhead parking area was com-pleted without impact to archeologic site24YE16. Improvements to the Northeast En-trance Station area were completed according toplans approved by the Montana State HistoricPreservation Office (SHPO).

Arnica Creek-to-Little Thumb Creek/Bridge Bay-to-Lake access. HK Constructionwas awarded the contracts for these combinedprojects, and work began on the reconstructionand widening of the Arnica Creek-to-LittleThumb Creek segment as well as the resurfacingof the previously widened Bridge Bay-to-Lakeaccess segment. Repairs at the Bridge Bay roadbridge included the addition of natural stone,providing more of the original character of thehistoric park roads compared to previouslyconstructed modern road structures.

Mammoth to the North Entrance. Al-though scheduled for 2007, the reconstruction ofthe road between Gardiner and Mammoth mayrise toward the top of the park’s priority list. OnDecember 6, 1999, a landslide 1 3/4 miles southof Gardiner, Montana, (between Eagle Rock andChinese Gardens) closed the road for severaldays. Additional loose material was blastedfrom the cliff face to facilitate safe clean-up andcontinued use of the roadway. The old roadalignment (the unpaved Gardiner High Road)was put into temporary service to provide emer-gency and essential access to Mammoth. Emer-gency consultation was initiated with MontanaSHPO. No cultural resources were affected bythe landslide, and the clean-up operation re-vealed minimal damage to the road and utilitycorridor located under the road. The road wasre-opened for public use four days later. Historicresearch conducted this summer under theHAER documentation project indicated thatlandslides in this area have consistently reoc-curred over the last 100 years. Further investiga-tion showed that the abandoned Gardiner HighRoad is also constructed on unconsolidatedlandslide material.

Madison-to-Norris. Section 106 consulta-tion for the phased reconstruction and partialrealignment of the Grand Loop Road was com-

Although cultural resources were not affected by this

landslide on the road between Mammoth Hot Springs and

the North Entrance, the slide may bump up the

maintenance schedule for this section of road. NPS photo.


pleted for the first phase. The environmentalassessment for the entire Madison-to-Norrisproject was made available for Wyoming SHPO,the Advisory Council, and public review inFebruary 1999. In June, a memorandum ofagreement (MOA) mitigating the adverse effectof the relocation of the Tanker Curve portion ofthe Grand Loop Road was signed by the park,Wyoming SHPO, and the Advisory Council,with the Federal Highway Administration’sconcurring signature. The MOA provides for thedevelopment and placement of wayside interpre-tive panels depicting historic transportationthrough Yellowstone National Park within theMadison-to-Norris road segment.

Tower-to-Canyon (Dunraven Pass).Reconstruction and widening of this segment ofthe Grand Loop Road is scheduled to begin infall of 2001. Resource inventory and mappingwere undertaken in 1999. Due to the delicategeologic resource issues at Overhanging Cliffand other areas along the upper portions of theroad, Superintendent Michael Finley decided tolimit widening of this segment to 24 feet.

Fishing Bridge-to-Canyon (HaydenValley). The rehabilitation and resurfacing ofthis 15-mile segment of road is planned for 2001.Some additional pullouts will be added, but noother work will be done on the parking andpicnic areas along this segment of the GrandLoop Road. Resource mapping began with thearchaeological inventory and the recording ofunnamed features located within the road right-of-way. The Otter Creek road that leads from theexisting road alignment to the area formerly usedfor bear feeding and viewing was inventoried byPaul Sanders. No repairs are currently plannedfor the Dragon’s Mouth/Mud Volcano or SulphurCaldron parking lots, both of which are beingaffected by evolving thermal features.

Data RecoveryFollowing a previously approved plan, data

recovery was conducted in a portion of NationalRegister eligible site 48YE867 during the 1998field season to mitigate the effects of construc-tion activities. The final report, Archeological

Data Recovery at Site 48YE867: Historic andPrehistoric Occupations Below Gibbon Falls,Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Project254E, by Paul H. Sanders and Dale L. Wedel,was accepted by Wyoming SHPO and the Advi-sory Council in June 1999. This concludedcompliance for the site as required by Section106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Determination of Eligibility RequestsThe archeological sites associated with the

Federal Highway Administration program forwhich Yellowstone requested determinations ofeligibility for the National Register of HistoricPlaces in 1999 included eight prehistoric sites(two eligible, six ineligible); three historicarcheological sites (one eligible, two were notevaluated); and three multi-component sites (onehad prehistoric and historic components eligible,one was ineligible, and one was not evaluated).

MonitoringCultural resources staff provided ongoing

monitoring of road construction activities toensure that park resources would not sufferadverse impact. Monitoring was provided forprehistoric occupation sites, historic CCC dumpsites, National Historic Landmarks, historicbridges, masonry retaining walls, and historicroad segments being affected by thermal featuresand natural landslides.

HISTORIC BUILDINGS AND

STRUCTURES

Museums at RiskThe Secretary of the Interior included three

buildings in Yellowstone National Park in hisAmerica’s Landmarks at Risk annual report tothe U.S. Congress—the Norris, Madison, andFishing Bridge museums. The report citedphysical deterioration stemming from the effectsof weather and deferred maintenance, extensiverodent problems, and thermal activity at Norrisas reasons for the listing. The report also recom-mended that the park prepare condition assess-ment reports on these buildings.


The Norris, Madison, and Fishing Bridgemuseums were designated National HistoricLandmarks in 1987. The designation recognizedthe museums as the best examples of Rustic stylebuildings in the National Park System. Thebuildings were designed by architect HerbertMaier in 1929, and the Laura SpelmanRockefeller Foundation funded their construc-tion through the American Association of Muse-ums. The museums served as models for hun-dreds of buildings constructed throughout thenation, especially for projects under the auspicesof New Deal programs of the 1930s.

National Historic Landmarks, a step abovethe National Register of Historic Places listing,have exceptional value in illustrating or interpret-ing U.S. heritage in history, architecture, tech-nology, and culture. The Old Faithful Inn, theNortheast Entrance Station, and Obsidian Cliffare also National Historic Landmarks.

Park staff are preparing an interpretivebrochure to explain the museums’ history andtheir influence in the evolution of the NPSRustic style of architecture. Funding sources torehabilitate the buildings are being investigated.

Historic Structures InventoryThe three-year parkwide inventory of more

than 900 historic buildings is drawing to a close.In November, the consultant delivered individualinventory forms and photographs that will enablecultural resources staff to quickly retrieve infor-

mation on the current and recommended Na-tional Register status of most buildings. As timepermits, consensus determinations of eligibilitywill be sought from the appropriate State His-toric Preservation Officers.

List of Classified StructuresYellowstone National Park’s historic build-

ings and structures were officially entered ontothe List of Classified Structures (LCS). TheLCS is the primary nationwide computerizeddatabase containing information about NationalPark Service-owned historic buildings andstructures. The LCS shows Yellowstone has 907buildings and structures listed in the NationalRegister of Historic Places or eligible for listing.The 907 buildings and structures representalmost one-quarter of the NPS IntermountainRegion’s list.

National Historic Landmark NominationsFort Yellowstone. The importance of Fort

Yellowstone as a physical representation of theU.S. Army’s role in the history of our nationalparks has long been recognized. The U.S. Armyentered Yellowstone in 1886. The 35 armybuildings, dating from three main constructionperiods (1891, 1897, 1908), present an almostcomplete “picture of an extraordinarily hand-some Western Army post at the turn of thecentury” (Battle and Thompson, Fort Yellow-stone Historic Structure Report, 1972). In the

Fort Yellowstone in 1913. “...an extraordinarily

handsome Western Army post...”

Fort Yellowstone in 1969. The fort looks similar today,

and it hasn’t changed much since 1913. NPS photos.


fall of 1999, the National Trust for HistoricPreservation contracted with Front Range Re-search Associates, Inc., of Denver, Colorado, toprepare a National Historic Landmark nomina-tion for the fort and for other U.S. Army-con-structed buildings throughout the park. Includedare the Bechler and Norris Soldier Stations, theBuffalo Lake snowshoe cabin, and the RooseveltArch. The nomination will focus on the army’srole in protecting the park, and will be submittedunder the National Historic Landmark theme of“Conservation of Natural Resources.”

Other National Register nominations. Inconjunction with the Fort Yellowstone nomina-tion, Front Range Research, Inc., of Denver isalso preparing a National Register of HistoricPlaces nomination for the larger Mammoth HotSprings area. The nomination will include about200 buildings constructed by the U.S. Army, theNPS, and concessioners. The significance of theMammoth Hot Springs Historic District lies inits association with the development of the NPSadministrative and concessioner policies, and inits architecture.

Cultural resources staff continue to work onrevising National Register nominations for someof the park’s historic roads and, in cooperationwith the Division of Resource ManagementOperations and Visitor Protection, gatheringsupportive documentation to seek determinationsof eligibility for the park’s snowshoe cabins.

HISTORY

The branch chief became the WyomingState membership representative for the Ameri-can Association of State and Local History. Thefinal draft of two Historic Resource Studies, TheHistory of the Development of Concessions andThe History of Administrative Development wereunder review by park staff and were sent to theSHPOs and the Advisory Council for comment.Written by Mary Culpin, these two volumesprovide historic contexts for the development ofthe infrastructure of Yellowstone. The History ofthe Development of Concessions is being pre-pared for publication.

Christine Whitacre, historian at the Re-gional Office in Denver, assisted the park asacting historian from July 1 to 30. She com-pleted historical documentation for FederalHighways projects; revised statements of signifi-cance for Yellowstone’s snowshoe cabins;researched the Baronette Bridge site; initiated ahistoric survey of pre-1950 authorities regardingwildlife distribution, and provided technicalassistance to the gateway community of WestYellowstone. She also continued to coordinatethe park’s historic structures survey and NationalRegister/National Historic Landmark nominationprojects.

Oral HistoryCharissa Reid and Sally Plumb, cultural

resources assistants, continued to work on anoral history project to interview importantfigures in the park’s management of naturalresources. The Fee Demonstration programprovided funds for the project, which initiallytargets the history of ungulate management inYellowstone. Reid and Plumb interviewedformer park employ-ees who worked onthe ungulate manage-ment program in thepark’s past.Yellowstone’s formerchief biologist, GlenCole, a pioneer ofnatural regulation inthe NPS, was able toattend the park’s fifthbiennial scientificconference in theautumn of 1999 andwas interviewedtwice during his visit.

MUSEUM

In 1999, Yellowstone’s museum staffconsisted of the supervisory museum curator, amuseum aide, seasonal or temporary museumtechnicians, and a summer intern. In the spring,

Glen Cole, Yellowstone’s

former chief biologist. Photo

courtesy Mr. Cole.


seasonal technician Kirk Dietz was accepted toan NPS intake trainee program and transferred tothe position of curator at the Presidio of SanFrancisco. All museum technicians were fundedalmost exclusively using project monies raisedfrom NPS sources and the Yellowstone Associa-tion (YA), which also funded the intern. Thisfunding enabled the staff to complete a numberof important projects and to make substantialprogress on other multi-year projects. During1999, volunteers contributed a total of 611 hoursto the museum program.

CatalogingIn fiscal year 1999, the park’s total number

of museum items reached 306,439. The collec-tion includes objects and specimens from thedisciplines of archeology, ethnology, history,biology, paleontology, and geology, plus fieldrecords generated during archeology and naturalscience projects. Less than half of the collectionhas been cataloged into the NPS’s collectionsmanagement software, “Re:discovery” (alsoknown as ANCS+). During fiscal year 1999, thepark cataloged over 2,500 objects in a projectfunded by the NPS’s Backlog Cataloging Pro-gram. This program only funds cataloging ofobjects received or generated by the park before1987. The park expects to receive additionalfunds in 2000 that will likely eliminate most ofYellowstone’s backlog of eligible objects. How-ever, most remaining uncataloged objects werereceived or generated after 1987 and will have tobe cataloged using other types of funding. Anadditional 13,000 objects and specimens werecataloged before the advent of computers; theNPS chief curator’s staff is expected to beginscanning parks’ older catalog records next year.

Funding from YA enabled the curator tohire a contractor to re-catalog many of the park’sworks of art that were originally poorly orinadequately cataloged. The improved data willassist in the completion of the above-mentionedscanning project and will help the museum staffmeet the growing number of research requestsrelating to fine arts in the museum collection.

Researchers have already begun to benefit

from another YA-funded project that included asystematic survey of a set of 30 oversized photoalbums that once served as the primary findingaid for the park’s photo archive. The albumscontain black and white prints that correspond,for the most part, to the cellulose nitrate andglass-plate negatives cataloged in the park’smuseum collection. However, use of the albumsby researchers often posed difficulties for parkstaff because the images were never cross-referenced to the original, cataloged negatives.During this project, prints in the albums werecompared to images cataloged into the park’smuseum database and annotated with theircorrect catalog numbers. Prints discovered tohave no surviving corresponding negative weremarked for reproduction.

OutreachMore than 700 research and reference

requests—15 percent from park staff and 85percent from outside researchers—were metduring the year. This reflects a continuation ofthe trend over the last six years of greater use ofthe collection by outside researchers, as in-parkuse remains relatively constant or increases at amore gradual pace. Various museum staffmembers now spend in excess of 30 hours perweek assisting researchers. During 1999, re-search and reference requests, as well as requestsfor VIP tours or access to the collection forspecial projects, came from scholars working onbooks, journal articles, dissertations, and thesesabout Yellowstone; filmmakers, videographers,and producers of CD-ROMs; park interpretersand resource managers; visiting scientists;environmental organizations; members of themedia; members of American Indian tribes in thepark for consultation meetings; elder hostelgroups; Yellowstone Association Instituteclasses; neighboring museums; and the generalpublic. The greatest demand was for historicimages (including photographs, postcards, andstereographs); artwork; ephemera (such ashistoric brochures); and access to the vehiclecollection. Use of the herbarium also continuedto be heavy, particularly during summer months.


Products generated by many of theseresearchers, including books, ar-ticles, documentaries, and webpages, ultimately serve to educatemillions of people about Yellow-stone.

Twenty outgoing loans wereapproved during the year, involvinga total of 96,552 objects and speci-mens.

Curator Susan Kraft served asguest editor of an issue of the NPSjournal CRM (Cultural ResourceManagement), working on donatedtime. The issue (Volume 22, No.10) focused on historic railroads andfeatured a number of articles con-cerning railroads in the greaterYellowstone region. Kraft prepareda foreword for the issue for NPSAssociate Director Kate Stevenson,co-wrote the introduction (“HistoricRailroads in the National Park System andBeyond”) with NPS Historian Gordon Chappell,and wrote an article about the five railroads thathistorically served the Yellowstone area:“Through ‘the Greatest Gateway to the GreatestPark’–Dudes on the Rails to Yellowstone.” Thelatter summarized for the first time in one articlethe history of passenger rail service to Yellow-stone. For an earlier issue of CRM, Kraft wrote“Conservation of a Yellowstone StudebakerWagon,” an article describing the conservationof the buggy now on exhibit in the Old FaithfulInn lobby.

The curator delivered several talks onbehalf of the park during the year, includingpresentations on integrated pest management formuseums at the annual “Partnership Opportuni-ties for Federally-Associated Collections”meeting held in San Diego, and the annualmeeting of the Museums Association of Montanaheld in Sidney. The curator also participated in ascoping meeting on exhibits for the proposednew Old Faithful Visitor Education Center.

To improve service to the many researcherswho seek access to Yellowstone’s museum

collections, the staff embarked on a two-yearproject, made possible by the Recreation FeeDemonstration program, to place images of themost in-demand historic photographs as well asselected artifacts and works of art onYellowstone’s web site. This effort will serveresearchers who cannot visit the park personally,should help reduce the staff time needed to servethese researchers, and will also help preserve thecollections by reducing the need to handleoriginal materials. During 1999, staff compileda list of the most requested historic photos aswell as signature Yellowstone artifacts and worksof art—including tools used in early park sur-veys, army artifacts, and paintings by ThomasMoran and other noted artists. Several museumstaff members were trained to use scanners andbegan scanning photographs and images of keyartifacts that had been photographed. Many ofthe items were recataloged in order to providemore detailed caption information.

The Yellowstone Park Foundation agreed toraise funds to have Thomas Moran’s diary andselected other rare documents in the park’scollection photographed, scanned, and tran-

C.J. “Buffalo” Jones beating a bear that is hanging upside down from a

trap in which it caught its leg. Jones served as game warden in

Yellowstone from 1902 to 1905. Although not of the best quality, this

image is so far the only photographic evidence the park has of the

methods Jones used to deal with habituated bears. It was purchased by

the park along with other materials relating to Jones and an essay by

Jones detailing his experiences in Yellowstone.


scribed. The project will begin as soon as adonor is found.

PreservationMuseum staff completed the last year of a

three-year project, funded by the servicewideMuseum Collections Preservation and ProtectionProgram, to preserve portions of the historicphotograph and objects collections that were injeopardy due to substandard storage conditions.Yellowstone’s photograph archive containsapproximately 90,000 images—almost one-thirdof the museum collection—and is by far themost in-demand part of the collection. Some ofthe park’s most important historic artifacts andnatural science specimens were re-housed toprevent damage during earth tremors and routinehandling. The project also improved access tothousands of photographic images by removingthem from overcrowded and hazardous condi-tions and placing them in archival sleeves thatenable them to be safely viewed and handled.

Another Recreation Fee Demonstrationproject enabled the park to address long-standingsafety issues in the museum collection, and tocontinue the much-needed work of preservingthe park’s world-class collection of historicvehicles. Numerous Office of Safety and HealthAdministration (OSHA) violations in both of thepark’s museum storage areas—the historicvehicle collection storage room in Gardiner andthe collections room in the basement of theAlbright Visitor Center—were corrected. Thevehicle room was cleaned and organized to allowsafe passage between and viewing of items.Vehicles harboring rodents were cleaned andcovered with dust covers to prevent the spread ofhantavirus. Lead tests revealed that the greatestlead hazard in the room is posed by the some ofthe vehicles that were evidently painted withlead paint. This discovery allowed staff to takeappropriate precautions, such as donning per-sonal protective equipment when cleaning thevehicles. A preventive maintenance plan waswritten for the vehicles and will be implementedas funding becomes available.

Unstable shelving units in both storage

areas were reorganized, stabilized, and bolted towalls as needed to prevent tipping and injury, perOSHA requirements. All flammable supplieswere identified and placed in a flammablesstorage cabinet. Deteriorating photo chemicalswere documented and disposed of in cooperationwith Montana State University. Museum cabi-nets containing hazardous materials (such asspecimens treated with arsenic) were identifiedand labeled with appropriate warning signs.Ammunition containing black powder wasassessed in consultation with several ordnanceand firearms curators at military and NPS muse-ums, and found to be safe for long-term storage.These actions improved safety in museumstorage areas and will allow for increased accessby the public.

Research has shown that Yellowstone hasone of the largest collections of historic vehiclesin the NPS, and the largest collection of Yellow-stone vehicles anywhere, including the largestcollections of Abbot-Downing stagecoaches andWhite Motor Company Yellowstone buses. TheAbbot-Downing Company, based in Concord,New Hampshire, made the “Cadillac” of stage-coaches, used throughout the world for overlandtravel, mail, touring, and other purposes. Yel-lowstone, the last national park to embrace theautomobile, was Abbot-Downing’s last majorcustomer. The White Motor Company of Cleve-land, Ohio, made the first buses for a number ofnational parks, including Yellowstone.

Nitrate negatives. Toward the end of theyear, a grant proposal submitted by the curatorbecame the top-scoring project in the NPS toreceive funding under a special initiative by theWashington Office to reformat cellulose nitratenegatives onto safety film. Cellulose nitratenegatives (common into the 1940s) becomevolatile over time, and can spontaneously com-bust when subjected to the heat of a normalphoto enlarger or unfavorable storage conditions.To be used, they must first be copied at special-ized labs onto safety film, from which prints canthen be made. Yellowstone has one of the largestcollections of nitrate negatives in the NPS,consisting largely of images taken by park staff


from the 1920s to the 1940s that are in enormousdemand for research and education. This fund-ing will enable Yellowstone to have all of itsnegatives that remain in nitrate form only—approximately 12,000 images in all—copiedonto safety film beginning next year. Prior tothis project, the curator had been contracting forreformatting using a variety of funding sourcesas they became available, and estimated that itwould take at least 10 years to complete refor-matting of all the park’s nitrate film. The Wash-ington Office initiative will enable reformattingto be completed over the next 2–3 years, and willsave the park more than $100,000 in lab fees.

Notable acquisitions. A number of impor-tant items were added to the museum collectionduring the year. An 1887 oil painting of theLower Falls entitled Great Falls and Canon ofthe Yellowstone, by noted American artist JamesEverett Stuart, was donated after being on loanto the park for several months. The paintingbecame the second work by Stuart to be added tothe park’s museum collection in as many years.

As in 1998, YA funding enabled the curatorto purchase a number of critically importantitems for the museum, including the BuffaloJones collection of rare documents and photo-graphs owned by Yellowstone’s historic game-keeper, and a never-before-seen essay andphotograph documenting Jones’s practice of

trapping and beating problem bears. Also ac-quired were two important 1890 amateur paint-ings, one of the Mammoth terraces, and onefeaturing Larry’s Lunch Station at Mary Moun-tain. Prior to this find, a single photograph wasthe only known image of this lunch station, asignificant concessions operation in early parkhistory. At the National Parks Antique Show,held for the first time in Billings, the curatorpurchased a set of real photo postcards (privatelytaken photographs printed as postcards) of theU.S. Army in Yellowstone in 1912. The post-cards feature extremely rare views of soldiersmarching, camping, and posing by thermalfeatures throughout Yellowstone, and offerdetails never before seen of the army in the park.

Following a brief presentation by curatorSusan Kraft, the Yellowstone Park Foundationagreed at its fall board meeting to pursue fundingto purchase the Susan and Jack Davis Collectionfor Yellowstone National Park. The DavisCollection is the finest private collection ofYellowstone-related postcards, ephemera, photo-graphs and other materials in the world, andwould increase the research and educationalvalue of the park’s museum collection substan-tially. A Yellowstone Park Foundation boardmember agreed to fund appraisal of the collec-tion, and the museum staff began searching forqualified appraisers.

Herbarium. The parkherbarium, part of the mu-seum collection, continued tobe used extensively, espe-cially during the summermonths, by both park person-nel and outside researchers.The collection includesapproximately 7,600 speci-mens of vascular and non-vascular plants that areidentified and mounted, with6,121 specimens of vascularplants that are also cata-logued into ANCS+. During1999, 240 additional speci-mens were collected for the

A rare view of soldiers marching in Yellowstone, 1912, probably taken by a

member of the 18th Infantry. The caption reads “Firehole Gibbon River Road.”

Photo postcard purchased in a set at the National Parks Antique Show.


Yellowstone herbarium, primarily plants not wellrepresented in the collection, new park records,and exotic plants gathered to document theirarrival and spread. A backlog of approximately2,500 specimens remains to be identified, la-beled, mounted, and cataloged. Attempts tosecure backlog catalog funding to complete thiswork have so far been unsuccessful, as thecriteria by which project proposals are judgedcurrently favor cultural collections.

New field collections. Collections ofnatural science specimens and cultural artifactsmade under approved collecting permits were, asusual, a significant source of new museum items.Natural science collections (including biological,paleontological, and geological specimens),either physically in the park or reported to thepark by outside collectors, now include 45,837specimens, twice the number reported in 1998.The archeology collection now has 107,065items, or more than one-third of the total mu-seum collection, a figure which includes some ofthe 77,427 artifacts housed at the NPS’s MidwestArcheological Center (MWAC) in Lincoln,Nebraska. (Yellowstone collections at MWACare not fully accounted for, and thus are not allincluded in Yellowstone’s total.) The number ofitems at MWAC is expected to remain static, asthe park is now the designated repository for allarcheological materials collected within Yellow-stone.

Most natural science collections made inYellowstone are, under the terms of their per-mits, removed from the park for research andstorage. In 1999, the park issued 255 permitsauthorizing the collection of specimens. Federalregulations governing collecting permits stipu-late that materials collected under researchpermits and retained in any repository remain theproperty of the United States. Such materials aremanaged as part of the park’s museum collec-tion. Although collectors are requested to con-tact the curator’s office for an accession number(establishing federal ownership) before theyleave the park, only 10 collectors (approximately4 percent of the total) had contacted the curator’soffice at all by the end of the year.

NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION

ACT

Section 106 ComplianceIn Yellowstone, each division is respon-

sible, under the guidance of and assistance fromcultural resources staff, for initiating and com-pleting Section 106 review, as required under theNational Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), forprojects that could potentially affect NationalRegister-eligible or listed historic properties. In1999, a full-time cultural resources technicianwas responsible for coordinating this complianceand for other regulatory and NPS cultural re-sources requirements, and also provided techni-cal assistance to help properly manage and carefor the park’s historic properties.

A National Environmental Policy Act/NHPA training was held in September, with 40participants from Yellowstone and other regionalparks. Cultural resources technician LonJohnson handled logistics. Also, several build-ings are proposed for construction in Yellow-stone (a new visitor center in the Old Faithfulhistoric district and a rehabilitation of the Can-yon Village visitor center; a new collectionsstorage facility near the North Entrance or in theMammoth Hot Springs Historic District; and anew public restroom building, also in the Mam-moth District). Cultural resources staff repre-sented historic preservation concerns to thesponsoring divisions.

Section 106 Project SummaryUnder Section 106, Yellowstone National

Park submitted 18 projects to the Wyoming StateHistoric Preservation Officer for formal reviewand comment. The park found that no historicproperties were affected for two undertakings,the new sewage plant at Old Faithful and aprescribed fire at Grant. Findings of no adverseeffect were reached for the remaining 16 under-takings: re-roofing the Mammoth Clinic; paint-ing the Lake and Mammoth hotels; restoring theLake Hotel columns; installing lighting andlandscaping in the Lamar Buffalo Ranch HistoricDistrict; installing experimental lighting in the


Old Faithful Historic District; relocating abuilding from the Old Faithful Historic Districtto the Tower Historic District; rehabilitating theMadison Campground amphitheater; tree plant-ing, erosion control, and phone line trenching inthe Madison Campground; installing an elevatorin the Fort Yellowstone cavalry barracks (nowthe Yellowstone Center for Resources building);installing steps at the Fort Yellowstone guardhouse, a sidewalk on the Fort Yellowstone paradeground, and handrails at the Albright VisitorCenter; and placing roadside boulders at Obsid-ian Cliff.

The park also began consultation with theWyoming SHPO, seeking comments on theproposals to rehabilitate the Canyon VisitorCenter and a new Old Faithful Visitor EducationCenter. Both the Wyoming and Montana SHPOswere updated periodically as planning proceededon the proposed Heritage and Research building.

PALEONTOLOGY

The park’s paleontological program dutiesare shared between the YCR’s branches ofcultural and natural resources. In 1999 theBranch of Cultural Resources provided assis-tance in the inventory and documentation ofpaleontological resources in the park. More than20 fossiliferous stratigraphic units have beendocumented, containing fossil plants, inverte-brates, vertebrates, and trace fossils. Yellow-stone preserves an extensive geologic recordranging from the Precambrian through theHolocene. Except for the Silurian, rocks ofnearly every geologic time period are exposedwithin the boundaries of the park.

With the assistance of cultural resourcestechnician Elaine Hale, paleontologist Bill Wallfrom the Department of Biology, Georgia Col-lege, led a team of students to continue theirpaleontological survey of Yellowstone from July4 through 11. The group completed additionalinventory and collected fossil leaves from theCretaceous formations located in the Mt. Evertsregion. The college will provide information onthese collections to the park. This group at-

tempted to locate additional vertebrate fossils inthe Eocene rocks at the Mt. Hornaday site, wherea mammal jaw fragment was found in 1998, butwere unable to re-locate the site. The group alsovisited fossil locality sites emerging from Paleo-zoic rocks in the Mt. Holmes area.

On August 5, 1999, mountain lion re-searcher Craig Whitman led the branch chief andseveral other branch staff, the GIS specialist, andthe Tower district ranger on a grueling hike tosurvey a portion of the upper reaches of Mt.Hornaday. Matt Smith, director of the NaturalHistory Exhibit Hall in Livingston, joined thegroup to provide paleontological expertise. Theyhoped to find additional remains of the tenta-tively identified Titanothere jawbone fragmentsthat Craig had found in 1998. This rhinoceros-like dinosaur lived in the area during the lateEocene period 37–50 million years ago. Theparticipants conducted intense inventory andphoto-documentation to locate any associatedmammal fossils, and used GPS equipment torecord the site’s precise location. They foundabundant fossilized wood, but only a few smallfragments of fossil bone of tentative identifica-tion. It appears that the fossil remains of theEocene mammal were re-deposited at this sec-ondary location as a result of a volcanic mud-flow.

Cultural resources staff and volunteersconducted a pedestrian inventory of areas withinthe Mount Everts region, resulting in the recov-ery of marine fossils (small shells) in whatappears to be a dolomite matrix. The fossillocations (recently discovered and previouslyidentified) were recorded using GPS equipmentand digital photographs.

On another trip, civil engineer Nancy Wardled staff and volunteers to a previously undocu-mented and hard-to-access site in the Towerfossil resource region. The staff documented alarge area containing a wide variety of fossilplants, recorded GPS locations, took digitalphotographs, and collected samples. Park staffare attempting to classify the various fossilleaves collected from this site so they may beaccessioned into the park’s museum collections.


This location is identified as part of the Sepul-cher Formation of the Cenozoic fossiliferousunit. Large quantities of fossils remain in situwithin the various depositional layers exposed atthis location. Abundant fossils are also scatteredalong the ground.

A fragment of sedimentary rock containinga mollusk fossil was recovered from the land-slide debris that covered the North EntranceRoad in December 1999. Mesozoic and Ceno-zoic fossiliferous units have been identified inthe Mt. Everts fossil region with both marine andnon-marine rock well exposed. Staff hoped toexamine the landslide debris for additionalfossils as weather permitted.

The branch chief prepared and presented apaleontological survey funding request to theYellowstone Park Foundation board and pro-vided the foundation director with a proposeditinerary for a potential paleontology supporter.Together with staff from the Division of Re-source Management Operations and VisitorProtection, the branch chief completed theYellowstone paleontology portion of the NPSgeological resources survey.

PARTNERSHIPS

The branch chief facilitated meetings forthe Yellowstone Museum Partnership—18museums, historical societies, preservation

agencies, and national parks representing greaterYellowstone. At the October 22 meeting inYellowstone, the group agreed on an informalorganizational structure and vision statement.Ongoing partnering projects include linked websites, joint museum displays, shared conservationservices, disaster response plans, brochures, andtraveling exhibits and educational programs tohelp national and international visitors learnabout the greater Yellowstone area. Planningalso continues for new collection storage facili-ties for many of the partners. The group spenttime at each meeting discussing facility plans toensure that efforts among our members are notduplicated.

The branch chief participated in planningfor the 2000 Montana Historical Society Mon-tana History conference, which will be held inWest Yellowstone.

RESEARCH LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES

In 1999, staff made considerable progress inboth the park library and archives in backlogcataloging, computerization, and acquisitions.After joining our existing part-time library staffof Alissa Cherry and Barbara Zafft, full-timeterm library technician Kathryn Lancaster addedimmeasurably to the amount of work that wasaccomplished. Dr. Patricia Owens worked as acontract employee, and Frankie Collins workedas a VIP for the entire summer. Ann Haag fromEastern Washington University served as anacademic intern in the park’s photo archives forpart of the summer.

Harold Housley was hired as a temporaryarchives technician to assist researchers usingthe archives, work on computer cataloging of thearchival holdings, process acquisitions, organizeand upgrade storage of the collections, andincrease access via the Internet. Due to the 1998water leak in the archives, Harold’s first assign-ment was to draft a disaster plan for the researchlibrary and archives. Once that was completed,he began work on encapsulating the library’slarge map collection. He spent several weeksinventorying and cataloging the National Ar-

A mollusk fossil recovered from the landslide debris on the

North Entrance Road in December 1999. NPS photo.


chives documents collected by historian MaryCulpin for her project on the history of parkconcessions. He also began the large project oftransferring the 1,500-page master archivalinventory to the park’s new “Re:discovery”computer program that will allow “Boolean”searching. Harold and Frankie completed theacquisition, computer inventory, and arrange-ment in the archives of a large series of recordsfrom the park’s protection division.

Library staff updated the cataloging systemto a networked version of the “Micro-Cat”system, and the library gained several new “FireKing” archival file cabinets. Two large computerscanning projects added hundreds of historicphotographs from the park archives to a com-puter database. The large film library belongingto the Interpretation Division was turned over tothe park library, and staff hope to eventuallyobtain funding to have this collectionaccessioned and cataloged. Dr. John Landrigan,a park VIP for many years, attended the official

opening of Yellowstone’s new Old Faithful SnowLodge in May and videotaped the event. Thiscompleted his project to record the history of itsconstruction, and he presented the park librarywith a copy of the compact disc containing allhistoric information.

Librarian Kathryn Lancaster traveled toDillon, Montana, to obtain the complete recordsof the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Com-mittee, in order to add that important recordseries to the park archives. She later attendedthe national NPS library steering committeemeeting in Seattle.

The archivist attended the annual NationalPark Paper Show in Billings, bearing thelibrary’s duplicate items. He was successful intrading many of these items for rare items thatthe library did not have. Throughout the sum-mer, he also worked with Ron Lerner, a rarebook collector from Texas, in arranging a tradeof two of the library’s duplicate books for anumber of rare books that the park did not own.

The new Old Faithful Snow Lodge. NPS photo.

Part III. Natural Resource Programs

AIR, LAND, AND WATER

Air QualityPark staff continued to participate in the Greater Yellowstone Area Clean Air Partnership. The

primary focus of this group was to prepare an assessment identifying Greater Yellowstone Area(GYA) air quality issues and conditions, air pollution sources, and monitoring efforts. The assess-ment also summarized known information and identified monitoring needs with recommendationsfor future management actions.

Snowmobile emissions and air quality concerns continued to stay in the news as the park’scontroversial winter use planning and compliance process continued. Park staff assisted the NPS AirResources Division with the compilation of a servicewide report on air quality concerns related tosnowmobile usage. Park staff gave a presentation on snowmobile emission issues at the NationalPark Service Air Quality Summit in Estes Park, Colorado.

Mining ImpactsNew World Mine. Staff time devoted to tracking and responding to the New World Mining

District Response and Restoration Project increased as the U.S. Forest Service began the initialstages of planning for restoration. Yellowstone staff reviewed and commented on several technicaldocuments and work plans. Park staff, along with staff from the NPS Water and Geologic Re-sources divisions, also participated in several technical and public planning meetings.

Mineral Hill Gold Mine. YCR staff continued to monitor this project and attend communitytask force meetings. TVX Gold, Inc., suspended operations in September 1996 and announced inDecember 1998 that the mine would close. Closure and reclamation is expected to begin in 2000.

Soda Butte Creek, impaired by historic mining-related activity upstream and

outside the park. NPS photo.

28 Natural Resource Programs

McLaren mine tailings. Park staff contin-ued to work with NPS Water Resources staff toexplore options for treatment and removal of theMcLaren mine tailings located upstream fromand just outside of the park’s northeast boundary.

Disturbed Lands ReclamationReclamation of the Turbid Lake Road

continued in 1999. This road was part of theEast Entrance Road from 1903 until a majorreconstruction of the East Entrance Road be-tween 1928 and 1936 realigned a portion of theroad to follow along the Yellowstone Lake shore.The original segment, now referred to as theTurbid Lake Road, was abandoned.

Park and Montana conservation corps staffdecompacted another one-half mile of the road-bed to encourage revegetation. They excavatedstream crossings and reshaped road cuts torestore the original drainage, and mulched,transplanted, and seeded the area with nativeplant species. Additional funds are being soughtto complete the project in 2000.

The park received $15,000 from the NPSGeologic Resources Division to have one-footcontour topographic surveys done of five aban-doned gravel pits that the park wants to reclaimas material becomes available. The pits (Mesa#2, Mesa #3, Natural Bridge, Swan Lake, andSwan Lake East) are visual scars with largeunvegetated areas. Reclamation will entailfilling the pits back to approximate originalcontour, followed by revegetation with nativeplant species. The primary sources of clean fillare “digouts” of substandard road base thataccumulate during the course of the park’s multi-year road reconstruction program. With a coor-dinated plan, the park can accomplish reclama-tion of the sites using park staff and equipment,and through Federal Lands Highway Program(FLHP) funding associated with the removal ofthe substandard roadbase. The topographicsurveys were needed to develop a final gradingplan for staged reclamation.

Earth SciencesDr. Paul Doss and Dr. Nancy Hinman were

selected to fill a GS-12 geomorphologist positionand a GS-11 geothermal geologist position,respectively. They report to work in June 2000.

Park staff hosted a mini-conference inSeptember to discuss earth science researchbeing conducted throughout the park. U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) and universityscientists as well as park staff gave presentationson geological, geochemical, geophysical, geo-thermal, hydrological, and microbial topics.

Water ResourcesMary Hektner continued to work with NPS

Water Resources Division staff in the implemen-tation of the Montana/NPS Reserved WaterRights Compact. Stream flow, pH, and conduc-tivity were monitored at the gauging station onSoda Butte Creek near the park’s northeastboundary. Due to the lack of hydrologic exper-tise within the park, a U.S. Forest Service hydro-logic technician conducted the work under aninteragency agreement with the Gallatin NationalForest. The NPS Water Resources Divisioncontinued to provide technical oversight.

A term of the Water Rights Compact re-quires that the Montana Department of NaturalResources and Conservation notify the NPS ofall well permit applications within the Yellow-stone Controlled Groundwater area. The state ofMontana received 15 applications in 1999. TheNPS did not object to any of the applications.None would result in a calculable reduction inthe surface water flow of a Category 3 or 4stream or its tributary (i.e., Crevice, Dry Canyon,Slough, Tepee, and Soda Butte creeks), and thewater did not meet the criterion to be classifiedhydrothermal, for which restrictions apply.

In December 1998, the NPS objected to anapplication for 20 gallons per minute from aspring in the Soda Butte Creek drainage. InJanuary 2000, the Montana Department ofNatural Resources and Conservation terminatedthe application because it was “determined thatsurface water (including springs) is not availablefor appropriation except for the month of June inany year.”

Chloride flux monitoring. Park staff and


contract workers continued to collect watersamples on the four major rivers to monitorlevels of chloride flux, an indicator of changes ingeothermal output. Dr. Irving Friedman, retiredfrom the USGS, continues to provide oversightof the water sample analysis by the USGS WaterResources Division (Denver) as well as dataanalysis and interpretation.

Park staff continued to work with hydrolo-gists from the USGS Water Resources Division(Cheyenne) as the USGS completed the first of athree-year, in-depth National Water QualityAssessment of the Yellowstone River basin. Theassessment will evaluate various measures ofwater quality, including measurements orsamples of bed sediment, fish tissue, surface-water samples, and aquatic ecology. Samplingwithin the park included Soda Butte Creek, atributary to the Yellowstone River, in recognitionof its impaired water quality caused by historicmining-related activity upstream and outside ofthe park.

WetlandsWetlands were mapped and described along

the Grand Loop Road between Canyon andFishing Bridge, and Tower to Canyon as part ofthe parkwide road reconstruction program.Preparation of a publication about the park’swetlands, co-authored with the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service, continued and will be com-pleted in 2000. More than 10 project clearanceswere reviewed to ensure that impacts to wetlandresources would be avoided or minimized.

AQUATIC RESOURCES

Cutthroat Trout MonitoringSince the 1994 discovery of lake trout

(Salvelinus namaycush) in Yellowstone Lake,park fisheries biologists have expanded theirstudies related to the population structure ofYellowstone cutthroat trout (Onchorhynchusclarki bouvieri) in order to assess the current andfuture potential impacts from the introduced lake

An introduced lake trout (above) with a Yellowstone cutthroat trout (below) that was removed from its

stomach. NPS photo.


trout. Surveys of Yellowstone Lake tributariesincluding Clear, Arnica, and Bridge creeks areused to gather information on abundance, size,and age of adfluvial cutthroat trout entering thesestreams to spawn.

Clear Creek fish trap. Located on Yellow-stone Lake’s east shore, this trap has been inoperation since the early 1950s to provide annualinformation about total numbers and sizes ofspawning trout. Aquatic Resources Center staffoperated the fish trap and weir in 1999, obtainingdaily fish counts and collecting data on length,age, and maturity of cutthroat trout enteringClear Creek to spawn. From May through July,a total of 14,270 trout were counted passingupstream through the trap, and 14,047 fishpassed through the downstream trap on theirreturn to the lake. A comparison of long-termtrends indicates that the highest upstream countsoccurred following the implementation of fishingregulations, in the 1960s and 1970s, designed tolimit cutthroat trout harvest (Figure 1). Thelatest upstream count is comparable to the 1995total, which indicates a reduced number ofspawning trout entering Clear Creek.

Figure 1. Upstream spawner counts of cutthroat troutentering Clear Creek, 1945–99.

Arnica Creek fish trap. In 1997, a similartype of fish trap and weir was installed in ArnicaCreek, a small stream that enters the WestThumb Basin of Yellowstone Lake. This stream

was selected for spawner monitoring because ithistorically contained one of the largest spawn-ing migrations of cutthroat trout in an area of thelake where large, predatory lake trout are nowabundant. During 1999, 278 cutthroat trout werecounted passing upstream through the fish trapand electronic fish counters. The 295 fishcounted traveling downstream to return to thelake indicates that an unknown percentage ofupstream migrating trout passed undetectedthrough openings in the weir created during highwater. The 1999 upstream count was muchlarger than the previous year, when only 81 troutwere counted. In 1999, ongoing changes weremade to the trap design to reduce the error inupstream counts that likely occurred in 1997 and1998. Therefore, total counts in 1999 are moreaccurate than the previous two years’ data.

Bridge Creek fish trap. Bridge Creek wasselected as a monitoring stream in an effort todevelop a trap design that requires minimalmaintenance for small backcountry streams. Inaddition to its close proximity to the field office,this stream also contains a large spawning run ofYellowstone cutthroat trout, and it is similar insize to streams that will be monitored in thefuture. Upstream and downstream migratingtrout were counted as they passed through anelectronic fish counter, but no trap facility wasused. Upstream counts totaled 2,363 fish, and1,463 trout were counted returning to the lake.The trap structure consisted of an electricalconduit that rarely clogged from drifting debrisand experienced only minor problems from highwater during spring snow melt. Due to itsrelatively low maintenance and ease in installa-tion, this trap design will be used for monitoringisolated streams in the future.

LeHardy Rapids dip-netting. Since 1974,dip-netting at LeHardy Rapids has been used tosample the spawning population of Yellowstonecutthroat trout in the Yellowstone River to obtaininformation on spawner size, age, sex ratios, andgrowth rates. The Wyoming Game and FishDepartment also captured fish at LeHardy forgamete collection to supplement a brood stockthey have been developing for the past six years.

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

10,000

30,000

50,000

70,000

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000


1999 sampling results.—Crews sampledspawning cutthroat trout each Monday from June7 until July 19. Dip-netting was limited to poolsalong the edges of the rapids, where fish tend tocongregate during the spawning run. Fish wereplaced in large tubs, anesthetized, measured tototal length (mm) and weight (g), and visuallyidentified to sex and stage of maturity. Scaleswere taken weekly from the first 20 mature fishcaptured to obtain length-specific stratified ageand growth rates (10 fish samples of each sex ineach 10-mm size class). Fish were marked witha caudal punch, revived, taken upstream of therapids, and released.

A total of 289 mature cutthroat trout werenetted at LeHardy Rapids. The largest sample(99 fish) was captured on June 21. Maturecutthroat averaged 396 mm in total length,slightly larger than the 25-year average of 392mm. Males were larger than females.

Brood stock.—Brood fish were captured bydipnet each week from June 14 to July 8. Fishsex and stage of maturity were visually identi-fied. Individuals likely to spawn within oneweek were transported to live cages and sepa-rated by sex. Fish not likely to spawn within aweek were released. At the end of each sam-pling week, fish were paired, and one ounce ofeggs was collected from each female and fertil-ized with a small amount of milt from the pairedmale. Non-lethal ovarian fluid samples weretaken from each spawned female to test forInfectious Hematopoetic Necrosis Virus (IHNV).Once spawned, fish were measured (total length,mm), weighed (g), given an upper caudal finclip, and released. In 1999, 108 pairs of fishspawned. All females tested negative for IHNV.Continued spawner monitoring and gametecollection is planned for the 2000 field season.

Lake Trout in Yellowstone LakeFor the past four years, the Aquatic Re-

sources Center has devoted a majority of thesummer field season to removing lake trout fromYellowstone Lake. Knowledge gained about theseasonal and vertical distribution of this largepredator has been regularly applied to the park’s

adaptive management approach. Informationgained from 1998 tagging studies andhydroacoustic surveys was used to select themost promising gillnetting locations in 1999. Asno additional tracking or movement surveyswere conducted in 1999, the lake trout programwas dedicated solely to lake trout removal.

Gillnetting. By 1998, park fishery staffhad refined gillnetting strategies to maximize thecatch of two of the three life history phases oflake trout while minimizing the incidental catchof cutthroat trout. Current netting efforts arefocused on non-predatory juvenile lake troutfound at depths exceeding 50 m (150 ft), and onpredatory lake trout >600 mm in total length(TL) that reside at intermediate depths (10–30m) for much of the year but move into shallowwater areas to spawn in the fall.

Gillnetting since 1995 has indicated thatmedium-size (400–600 mm TL) lake trout residein shallow water where the cutthroat trout preybase is most abundant. Because the potential forincidental cutthroat trout catch is high in theseareas, the park purposefully avoids settinggillnets to target this lake trout life history phase.

The use of more efficient netting techniquesand longer gillnets resulted in an expandednetting effort in 1999. More than 1,600 units ofnetting effort captured 5,700 lake trout. As in1998, most were juvenile fish caught in deepwater in the West Thumb area, but nearly 1,000spawning lake trout were captured in 1999. Thelow cutthroat-to-lake trout catch ratios observedin previous years continued (Table 1).

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

LAKE TROUT GILLNETTING PROGRAM

Year Effort Lake Trout Cutthroat:Caught Lake Trout

1994 39 2 252:11995 250 153 6.6:11996 401 580 1.7:11997 538 863 2.5:11998 1,415 7,792 0.13:11999 1,626 5,748 0.08:1


Lake trout distribution and catch ratelocations appear to have stabilized over the pastfour years. Between 1995 and 1998, the laketrout catch rate was strongly correlated withnetting effort. However, the highest level ofnetting thus far yielded a reduced catch of laketrout when compared to the previous year,suggesting that the current netting effort hassignificantly slowed the rate of lake trout popula-tion expansion. Additional negative impacts tothis population are suggested by data collected atCarrington Island, where the average length (andpotential reproductive capacity) of spawninglake trout has decreased by about 100 mmbetween 1996 and 1999 (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Length frequency of mature lake trout netted atCarrington Island, 1996–99.

Since 1995, more than 15,000 lake trouthave been captured in Yellowstone Lake. Mosthave been captured in West Thumb and BreezeChannel, where most of the gillnetting hasoccurred. Current population-level impacts maybe greatest on the larger size classes. In 1996,the estimated natural mortality rate of adult laketrout (>600 mm TL) was about 9 percent. Thegreatly expanded netting effort of the pastseveral years has been accompanied by a nearlyfour-fold increase in the annual mortality rate ofthese larger fish. Bioenergetics modeling (esti-mates of how many cutthroat trout the lake troutcould potentially eat) suggests that the lake trout

removal program has saved about 750,000cutthroat trout from predation by lake trout.

Angler removals. In 1999, the early laketrout angling season was again in effect, butanglers were not required to report their VARpostal survey catch cards to estimate the effec-tiveness of the extended season. Unlike theprevious year, weather conditions were highlyfavorable for angling success, yet in 1999 theangler catch of lake trout was similar to thatobserved in 1998. Fewer than 100 lake troutwere reported caught during the first two weeksof the season. Interviewed anglers indicated thatthey caught about 30 cutthroat trout for everylake trout captured. The annual total is estimatedto be approximately 1,500 lake trout removed byanglers. Although small compared to the num-bers captured by gillnetting, this represents theannual conservation of about 75,000 cutthroattrout. Equally important, most of the lake troutcaptured by anglers are the medium-size, shal-low water residents that are not targeted by thegillnetting program.

Long-term prospects. The combination ofintensive gillnetting in West Thumb and anglercatches throughout the lake suggests that theNPS lake trout removal program is meeting thegoal of preserving cutthroat trout in YellowstoneLake. The following summary observations canbe made:

• Gillnetting results since 1995 indicatethat mature lake trout reside primarily inWest Thumb, which has consistentlyyielded the highest catches of lake trout.

• All identified spawning areas are in theWest Thumb/Breeze Channel area.

• Hydroacoustic assessments also indicatedthat most of the lake trout reside in WestThumb.

These short-term results suggest that thecurrent capacity of Aquatic Resources Centerstaff to maintain this level of lake trout control isadequate. The above results must be interpretedwith caution, however, because almost all thegillnetting effort has occurred in the West Thumbarea. Telemetry studies in 1998 confirmed thatalthough large adult lake trout reside mostly in

1996N = 152

1997N = 239

1998N = 122

1999N = 495

Total Length (mm)

%F

req

uen

cy

200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 100005

101505

1015

05

1015

05

10

15


the West Thumb portion of Yellowstone Lake,they do move to many other areas of the lake.Late summer distribution gillnetting and anglerreports suggest that medium size lake trout arewidespread throughout much of the lake. Thesefactors suggest that in the long-term, new spawn-ing sites will be chosen and additional sub-populations established. As the abundance ofeither existing or newly established populationsdeclines, a much higher level of netting effortwill be required to sustain high lake trout mortal-ity rates.

To address these long-term needs, the NPShas acquired new funding to obtain a commercialgillnetting boat and additional staff that will besolely dedicated to a greatly expanded nettingeffort throughout the lake. Design and boatconstruction phases are underway, and theadditional control measures will be fully opera-tional during the 2001 field season. This level oflong-term commitment will greatly assist theNPS in meeting its responsibility to preserve theYellowstone cutthroat trout in its native habitat.

Whirling DiseaseAfter whirling disease (Myxobolus

cerebralis) was confirmed in rainbow trout(Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Madison Rivernear Ennis, Montana, Yellowstone fishery biolo-gists initiated a testing program for fish popula-tions in the park. Between 1995 and 1998,young rainbow trout, Yellowstone cutthroat trout,brown trout (Salmo trutta), and mountain white-fish (Prosopium williamsoni) captured duringelectrofishing surveys of several boundary areastreams were examined for the presence ofdisease-causing spores. No evidence of infectionor population declines attributable to the diseasewas found during these early surveys. In the fallof 1998, however, a small sample of cutthroattrout from Yellowstone Lake indicated thepresence of whirling disease spores in approxi-mately 10–25 percent of the fish. Length-agerelationships suggested that the infected cut-throat trout were between two and five years old.

Since Yellowstone cutthroat trout andrainbow trout appear to have similar susceptibil-

ity to whirling disease, concern about the poten-tial for whirling disease to significantly reducethe abundance of the Yellowstone Lake cutthroattrout increased considerably. Because this wasthe first verified occurrence of whirling diseasein Yellowstone National Park (YNP), parkmanagers had to develop new databases andmanagement strategies. In addition to uncertain-ties about how, where, and when M. cerebraliswas introduced into Yellowstone Lake, there isno information about the lakewide distribution ofthe parasite and its effects on individual cutthroattrout. To address this information gap, NPSaquatic resources personnel and the USFWSBozeman Fish Health Lab initiated a preliminarywhirling disease distribution study in 1999.

Because the initial verification of theparasite came from older cutthroat trout, twosources of larger cutthroat trout were used for thedistribution study: various size and age classescaptured during the fall cutthroat trout gillnetsurvey, and large cutthroat trout incidentallykilled during the lake trout removal effort.

Whirling disease primarily affects thecartilage of young trout whose skeletal systemsare not fully developed. The standard methodfor detecting the presence and severity of theparasite involves the use of “sentinel cages,” inwhich young trout are placed in a stream cageand exposed for 10 days to two weeks underenvironmental conditions favorable to infectionby the parasite. The exposed fish are then

Cutthroat trout fry are placed into a sentinel cage in a

Yellowstone Lake tributary to test for whirling disease.

NPS photo.


transferred to an isolation facility, where they arekept until they are six months of age, thensacrificed and examined for cranial parasitespores. In 1999, young-of-the-year cutthroattrout were placed in sentinel cages in 12 knowncutthroat trout spawning tributaries of Yellow-stone Lake (Figure 3). Additional sentineltesting occurred near Fishing Bridge (the pri-mary spawning area immediately downstream ofthe lake outlet) and at Buffalo Ford.

Figure 3. Whirling disease sentinel cage sites on tributariesof Yellowstone Lake, 1999.

The fall gillnetting survey revealed that 9 of25 cutthroat trout from the Pelican Creek sitewere infected with M. cerebralis. The totallength of positive fish ranged from 375 to 475mm. In contrast, a sample of 25 similarly-sizedcutthroat trout captured near Arnica Creekyielded no confirmed parasite infection. Somelevel of infection was confirmed at most of the11 sample sites.

Incidental catch of cutthroat trout during thelake trout removal program is restricted to largerindividuals. Because NPS fishery personnelintentionally minimize this incidental catch,most of the sample sizes are quite small andconsist of larger cutthroat trout from a fewrestricted areas of the lake. Most of the cutthroattested for the whirling disease parasite camefrom the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake,where the majority of the lake trout netting

occurs. Since sample sizes were small, data forthe entire summer were pooled. Fourteen of 75cutthroat trout collected during 22 separategillnet sets were confirmed positive, whichrepresents an infection rate of slightly less than20 percent. Most of the infected fish were olderadults, a result similar to that of the fall cutthroattrout survey. No external signs of disease wereapparent in any of the sampled cutthroat troutfrom either of the two netting surveys.

Sentinel cage exposure failed to detect thepresence of whirling disease spores at any testsite except the Fishing Bridge area. At that site,spores were found in only 7 of 50 young cut-throat. Disease severity was rated mild in all butone fish. Overall population disease severitywas 0.2 percent on the MacConnell-Baldwinseverity index scale (range of possible values 0–4.0). All of the exposed fry appeared normalprior to testing and after parasite exposure.

Although the information gained in 1999has not adequately provided the answers re-quired to make assessments or recommendationsrelated to the Yellowstone Lake cutthroat troutpopulation, preliminary observations can besummarized as follows:

• Many of the adult cutthroat troutthroughout the lake have a mild inci-dence of whirling disease infection.These fish range from four to eight yearsold, suggesting that the parasite has beenin the basin for a number of years.

• If the older infected fish identified in thisstudy were parasitized as fry, it appearsthat some cutthroat trout in YellowstoneLake are able to survive M. cerebralisinfection without any obvious long-termeffects.

• The failure to detect the parasite throughsentinel cage tests may be indicative ofless than optimum environmental condi-tions (particularly water temperature) forthe infectious stage of the whirlingdisease parasite. Unlike the typicalspringtime infection observed in streamsadjacent to the park, the peak period forinfection in Yellowstone Lake may be in

Grand Loop RoadYellowstone River

StevensonIsland

Yellowstone River

DotIsland

FrankIsland

The Promontory

Clear Creek

Pelican Creek

Bridge Creek

HatcheryCreek

ArnicaCreek

WestThumb

Stream1138

Stream1111

Stream1103

GrizzlyBay

DelusionLake

SewerCreekStream

1167

Little ThumbCreek


the fall, similar to high elevation lakes inColorado.

Continued monitoring of stream tempera-tures, ongoing examination of incidental catchfrom gillnetting surveys, and additional sentinelcage exposure studies in the next several yearsshould provide considerable clarification relatedto these preliminary observations. This willenable park biologists to determine whethercutthroat trout fry in Yellowstone Lake may beless vulnerable to whirling disease because mosthave already migrated downstream into the lakeby the time of peak parasite emergence. Contin-ued examination of the distribution of M.cerebralis with a focus on parasite densities, ageclasses of fish affected, and protective habitatshould assist the NPS in preserving this valuablenative fish species.

Native Species RestorationBeginning in 1997, the Aquatic Resources

Center (ARC) renewed a program that focusedon restoring westslope cutthroat trout(Onchorhynchus clarki lewisi), a sub-species ofcutthroat trout that historically occurred in upper

Missouri River tributaries in the northwestregion of Yellowstone National Park. That studyhas focused on the collection of non-lethalgenetic samples (fin clips) from westslopecutthroat trout in streams of the Madison andGallatin river drainages. This information wouldenable park biologists to more accurately de-scribe the distribution of hybrid versus purepopulations. Independent testing of samplesfrom 1997 indicated that only one site, the NorthFork of Fan Creek, contained a genetically purewestslope cutthroat trout population (Table 2).Four fish sampled in Fan Creek near theconfluence of the Gallatin River were also foundto be pure, although the small sample sizeprevented extrapolation of those results to fishthroughout the entire stream.

In 1998, ARC expanded databases related todistribution and abundance of genetically purewestslope cutthroat trout in the park by perform-ing a more extensive genetic survey of Fan Creekand its tributaries, and collecting information onabundance and life history strategies ofwestslope cutthroat trout in those streams.Genetic results from this recent survey also

Table 2. Genetic sample site, sample size, and percent hybridization of westslope cutthroat trout samples from Yellow-stone National Park, 1997–98: N = number of samples analyzed from each site, WS=westslope cutthroat trout,YS=Yellowstone cutthroat trout, RB=rainbow trout.

SAMPLE YEAR AND SITE N % WS % WS X YS % WS X RB %WS X YS X RB % RB1997North Fork Specimen Creek 6 - 17 17 66 -East Fork Specimen Creek 16 25 75 - - -Grayling Creek 30 50 10 33 7 -Fan Creek 4 100 - - - -North Fork Fan Creek 1 100 - - - -East Fork Fan Creek 33 76 15 6 3 -

1998East Fork Specimen Creek 23 39 61 - - -North Fork Fan Creek 35 100 - - - -East Fork Fan Creek 31 81 16 3 - -Fan Creek Tributary 10 50 30 10 - 10Fan Creek (WC3) 31 77 3 13 6 -Grayling Creek 31 56 19 11 15 -Cougar Creek 34 50 50 - - -Cougar Creek 17 59 41 - - -Stellaria Creek 16 88 6 6 - -Gneiss Creek 10 - - 50 30 20


suggest that the North Fork of Fan Creek is theonly stream in YNP that contains geneticallypure westslope cutthroat trout. Cutthroat trout inStellaria Creek and the East Fork of Fan Creekcontained evidence of low-level hybridizationwith both Yellowstone cutthroat trout and rain-bow trout. All other populations analyzed thatyear were hybridized substantially with bothspecies.

Cutthroat trout were most numerous in theNorth Fork of Fan Creek, which had an esti-mated trout density of 380 fish per kilometer ofstream, and trout abundance increased farther upinto the headwater reaches. The East Fork ofFan Creek contained 200 trout per kilometer ofstream, while Stellaria Creek yielded very fewfish per 100 meters of stream sampled.

By examining the length and age structureof fish samples in individual streams, it can beinferred whether a population is resident in aparticular stream. Cutthroat trout in the NorthFork of Fan Creek averaged 3.9 inches (98 mm)in total length, and younger fish were moreabundant there than in other Fan Creek tributar-ies. The examination of scales confirmed thattrout collected from the North Fork of Fan Creekranged from young-of-the-year to age three.Larger fish were found in other portions of theFan Creek drainage, with individuals averaging7.5 inches (191 mm) in the East Fork of FanCreek and 7.0 inches (179 mm) in the Fan Creekmainstem.

Anecdotal information indicates that the agegroups sampled in the North Fork of Fan Creekare perennial residents of that stream. Trout thatwere marked in 1998 were recaptured at or neartheir original marking locations in 1999. How-ever, visual examination of these fish revealed noadults (pre- or post-spawners) in any sample. Incontrast, post-spawning fish were clearly evidentduring surveys in Stellaria Creek the followingweek. Additional spawning surveys in themainstem of Fan Creek in late June were incon-clusive, although the presence of large fishcompared to other sites indicated that these fishwere probably mature.

Based on this limited life-history data, it

appears that the only verified pure population ofwestslope cutthroat trout in the park may befluvial fish that use other streams in the drainagefor different periods of their life stage. Maturingfish may be dispersing downstream at some timeduring the year, then returning to their natalstream in spring to spawn. Current study needsthat could be addressed with a combination ofradio telemetry, tagging, and visual surveysinclude information on when these fish mature,and the specific location of spawning areas andjuvenile and adult wintering habitats. Thiscritical information will be needed to ensure thatthese pure cutthroat populations can be protectedfrom non-native species threats (e.g., hybridiza-tion) which would prevent park managers fromusing these verified pure populations as sourcefish for future restoration projects.

Canyon Creek. Beginning in 1997, ARCstaff initiated a pilot study to restore westslopecutthroat trout to Canyon Creek by removingnon-native trout with electrofishing gear andtesting the effectiveness of an artificial barrier inpreventing these trout from returning to thestream. Specific objectives were to capture asmany fish as possible, but concentrate on matureage groups and limit new recruitment of youngfish. The study also examined the overall effi-ciency of electrofishing as a tool to remove non-native trout that threaten future re-introductionefforts of westslope cutthroat trout in other parkstreams.

From July through September 1999, ARCstaff removed 1,616 trout from Canyon Creekusing electrofishing gear. Comparable efforts in1998 yielded nearly 6,500 non-native trout.Multiple-pass depletion techniques indicated thatan average of 94 percent of the estimated 1,156trout in standardized stream sections wereremoved by electrofishing in 1999. From 1997through 1999, our combined efforts have re-sulted in the removal of 13,109 brown trout,rainbow trout, and brook trout (Salvelinusfontinalis).

In each year of this study, larger mature fishwere more easily captured than juvenile fish.While many of the fish captured in 1997 and


1998 were young-of-the-year brown trout orrainbow trout, a proportionally smaller percent-age of young fish were captured in 1999. Inaddition, although mature trout greater than 10inches (254 mm) were captured in previousyears, none were found in 1999. The predomi-nant age group in the 1999 catch was one-year-old fish, those yearlings that were typically moredifficult to capture the previous year. An esti-mated 98 percent of mature adults remaining inthe stream at the end of 1998 were removed byelectrofishing in 1999. The absence of numer-ous young-of-the-year trout further indicates oursuccess in removing mature pre-spawning troutin previous years.

By releasing marked trout below the barrierand examining fish captured above, we were ableto examine if the barrier was successful inpreventing non-native trout from re-entering thestudy reach. Following improvements to thebarrier in June 1998, no marked fish were lo-cated upstream during our removal efforts. In1999 results were similar, in that none of thenearly 600 trout fin-clipped and released belowthe barrier in previous years were found up-stream in the study reach. We now have twoyears of data indicating that the barrier is func-tioning properly, and that upstream immigrationinto the study reach from downstream sources isno longer likely.

Based on findings during 1999,electrofishing methods are removing more troutfrom Canyon Creek than previously suspected.The annual decrease in the total number of fishcaptured, particularly mature adults, combinedwith a reduced number of young-of-the-yeartrout indicates that we are decreasing the abun-dance of non-native fish populations whileeliminating a significant proportion of future agegroups. Continued electrofishing removal effortsin 2000 will likely provide additional informa-tion about the success of the study, allowing usto assess other removal methods, if needed, tocomplete project goals.

Reese Creek. Reese Creek is the northern-most tributary to the Yellowstone River withinYellowstone National Park, and the only stream

within the park in which water withdrawal byprivate landowners occurs. In 1932, the northernboundary of Yellowstone National Park wasexpanded to include the entire Reese Creekdrainage. The purchase of the land, however, didnot include water rights. Three diversions and aroad culvert are located in the lower 2.0 km ofthe stream. Since 1984, park fisheries personnelhave periodically monitored fish movement inReese Creek from the upper diversion down-stream to the mouth at the Yellowstone River. Itwas suspected that juvenile trout move into thediversion ditches and become isolated from thestream’s main stem when water-taking reaches apeak during irrigation season.

In 1991, a minimum flow agreement wasreached to help prevent complete dewatering ofthe stream, and self-cleaning fish screens wereinstalled at the head of each diversion. Thatyear, two Parshall flumes were installed tomonitor streamflow volumes. The screens,however, did not function properly, and becameclogged with debris. Objectives for 1999 wereto: 1) install and monitor retrofitted solar pow-ered self-cleaning fish screens, 2) monitorspawning activity and fry emergence, and 3)monitor effectiveness of fish passageways.

Reese Creek was electrofished on 11 occa-sions in 1999. The study area was divided intosix different reaches extending upstream fromthe mouth to the third diversion. The diversion

Reese Creek fish trap. NPS photo.


ditches were surveyed, but fish captured indiversion ditches were not counted in the sectionin which the diversion occurred. Captured fishwere measured to total length (mm), weighed(g), and visually identified to species, sex, andstage of maturity. Fish from each section weregiven a different fin clip in order to monitormovement throughout the stream and released.

Five species of fish and cutthroat/rainbowtrout hybrids were collected during electro-fishing surveys. Cutthroat/rainbow trout hybridswere the most abundant fish captured (42%),followed by mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdi)(28%), brown trout (13%), rainbow trout (12%),Yellowstone cutthroat trout (3%), and brooktrout (2%). Marked trout were collected bothupstream and downstream from the section inwhich they were initially captured. Sculpin,however, were absent above a small cascade atthe end of section 1, suggesting that they wereunable to ascend the cascade. Unidentified troutfry were collected throughout the samplingseason. Peak fry capture occurred on August 20,and correlated with peak creek temperature.

Fish passageways worked effectively andallowed fish to move both upstream and down-stream. The self-cleaning fish screens appearedto function as intended, as only one fry wascaptured in a diversion and no interruption inflow to the irrigation ditches was detected.

Firehole River. In 1999, Wyoming Gameand Fish Department personnel continued towork with the Aquatic Resources Center tocollect rainbow trout from the Firehole River.The ongoing project objective has been to obtainadult and subadult rainbow trout over a five-yearperiod to establish a brood stock. Individualsproduced by this brood stock will be used tostock waters not managed for endemic specieswithin the state of Wyoming.

The three collection sections were locatedbetween Midway Geyser Basin and FireholeCascades. Sampling from a 12-foot raft fittedwith electrofishing gear occurred on May 20 andOctober 12 and 13. A second raft was used totransport selected fish to a tank truck. Rainbowtrout were measured to total length (mm),

weighed (g), and transferred to the tank truck,released, or sacrificed for disease testing. Alarge range of size classes were kept to ensuremultiple year classes would be included in thebrood stock. All other species captured weremeasured, weighed, and released or used fordisease testing.

A non-native invasive species, the NewZealand mudsnail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum)has been found in several areas in the FireholeRiver. In order to help prevent the spread of thisspecies, all equipment was sprayed with a bleachsolution and allowed to dry overnight beforebeing moved to another section of river. Inaddition, because these snails can pass throughthe digestive system of fish alive, all fish takenfor brood stock were isolated in holding tanksuntil such a time as biologists were certain thatall snails were passed through the fish digestivesystems.

Rainbow trout and brown trout were theonly species collected in the sample sections. Inthree days of sampling, 524 rainbow trout werecaptured, ranging from 76 to 382 mm in totallength and were most abundant downstreamfrom the Lower Geyser Basin. Of these fish, 300(ranging from 178 to 382 mm in total length)were kept for brood stock, 51 were sacrificed fordisease testing, and the remaining fish werereleased. Since 1997, a total of 766 rainbowtrout have been taken from the Firehole River forbrood stock development.

An additional 420 brown trout were cap-tured, of which 63 were used for disease testing.Total length of brown trout ranged from 105 to419 mm. They were most abundant upstreamfrom the Lower Geyser Basin. Disease testingshowed fish to be pathogen-free at a 95 percentconfidence level.

BEARS

Yellowstone National Park protects andmaintains populations of grizzly bears (Ursusarctos) and black bears (Ursus americanus) aspart of the park’s native fauna. The Interpreta-tion, Maintenance, Resource Management


Operations and Visitor Protection, and Yellow-stone Center for Resources divisions each havestaff who contribute to management effortsdesigned to reduce or prevent the chances ofbear-inflicted human injuries, bear-causedproperty damages, and human-caused bearmortalities. To be successful, bear managementmust be a parkwide, multi-divisional effort.

The Bear Management Office (BMO)coordinates the implementation of the park’sBear Management Plan and records data relatedto bear management activities in the park. Yel-lowstone is a member of the Interagency GrizzlyBear Study Team (IGBST), and staff assist withresearch on bear food habits, habitat use, behav-ior, and population dynamics. BMO personnelalso assist with ecosystem-wide grizzly bearpolicy recommendations designed to ensurescientifically-based resource decisions. Inaddition, the BMO is responsible for the over-sight of nuisance wildlife management and forwildlife disease, wildlife DNA, and rare mam-mal monitoring. In 1999, the BMO consisted ofone permanent biologist, one term technician,one seasonal technician, and two summer sea-sonal volunteers. BMO staff produce a detailedreport on grizzly bear monitoring and manage-ment, copies of which may be obtained bycontacting the YCR or visiting the park’s website at www.nps.gov/yell/nature/bears.

Population MonitoringBear sightings. There were 1,537 bear

sighting reports recorded in YNP in 1999, in-

cluding 787 observations of grizzly bears, 352 ofblack bears, and 49 of unidentified bear species.In addition, there were 227 reported observationsof grizzly bear sign, 68 of black bear sign, and54 of sign from unidentified bear species. Thefirst recorded grizzly bear activity of the yearwas on March 4, when two different sets oftracks were observed, one near Turbid Lake andthe other west of Cottonwood Creek along theYellowstone River. The first recorded black bearactivity was on March 22, when a cross-countryskier observed tracks in front of the BechlerRanger Station. The last recorded black bearactivity was a track observation on November 21in the Hoodoos south of Mammoth Hot Springs.The last recorded grizzly bear activity was atrack observation along the road at the west endof Lamar Valley on November 20, 1999.

Grizzly females with cubs. As part ofgrizzly bear population monitoring in the ecosys-tem, the IGBST counts the number of adultfemale grizzly bears with cubs-of-the-year(COY) each year because adult female grizzlybears with COY are the most reliable segment ofthe population to count. The smaller averagehome range sizes of females with cubs, as wellas the number of cubs per litter and pelage-colorcombinations of different family groups, aid inidentifying individual adult females. Adultfemale grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosys-tem generally have a three-year breeding inter-val. Thus, the number of different females withCOY counted over a three-year period gives anestimate of the number of adult females in thepopulation.

In the GYA, 33 females with 63 COY werecounted in 1999. Of those, 15 females with 26COY were observed in the park. The averagelitter size in the park was 1.7 cubs per litter, with5 one-cub litters, 6 two-cub litters, and 3 three-cub litters.

Observation flights. As part of the IGBSTgrizzly bear population monitoring program,BMO staff conducted two series of observationflights in the Lamar, Pelican/Clear Creek, TwoOcean Plateau, Washburn, and Firehole/Haydenbear management units. During the first seriesGrizzly bear scat containing whitebark pine. NPS photo.


of flights (16.1 observation hours), 17 grizzlybears were observed in 10 groups. The meangroup size was 1.7 bears/group. None of theobserved grizzly bears were radio-marked. Noblack bears were observed during the first roundof observation flights. The signals of five radio-collared bears were determined to be in thesurvey units, however none of these bears wereobserved. During the second series of observa-tion flights (14.2 observation hours), 12 grizzlybears were observed in eight groups. Meangroup size was 1.5 bears/group. One of thesegrizzly bears was a radio-marked sow with asingle, unmarked COY. The signals of sixadditional radio-collared grizzly bears weredetermined to be in the survey units, but theywere not observed. There were two black bearsobserved during the second series of flights. Thelow number of marked groups of bears (5.6%)observed during the flights suggests that eithercollared bears avoid detection from overheadflights or that only a small proportion of thebears in the park are radio-marked. The IGBSTplans to use this data along with observationflight data collected from outside of the park tocalculate a capture-mark-recapture populationestimate for grizzly bears in the Yellowstoneecosystem.

Bear mortalities. There were two knowngrizzly bear mortalities and one known blackbear mortality within YNP in 1999. One of thegrizzly bear mortalities was due to naturalfactors (interspecific predation by a largergrizzly bear) and one was a management re-moval (sent to a zoo). The black bear mortalitywas caused by a bear-vehicle collision. The onehuman-caused grizzly bear mortality in 1999was approximately equal to the 10-year averageof 0.7 (± 1.1 SD) human-caused grizzly bearmortalities per year from 1989–98. The onehuman-caused black bear mortality level wasalso approximately equal to the 10-year averageof 1.1 (± 1.0 SD) human-caused black bearmortalities per year from 1989–98.

On June 11, Grant area personnel respondedto a reported bear-jam just south of the fireexhibit in the Lewis River Canyon. Upon their

arrival, the rangers saw no bear, but 150 yardsoff the road they found the carcass of a femalegrizzly bear cub-of-the-year on which anotherbear had been scavenging. The carcass wascollected and sent to the Montana Department ofFish, Wildlife and Parks’ (MDFWP) laboratoryin Bozeman, Montana, for necropsy. Most of thecub’s carcass had been consumed, but thenecropsy indicated that the trauma to the cub hadoccurred prior to death. The skull was crushedand contained several large puncture wounds.The injuries were consistent with predation by alarger bear.

On August 22, a 180-pound subadult malegrizzly that had damaged six tents was capturedadjacent to Indian Creek campground. The bearstepped on, tore, and crushed a decoy tent placednear the trap and was caught. DNA extractedfrom hair collected from the captured bearmatched DNA from hair collected from a tentdamaged at a nearby backcountry campsite. Dr.Lisette Waits at the University of Idaho calcu-lated that the chance of a DNA match to anyother grizzly bear in the park was approximatelyone in 20,597. The bear was deemed a danger topublic safety and not suitable for release backinto the wild. Under a special permit from theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the bear was heldat the Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellow-stone until park staff could find a suitable zoo-logical institution to house the bear. On Septem-ber 27, the young bear was shipped to the Wild-life Way-Station, a private, non-profit sanctuaryfor injured, neglected, and homeless wild ani-mals in Sylmar, California.

On July 11, Old Faithful rangers respondedto a report of a dead black bear along the roadnear the Firehole picnic area. The carcass of anapproximately 250-pound, adult male black bearwas transferred to the MDFWP lab for necropsy.An unknown vehicle had struck the bear, whichwas estimated to be 15+ years old. The bear hada broken right femur, evidence of blunt trauma,internal bleeding and bruising, and shreddedclaws indicative of a bear gripping the pavementupon impact with a vehicle.


Availability of Bear FoodsIn the Yellowstone ecosystem, 1999 was a

year of average to above-average abundance ofmost high-quality bear foods. Whitebark pinecone production, as measured at transect sites,was significantly above average. The winter of1998–99 was considered to be a fairly normal,mild one in the Madison-Firehole valley and onupper and lower northern winter ranges. Despitethe mild weather, the number of winter-killed elk(Cervus elaphus) and bison (Bison bison) car-casses counted on transect sites was higher thanthe long-term average recorded from 1992–98.

During early to mid-spring, scavenging onungulate carcasses was the most commonlyobserved grizzly bear feeding activity. Grizzlybears also dug up pocket gopher (Thomomystalpoides) caches in localized areas where theywere particularly abundant. Elk calves, animportant late spring and early summer foodsource, were preyed upon extensively by someindividual bears. The numbers of spawningcutthroat trout counted in Yellowstone Laketributaries were similar to the long-term averages(1989–98) on most streams, except for those inthe West Thumb area, which were below aver-age. Spawning cutthroat trout, available to bearswith home ranges adjacent to Yellowstone Lakeduring the late spring and early summer, rank asone of the highest sources of net digestibleenergy available to bears in the Yellowstoneecosystem. Throughout the summer, grizzlybears grazed clover (Trifolium spp.) and dug upyampa roots (Perideridia gairdneri) in localizedareas where these foods were abundant.

Army cutworm moths, an important bearfood in late summer and fall, were present andattracted large numbers of bears to high-eleva-tion moth aggregation sites on the eastern side ofthe ecosystem. The production of whitebarkpine (Pinus albicaulis) cones, as measured attransect sites, was above average in most areasof the ecosystem. The one exception was thePitchstone Plateau area, where few cones wereobserved. Excavation of red squirrel(Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) middens forwhitebark pine seeds was the most frequently

observed fall grizzly bear feeding activity. Insome areas, biologists also found evidence thatgrizzly bears had climbed up into whitebark pinetrees and broken off branches to obtain cones.Whitebark pine seeds are an important fall foodbecause of their high fat content and their poten-tial abundance as a pre-hibernation food source.During October, localized areas where grizzlybears had dug up pocket gopher caches wereagain evident.

Grizzly Bear Food SourcesUngulates (mostly elk and bison), cutthroat

trout, and whitebark pine nuts are three of thehighest sources of net digestible energy availableto grizzly bears in Yellowstone. Due to theimportance of these foods to bears, YNP staffmonitor the annual availability of these resourceswithin the park.

Winter-killed ungulate carcasses. GreaterYellowstone is unique among North America’sareas of occupied bear habitat because of thesubstantial use grizzly bears make of ungulatesduring the spring. On average, approximately 79percent of the energy obtained by adult malegrizzlies and 45 percent of the energy obtainedby adult female grizzlies in the Yellowstoneecosystem are estimated to come from meat. Incontrast, more than 95 percent of the energyobtained by both adult male and female grizzlybears in Glacier National Park comes fromvegetation. Ungulates rank as the second highest

Army cutworm moth survey, September 1999. NPS photo.


source of net digestible energy available togrizzly bears in the GYA. Ungulates are alsoimportant because they provide a high-qualityfood source during early spring, before mostvegetal foods become available to bears.

Grizzly bears feed on ungulates primarily ascarrion from March through May. Betweenearly April and mid-May each year, park staffsurvey 28 routes covering 82.5 km of winterrange in the Firehole River drainage, 17 km inthe Norris Geyser Basin, 32 km in the HeartLake area, and 233.5 km on the northern winterrange for winter-killed ungulate carcasses.Teams of at least two people snowshoe, ski, orhike survey routes and record the location,species, sex, and age class of ungulate carcassesfound; bears and bear sign (tracks, scat, feedingsign) observed from the survey routes; andevidence of scavenging or predation by grizzlybears, black bears, and other carnivores. In1999, 13 bison carcasses and 41 elk carcasseswere documented along the 365.0 km of surveyroutes completed. The overall rate of one ungu-late carcass observed per 2.5 km of survey routein thermally influenced ungulate winter ranges(Firehole thermal area, Norris Geyser Basin, andHeart Lake area) was greater than the long-termaverage of one large mammal carcass observedper 6.4 km of survey route recorded from 1992–98. The northern winter range carcass surveyshave been conducted under the current formatfor only three years; therefore, a long-termaverage has not yet been established.

Cutthroat trout spawning. Grizzly bearsare known to prey on cutthroat trout in at least 36different streams tributary to Yellowstone Lake.In 1987, Reinhart and Mattson (1990) estimatedthat approximately 44 different autonomousbears were making use of spawning streamsaround Yellowstone Lake. Beginning May 1each year, eight streams in or near the Lakedeveloped area and four streams in the GrantVillage area are checked daily to detect thepresence of adult cutthroat trout. At the onset ofspawning until most adult fish return to the lake,teams of two persons do weekly visual counts ofadult trout to estimate peak periods and relative

magnitude of spawning runs. While making fishcounts, observers record bear sign (bearsightings, fish parts, hair, scats, and tracks).Tracks and track measurements are used todetermine the number, species, and associationof family groups of bears. In 1999, a total of 806spawning cutthroat trout was counted during thepeak week in the 12 monitored frontcountrytributaries to Yellowstone Lake. Grizzly bearactivity was observed on nine of these streamsand black bear activity on three. The numbers ofspawners counted during the peak week weresimilar to the long-term averages (1989–98),except for streams in the West Thumb area,which were below average.

Whitebark pine seeds. During years withlow availability of natural bear foods, especially

Counting whitebark pine cones on a transect survey,

September 1999. NPS photo.


in the fall, bears often seek alternate foods inassociation with human activities; both thenumber of bear-human conflicts and human-caused bear mortalities increase during the fallseason. As part of an ecosystem-wide whitebarkpine survey, cone counts are conducted at 19transects located within the ecosystem. Parkstaff conduct cone counts on the 10 transectslocated within Yellowstone. Cone counts atthese 10 transects averaged 43 (± 60 SD) conesper tree in 1999. This was greater than the long-term (1987–98) average of 12 (± 29 SD) conesper tree per year for all transects located withinthe park.

Confrontations and Conflicts with HumansConfrontations. In 1999, there were 78

reported incidents of bear-human confrontations(incidents of actual or perceived aggression inwhich no one was hurt) in the park. Grizzlybears were involved in 52 of these confrontationsand black bears were involved in 19. The spe-cies of bear could not be determined in sevenconfrontations.

Bear-inflicted human injuries. Therewere two grizzly bear-inflicted human injuries inYNP in 1999, and no injuries inflicted by blackbears or unidentified bears. The number ofgrizzly bear-caused human injuries was greaterthan the 10-year average of 0.8 (± 1.2 SD)human injuries recorded per year from 1989–98.The number of human injuries inflicted by blackbears or unidentified species of bears was ap-proximately equal to the 10-year averages (0.1±0.3 SD and 0 per year, respectively) recordedfrom 1989–98.

On August 27, a woman from New Yorkand a man from Switzerland were day-hiking onthe Black Butte trail towards Bighorn Peak.Approximately 3.5 miles from the trailhead theyhad a surprise encounter with an adult femalegrizzly and two yearlings. The hikers had beenchatting but not making, as they described,“enough noise.” They suddenly heard what theydescribed as a drawn-out moan. Unsure what itwas, they took another step or two and then sawa bear less than 10 yards away. The woman did

not initially see the cubs; instantly, while saying“It’s a bear,” she stepped off the trail anddropped into a ball. The bear charged to her.The woman could feel the bear’s breath on herear and back when the bear huffed a couple oftimes, but the bear did not touch her. The manstepped off the trail as the sow ran past at thewoman. He was then approached by two year-ling cubs that did not touch him. The mandeployed pepper spray at the yearling cubs butwas unsure if he actually hit them. The femalebear turned away from the woman and chargedtoward him. He continued to spray and fell ontohis back; the bear did not make contact. Thehiker, thinking the bear was going to attack him,put one leg up. The adult bear swatted his leg,inflicting two gashes and two shallowerscratches. The adult bear sniffed at the cloud ofpepper spray, ran off, then returned again. Bothhikers remained very still on the ground. Allthree bears left the area, and the hikers returnedto the trailhead, where a passerby gave themhydrogen peroxide to wash their wounds. Thehikers then drove themselves to Bozeman andreceived medical attention. The wounds, al-though not serious, were monitored for infection.The incident was reported to park staff a coupleof days later, and bear warnings were posted onthe trail.

On September 22, a male backpacker hikingalone encountered an adult female grizzly bearand two yearlings on the Black Butte trail,approximately 4.1 miles from the trailhead. Thehiker heard a branch snap, looked up, and ob-served a bear running through the trees in hisdirection; the two other bears were nearby. Theman dropped to the ground in an effort to protecthimself against injury. The sow ran straight tohis head and bit him at least twice before movingdown his unprotected lower right side where shebit him again, causing a deep laceration. At firstthe man attempted to “play dead,” but stated thatafter the bear had his head in her mouth hechanged strategies and fought back. He tried todeploy his pepper spray but was unable to get thesafety off. As the attack continued, the man’sbear spray was knocked from his grasp, and his


backpack was torn from him. Twice the bearleft, but when the man stood up the bear returnedand attacked again. After the attack ended andthe bear finally left, the man hiked to thetrailhead and flagged down a passing motorist.Park rangers responded, treated the man’s inju-ries, and had him flown by helicopter to EasternIdaho Regional Medical Center, where he wastreated. BMO and ranger personnel checked alltrails in the area by helicopter and evacuated allother hikers, posted closure signs on all nearbytrails, and retrieved the man’s backpack andpersonal belongings. Whitebark pine middens aswell as bear scats containing whitebark pineseeds were found at the incident site. The BlackButte trail and adjacent trails were closed forseveral weeks following the incident. Thesetrails were not reopened until late in the fall.

Bear-caused property damages. Therewere seven reported incidents in which bearsdamaged property but did not obtain humanfoods in YNP in 1999. All incidents involvedgrizzly bears. The number of incidents ofgrizzly bear-caused property damage was signifi-cantly greater than the 10-year average of 1.2 (±1.2 SD) per year reported from 1989–98. Thenumber of incidents caused by black bears orbears of unidentified species was lower than theaverage (1.7± 0.9 SD and 1.7± 1.8 SD) reportedfrom 1989–98. Incidents in 1999 included a bearthat bit the bumper of a truck, breaking a tooth;several instances in which a bear damagedcampers’ tents in Indian Creek Campground ornearby backcountry campsites (see “Bear mor-talities,” above); and an animal that bit and torethe vinyl spare tire cover off of a GMC Jimmy4x4 parked in the driveway of a park residencenear Stephens Creek.

Obtaining human foods. There were fourincidents in which bears obtained human foodsor garbage in the park in 1999. Three incidentsinvolved grizzly bears and one involved a blackbear. The number of incidents of grizzly bearsobtaining human foods was greater than the 10-year average of 1.8 (± 1.5 SD) per year from1989–98. The one incident of black bearsobtaining human foods was lower than the 10-

year average of 2.5 (± 2.4 SD) from 1989–98;the 10-year average of unidentified species ofbear is 0.6 (± 0.8 SD) incidents. Specific inci-dents included cases in which park visitorsillegally threw food to bears, and several inwhich people left food or garbage unsecured orunattended. In one case, a contractor working onthe reconstruction of the East Entrance Road wasgiven a warning concerning improper garbagestorage. The contractor had attended a “Livingand Working in Bear Country” orientationsession prior to beginning work in the park.

Bear Management ActionsIn 1999, there were 201 bear-related inci-

dents in Yellowstone in which managementaction was taken, including:

• 154 incidents in which park rangersresponded to roadside bear-jams toensure the safety of park visitors andbears;

• 20 postings of bear warnings at camp-sites, trails, or other areas;

• 12 temporary closures at campsites,trails, or other areas;

• 2 incidents in which bears were trappedin management actions in developedareas; and

• 13 incidents in which bears were hazedby methods such as clapping, yelling, orfiring 12-gauge “cracker” rounds.

Most bear management actions occurred inthe Tower (36%), Mammoth (22%), Lake (11%),and Grant (10%) subdistricts.

Grizzly bear management captures/removals. Two grizzly bears were captured inmanagement actions within YNP, compared tothe 10-year average of 1.3 (± 1.5 SD) nuisancegrizzly bears captured from 1989–98. One wastranslocated to another area of the park, and onewas removed from the population and sent to azoo (see “Bear mortalities,” above). A thirdcapture involved a non-target bear that wasreleased on site. All the capture efforts that wererelated to bear-caused property damage occurredin the Indian Creek Campground area in July andAugust. The one nuisance grizzly bear removed


from the ecosystem compares to a 10-yearaverage of 0.2 (± 0.4 SD) grizzly bears capturedand removed each year from 1989–98.

Grizzly bears trapped outside of andrelocated into YNP. To reduce bear-humanconflicts and promote grizzly bear conservationin the ecosystem, the park sometimes acceptsbears involved in conflicts in the states of Wyo-ming, Montana, and Idaho for translocation intothe park. Four grizzly bears were translocatedinto the park in 1999. In May, a sub-adultfemale who killed sheep along the South Fork ofthe Shoshone River was released in theDunraven Pass area, but left the park duringsummer and denned on the Shoshone NationalForest. A sub-adult male who killed two calvesalong the South Fork of the Shoshone River inJune was released in north-central Yellowstone;he was located in the Hayden Valley area in theautumn, kept moving south, and probablydenned on the Bridger-Teton National Forest. InAugust, a young adult male was captured duringa research study in an area experiencing cattledepredations near Union Pass, Wyoming. Thebear was released in the Blacktail Plateau areaand denned north of the park. A 500-pound adultmale caught preying upon sheep in the TargheeNational Forest in September was released onthe Mirror Plateau and, in early November, wasstill within the park. None of the bears translo-cated into the park was known to be involved infurther bear-human conflicts for the remainder ofthe year.

Black bear management captures/remov-als. There were no black bears captured orremoved in management actions within YNP in1999, compared to a 10-year average of 0.8 (±1.3 SD) nuisance black bears captured and 0.2 (±0.4 SD) removed each year from 1989–98. Thepark did not accept any nuisance black bearsfrom state agencies for relocation into the park in1999.

Improving food storage. Each summer,visitors spend more than 650,000 use nightscamping in developed areas within YNP, andmany park campgrounds are located within oradjacent to high-quality bear habitat. This has

led to bear-human conflicts in the past. Toreduce the chance of bear-human conflicts withincampgrounds, park staff have installed bear-proof food-storage boxes in the hiker/biker loopsof park campgrounds, because these visitorsgenerally are not traveling with a vehicle inwhich to store their food. However, the numberof bear-proof food storage boxes is not sufficientto accommodate large tour groups. In recentyears, two different grizzly bears have obtainedhuman foods from bike tour groups in parkcampgrounds. Bears that obtain human foodsfrom campgrounds are especially dangerousbecause they often become aggressive and maydamage property, injure people, and eventuallyhave to be removed from the population.

The BMO obtained funding for the pur-chase of 39 bear-proof storage boxes through anNRPP grant in 1997. The Anaconda Job Corpsconstructed food storage boxes in 1998. Thirty-

The Indian Creek tent-crushing grizzly bear. NPS photo.


one food storage boxes were installed in 1999:12 at Norris Campground, 6 at Slough CreekCampground, 5 at Tower Falls Campground, 4 atthe Madison government housing area for use byresidents to store personal grills, 2 at PebbleCreek Campground, and 1 each at Mammoth andIndian Creek campgrounds. The remaining foodstorage boxes will be installed in the spring of2000.

Technical Assistance and OutreachThe bear biologist and his technicians

provided data, advice, management recommen-dations, and technical support to 50 state andfederal agencies, universities, media representa-tives, and private groups in 1999 on topics suchas bear-human conflict management, safety inbear country, and bear ecology. Requests variedfrom news organizations, such as NBC Newsand Outside and Backpacker magazines, to othernational parks, forests, and neighboring statewildlife managers.

Park managers recognize that visitor educa-tion is a key component in implementing thepark’s bear management program. The long-term survival of bears in the Yellowstone ecosys-tem depends on park visitors and surroundingcommunities understanding bears and bearmanagement practices. To meet this goal, BMOstaff presented 39 bear-related educational talksand slide shows to various groups in 1999.Other YCR and interpretive staff gave additionalprograms.

BIRDS

Threatened and Endangered SpeciesBald eagle. In 1995, the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service downlisted the bald eagle fromendangered to threatened due to the significantpopulation gains made over the last three de-cades. Certain specific populations, however,are not completely recovered due to heavy metalcontamination problems in the Great Lakesregion, and habitat encroachment and develop-ment problems associated with riparian zones inthe desert southwest.

Within the park, a total of 14 eagletsfledged from 26 active nests during 1999. Nestsubstrate instability, a result of the 1988 wild-fires, caused minimal problems for nesting pairs;however, in following decades we expect largenumbers of trees to topple to the ground. Thiswill undoubtedly result in nest failure, loss ofnest sites, and sudden changes in the locations ofnesting territories. It has occasionally beendocumented that bald eagles will take overpreviously occupied osprey nests, and the inci-dence of takeover appears to be increasing due tothe competition for nest sites. In 1999 alone,two previously known osprey nest sites wereoccupied by bald eagles.

The mid-winter bald eagle survey wasconducted for the thirteenth consecutive year inthe park and on portions of the northern rangeoutside of the park. A total of 25 eagles werecounted on January 8, 1999. Of the total, 22were identified as bald eagles and 3 as goldeneagles. The northern range outside of Yellow-stone continues to be a hot spot for winteringeagles, possibly in relation to carrion availabilityfrom the regular- and late-season elk reductionhunts. Weather continues to play a major role ineagle distribution, as does prey and carrionavailability.

Peregrine falcon. On August 26, 1999, theperegrine falcon was “delisted,” or removed,from the list of threatened and endangeredspecies. However, provisions afforded by theEndangered Species Act require that it be moni-tored closely for the next five years to ensure itsrecovery. (See “Other Species of Special Inter-est,” below.)

Whooping crane. The whooping crane iscurrently classified as an endangered species.This endemic North American species continuesto be the rarest and most endangered crane in theworld. Population figures as of December 1999placed the wild population at 252, and thecaptive population at 132, for a total worldpopulation of 384 cranes.

A cross-fostering experiment to create anew migratory flock of whooping cranes beganin the Rocky Mountains in 1975. Under the


direction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,researcher Rod Drewien transported whoopingcrane eggs from Wood Buffalo National Park inAlberta, Canada, and placed them under incubat-ing sandhill cranes on Gray’s Lake NationalWildlife Refuge in Idaho. The main focus of thecross-fostering experiment was to have sandhillcrane adults hatch and raise whooping craneyoung. The hope was that the sandhill craneswould lead immature whooping cranes onmigration to a sandhill crane winter safehaven atBosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge inNew Mexico.

Initially, the cross-fostering experimentshowed promising signs, but eventually prob-lems developed. Of particular concern werehigh crane mortality and whooping crane matingbehavioral problems associated with the experi-ment. However, a significant amount of valu-able information was gained as a result of thisstudy. In summary, 289 eggs were removedfrom the wild for this experiment, which resultedin the Rocky Mountain whooping crane popula-tion reaching a peak of 35 subadults and adultsin 1985.

As of 1999, only two adults had survivedfrom the original Gray’s Lake experiment, andthey resided within the GYA. These birds werenot paired. One bird has resided in a remote areaof YNP for years, and the other frequents theCentennial Valley of Montana. In addition, theYNP bird biologist has been monitoring a san-dhill-whooper hybrid since its discovery in 1992.The bird was frequently seen with a sandhillcrane and carefully monitored. This bird hassignificant scientific value, since it could allowus an opportunity to see whether it can reproducesuccessfully in the wild. This important piece ofinformation could assist whooping crane recov-ery efforts in the future. Unfortunately, thishybrid crane could not be located during the1999 field season and is presumed dead.

Another whooping crane experiment oc-curred in the Rocky Mountains in 1997–98.Four young whooping cranes raised in captivityat Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Mary-land were transported to a ranch in eastern Idaho

as part of an experiment to learn how to establisha new migratory flock of whooping cranes inNorth America. The birds were trained to followan ultralight aircraft.

In the autumn of 1997, these cranes traveledfrom eastern Idaho to the Bosque del ApacheNational Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico fol-lowing the aircraft. Two of the cranes werekilled by predators on the wintering grounds.The two remaining “ultralight” cranes begantheir spring travels north on March 5, 1998,staging for a month in the San Luis Valley ofColorado. Once moving again, the birds hadproblems with fences and powerlines. (Colli-sions with wires continue to be the greatest causeof mortality for immature whooping cranes.)These cranes were quickly recaptured andreleased into a presumably safer environment inYellowstone.

In May 1998, these two ultralight whoopingcranes were released in the Slough Creek area ofthe park. This area proved to be troublesome.

Whooping crane. Photo by Terry McEneaney.


Visitors came in close contact with the birds,creating imprinting problems. Later that sum-mer, an effort was made to recapture the cranes,but only one was caught. This bird was trans-ported to a remote area of the park. The othercrane remained in the vicinity of Slough Creekuntil it migrated out of the area that fall. Bothbirds returned to the wintering grounds. In thespring of 1999, one of these birds died in north-ern Utah of causes yet to be determined, leavinga lone survivor residing in eastern Idaho for thesummer.

The prognosis for whooping cranes in theGYA is not promising, and they may disappearfrom the area in the near future. The WhoopingCrane Recovery Team met in Wisconsin onSeptember 22, 1999. The ornithologist pre-sented an update on the status of whoopingcranes in YNP and the GYA. The recovery teamhas de-emphasized efforts to establish thisspecies in the GYA in the immediate future,citing mortality, disease, habitat, pair-bonding,imprinting, and state support issues, to name afew. The team recommended the Wisconsin-Florida corridor as the best experimental site forestablishing a migratory flock of whoopingcranes.

Other Species of Special InterestPeregrine falcon. The peregrine falcon has

been removed from the list of endangered spe-cies and is now managed as a species of specialconcern. The park continues to be a strongholdfor peregrines in the Northern Rockies. A neweyrie was found in 1999, bringing the totalnumber of eyries to 14. In spite of unusuallycold and wet weather conditions in the springand early summer, which typically result in theloss of young, 19 young fledged (Figure 4).

Monitoring peregrine eyries is a time-consuming task, involving a minimum of threevisits to each eyrie per year. Beginning in 2000,a minimum of one-third of all known eyries inthe park are expected to be checked each year,thus completing a full parkwide productionsurvey every three years. This will allow thepark ornithologist time to check additional cliff

faces for new eyries as well.The park works closely with two peregrine

falcon working groups (Montana and Wyoming),with which it has been an active participant sinceperegrines were found in the GYA. Yellowstonealso works closely with the Peregrine Fund,which hosted a victory celebration in Boise,Idaho, on August 26, 1999, when the peregrinewas officially delisted.

Trumpeter swan. The YNP residenttrumpeter swan population continues to showsigns of a population at risk. Traditionally, theCentennial Valley of Montana has been a hotspot for cygnet production in the GYA. How-ever, events over the last several years have led toa reduction in breeding swans and fledgedcygnets. The number of adult swans in YNP hasdeclined over the years and currently stands at20 individuals. In recent years, trumpeter swannest attempts have ranged from four to 10 peryear. There were only six nest attempts in 1999,compared with nine in 1998.

A Greater Yellowstone Trumpeter SwanWorking Group was organized in 1997, andYNP’s staff ornithologist chairs the group.Annual population and production data for GYAtrumpeter swans are collected, and managementactivities are communicated between agencies atthese meetings. A meeting took place in YNP inthe fall of 1999, with more than 30 members inattendance.

Paradise Valley trumpeter swan flock.—Yellowstone began to participate in trumpeter

Figure 4. Peregrine falcon productivity.

0

1 1 1

3 3

45

7

8

9

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13 13

14

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4

3

7

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1716 16

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1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Year

Nesting Pairs

Fledglings

NumberofPeregrines


swan conservation issues in Paradise Valley(north of the park) due to the potential threatposed by exotic mute swans. In the 1960s, aprivate landowner purchased a pair of muteswans for aesthetic purposes. By the late 1970s,the mute swan population had grown to a high of120 individuals. Fearing potential competitionwith native trumpeter swans in YNP, the NPSbecame involved in a program to reverse thisthreat. In 1987, YNP staff presented a slideprogram to Paradise Valley landowners whoshowed an interest in helping resident trumpeterswans. An informal agreement was reachedindicating the importance of eliminating muteswans immediately and replacing them withcaptive-raised trumpeter swans. The biggestobstacle was finding private funding to pay forthe program, particularly since the purchase ofcaptive trumpeter swans can be very expensive.Generous support from the Cinnabar Foundationand the Chevron Corporation, in addition tocontributions from private citizens, allowed thisprogram to proceed on schedule.

The staff ornithologist, with the help oflandowners and park rangers, began to eliminatethe first mute swans in the fall of 1987. By1989, the mute swan population was reduced to13 individuals, and trumpeter swans were intro-duced into Paradise Valley. In 1991, trumpeterswans outnumbered mute swans nine to two inParadise Valley. By the mid-1990s, mute swanswere eliminated from Paradise Valley altogether.

Throughout the years, the Paradise Valleytrumpeter swan program has experienced twomajor setbacks: 1) two captive swans and onewild swan were illegally shot or poached on theDePuy Ranch on December 2, 1995, and 2)severe floods on the Yellowstone River duringthe spring and summer of 1997 and 1998 flushedmany swans downriver, leading to a majordecline in the flock. In 1999, one captive swanpair managed to fledge five cygnets on one ranchand a wild swan pair fledged a single cygnet.However, in 1999, the flock in Paradise Valleytotaled 21 swans, compared to 20 found in thepark.

Molly Islands colonial nesting birds. TheMolly Islands colonial nesting bird census wasconducted in mid-May, early June, early August,and mid-September 1999. The Molly Islandsconsist of two small islands on Yellowstone Lakeappropriately named Rocky and Sandy islands,due to the nature of their nesting substrate. Thecensus techniques applied this year were consis-tent with those conducted over the last severalyears. However, due to logistical difficulties onYellowstone Lake, only aerial surveys wereemployed.

Yellowstone Lake remained in a deep freezemuch later than normal in 1999; therefore,pelicans were late in arriving at the islands. OnRocky Island, a total of 58 pelican nests wereinitiated on the highest part of the island. Peli-can nesting was restricted to one aggregation.Double-crested cormorants constructed 50 nestswithin this pelican aggregation. High waterlevels, as a result of snow runoff, threatened thecolonial nesting birds again this year. Once theflooding receded, only 10 American whitepelican nests and 35 double-crested cormorant

One of only 20 resident adult trumpeter swans

found in the park in 1999. Photo by Terry

McEneaney.


nests remained, all of which were successful. Ofthe 90 pairs of California gulls that attempted tonest, 51 nesting pairs were successful in raisingyoung. The four Caspian tern nests were re-duced to two due to flooding. The followingyoung fledged from Rocky Island: 12 Americanwhite pelicans, 98 double-crested cormorants, 90California gulls, and 2 Caspian terns.

On Sandy Island, a total of 70 Americanwhite pelican nests were initiated in one largeaggregation, but only 52 nests were successful inrearing 90 young. Double-crested cormorantsdid better than expected, with 25 successful nestsout of the 40 initiated, resulting in 50 fledgedyoung. As usual, no Caspian terns nested onSandy Island.

In summary, 1999 was a year of low colo-nial nesting bird production due to the latenesting season, cold temperatures, and flooding.Total production on the Molly Islands resulted infledging 102 American white pelicans, 148double-crested cormorants, 90 California gulls,and 2 Caspian terns. As the exotic lake troutmanagement program continues in YellowstoneLake, so too, the status of the Molly Islands birdswill play a more critical role in assessing theimpacts of this exotic organism on endemicpiscivorous bird species. At this time, however,lake trout do not appear to have adversely af-fected colonial nesting bird production. Climaticconditions continue to appear to play the mostimportant role in influencing bird production onthese islands.

Osprey. The YNP osprey population faredbetter than expected in 1999. Egg laying waslater than normal due to the late spring weather,resulting in 62 nesting pairs fledging 88 young.Tree nest-site instability and weather continuedto play a role in influencing osprey productivityin the park. The incidence of bald eagles takingover osprey nest sites was noticeable this yearand was documented at two sites. Monitoringthe population dynamics of ospreys and otherpiscivorous bird species is especially importantas biologists chart lake trout numbers over time.

Harlequin duck. The harlequin duckpopulation in YNP continues to maintain itself

and is only mildly variable from year to year,with generally 16–20 pairs residing in the park.Monitoring adults is the most effective methodof keeping track of population vigor and trends.Monitoring annual productivity is not costeffective, as data collection is extremely time-consuming and difficult due to the remoteness ofmany of the areas in which harlequins are found.Productivity is extremely variable from year toyear and is highly influenced by weather, such asflooding.

Common loon. The common loon popula-tion in YNP continues to fluctuate from year toyear. There were 14 nest attempts in 1999, yetonly two young managed to reach fledgling age.A total of 42 adults were found in the park in1999 (numbers have ranged between 34 and 51individuals). Yearly fluctuations in adult num-bers and in the production of young are the resultof variable weather conditions. Flooding duringthe month of June was primarily responsible forthe poor loonlet production.

Other Research and MonitoringNorth American Bird Migration Count.

Yellowstone participated in the North AmericanBird Migration Count for the seventh consecu-tive year in 1999. This count is designed tocollect quantitative and qualitative spring birdmigration information on a continental scale.The survey is traditionally scheduled each yearon the second Saturday in May. On May 8, three

Harlequin duck male and female in the park. Photo by

Terry McEneaney.


observers recorded a total of 2,963 individualbirds. A total of 85 bird species were recordedduring the count, including 70 species withinYNP.

Breeding bird surveys. Three breedingbird surveys were conducted in 1999. Thissongbird data was sent to the continental clear-inghouse located at the Patuxent Wildlife Re-search Center in Laurel, Maryland, and is in-cluded in the information available online atwww.mp2-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs. Data from thesesurveys are used to develop population trends forNorth American songbirds. Yellowstone’sbreeding bird surveys date back as far as 1982.

Glacier Boulder route survey. The Gla-cier Boulder route survey documents birdlifefound exclusively in lodgepole pine. Thetransect begins at the Glacier Boulder trailheadnear Inspiration Point. The point count censusconsists of 30 stations and is conducted entirelyon foot. Census protocol for this survey issimilar to that of a breeding bird survey. Thiswas the fourth year in a row that this survey wasconducted, establishing additional baseline datafor neotropical migrant landbird monitoring.

Christmas Bird Count. The 1999 Christ-mas Bird Count (CBC) marked the twenty-seventh year that the survey has been conductedin the Yellowstone area. During count day,December 19, a total of 34 species comprising1,986 individuals were recorded. Five additionalspecies were recorded during count week.Highlights of the CBC included one Harris’sparrow and two Virginia rails during count day,and one northern saw-whet owl and two marshwrens during count week. The northern saw-whet owl, found on December 20 in Gardiner,Montana, constituted a new species for countweek. As of 1999, a grand total of 95 specieshave been recorded on CBC day, and 97 speciesduring CBC week. This Christmas Bird Counthad the highest public participation ever—22people. Temperatures ranged from -12 to 30°F.Conditions were mild, and rivers that wouldusually have been frozen were not. A slightlyabove average number of species were observed.Record numbers of Canada geese (275) and

green-winged teal (27) were also documented.New bird records. Two new species of

birds were added to the bird checklist in 1999.On August 27, 1999, a wandering tattler wasfound in Porcelain Basin (Norris Geyser Basin)by park visitor Larry Schmahl. Mr. Schmahlprovided excellent details of his observation ofthis unique shorebird, and the information hasbeen submitted to the park bird records. OnOctober 30, 1999, Anita Varley found a smallowl that had been killed by black-billed magpiesin front of the administration building. The owlwas identified as a flammulated owl and hasbeen preserved for placement into the park’sscientific bird collection.

As of 1999, 311 species of birds have beendocumented in the park since it was establishedin 1872. The Yellowstone National Park birdchecklist was last revised in June 1996. It isavailable on the park website at www.nps.gov/yell.

Website revision. The park website coor-dinator and the staff ornithologist worked incre-mentally to change and refine the bird informa-tion on Yellowstone’s website. Plans call for amore detailed section on birds, which willinclude information on threatened and endan-gered birds, species of special concern, andneotropical migrant landbirds; instructions onhow to add bird observations to park birdrecords, and on how to contribute to the Yellow-stone Park Foundation’s Yellowstone Bird Fundand their current projects; a revised bird check-list; access to bird population trend data; andannual reports.

Computerized database. Over the last twoyears, an effort has been made to computerizethe bird database, and progress is slowly beingmade.

Environmental assessments and statusreviews. The most important park assessmentsin 1999 that utilized bird data were highwayconstruction, winter use, and bison management.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contacted thestaff ornithologist regarding status reviews forthe black tern and sage grouse.

Injured and road-killed birds. A protocol


for handling injured and road-killed birds wasintroduced in 1996 to standardize procedures andprevent turning over birds to unqualifiedrehabilitators, which heightens the possibility oflosing valuable bird information. Procedureswere again followed very well in 1999. The onlyprofessional bird rehabilitator the park uses isBig Sky Wild Care of Bozeman, Montana.Salvageable road-killed birds are added to theAlbright Visitor Center museum collection eachyear.

Swallow, woodpecker, and raven manage-ment. Swallows, northern flickers, and ravenscontinue to pose obstacles for the people respon-sible for the care and management of parkbuildings. In addition, there are some healthrisks associated with some of these species.These birds are protected by law under theMigratory Bird Treaty Act, so mitigation optionsare limited. With proper installation, plasticnetting can be used to discourage nesting inselected areas of high public use.

Other PartnershipsTrumpeter swan video. The staff orni-

thologist spent a large percentage of his time in1999 working on the production of a trumpeterswan conservation video entitled “Save theYellowstone Trumpeter Swan.” Private fundingfor this project was provided by the BerniceBarbour Foundation through the assistance of theYellowstone Park Foundation. Work involvedvideo planning; development of a film scheduleand video script; film layout; and video produc-tion. The video is designed to be broken downinto two parts: a 10-minute version for generalvisitor center audiences, and a 29-minute versionfor other audiences.

Bird impression. In the fall of 1998, a castor impression was discovered in a geothermalsinter deposit by graduate student Alan Channingfrom the University of Wales. The staff orni-thologist was called in to assist Mr. Channing indetermining if the impression was that of a bird.It was determined that the cast was indeed that ofa bird, and it was remarkably well preserved,with details such as feather tracts, legs, neck,

head, and bill evident. The specimen was col-lected and later identified as an American coot(Fulica americana). The bird cast was trans-ferred to the Museum of the Rockies, where it isbeing temporarily stored pending further analy-sis. Museum of the Rockies paleontologist JackHorner is working with his associates and Mr.Channing on a scientific publication scheduledfor the fall of 2000.

National Geographic field guide. Theornithologist assisted the National GeographicSociety in revising the second edition of the“Field Guide to the Birds of North America.”This is one of the most popular bird field guidesin North America. The ornithologist providedGYA species distribution data. In the past, rangeand distribution maps for this geographic areahave sometimes been inaccurate due to the lackof knowledge of species in this area.

Montana Bird Records Committee. TheMontana Bird Records Committee meets once ortwice a year, depending on the volume of infor-mation, to review new bird records. The staffornithologist is chairman of this committee.This high profile committee keeps the park up-to-date on the latest advances in ornithology.

Wyoming Bird Records Committee.Similar to the Montana program, the WyomingBird Records Committee meets once a year inthe spring to review bird records. The staffornithologist was elected to the Wyoming BirdRecords Committee in 1998. YNP participated

Alan Channing of the University of Wales (center) and

his assistants upon discovery of the bird impression in

the park. Photo by Terry McEneaney.


for the first time in the May 1999 meeting inLander, Wyoming, where the ornithologist wasselected as committee chair for the next threeyears.

Neotropical migrant groups. YellowstoneNational Park typically participates in threeneotropical migrant working groups, the Mon-tana and Wyoming Partners in Flight, and theinternational Western Working Group Partners inFlight. Ornithologists from all over the West,including Canada and Mexico, participate in thisgroup. They are currently focused on prioritiz-ing species and developing conservation plans.Meetings occur twice a year in different areas ofthe West. The staff ornithologist was unable toattend any of the 1999 neotropical migrantworking group meetings due to budget shortages.

Adopt a biosphere reserve and recycleduniform program. Yellowstone continues toassist the two adopted biosphere reserves inMexico (Mariposa Monarca and Manantlan).We continue to offer logistical support, as well asto provide them with recycled NPS uniformcomponents. In 1999, a large shipment ofuniform components was sent to the MariposaMonarca Biosphere Reserve.

Public Contacts and OutreachEach year the park ornithologist gives bird

lectures to the concessioners’ guides and otherpublic and private organizations, and responds tohundreds of letters of inquiry about bird informa-tion. Topics addressed during speaking engage-ments in 1999 included: “How to Conduct aBird Walk;” “Center Stage-Back Stage: TwoDifferent Views of Yellowstone Birds;” “Identi-fying and Aging Bald and Golden Eagles;”“Trumpeter Swan Management—Past, Present,and Future;” “Status of the Whooping Crane inYNP and the Greater Yellowstone;” “Non-Indigenous Birds of Greater Yellowstone—TheirHistory, Status, and Management” forYellowstone’s Science Symposium focussing onexotic species; an Avian Adventures panel and abird identification workshop for the GreaterYellowstone Coalition; and a presentation onfeathers for Exploring Yellowstone.

BISON

Wild, free-ranging bison continued to thrivein the Yellowstone area, summering throughoutthe park and in some adjacent, high-elevationranges, and migrating to winter range in geother-mal areas and lower elevation grasslands both inand outside the park. Controversy has grown forthe last three decades over the management ofbison leaving the park in winter.

Long-Range PlanningBison moving from the park onto Montana

public or private land have been shipped toslaughter or shot because some of them carrybrucellosis. An interagency effort resulted in therelease for public comment on a plan and envi-ronmental impact statement for long-term bisonmanagement in June 1998. The stated purposeof the plan is to maintain a wild, free-rangingpopulation of bison and address the risk ofbrucellosis transmission to cattle in Montana,while permitting the bison herd within the parkto fluctuate in response to natural ecologicalprocesses. Alternatives for management rangedfrom testing all bison in Yellowstone and send-ing to slaughter those that test positive forexposure to brucellosis, to establishing tolerancezones for bison that wander outside park bound-aries onto public lands in winter. Approximately67,500 public comments were received, thecontent of which was still being analyzed at theend of the year as the participating agenciesstruggled to achieve a consensus on a finalpreferred alternative, to be released in 2000.Public interest in bison management was high(see “Cultural Resource Programs,” page 11).

In February 1999, about 50 AmericanIndians from different tribes left Rapid City,South Dakota, en route to Yellowstone by foot,car, and horseback to honor and bring attentionto the plight of bison. Participants paralleled atraditional migratory route used by both bisonand earlier generations of Lakota. When thegroup entered the park’s North Entrance onFebruary 27, it numbered 100 marchers andhorses. The group carried buffalo hide, leather,


and a pipe; three sacred staffs adorned with eaglefeathers; and a bundle of items related to bison.In a public ceremony, the marchers played musicand sang, and several performed flesh offeringsin honor of the bison.

While the involved federal agencies—theNational Park Service, the USDA Forest Service(USFS), and the USDA Animal and Plant HealthInspection Service (APHIS)—agreed on thebasic elements of a sound, workable plan, thestate of Montana still reserved full endorsementof the plan. The NPS agreed that when a safe,effective vaccine against brucellosis in bison wasdeveloped, they would vaccinate bison withinYellowstone National Park boundaries. TheUSFS agreed to adjust the management oflivestock grazing allotments to maintain criticalseparation between bison and cattle. And APHISclearly stated that the proposed federal planwould not jeopardize Montana’s brucellosisclass-free status, a designation that is crucial tothe transport of livestock across state lines forcommerce.

However, discussions with the state reachedan impasse in late 1999 and, as a result, thefederal agencies announced that they wouldmove forward with a final proposal that wouldmanage bison with minimal lethal control whileprotecting cattle. The federal plan would allowvery limited numbers of bison in three well-defined zones north and west of YellowstoneNational Park (Reese Creek, Eagle Creek/BearCreek, and Horse Butte) that would be bufferedwith areas in which no bison would be permitted.Added actions to separate bison and cattle wereproposed. Research studies of potential brucel-losis vaccines and effective delivery mechanismscontinued.

Interim ManagementConcerns raised by the high bison mortality

during the winter of 1996–97 prompted modifi-cations to the previously approved Interim BisonManagement Plan. The modifications weredesigned to reduce the number of bison thatwould have to be killed if they moved beyondthe park boundary. In early 1999, the Montana

Department of Livestock killed 90 adult bison byshipping them to slaughter (four additional bisonwere killed as part of the capture operations).

Bison ResearchStudies continued on bison ecology and the

ecology of the Brucella organism in the wild. Asmentioned previously, researchers continuedtesting vaccines for their safety in bison and innon-target wildlife species including coyotes,pronghorn, mule deer, moose, bighorn sheep,birds, and rodents. Results from the non-targetvaccine studies show that the vaccine does notcause mortality or morbidity and is safe in non-target species. Work is continuing on vaccinetesting in bison, but results in 1999 show thatRB51 is safe in calf and yearling bison. A studyis also underway in cooperation with the Fishand Wildlife program at Montana State Univer-sity to develop methods for conducting aerialsurveys that will provide scientifically defensiblebison population estimates, including correctionfactors that will account for the proportion ofanimals not observed during the surveys. Addi-tionally, continuing funding by the U.S. Geologi-cal Survey Biological Resources Division issupporting several multi-year bison researchprojects including: bison ecology in HaydenValley, winter use by bison of groomed parkroads, statistical analyses of 30 years’ bison datacollected by former USGS biologist Dr. MaryMeagher, reproduction and demography ofbrucellosis infected bison, epidemiology andpathogenesis of brucellosis in bison, geneticanalyses of Brucella and development of a PCR-based diagnostic system, continuation of riskassessment for transmission of brucellosis frombison to elk, and continuation of Brucella vac-cine safety trials.

As a result of a settlement agreementrelated to managing winter visitor use in Yellow-stone and Grand Teton national parks and theJohn D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway, theNPS began monitoring bison movements androad use in Hayden Valley and between Mam-moth Hot Springs and Gibbon Falls. Groundcrews of two persons each conducted visual


surveys at randomly determined dates and timesto record bison numbers, locations, behavior,movements, and use of road segments andadjacent corridors. Observations were aug-mented with monthly aerial surveys and photo-graphs taken by automated cameras at eightdefined points. Crews completed 64 groundsurveys in each area between December 13,1998, and March 27, 1999. They recorded 2,458observations of bison groups; group size rangedfrom 1 to 135 in Hayden Valley and from 1 to 62in the Mammoth-to-Gibbon area. A smallpercent of the observations (5.8% in the Mam-moth-to-Gibbon area and 9.4% in HaydenValley) were of bison on groomed winter road-ways. Of 2,299 photographs taken by the remotecameras, only 184 were of bison, 8 percent ofwhich were on the oversnow vehicle roads.Aerial surveys indicated that the number of bisonin both study areas remained fairly stable fromearly to mid-winter. But in March, numbers ofbison decreased by nearly 25 percent in HaydenValley and more than doubled in the Mammoth-to-Gibbon area. The monitoring of bison move-ments and road use continued for another winter(1999–2000) beginning in December 1999.Results from this latest year’s effort will besummarized in mid-2000.

In a related study conducted from Novem-ber to May of 1997–98 and 1998–99, MontanaState University graduate student Daniel Bjornliefound that while bison did travel on the park’sgroomed winter roads, they used natural travel

corridors and their own established trails, such asthe Mary Mountain trail across the CentralPlateau, much more often. Bjornlie found thatbison in the Mary Mountain-Firehole herd spent69 percent of their time foraging for food, andonly 7 to 8 percent travelling. His observationsindicated that 63 to 88 percent of all bison traveltook place off of park roads and trails, and anaverage of 17 percent was on the roads groomedfor oversnow vehicles. Bison were very inactiveat night, regardless of the level of snowmobileactivity. However, Bjornlie did observe a nega-tive correlation between bison use and roadtraffic; when travelling on roads, bison had anegative reaction to snowmobile or snowcoachtraffic 75 percent of the time.

Wildlife Surveys and SamplingNorthern range ungulates. Yellowstone

National Park staff again shared costs and timewith the Northern Yellowstone CooperativeWildlife Working Group (comprised of theNational Park Service; the Montana Departmentof Fish, Wildlife and Parks; the USDA ForestService; and the USGS Biological ResourcesDivision) to complete counts of ungulate herdson the northern range.

Elk. Poor flying conditions preventedcompletion of the 1998–99 winter elk count untilJanuary 30, 1999, inside the park and February11, 1999, outside the park. Potential difficultiesin estimating the total number of wintering elkoccurred because some animals may have mi-grated out of the park between the flights, andbecause the flights occurred during a legal late-season hunt that takes place north of the parkboundary each year in January and mid-Febru-ary. A count of 7,122 in the park and 4,620 outof the park were combined for a total of 11,742.In March 1999, a classification survey found 34calves per 100 cows in the northern herd.

During optimal counting and flying condi-tions, the 1999–2000 northern range elk countwas completed on December 27, 1999, andobservers counted 14,538 elk.

Mule deer. Dr. Tom Lemke of the MontanaDepartment of Fish, Wildlife and Parks con-

Bison are thriving in the park. NPS photo.


ducted a helicopter survey of mule deer on thenorthern range in and outside the park on April27, 1999, and counted 1,677 animals. Mule deerrecruitment was estimated to be 46 fawns per100 adults.

Pronghorn. A late-winter count of prong-horn was conducted on March 25, 1999. A parkbiologist observed 204 animals, 12 percent fewerthan the 1998 spring count of 231. Two parkvolunteers, Dr. Jim and Mrs. Edna Caslick,conducted road surveys for the fifth consecutiveyear to assess pronghorn distribution and evalu-ate possible effects of bison management activi-ties on pronghorn.

On February 10 and 11, 1999, biologistsfrom Yellowstone and the University of Idahocaptured and radio-collared 30 adult femalepronghorn between Mammoth and Gardiner fortwo new research projects. The captured animalswere sampled for genetics, diseases, and nutri-tional state. The University of Idaho study willattempt to determine how many fawns are bornand survive each year, assess the causes andtiming of fawn mortality, and assess doe nutri-tional condition and stress. Ten fawns (five maleand five female) were captured in 1999, and byJuly 5, six fawns had died. Another study, incooperation with Montana State University, willassess habitat use patterns of radio-collaredpronghorn.

On August 6, 1999, the late summer prong-horn composition count was conducted. A totalof 109 pronghorn (43% of the population) wascounted—73 does, 16 bucks, and 20 fawns. Thefawn to doe ratio was 27:100, and the buck todoe ratio was 22:100.

Bighorn sheep. The Montana Departmentof Fish, Wildlife and Parks conducted the annualaerial helicopter survey on April 27 and 30,1999, and located 181 bighorn sheep (91 ewes,29 lambs, and 61 rams) in and outside of Yellow-stone National Park. The count was up 47 (35%)from the 1998 survey, but was not substantiallydifferent than the five-year average of 191bighorns counted during the spring survey.Lamb recruitment for the entire survey areaincreased from 11 lambs/100 ewes in 1998 to 32

lambs/100 ewes in 1999. The annual 1999ground count, usually conducted in December,was not completed until January 13, 2000, whenonly 57 bighorn (24 rams, 22 ewes, 6 lambs, and5 unclassified) were seen with ratios of 23 lambsand 109 rams per 100 ewes. Although theNorthern Yellowstone Cooperative WildlifeWorking Group concluded that ground countsare less reliable than aerial counts for monitoringthe total sheep population, they have continuedto conduct ground counts as a supplement; theground surveys allow closer observations ofbighorns’ physical condition and age.

During 1999, fragmentary remains of six to10 bighorn sheep were found in close proximityon Mount Everts in northern Yellowstone.Identified evidence included horn sheaths fromfour or five ewes and one ram, as well as tworadio collars from a recent graduate researchproject. Biologists inspecting the scene con-cluded that the group of sheep had likely beenkilled by a lightning strike.

Bison. Approximately once a month, NPSstaff conducted aerial surveys of the entire bisonpopulation. On December 4, 1999, a total of2,470 bison were counted. As of December 31,1999, no bison had been killed or removed aspart of management actions under the InterimBison Management Plan for the 1999–2000winter.

GEOLOGY AND GEOTHERMAL

RESOURCES

The park was still without a geologistduring 1999. As a result, seasonal technicianTim Thompson compiled and analyzed datapertaining to seismic and geothermal activity,provided geothermal assessments, and continuedlong-term data collection pertaining to geysersand hot springs. Several volunteers assisted thetechnician by continuing to compile data onchanges in geyser activity for the historicalrecord. Geothermal assessments for the Canyon-to-Fishing Bridge road overlay and proposedconstruction of a new Old Faithful Visitor Centerdelayed the intended five-year summary report


of major changes in geothermal activity. Withthe help of U.S. Geological Survey scientists,YCR staff analyzed and addressed severalinfrastructure problems associated with geother-mal activity. In March of 1999, the technicianpresented an abstract and talk on the statisticalproblems associated with modeling changes inOld Faithful Geyser’s behavior.

Earthquakes and SeismicityThe University of Utah’s seismic stations

documented more than 1,200 earthquakes in theYellowstone region during 1999. On the Richterscale, the earthquakes ranged from less than 1.0to 5+ magnitude. As is generally the case, themajority of the earthquakes within the park andcaldera boundary occurred in swarms. In recentyears, concentrated swarms of seismic eventswere observed at a location northeast of WestYellowstone and west of Norris. These seismicevents continued to be observed during 1999.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.3 occurredon August 20. The approximate epicenter was inthe Red Rocks Wildlife Refuge area west of thepark. The earthquake was felt in the Norriscampground and in Gardiner, Montana. It hasyet to be determined if the seismic waves pen-etrating the caldera influenced geothermalactivity.

Old Faithful GeyserOld Faithful Geyser continued to show

signs of longer intervals between eruptions(IBE). While this does not suggest that thegeyser is showing signs of dormancy, the state ofthe geyser system has significantly changed.Since the Biscuit Basin earthquake of 1998,“short mode” eruption-recovery times havealmost disappeared. As has been documentedmany times in the past, Old Faithful Geyser hastwo distinct operational modes: short durationeruptions lead to short recovery times, and longduration eruptions lead to long recovery times.During 1999, the mean and median IBE were84.8 and 87 minutes, respectively, based on2,116 eruptions (Figure 5). This represents anincrease in mean IBE of approximately 4 min-

utes during 1999, and an increase of approxi-mately 21 minutes since 1945. With the vastmajority of visitors wanting to view an eruptionof Old Faithful Geyser, the increased recoverytime forces visitors to wait longer and remain inthe Upper Geyser Basin for extended amounts oftime, placing greater demands on other resourcesand infrastructure.

Figure 5. Old Faithful Geyser’s 1999 interval of timebetween eruptions, based on 2,116 observations.

To better understand the shift in the operat-ing system of Old Faithful Geyser during the lastdecade, histograms of IBE for the years 1999and 1989 were constructed from the electronicdataframe. Twenty percent of these eruptionswere the result of Old Faithful operating in ashorter recovery time mode of less than 80minutes. The median indicates that 50 percent ofthe time a visitor must wait longer than 87minutes to view two eruptions, yet 80 percent ofthe time a visitor must wait 80 minutes or longer.In comparison, the mean IBE during 1989, basedon 5,603 eruptions, was approximately 78.5minutes, with a median of 82 minutes (Figure 6).During 1989, the percentage of IBE less than 80minutes was 41 percent. Hence, much of thereason for the increased mean IBE observedduring the past two years can be explained by thegeyser system operating far less often in ashorter eruption-recovery mode.

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Figure 6. Old Faithful Geyser’s 1989 interval of timebetween eruptions, based on 5,603 observations.

Observations made during 1999 also sug-gest that the Old Faithful Geyser IBE is undergo-ing an overall increase (Figure 7). There isstriking evidence in favor of an overall increasein IBE; not only has the proportion of short-mode eruptions decreased, the entire distributionappears to have shifted toward increased recov-ery time between eruptions. It is unlikely thatthe apparent change in distribution is an anomalyof a larger sample size being compared to asmaller sample size. In order to account for thedifference in number of observations, the sea-sonal technician (a mathematician and statisti-cian with the Oregon Institute of Technology)conducted a statistical simulation procedureknown as a bootstrap that involved taking 1,000random samples, each including 100 IBEs, fromboth 1989 and 1999. The procedure produced1,000 sample means for each year (Figure 8).Normal theory under large sample sizes providesnormal distributions of sample means. Theresults of the analysis brought forth strikingevidence in favor of a large shift in distributiontoward increasing sample mean IBE.

It is hoped that YCR analyses based onlong-term monitoring projects can providemanagers with scientific evidence upon whichdecisions can be based. If Old Faithful Geysercontinues toward longer recovery times, one canexpect visitors to linger in the basin longer,significantly changing impacts on visitor ser-vices.

Figure 7. Old Faithful Geyser’s 1989 (open bars) and1999 (solid bars) interval of time between eruptions.

Figure 8. Distribution of mean IBE for Old FaithfulGeyser, 1989 (open bars) and 1999 (solid bars). Datarepresent mean IBE for sample populations of 100measurements (n = 100).

Other Long-Term MonitoringLong-term monitoring of other selected

geysers as indicators of geothermal activitycontinued in 1999. In the eight years of long-term monitoring of these geysers, natural fluc-tuations in activity have been documented.

Upper Geyser Basin. For Castle Geyser,140 IBE were recorded, of which 122 followedmajor eruptions and 18 followed minor erup-tions. The mean and median recovery times ofmajor IBE were 707.9 and 704 minutes, respec-tively. These values represent a significantincrease in mean recovery times between erup-tions of Castle Geyser compared with the 1998mean of 695.1 minutes.

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For Daisy Geyser, 1,187 IBE were re-corded, with a mean and median of 107.9 and108 minutes, respectively.

For Plume Geyser, 3,107 IBE were re-corded, resulting in a mean and median of 38.7and 37 minutes, respectively. There were sixreported eruptions of Giantess Geyser during1999. Plume’s IBE was significantly influencedduring at least two of the Giantess eruptions.Giantess’ short-term influence on Plume’s IBEhas been well documented in the past.

Grand Geyser continued to have longrecovery times between eruptions; 239 IBE wererecorded, with a mean and median of 721.8 and728 minutes, respectively. During 1998 and1999, Grand’s IBE showed significant decreasesduring the autumn. In previous years, Grandoften had increased IBE during the fall months.There is a strong possibility that when GiantGeyser is active, there is a drain of energy awayfrom the Grand Geyser complex.

Giant Geyser had seven known eruptionsduring 1999, a significant reduction from the 49recorded eruptions during 1997 and the approxi-mate 21 eruptions during 1998.

The Fan and Mortar geyser complex wasquiet, with no recorded activity since May 1998.

Other geyser monitoring. Flood Geyser inthe Midway Geyser Basin produced very un-stable eruption patterns, resulting in the longestrecovery times observed in recent years. Fivehundred IBE were recorded, with a mean andmedian of 168.5 and 135 minutes, respectively.The longest interval recorded was 1,834 minutes,representing a recovery time of one day, sixhours, and 34 minutes.

The monitoring of Great Fountain Geyser,located on the Firehole Lake Drive, resulted in125 IBE, with a mean and median of 643.9 and630 minutes, respectively.

For the past four years, there has been nowidespread annual disturbance in the NorrisGeyser Basin. It has yet to be determined if thelack of an annual disturbance is related to thelarge number of earthquake swarms that con-tinue in the Mt. Holmes area. For EchinusGeyser, 221 IBE were recorded, with a mean and

median of 168.5 and 135 minutes, respectively.These values do not reflect the true nature ofEchinus during 1999, as IBE ranged from ap-proximately 40 minutes to as long as 374 min-utes. Echinus was highly unpredictable andappears to be in a phase of reduced energy level.

Both Rustic and Glade geysers were activein the Heart Lake Geyser Basin.

Geothermal Activity and HighwaysThe technician consulted with a Federal

Highways’ technician and other scientists withrespect to road failure due to geothermal activity.Road failure due to geothermal heat and fluidtransfer were documented in several areas of thepark—Mud Volcano, Rabbit Creek, the Norris-to-Mammoth road, and Mary Bay. Road failureand potential road failure at Rabbit Creek andMary Bay appear to be the result of a geo-boardor moisture barrier that was placed in the road-bed near areas of potential geothermal activity.The evidence suggests that these barriers have atendency to trap heat and condensation, movingthis energy laterally under the asphalt roadbed.There is extreme heat buildup in the fill mate-rial—93oC at Mary Bay and 85oC at RabbitCreek. As fluids and heat build, the fill mayliquify, allowing a loss of fill material and asoftening of asphalt layers.

At the Flood Geyser pullout on the GrandLoop Road, heavy soil erosion continued tocreate problems in the area of Flood Geyser andCircle Pool. Originally, the pullout was part ofthe roadbed. The new road was moved approxi-mately 20 meters away from the embankment toescape the heat buildup that created problems forwinter snowmobiling. A barrier between the filland asphalt was used to protect the road and thepullout from heat. As with the Rabbit Creek andMary Bay areas, heat was transferred laterallytoward the embankment. Approximately 10meters downslope of the parking area, soiltemperature was as high as 67°C at a depth of 10cm. The intense focused heat broke down therock and fill material in such a manner thatheavy rains washed the fine particles downslopeand into Circle Pool.


Geothermal Assessment and InventoryThe technician compiled and completed

assessments for two proposed construction plans,the Canyon-to-Fishing Bridge road overlay and anew Old Faithful Visitor Center. In compilingthe resources assessment for the road project, ahistory of known problems at Sulfur Caldronwas documented. Detailed contour (5-footcontour intervals) maps of the Mud Volcanothermal area were discovered. As a result, theassessment proved a valuable tool in motivatingresearch and compiling past information in aconcise form.

The proposed Old Faithful Visitor Centercaused some concern due to the proposed sizeand depth of the building. Given the proximityto Old Faithful Geyser, it was determined that adeep basement could possibly intersect ther-mally-influenced groundwater. Since there is noevidence that the current buildings in the vicinityhave affected the geyser, geologists suggestedthat foundation and basement work be kept at adepth comparable to existing buildings. Giventhe problems created by thermal and moisturebarriers, use of such materials should take intoconsideration methods to transport heat andcondensation buildup in underlying soils androcks.

VEGETATION

Park personnel and outside researcherscontinued to use the herbarium, which is part ofthe museum collection, especially during thesummer months. The collection includes ap-proximately 7,600 specimens of vascular andnon-vascular plants that are identified andmounted, with 6,121 specimens of vascularplants that are also catalogued into the NPS’Automated National Catalog System (ANCS+).During the 1999 field season, 240 specimenswere collected for the herbarium. These speci-mens were needed to strengthen the collection,especially to document the native flora inundercollected parts of Yellowstone’s remotebackcountry and the arrival and spread of exoticspecies.

Plant InventoriesSeven species of vascular plants previously

not reported as occurring within the park werediscovered. Cymopterus nivalis Wats. [snowlinecymopterus], Thlaspi montanum L. [wild can-dytuft], Mirabilis linearis (Pursh) Heimerl[narrowleaved four-o’clock], Orobanchecorymbosa [flat-topped broomrape], and Carexnigricans Retz. [black alpine sedge] were alllocated. These native species are presumed to bea long-term component of Yellowstone’s florathat has been previously overlooked. Addition-ally, two new exotic species were discovered andsubsequently eradicated. Daucus carota L.[Queen Anne’s lace] was located by West Dis-trict resource management personnel, andArctium minus (Hill) Bernh. [burdock] wasdiscovered in the lawn of a residence in lowerMammoth. In addition, Listera convallarioides(Sw.) Nutt. [broad-lipped twayblade], originallycollected in 1885 but subsequently not relocated,was confirmed to occur within the park.

Chara zeylandica, a circumtropical stone-wort (a type of algae) was originally collected byRoss Skinner in 1944 from a thermal spring nearThree Rivers Junction. The presence of thisspecies in Wyoming at a relatively high elevationis surprising, as it is far beyond its natural distri-butional range. In 1984, Dr. Vernon Proctorverified the presence of this taxa in the thermalfeature. During the summer of 1999, Dr. Proctorrequested that an examination of the thermalfeature and collection of Chara be made toverify that this unusual population is still surviv-ing in the warm water of this pool. Material sentto Dr. Proctor confirmed the continued survivalof this tropical plant in one thermal feature in thebackcountry of Yellowstone.

Summer fieldwork focused on rare plantsurveys associated with various constructionprojects in the park. The primary focus was onthe road from Canyon Junction to Fishing BridgeJunction for the parkwide road reconstructionprogram. In addition, possible trail rerouteswere surveyed to prevent inadvertent impacts onspecies of special concern. Trail sections exam-ined included Fan Creek, Cold Creek Junction,


Ferris Fork near Three Rivers Junction, and thelower portion of Pelican Valley. Various otherpossible construction sites were also investi-gated. Twenty different “species of specialconcern” or rare plants were located during thesummer field season, including multiple popula-tions of several of the species.

Vegetation Management and ResearchHazard tree removal. The management

biologist assisted resource management andconcessions staff in removing hazard trees in theCanyon Campground and Lake developed areas.

Fire management. The managementbiologist served as contracting officer and liaisonwith Dr. Ron Wakimoto and graduate studentKris Sanders of the University of Montana, theBoise Interagency Fire Center, and Yellow-stone’s fire management program on a $22,000grant to assess the utility of FARSITE firebehavior models in comparing model outputswith the known behavior of fires in Yellowstone.

Pest management. Annual pesticide useproposals and pesticide use logs were compiledas part of the parkwide integrated pest manage-ment (IPM) operation. Ninety-two pounds ofactive ingredient were applied as herbicides inconjunction with the park’s integrated weedmanagement program during 1999. The IPMcoordinator received and responded to 31 pestcomplaints related to mice, packrats, and othersmall mammals (12); bats and bat mites (6);swallows and swallow mites (2); and ants,spiders, and other miscellaneous insects (10).

USDA resource survey. The managementbiologist served as the incident commander insupport of the Interior West Resource Inventory,Monitoring, and Evaluation Program as imple-mented by the USDA Forest Service RockyMountain Research Station in the park. He wasresponsible for coordination, planning, logistics,and implementation of the survey effort over an11-week period involving 30 field personnel andan operating budget not-to-exceed $100,000.The survey was completed for 280 forested plotsand included 50 hours of helicopter access, oneweek of boat access, and more than 200 person-

days of non-designated backcountry campingwithout incident to persons, property, or wildlife.

Grizzly bear cumulative effects modeling.Data analysis was completed for the revision ofthe habitat coefficients used in the computerizedgrizzly bear cumulative effects model, and areport to be published as a USFS general techni-cal report was compiled. Following the coeffi-cient update, a complete habitat modeling exer-cise was undertaken for the eight-million-acrearea identified as the core area for grizzly bearrecovery. The results of the modeling exerciseare to be incorporated as baseline data in theGrizzly Bear Conservation Strategy.

Exotic species. Inventory and controlinformation was compiled on exotic plant spe-cies for a presentation at the fifth biennial sci-ence conference and submitted for publication toWestern North American Naturalist.

The management biologist supervised twoseasonal employees in the establishment andsampling of field exclosures as part of an overallsite reclamation effort in the “triangle” area ofthe park adjacent to Gardiner, Montana. Afactorial ANOVA experimental design usingfencing, watering, mulching, and herbicideapplication was employed to assess non-nativeplant control and concurrent attempts to germi-nate and establish native plant species. Dataanalysis was completed and compiled in a first-year progress report.

Aspen. The management biologist cooper-ated with Oregon State University researcher Dr.William Ripple to establish aspen monitoringtransects inside and outside established wolfterritories to quantify baseline vegetation condi-tions. These transects will be sampled over timeto document vegetation changes, if any, that maybe a result of reduced browsing pressure by elkin response to the presence of wolves.

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AND

MONITORING

Rare Animal RecordsThe most notable rare mammal observa-

tions reported in the park in 1999 were of moun-


tain goats, wolverines, raccoons, lynx, and fisher(Table 3). All of these species are rarely ob-served in the park. The fisher report was a trackobservation by a researcher who has seen wildfishers and fisher sign in northern Montana.

Road-Killed WildlifeA total of 87 large mammals were hit and

killed by vehicles on YNP roads in 1999 (Table4). Elk (43%) and mule deer (26%) were thespecies most often killed in collisions withvehicles. Other species of large mammals hitand killed by vehicles included 7 bison (8%), 16coyotes (18%), and 4 moose (5%).

The average road-kill rate of all park roadscombined in 1999 was 0.3 road-kills per mile ofroad (Table 5). The rate of road-kills on U.S.Highway #191 was approximately 1.5 road-killsper mile of road, the highest road-kill rate of anypark road. U.S. Highway #191 comprisesapproximately 7 percent of the paved roads inYNP but accounted for 34 percent of the road-killed large mammals documented in the park; it

is the only road segment in the park with a 55-mph speed limit (all other roads are posted at 45-mph or lower). Vehicle speeds are known to be afactor contributing to the frequency of road-killed wildlife. Other roads with road-kill ratessubstantially higher than the park-wide averageinclude the West Entrance Road (0.7 road-kills/mi.), the Norris-to-Canyon road (0.5 road-kills/mi.) and the Canyon-to-Fishing Bridge road (0.5road-kills/mi.).

The 87 road-kills recorded in 1999 was thesecond lowest number since year-round recordkeeping began in 1989, and was significantlylower than the long-term average of 111 (± 20SD) road-kills per year recorded from 1989 to1998 (Table 6). The highest number of road-kills previously recorded in the park was 148 in1994. No road segments had a higher thanaverage number of road-kills in 1999.

Wildlife Disease MonitoringIn 1992, park staff, in cooperation with the

Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, began a

Table 3. Most notablea rare animal sightings reported in Yellowstone National Park, 1999b.

TYPE OF REPORT

Carcass or Physical Observation by Observation bySpecies Captured Animal Evidencec Experienced Observer Inexperienced Observer TotalAmphibiand 0 0 2 0 2Badger 0 0 6 0 6Beaver 1 0 14 2 17Bighorn Sheep 1 0 20 0 21Bobcat 0 1 4 3 8Fisher 0 1 0 0 1Lynx 0 0 1 0 1Mountain Goat 0 0 5 4 9Mountain Lion 7 0 6 21 34Muskrat 0 0 1 0 1Pine Marten 0 0 1 0 1Raccoon 1 0 0 0 1Red Fox 2 0 9 5 16Reptilee 1 0 5 1 7River Otter 0 0 6 1 7Weaself 0 0 7 2 9Whitetail Deer 0 0 9 1 10Wolverine 0 0 0 6 6a Common species in unusual locations are not included in this table.b Includes sighting and sign reports from calendar year 1999 turned in to the Bear Management Office as of January 31, 2000.c Physical evidence includes photo, plaster cast of track, track, scat, hair, or DNA sample.d Amphibian observations include 2 blotched tiger salamanders.e Reptile observations include 3 rubber boa, 1 wandering garter snake, 1 bull snake, 1 eastern yellow belly racer, and 1 prairie rattlesnake.f Weasel observations include 5 shorttail weasels, 2 longtail weasels, and 2 unidentifiable weasels.


Tabl

e 4.

Num

ber

of la

rge

mam

mal

s (3

0 lb

s. o

r la

rger

) ki

lled

by v

ehic

les

on d

iffe

rent

sec

tions

of

road

with

in Y

ello

wst

one

Nat

iona

l Par

k, 1

999.

RO

AD

CO

DE

a

SPE

CIE

S1

23

45

67

89

1011

1213

1415

16T

OT

AL

Ant

elop

e0

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

Bea

ver

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

0

Big

horn

She

ep0

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

Bis

on0

00

00

14

00

00

10

10

07

Bla

ck B

ear

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

0

Bob

cat

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

0

Coy

ote

01

61

00

00

00

00

80

00

16

Elk

12

21

04

10

22

24

150

10

37

Gri

zzly

Bea

r0

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

Lynx

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

0

Moo

se0

00

00

01

00

00

03

00

04

Mou

ntai

n G

oat

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

0

Mou

ntai

n L

ion

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

0

Mul

e D

eer

00

30

01

22

06

05

40

00

23

Rac

coon

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

0

Whi

teta

il D

eer

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

0

Wol

f0

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

Wol

veri

ne0

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

Tota

l1

311

20

68

22

82

1030

11

087

a Roa

d C

odes

:1

Gar

dine

r to

Mam

mot

h9

Fis

hing

Bri

dge

to W

est T

hum

b Ju

nctio

n2

Mam

mot

h to

Tow

er10

Wes

t Thu

mb

to S

outh

Ent

ranc

e3

Tow

er to

Nor

thea

st E

ntra

nce

11 N

orri

s to

Mad

ison

4 M

amm

oth

to N

orri

s12

Mad

ison

to W

est E

ntra

nce

5 To

wer

to C

anyo

n13

U.S

. Hig

hway

#19

16

Nor

ris

to C

anyo

n14

Mad

ison

to O

ld F

aith

ful

7 C

anyo

n to

Fis

hing

Bri

dge

15 O

ld F

aith

ful t

o W

est T

hum

b Ju

nctio

n8

Fish

ing

Bri

dge

to E

ast E

ntra

nce

16 B

echl

er R

oads


Tabl

e 6.

Lar

ge m

amm

alsa

kille

d by

veh

icle

s in

Yel

low

ston

e N

atio

nal P

ark,

198

9–99

.S P

EC

IES

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

Ant

elop

e1

46

21

21

22

10

Bea

ver

11

13

10

22

02

0B

igho

rn S

heep

00

00

10

31

00

0B

ison

75

127

1111

1116

1513

7B

lack

Bea

r0

10

20

11

00

30

Bob

cat

00

00

10

01

00

0C

oyot

e1

93

510

199

105

716

Elk

5035

5434

3749

5264

2432

37G

rizz

ly B

ear

01

00

00

01

00

0Ly

nx0

00

00

00

00

00

Moo

se11

105

119

1210

86

34

Mtn

. Goa

t0

00

00

00

00

00

Mtn

. Lio

n0

00

00

00

00

00

Mul

e D

eer

2635

4044

3751

2825

2524

23R

acco

on0

00

00

10

01

20

Whi

teta

il D

eer

01

02

22

20

00

0W

olf

00

00

00

12

21

0W

olve

rine

00

00

00

00

00

0To

tal

9710

212

111

011

014

812

013

280

8887

a Sp

ecie

s in

whi

ch a

dults

can

rea

ch a

wei

ght o

f 30

pou

nds

or m

ore.

Tabl

e 5.

Veh

icle

kill

-rat

e of

larg

e m

amm

als

(30

lbs.

or

larg

er)

on d

iffe

rent

sec

tions

of

road

with

in Y

ello

wst

one

Nat

iona

l Par

k, 1

999.

RO

AD

PE

RC

EN

T O

F P

AR

KN

UM

BE

R O

FP

ER

CE

NT O

F P

AR

KK

ILL R

AT

E

RO

AD

SE

CT

ION

CO

DE

MIL

ES

OF R

OA

DR

OA

D T

OT

AL

RO

AD

-KIL

LS

TO

TA

L R

OA

D-K

ILL

S(A

NIM

AL

S/M

ILE)

Gar

dine

r -

Mam

mot

h1

52%

11

0.2

Mam

mot

h -

Tow

er2

187%

33

0.2

Tow

er -

NE

Ent

ranc

e3

2911

%11

130.

4M

amm

oth

- N

orri

s4

218%

22

0.1

Tow

er -

Can

yon

519

7%0

00.

0N

orri

s -

Can

yon

612

4%6

70.

5C

anyo

n -

Fish

ing

Bri

dge

716

6%8

90.

5Fi

shin

g B

ridg

e -

Eas

t Ent

ranc

e8

2710

%2

20.

1Fi

shin

g B

ridg

e -

Wes

t Thu

mb

921

8%2

20.

1W

est T

hum

b -

Sout

h E

ntra

nce

1022

8%8

90.

4N

orri

s -

Mad

ison

1114

5%2

20.

1M

adis

on -

Wes

t Ent

ranc

e12

145%

1011

0.7

U.S

. Hig

hway

#19

113

207%

3034

1.5

Mad

ison

- O

ld F

aith

ful

1416

6%1

10.

1O

ld F

aith

ful -

Wes

t Thu

mb

1517

6%1

10.

1B

echl

er R

oad

161

<1%

00

0.0

Tota

l27

210

1%a

8797

ax

= 0.

3a D

oes

not e

qual

100

% d

ue to

rou

ndin

g er

ror.


wildlife disease sampling program. The primaryobjectives of the program are to:

• establish baseline disease data for wild-life species;

• establish disease monitoring protocols forwildlife species that can be used through-out the NPS System;

• survey and monitor wildlife for diseasesand environmental toxins; and

• establish a wildlife serum and tissue bankfor future analysis.

A Washington Office initiative funded thepurchase of sample collection and storage sup-plies, basic training for park staff in wildlifenecropsy techniques, and diagnostic services tobe provided by the Wyoming State VeterinaryLaboratory. Personnel costs remain unfunded,and carcasses are sampled on a time availablebasis only.

In 1999, carcasses of one grizzly bear cub-of-the-year, one black bear, two antelope, twobighorn sheep, and two mountain lions werecollected. Necropsies were performed on theanimals. The grizzly cub appeared to have diedfrom intraspecific aggression by a larger grizzlybear. The adult male black bear died fromwounds inflicted by a bear-vehicle collision.The mountain lions appeared to have died fromintraspecific aggression from other male moun-tain lions. One antelope died due to predation bycoyotes, and the other antelope appeared to havedied by drowning. Both bighorn sheep (one ramand one female lamb) appeared to have died dueto complications from pneumonia and malnutri-tion. In the case of the ram, complicationsrelated to old age also were a factor in the death.

After eight years (1992–99) of the program,192 animals representing 35 different specieshave been sampled (Table 7). To date, signifi-cant findings of the program include:

1)Rabies. Tests conducted on 10 littlebrown bats, seven coyotes, one grizzlybear, two red fox, one silver haired bat,and one mouse were all negative.

2)Canine parvovirus. Evidence of canineparvovirus-induced mortality was foundin coyotes on the northern range.

3)Canine distemper. Canine distemper-induced mortality was found in a pinemarten collected in the Old Faithful area.

4)Vitamin deficiency. A little brown batcollected at Grant Village had abnormallysoft bones, possibly caused by a phos-phorous or vitamin D deficiency.

5)Louse infestation. A juvenile whitepelican collected from Yellowstone Lakemay have died due to a heavy louse(Piagetiella peralis) infestation of thepouch.

Table 7. YNP wildlife health samples, 1992–99.

SPECIES NUMBER OF SAMPLES COLLECTED

Antelope 5Badger 2Beaver 1Bighorn Sheep 7Bison 1Black Bear 6Bobcat 1Bull Snake 1Canada Goose 1Coyote 47a

Deer Mouse 4Elk 22Great Blue Heron 1Great Gray Owl 1Grizzly Bear 4Little Brown Bat 19Long-tailed Weasel 4Moose 5Mountain Lion 3Mule Deer 9Osprey 1Pine Marten 13Raccoon 1Red Fox 4Red Squirrel 4Ruffed Grouse 2Short-tailed Weasel 2Silver Haired Bat 1Skunk 2Snowshoe Hare 5Uinta Ground Squirrel 4Vole 1White Pelican 1White-tailed Jackrabbit 2Yellowbelly Marmot 5Total 192a Includes 12 live coyotes sampled for external parasites. WildlifeDNA Tissue Banking Program.


6)Intraspecific aggression. Evidence ofintraspecific and interspecific aggressionin bears resulted in the deaths of a sub-adult female grizzly bear, a male COYgrizzly bear, and an adult male blackbear. Evidence of intraspecific aggres-sion in mountain lions resulted in thedeaths of a two-year-old male and athree-year-old male.

7)Pasteurella and lungworm infestation.A bighorn ram collected between Mam-moth and Gardiner may have died due tolungworm parasites and Pasteurellahemolytica leading to pneumonia.

8)Renal medullary amyloidosis. Abighorn ewe collected between Mam-moth and Gardiner died of trauma due tobeing hit by a vehicle. The ewe also hadkidney lesions indicative of end- stagerenal disease caused by amyloidosis.

9)Pneumonia and malnutrition. Onebighorn sheep ram collected in the LamarValley and one bighorn sheep femalelamb collected between Mammoth andGardiner died from complications due topneumonia and malnutrition. Old agewas also a factor in the death of thebighorn sheep ram.

Wildlife DNA Tissue Banking. In 1999,DNA tissue and hair samples were collectedfrom 11 antelope, two bighorn sheep, one blackbear, one coyote, three moose, and two mountainlions. In addition, 15 DNA samples were col-lected from live mountain lions involved in aresearch project. After nine years of the program(1991–99), samples have been collected from277 animals representing 11 species (Table 8).

WOLVES

Population StatusAfter a period of rapid increase during the

first three years after reintroduction, the growthin the GYA wolf population slowed in 1999. Atyear’s end, the population numbered approxi-mately 118 individuals, 101 of which belongedto 11 packs. Three packs resided entirely outside

YNP: two in Wyoming (Gros Ventre and Tetonpacks) and one in Montana (Sheep Mountainpack). There were no new packs that could becounted toward wolf population recovery in1999. To meet the requirements for delisting thewolf as an endangered species, 10 breeding pairswith at least two pups-of-the-year that surviveuntil December 31 are needed in each of thethree recovery areas for three consecutive years.While eight of the GYA packs had breeding pairsthat would count toward recovery, only six ofthese packs had two pups that survived to theend of the year. Of the five packs that did notcount toward delisting, one pack did not breed,the alpha male in two packs died before year’send, and two packs had only one pup survivingas of December 31.

From 1995 through early 1999, YellowstoneNational Park staff were responsible for wolfmonitoring throughout the GYA. Beginning inFebruary 1999, the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService stationed two people in Lander, Wyo-ming, to assist with wolf monitoring and man-agement, especially for wolves residing prima-rily to the south and east of the park.

Reproduction. At least 64 pups were born

Table 8. YNP wildlife DNA samples, 1991–99.

NUMBER OF SAMPLES NUMBER OF SAMPLES

SPECIES COLLECTED 1991–99 STILL NEEDED

Antelope 23 27Bighorn Sheep 8a 42Bison 60 0Black Bear 6 44Coyote 22 28Elk 50 0Grizzly Bear 2b 48Moose 30 20Mountain Goat 0 50Mountain Lion 21c 29Mule Deer 54 0Whitetail Deer 1 49Total 277 337a One sample collected outside YNP from herd that resides inside YNPfor part of the year.b These DNA samples are separate from the grizzly bear hair samplescollected from hair snares on cutthroat trout spawning streams.c Includes 17 live samples and samples from 4 dead mountain lions.


in the GYA in 1999: 12 litters produced by 10 ofthe established packs, and one litter of three pupsborn to a wolf pair that is not considered part ofan established pack. The only other establishedpack (Soda Butte) has not produced a litter since1997. However, the Rose Creek pack had threebreeding females, making 1999 the third con-secutive year in which more than one RoseCreek female bred. The litters ranged in sizefrom 1 to 7 pups and averaged 5.3 pups.

Only 38 (59%) pups were known to be aliveat the end of 1999. This was the lowest annualrate of pup survival that has been recorded in thereintroduced GYA wolf population. (The sur-vival rate ranged from 73% to 81% from 1996through 1998.) At the end of 1999, 32 percent ofthe GYA wolf population was pups, compared toan average of 38 percent for the period 1995through 1999.

Five of the females that bred in 1998 usedthe same den sites that they did in 1999. Threepacks denned for the first time in 1999. Remotetelemetry was again used to monitor two densites on Yellowstone’s northern range. Wolfpups in YNP were born between April 2 and

April 27; their average birth date was April 13.Mortalities. In addition to pups that died

during spring and summer, 14 wolves are knownto have died in the GYA in 1999: six (43%)adults, two (14%) yearlings, and six (43%) pups(born spring 1998). Ten of the losses werehuman caused: eight were due to control actionsfor livestock depredation; one was the result of acollision with a vehicle; and one was euthanizeddue to a capture-related injury. One wolf prob-ably died of disease, two were killed by otherwolves, and the cause of one death remainsunknown. Ten of the deaths occurred outside thepark. Since 1995, most wolf mortalities havebeen caused by humans in management actions,illegal killings, or vehicle collisions.

Population MovementsWolf ranges in the GYA expanded very

little in 1999, and the territories of the estab-lished packs remained essentially the same. TheChief Joseph II pack became autonomous fromthe Chief Joseph I pack and was renamed theSheep Mountain pack. The Chief Joseph I packwas renamed the Chief Joseph pack. Theyranged north of the park in the Gallatin NationalForest. One new pack formed north of the park,but the alpha female died of unknown causes inlate 1999. A disperser from the Rose Creekpack, she was the only collared individual in thegroup. The fate of her uncollared mate and theirpups is unknown.

Several wolves dispersed from establishedpacks late in 1999, but it is unknown whetherany of these individuals will form new packs.Areas of new wolf activity included the TowerJunction and Sepulcher Mountain areas innorthern YNP, the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilder-ness east of YNP, and the Gallatin NationalForest northwest of YNP. Wolf pack territorysizes ranged from 88 km2 (Sunlight Basin pack)to 2,419 km2 (Soda Butte pack). Average terri-tory size was 891 km2.

Leopold pack. Similar to previous years,this pack primarily used the Blacktail DeerPlateau and Swan Lake Flats area in northernYNP. They reproduced for the fourth consecu-

Greater Yellowstone Wolf Pack Territories, 1999

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

Teton

SodaButte

Sunlight

Leopold

ChiefJoseph

CrystalCreek

NezPerce

Sheep Mountain

Druid PeakRoseCreek


tive year, and used the same den site for the thirdyear in a row. Only one pup from the 1999cohort survived, leaving a total of 11 wolves inthe pack at year’s end.

Chief Joseph pack. Considered separatefrom the Chief Joseph II (renamed Sheep Moun-tain) pack in 1999, the Chief Joseph pack rangedthe northwest portion of the park, as it had from1996 to 1998. They reproduced a third consecu-tive year and had six pups. Two pups werekilled during a livestock control action that wasprompted by their depredation on six sheep inTom Miner Basin north of the park. This packtotaled eight wolves at the end of 1999.

Rose Creek pack. Another pack with astable territory, the Rose Creek pack occupiedthe lower Hellroaring and Slough creek water-sheds in the central portion of YNP’s northernrange. Together with the Crystal and Soda Buttepacks, the Rose Creek pack is among the oldestin the GYA. As of early 1999, each of thesepacks still had their original alpha female fromthe 1995 reintroduction. Number 9, however,who has made the greatest genetic contributionto the GYA wolf population, was forced out ofthe pack in late 1999. Her daughter (uncollared#18) has assumed the alpha female role. Fieldobservations indicated that #18 was dominant to#9 before #9 dispersed. Number 9 now resideseast of the park in the Absaroka-BeartoothWilderness and is loosely affiliated with threeother wolves. Three Rose Creek females (#9,#18, and #78) produced litters in separate densduring 1999. Number 78 produced five pups,three of which were known to have survived tothe end of the year. However, #78’s group neverrejoined the Rose Creek pack after denning.Most non-alpha wolves in this pack focused theiractivity around #18’s den and her seven pups.Number 9 produced six pups at a new locationand raised them with little support from the corepack members. All Rose Creek wolves, except#78’s group, used their traditional BuffaloPlateau rendezvous site. Only six total pupsfrom #18 and #9 survived to year’s end. At 16individuals, this is still the largest GYA pack.

Druid Peak pack. The last of the “big

three” (Leopold, Rose, and Druid—called thebig three because they are so visible and so muchis known about them), the Druid Peak pack livedin Lamar Valley. From 1996 through the end of1999, approximately 50,000 visitors had seenthis pack, arguably making them the mostviewed wolf pack in the world. They had onelitter of six pups, but only two survived. Num-ber 42 (#40’s subordinate sister) also denned, butit is unknown if she whelped or experienced apseudopregnancy. Shortly after #42 localizednear a den hole, #40 attacked #42, which couldhave affected any pups she might have beentending. After #42 abandoned her den hole, anexamination of the area never produced anyevidence that she had pups. Afterwards, #42rejoined the main pack. The Druid Peak packcomprised eight wolves at the end of 1999.

Crystal Creek pack. Carving out a year-round existence in Pelican Valley, the CrystalCreek pack has learned to kill bison. The Peli-can Valley area, which supports many elk duringthe snow-free portion of the year, supports veryfew during the winter. However, several hun-dred bison live in Pelican Valley, no matter howsevere the winter. When bison weaken duringlate March due to protracted winter conditions,the Crystal wolves increase their frequency ofbison kills. In 1999, wolf project field workersobserved two bison being killed by the CrystalCreek wolves—both in March. Ten and 14wolves were involved with the kills, suggestingthat it may take more wolves to bring down abison than it does an elk. Only one pup wasobserved in the Crystal Creek pack, which had atotal of 13 wolves at the end of 1999.

Soda Butte pack. Ranging over the largestarea of any pack in the GYA, the Soda Buttepack’s territory ran from Jackson Hole toHayden Valley in YNP. They did not reproducefor the second consecutive year. Alpha female#14 was still without a mate in late 1999, eventhough she traveled briefly with male #104.About the time #14 was observed with #104,four other pack members (#44, #123, #124, and#126) dispersed. Both #123 and #124 perished,#123 in a fight with the Crystal wolves and #124


due to unknown causes. Number 44 and #126eventually reunited with #14 to form a pack ofthree at the end of the year.

Nez Perce pack. Ten wolves were broughtfrom northwest Montana in late 1996 and re-leased in YNP in early 1997. However, eight ofthe wolves were subsequently removed due toconflicts with livestock. The other two wolves,#70 and #72, survived and are still members ofthis pack, which resides in the Madison-Fireholearea of the park. This pack has also killed bison,and it is the only pack in the GYA that is com-prised entirely of gray-colored wolves. In 1999,this pack chose a new den site and produced alitter of five pups, all of which apparently sur-vived through the end of the year, bringing thetotal pack size to 13 wolves.

Wolf Management ActivitiesRadio-collaring. This was the second year

that a systematic radio-collaring effort took placein YNP. The primary purpose of collaring is topermit monitoring of wolf population dynamics,which is needed to document population recov-ery for the purpose of delisting the wolf as anendangered species. Twenty-four wolves fromseven packs were darted from a helicopter inJanuary and February. The age composition ofthese wolves was 13 pups (54%), 7 subadults(29%), and 4 adults (17%). Ten males and 14females were captured. As a result of this effort,23 wolves from seven packs received radio-collars; the total number of collared wolves at

the end of 1999 was 47.One wolf was hit in the leg by a dart, which

produced a compound fracture. The two veteri-narians who examined the animal both gave it aminimal chance of survival in the wild aftertreatment. This has been the only wolf that hashad to be euthanized in 183 captures.

Wolf condition again appeared exception-ally good. The range of weights for all age andsex classes was 90–130 pounds. Adult femalesaveraged 108 pounds. No adult males werecaptured. Male and female pups averaged 107and 96 pounds, respectively.

Denning area closures. To prevent humandisturbance of young pups, visitor entry wasclosed to areas surrounding the dens of the RoseCreek and Druid Peak packs from May 3 to June30 and from April 16 to July 30, respectively.Closed areas were about four square miles andwere centered around the dens. A no-stoppingzone was also instituted along the road to CookeCity near the den of the Druid Peak pack todiscourage visitors from parking their vehiclesoutside established turnouts and to keep themfrom stopping near wolves that were trying tocross the road near the den. Hiking trails in thevicinity of the Rose Creek and Druid closuresremained open to visitors. The Daly Creekdrainage southeast of the Daly Creek trail wasclosed to protect Chief Joseph pups from aboutApril 15 to June 15. The trail and the areanorthwest of the trail remained open to hiking.Newborns at the den sites for the Leopold,Crystal Creek, and Nez Perce packs were pro-tected from disturbance incidental to closures forthe Blacktail (March 10 to June 30), PelicanValley (April 1 to July 3), and Firehole (March10 to about May 26) bear management areas.

Pen removal. The wolf acclimation penswere removed from the Trail Creek and FishingBridge sites during late August 1999. Responsi-bility for the Trail Creek pen was transferredfrom the NPS to the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService. The panels used to construct the penwere transported to the Flying-D Ranch nearBozeman, Montana, to support research oncaptive wolves with a history of depredation.

Two Druid Peak wolves were tranquilized and fit with

radio collars while biologists collected scientific data.

Photo by William Campbell.


Predation on domestic animals. Wolveskilled 4 cattle, 13 sheep, 1 foal, and 6 dogs in theGYA during 1999. Although this is more thanthe total of 15 domestic animals killed by wolvesin 1998, it is far fewer than the 72 losses thatoccurred in 1997. Eight wolves in the ChiefJoseph and Sheep Mountain packs were killedduring control actions in response to livestocklosses; none of them were translocated.

Research ProjectsWolf-prey relationships. Wolf-prey

relationships were documented by observingwolf predation directly and by recording charac-teristics of wolf prey at kill sites. Wolf packswere monitored during two winter-study ses-sions, when wolves were intensively radio-tracked each day for 30 consecutive days duringMarch and November–December. The Leopold,Rose Creek, and Druid Peak packs were moni-tored by two-person teams from the ground andfrom aircraft; the Chief Joseph, Crystal Creek,Soda Butte, and Nez Perce packs were monitoredfrom aircraft only. Behavioral interactionsbetween wolves and prey, predation rates, thetotal time wolves fed on their kills, the percent-age of consumption of kills by wolves andscavengers, condition of wolf prey, and charac-teristics of kill sites were recorded and enteredinto a database. The abundance and sex-agecomposition of elk within wolf pack territorieswere also estimated.

Project staff detected 110 definite and 206probable kills made by wolves in 1999, includ-ing 276 elk (87%), 14 bison (4%), 7 moose(2%), 2 mule deer (<1%), 3 coyotes (1%), 1short-eared owl (<1%), 1 wolf (<1%), and 12unknown prey (4%). The composition of elkkills was 44% calves (0–12 months), 21% cows,22% bulls, 4% adults of unknown sex, and 9%elk of unknown age and sex. Bison kills in-cluded nine calves, two cows, and three adults ofunknown sex. Moose kills included two calves,two cows, and three adults of unknown sex.Most bison and moose were killed during latewinter. Packs that resided on the northern rangeaveraged one ungulate kill every one to three

days during March and one kill every two tothree days during November–December.

Wolf genetics studies. Familial relation-ships among Yellowstone wolves were estimatedusing microsatellite analysis of DNA that wascollected from live-captured or dead wolves,1995 to 1999. Ninety free-ranging wolves bornin nine different packs were genotyped at 23loci. A wolf pedigree was constructed. Prelimi-nary results suggested that immediately afterreintroduction, Yellowstone wolves were morepolygynous than in areas characterized bywolves in long-standing populations. This workis a collaborative effort with Eric Mathur andDorris Hafenbradl at the Diversa Corporation,Janet Zeigle and Larry Joe at the Celera AgenCorporation, Dr. Karl Broman at Johns HopkinsUniversity, Dr. Michael McClelland at theSidney Kimmel Cancer Center, and John Varleyand Sarah (Broadbent) Stevenson in the YCR.

Collaborative research. The wolf projectprovides financial and in-kind support for col-laborative research by graduate students andother research scientists affiliated with otherinstitutions, primarily universities. In 1999, wolfproject personnel assisted in supervising fivegraduate students whose topics included: leader-ship—ecological implications of social behaviorin gray wolves; hunting success of gray wolvesand pursuit deterrence signals of elk in Yellow-stone; spatial and temporal variability ofYellowstone’s northern range elk herd in wolfpack territories; common ravens following graywolves as a foraging strategy in Yellowstone;and denning behavior of wolves on Yellow-stone’s northern range. Other collaborativeresearch included: wolf-cougar interactions(Hornocker Wildlife Institute); wolf-coyoteinteractions (Yellowstone Ecosystem Studies);wolf-elk relationships in the Firehole watershed,and wolf stress hormones (Montana State Uni-versity); wolf-scavenger relationships (CaliforniaState University, Berkeley); wolf-carnivore-human interactions (Hornocker Wildlife Insti-tute; Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team;USFS, Gallatin NF, Gardiner District; andMontana Dept. of Fish, Wildlife and Parks).

This section describes the work accomplished or coordinated by the YCR staff who provideservices for other YCR branches and other park divisions:

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

• Resource Information, which produces publications and provides special programs on naturaland cultural resource topics;

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

SPATIAL ANALYSIS CENTER

The Spatial Analysis Center (SAC) is the home of the park’s geographic information system(GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), image analysis, soil information support, and a park resourcedatabase system. Its main business is the acquisition, analysis, organization, presentation, and storageof information, especially that concerning the park’s cultural and natural resources. SAC’s goals are tomaintain an up-to-date GIS lab, provide GPS equipment and expertise, increase the GIS and GPS skilllevel of park staff, acquire new data and make it useful, provide information and technical support topark staff, and make information available to outside agencies and the public.

SAC supports a wide variety of projects, including viewshed modeling for cellular telephonetower installation, whooping crane historic distribution maps, resource maps for proposed construc-tion sites, prescribed burn site maps, database construction for GYA weed locations, maps ofdifferent alternatives for the bison EIS, and detailed geyser basin maps for visitor centers. The

Part IV. Yellowstone Center forResources and Parkwide Support

Thermal area inventory including GPS point locations. NPS photo.

72 Support

following are some of the other projects thatSAC staff supported or initiated during 1999:

• Over the last three years, SAC staff havebeen working with the Maintenance andResource Management Operations andVisitor Protection divisions to createaccurate spatial layers for all the back-country trails, campsites, trail bridges,and cabins in the park. The database hasbeen built by walking every trail andvisiting every campsite with a GPS unit.Almost all of the field data collection wascompleted in 1999. In 2000, these datalayers will be error-checked and availablefrom the GIS lab.

• A river and stream hydrology layer wascompleted, which includes all the “bluelines” (indicating water sources) found onthe USGS 1:24,000 quadrangle maps. Inaddition to feature names, the SONYEWnumbers used by the Aquatic ResourcesCenter were added, allowing informationabout fish populations, water quality, andmacro-invertebrates to be joined to the

stream segments.• A spatial inventory of thermal areas,

including point locations collected withGPS units and converted into GIS layers,was continued. Data such as temperature,pH, and conductivity were also collectedand attached to each point location, alongwith a digital photograph of the feature.In 1999, 1,200 features in the Upper andLower geyser basins, Gibbon GeyserBasin, Smoke Jumper Hot Springs, andShoshone Geyser Basin were added to the1,100 features surveyed in 1998.

• Spatial databases were created for eightresearch exclosures (two near Gardiner,one in Mammoth, two on Blacktail DeerPlateau, one near Trumpeter Lake, andtwo in Lamar Valley) built in the late1950s and early 1960s. The informationincludes the actual fence lines, plus thelocations of transects, witness posts, photopoints, and quadrant points.

• Eighty-three borrow pits have beendocumented in a spatial database. At-

A map created by the Spatial Analysis Center, with accurate spatial layers for backcountry trails,

campsites, and cabins.


tributes such as pit name, deposit type,total area, disturbed area, former use,existing use, and comments about visibil-ity are included along with the pit loca-tion.

• SAC staff worked to share cross-boundarydata of mutual interest with a variety ofdifferent agencies, including GallatinCounty, Montana; United States ForestService (Gallatin, Targhee, Bridger-Teton, and Shoshone national forests);Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Mon-tana State University; University ofWyoming; and many others.

• An accurate GIS layer of all park build-ings is nearly complete. The database haslinks to building databases maintained bythe Maintenance and Concessions divi-sions, the cultural resources branch, andthe park’s concessioner, AmFac Parksand Resorts.

• Using very accurate GPS units, SAC staffupdated the GIS layer of the park’s roadsystem. All secondary and service roadsare now included along with the mainroad system. The data includes attributessuch as name, road type, speed limit, androad condition.

• SAC staff continued to support projectsassociated with the Federal Highwaysprogram. This involved continuing toupdate databases for rare plants, archeol-ogy sites, and wetlands. In addition, SACstaff provided GPS support for mappingrare plant locations, delineating wetlands,and documenting archeological sites andhistoric structures.

New Hardware and SoftwareSAC continued to run its GIS software on

Windows NT. In 1999, a powerful server andfive new computers were added to the GIS lab,bringing the total number of computers with GIScapability to 14. A scanner, two digital cameras,and another CD writer were also added to thelab. Two image processing software packages,ERDAS Imagine and Environmental Systems

ENVI, were purchased to classify remotelysensed images. This is a very cost-effectivemethod of data collection for updating existinglayers and detecting changes over time. Five newGPS units were added—a Trimble GeoExplorerII, a Rockwell PLGR, and three Trimble ProXunits. Software and dataloggers were upgradedon the six older units, bringing the total number ofGPS units available for staff use to 11.

Resource Database DevelopmentSAC staff continued work on a database

designed to make relevant resource and infrastruc-ture information more accessible to people in-volved with project planning, compliance, andimplementation. It involved the development ofdetailed GIS layers tied to a database of informa-tion about each developed area and road corridor.The information will include data about historicstructures and other important cultural resourceinformation, surficial and bedrock geology, soils,wetlands, important natural resources (e.g.,threatened and endangered species, species ofspecial concern, important or delicate habitats),existing infrastructure (roads, trails, and build-ings), and other subjects of interest. A simpleinterface will be developed in 2000, allowing theuser to query the database and create maps,charts, and reports. It will also be possible toattach photographs, drawings, and other scanneddocuments that help clarify a resource situation.This database will be accessible over the park’sIntranet.

OutreachSAC staff continued to make GIS technol-

ogy directly available to park employees byproviding equipment, data, and training. The GISLab is available to all employees, and spatial datais accessible over the park network. SAC staffalso continued to support GIS software on com-puters outside of the lab and provide data on CDsto those who were not networked. In November1999, SAC staff taught a three-day, beginningArcView class to 15 Yellowstone employees.SAC staff also provided GPS training thatincluded collecting field data with GPS units,

74 Support

differentially correcting the GPS data, andconverting this corrected data into usable GISlayers.

RESOURCE INFORMATION

PublicationsSeveral staff changes occurred in the re-

source information group in 1999; technicalwriter-editor Sarah (Broadbent) Stevensonmoved on in June after more than a decade withthe park, and visual information specialist RenéeEvanoff reduced her workload to intermittent toaccommodate another business opportunity.This made for a noticeable lull in the publicationproduction schedule, marked by the omission ofone volume of the typically quarterly Yellow-stone Science, and fewer than usual issues of TheBuffalo Chip for the year. The continued out-standing contributions of returning volunteers,writer Mary Ann Franke, retired wildlife biolo-gist Dr. Jim Caslick, and capable assistant EdnaCaslick, prevented the flow of resource publica-tions from grinding to a halt.

In its seventh year, Yellowstone Sciencefeatured articles on the previously missing pagesof the Folsom-Cook-Peterson expedition diary,the history of snowmobile use in the park,Yellowstone’s amphibians, coyote ecology,whooping cranes, and the use of ground-penetrat-ing radar around Mammoth Hot Springs. Oneissue featured the complete printed versions ofspeeches made to the National Academy ofSciences committee reviewing ungulate manage-ment in the park. Donations continued to helpsupport the annual printing costs of YellowstoneScience, the rest of which were paid through agenerous grant from the Yellowstone Associa-tion.

The most noted contribution was completedproduction of the 1999 State of the Park report, a300-page summary of park programs and re-sources in all disciplines. Done at the request ofthe park superintendent, the report was begun in1997 in what was initially envisioned as part ofthe park’s 125th anniversary celebration. Instead,it became Part I of the park’s Business Plan, and

the precursor to a briefer,corporate annual report-type document outliningthe standards the parkwishes to maintain andthe resources needed toprovide such service.

Other publicationsproduced in 1999 in-cluded the YellowstoneCenter for Resources Annual Report, 1998; the1998 Yellowstone Wolf Project Annual Report,and reports on Pronghorn Distribution in Winter,1998–1999, and the 1998 Beaver Survey. YCRwriters authored features for the quarterly parknewspapers handed out to all visitors enteringYellowstone’s gates, and contributed to severalprojects undertaken by the Interpretation Divi-sion, such as the development of new waysideexhibits on the northern range and thermalfeatures in the Old Faithful area. Resourceinformation staff assisted the planning officewith the layout and printing of Winter VisitorUse Management: A Multi-Agency Assessmentand Effects of Winter Recreation on Wildlife ofthe Greater Yellowstone Area: A LiteratureReview and Assessment. Resource informationstaff again provided assistance to the landscapearchitecture branch for Yellowstone’s DesignStandards, and helped various staff produceslides and graphics to illustrate their oral andwritten presentations.

Fifth Biennial Science ConferenceResource information staff provided plan-

ning and logistical support for the park’s fifthbiennial science conference on the GreaterYellowstone Area. Planning actually began in1998, with the chosen theme of “Exotic Organ-isms in Greater Yellowstone: NativeBiodiversity Under Siege.” The “virtual” pro-gram committee convened in February 1999 andaccepted papers from more than 35 speakers.The visual information specialist designedspecial artwork to promote the conferencethrough registration materials in print and on thepark’s website. Publications staff also prepared


and distributed a program of abstracts andagendas highlighting the featured guest speakers:Dr. Daniel Botkin from University of Californiaat Santa Barbara, who presented theSuperintendent’s International Luncheon Lec-ture; Dr. Holmes Rolston from Colorado StateUniversity, who presented the Aubrey L. HainesLecture; and Dr. Barry Noon, also from Colo-rado State, who presented the A. Starker LeopoldLecture.

About 150 persons attended the conference,which was held at the Mammoth Hotel. Confer-ence registration fees adequately covered theexpenses associated with speakers’ travel andconference logistics and promotion. An arrange-ment was made with the editors of the former

Great Basin Naturalist, now the Western NorthAmerican Naturalist journal, to peer review andpublish accepted manuscripts submitted byconference participants in lieu of the less-presti-gious conference proceedings. Publication willlikely occur in 2001.

Presentations, Field Trips, and GeneralInformation

Resource Management Specialist (writer-editor) Sue Consolo Murphy responded to some100 written requests, phone calls, and e-mailinquiries about varied topics, especially ecosystemmanagement, biodiversity, human-wildlife interac-tions, wildland fire, threatened or endangeredspecies, elk and northern range management,bison management, geology and geothermalactivity, and finding employment in Yellowstoneor other national parks. She presented 24 illus-trated programs as an invited speaker to schools orother organizations in the ecosystem and togroups visiting the park, and arranged for otherYCR staff to give talks on topics including thosementioned above as well as aquatic resourcesmanagement, bioprospecting, bison management,elk and the northern range, and park geology.YCR staff gave a total of at least 139 programs in1999, and could not accommodate all requests foreducational services.

Resource seminars presented by visitingscientists and managers covered “Yellowstoneroads—a cultural landscape”; impacts of humanactivity on bighorn sheep; the response of willowsto ungulate browsing on the northern range; thebrown bears of Katmai, Lakota star knowledge,and the value of hyperspectral imagery. Re-source information staff also taught or assistedwith Yellowstone Institute courses on wolves,grizzly bears, birds, plants, and small mammals.They gave dozens of interviews and hostednational and international visitors, providingspecial tours in the field for many of theseguests. Resource information staff providedupdates for the park’s annual interpretive train-ing, the annual resource management workshop,and both NPS and concession employee orienta-tion sessions. Additional information and publi-

Dr. Daniel Botkin of the University of California at Santa

Barbara presented the 1999 Superintendent’s International

Luncheon Lecture, “The Naturalness of Biological

Invasions.” Photo by Paul Schullery.

76 Support

cations were added to the park’s website, with aconsiderable backlog of additions still neededthere.

Contributions to Other ProjectsThe resource management specialist contin-

ued to participate on an interagency team prepar-ing a Conservation Strategy for long-term man-agement of grizzly bears in greater Yellowstone,and with the interpretation and education sub-committee addressing public release plans forthe strategy. Writer-editor Sarah (Broadbent)Stevenson continued to facilitate analysis andinterpretation of data on wolf genetics andpaternity. She arranged logistics for and partici-pated in a workshop held at the Lamar BuffaloRanch in the spring, attended by park wolfbiologists and technicians from the DiversaCorporation and ZooGen laboratories.

RESEARCH SUPPORT

Yellowstone has been a magnet for scien-tific research on everything from archeology tozoology since 1871, when geologist FerdinandHayden organized one of the first expeditionsinto the region. In 1898, the first formal research

permit was issued to William Setchell for thestudy of Yellowstone’s microorganisms. Sincethen, the park has continued to be an importantresource to the scientific community, and discov-eries made in the park have made significantcontributions to scientific knowledge.

Yellowstone’s mission to preserve itsresources “unimpaired for future generations”makes research support possible. This missionhas resulted in a nearly intact ecosystem, com-plete with tourist amenities. Yellowstone’spreserved environment offers an unparalleledplace for scientific study. Equally important toYellowstone researchers is the National ParkService’s commitment to make scientific study apriority in determining appropriate activitieswithin the park.

Scientists who study life in extreme envi-ronments travel the globe to find the most inhos-pitable habitats. They go to Antarctica, mid-ocean ridges, super salty tidal flats, the DeadSea, the Atacama desert where rain never falls...and Yellowstone National Park! Yellowstone’spreserved thermal habitats are home to a widearray of unknown microorganisms. Even thoughmicrobiologists have barely begun to evenidentify the microorganisms present in the park,

A dead tree root wad found on Mt. Washburn by

researcher Dr. Lisa J. Graumlich of the Mountain

Research Center at Montana State University. Pieces of

this and similar trees contributed to the first tree ring

chronology in the park to go back over 1,500 years.

Photo courtesy Dr. Graumlich.

One of many formations in Monument Basin that appears

similar to the spires recently discovered on the bottom of

Yellowstone Lake. Some of the hundreds of newly

discovered pinnacles and spires in the lake are over 60 feet

tall. Photo courtesy researcher Dr. Lisa Morgan of the

U.S. Geological Survey.


their work has already had a significant impacton science and society.

For example, Yellowstone research microbi-ologists have contributed to:

• insights into the evolution of life onEarth;

• planning for the search for life on otherplanets;

• redefining the relationships among livingthings (plants, animals, bacteria) basedupon their genetic similarities and differ-ences;

• discovering how the global ecosystemcycles elements through microbial action;and

• one of the most widely used techniquesfor DNA fingerprinting.

Yellowstone microbiologists are asking andattempting to solve questions such as:

• Can bioremediation techniques be devel-oped to clean up a variety of toxic wastes?

• Is it practical to use a newly inventedmethod (rather than the current methodusing toxic chemicals) to remove aircraftpaint?

• How can the study of thermophiles teachus about repairing DNA or withstandingtoxic doses of radiation?

• How will we recognize fossils from otherplanets that are evidence that life existedon those planets?

• Can a method be invented to more accu-rately diagnose brucellosis in bison?

In 1999, 256 research projects were ap-proved; 71 were new, and 185 were continuedfrom previous years. An additional 20 investiga-tors were assisted as they explored the possibilityof performing research in Yellowstone, but theynever submitted formal applications. About 30percent of all hypothesis-driven research inYellowstone attempts to answer questions relatedto the park’s extraordinary animals, such asbirds, bugs, and buffalo. Nearly 20 percent ofhypothesis-driven research relates to microor-ganisms, and another 20 percent is dedicated to

geology. Studies of the park’s aquatic systemsand plant populations each account for another10 percent of research projects. The remainingprojects include such important endeavors asarcheological surveys, air quality studies, fireconditions monitoring, and paleontology. Inaddition, 10 percent of all research permits arenot driven by the search to prove or disprove ahypothesis. These permits support the educationof future scientists by allowing students and theirteachers to conduct simple scientific studies inthe park.

The responsibility for ensuring that allresearch activities in Yellowstone are in keepingwith the park mission is vested in a ResearchReview Committee composed of representativesfrom the Yellowstone Center for Resources, theOffice of Planning and Compliance, and theResource Management Operations and VisitorProtection, Maintenance, and Interpretationdivisions. As part of the NPS system of researchmonitoring and reporting, each year researcherswho have been granted permits are required tosubmit a summary of their work that is publishedin the park’s Investigators’ Annual Report. The1997–98 Investigators’ Annual Reports areavailable on Yellowstone’s web site atwww.nps.gov/yell.

FUNDING AND PERSONNEL

Base Operating BudgetA base operating budget of $2,531,900 for

the YCR was approved by Superintendent Finleyin February 1999. This represented an increaseof $286,300 over FY98 funding levels. Theincrease was used to cover salary and benefitsincreases and to re-establish professional re-source management positions in the fields ofbiology and geology.

Additional FundingRecreation Fee Demonstration funds. On

June 26, 1999, YCR Director John Varley andBudget Analyst Melissa McAdam attended asenior staff meeting called by SuperintendentMike Finley and Assistant Superintendent Marv

78 Support

Jensen to re-authorize funds for FY98 Recre-ation Fee Demonstration projects and to distrib-ute approximately $2.1 million for FY99 projectstarts. Because the Fee Demonstration programemphasizes infrastructure improvements, onemillion dollars of the total available was setaside for the Maintenance Division, and theremaining funds were distributed among allother projects. The YCR submitted 19 newcultural, natural, and GIS projects, of which 10were at least partially funded, for a total of$298,540. In addition, approved project propos-als submitted by the Maintenance Division andthe planning office contained allowances forarcheological compliance and bison winterstudies.

Funding for the projects in Table 1 wasapproved for FY99 only; requests for funds tocontinue these projects beyond FY99 will beevaluated in the future. In some cases, thesuperintendent was only able to provide “seed”money to start the planning process or to explorethe feasibility of projects.

Fishing fee program. The YCR receivedauthorization to use $285,000 from fishingpermit fee revenue to partially cover the esti-mated $400,000 total cost of the aquatic re-sources program in FY99.

Federal Lands Highway Program. Fed-eral Highways funded $396,500 for naturalresource inventories, archeological surveys, andresource compliance along the road corridors inthe park scheduled for major repair or reconstruc-tion in the near future.

Special Emphasis Program AllocationSystem. The Branch of Natural Resources didnot receive any funding for proposals submittedfor consideration under this funding source inFY99.

The Branch of Cultural Resources success-fully competed for a total of $221,900 in Cul-tural Resource Preservation Program and relatedfunding. These funds were used for archive andlibrary preservation projects, updating accessionrecords, historic photo collection storage, NationalRegister evaluations and nominations of archeo-logical sites, and cataloging part of the backlogof museum collection items.

Other Park Service and federal funds.The YCR administered funds and providedsupport for a number of other federally-spon-sored projects in FY99, most significantly thebison management plan and court-orderedenvironmental impact statement ($74,600), theNational Spatial Data Infrastructure informationcenter ($25,000), and USGS grizzly bear studies

Table 1. Projects funded in 1999.

PROJECT TITLE APPROVED FY99 $ PROJECT LEAD

Develop GIS Databases $84,000 Ann RodmanYellowstone’s Developed AreasHistoric Structures (year 1 of possible 3)

Study Northern Yellowstone Pronghorn Ecology $90,000 Wendy ClarkPhase I: Pronghorn Fecundity Study

Heritage & Resource Center Site Analysis and Preliminary Design $19,540 Laura Joss & John Sacklin(FY98 authorized $30,460 + FY99 authorized $19,540= $50,000 total for project)

Make Photo Archives & Museum Collection Accessible via $25,000 Susan KraftInternet/WWW

Install Electronic Fish Counters on Remote Spawning Streams $25,000 Dan MahonyGrizzly Bear DNA Analysis $10,000 Kerry GuntherRehab Museum Areas for Visitor Access, Safety, Resource Protection $15,000 Susan KraftConduct Oral History Interviews on Bison/Other Ungulate $10,000 Lee Whittlesey

Management HistoryInstall Aspen Research Plots $10,000 Roy RenkinInventory Geothermal Features $10,000 Ann Rodman


Ann Johnson, Yellowstone’s full-time archeologist.

NPS photo.

and bison-related research ($76,500),A Challenge Cost Share grant of $4,000

was awarded to park archivist Lee Whittlesey forimprovements to the Yellowstone ResearchLibrary database, allowing better public accessto the collection. Another $1,400 was allocatedto produce research copies of fragile historicphotographs. Both projects were co-sponsoredby the Yellowstone Association.

Private funds. A total of $56,700 wasdonated to the park by private organizations orindividuals for support of wolf recovery programoperations, whirling disease surveys, and bearmanagement operations.

PersonnelThere were 151 personnel actions processed

in FY99. Of special note were the following:• Glenn Plumb, formerly of Badlands

National Park, entered on duty early inFY99 as the Supervisory Wildlife Biolo-gist for the park.

• Regional Archeologist Ann Johnsontransferred to the Yellowstone payrollhalf-time beginning in FY99 and becamea full-time Yellowstone employee effec-tive FY2000 (October 1999).

• Recruiting efforts for a supervisoryfisheries biologist, a supervisory geologist,and a geothermal geologist were ongoingat the close of FY99 after being delayedby a hiring freeze imposed late in FY98.

ContractingTwenty-seven contracting actions were

processed in FY99, totaling obligations of$742,600 in contracts or task agreements. Thesemainly involved five projects: the YellowstoneThermophiles Conservation Project, the MontanaWater Compact, archeological surveys andevaluations, bison/brucellosis research, a prong-horn antelope study, and support of the GreaterYellowstone Data Clearinghouse project atMontana State University.

Procurement ActionsThere were 853 procurement actions pro-

cessed in FY99, totaling approximately$631,200.

Clerical SupportThere were 851 pieces of correspondence

and 276 travel authorizations processed in FY99.

80 Support

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APPENDIX I. PERSONNEL ROSTER FOR FISCAL YEAR 1999FTE Borrowed FTE

Headquarters/Professional SupportTami Blackford Secretary/Editorial Assistant 0.69Wayne Brewster Deputy Director 1.00Sarah (Broadbent) Stevenson Technical Writer-Editor 0.79Ann Deutch Administrative Assistant 0.83Renée Evanoff Visual Information Specialist 0.42Mary Ann Franke Resource Naturalist 0.17Sara Housley Clerk Typist 0.37Melissa McAdam Budget Analyst 1.00Sue Consolo Murphy Resource Management Specialist 1.00Joy Perius Administrative Assistant 1.00Paul Schullery Resource Naturalist 0.40Stacy Stermitz Secretary 0.88John Varley Director 1.00

Advanced Resources Technology/Spatial Analysis CenterMichael Heiner Computer Operator 0.09Nils Johnson Computer Operator 0.21Viktoria Magnis Computer Operator 0.82Jason Mann Computer Operator 0.25Kirk Meyer Computer Operator 0.23Ann Rodman Soils Scientist 1.00Shannon Savage Computer Operator 1.00Aaron Smith Computer Operator 0.22Rachel Webb Computer Operator 0.25

Natural ResourcesRebecca Anthony Biological Science Technician 0.45Timberley Belish Biological Science Technician 0.07Mark Biel Biological Science Technician 1.00Jennifer Carter Biological Science Technician 0.86Wendy Clark Wildlife Biologist 1.00Stu Coleman Chief, Branch of Natural Resources 0.26Shanna Driscoll Biological Science Technician 0.09Brian Ertel Biological Science Technician 1.00Trisha Giambra Biological Science Technician 0.44Jerry Gitter Survey Technician 0.06Rachael Gray Biological Science Aide 0.23Deb Guernsey Program Assistant 1.00Kerry Gunther Wildlife Biologist 1.00Mary Hektner Resource Management Specialist 1.00Christie Hendrix Biological Science Technician 0.44Bryan Irvin Biological Science Technician 0.15Sharit Koser Biological Science Technician 0.07Gregg Kurz Biological Science Technician 1.00Meredee Lloyd Biological Science Technician 0.46Jeff Lutch Biological Science Technician 1.00John Mack Wildlife Biologist 1.00Dan Mahony Fishery Biologist 1.00Misayo Matsuda Biological Science Technician 0.02

82 Appendix I

FTE Borrowed FTEKerrie McCartney Secretary 0.22Terry McEneaney Wildlife Biologist 1.00Richard McIntyre Biological Science Technician 0.38Kerry Murphy Wildlife Biologist 1.00Katherine Nittinger Biological Science Technician 0.19Dan Nolfi Biological Science Technician 0.30Glenn Plumb Supervisory Wildlife Biologist 0.93Roy Renkin Vegetation Mgmt. Specialist 1.00Freya Ross Secretary 0.12Jim Ruzycki Fishery Biologist 1.00Thomas Seals Biological Science Technician 0.39Dan Seifert Biological Science Technician 0.30Hope Sieck Biological Science Technician 0.16Jim Sinclair Biological Science Technician 0.02Doug Smith Wildlife Biologist 1.00Tim Thompson Physical Science Technician 0.29Debra Tirmenstein Biological Science Technician 0.06Jennifer Whipple Botanist 0.80Heather Zachary Clerk 0.67

Cultural ResourcesSean Cahill Museum Technician 0.22Vanessa Christopher Museum Technician 0.95Jon Dahlheim Management Assistant 1.00Kirk Dietz Museum Technician 0.64Leigh Anne Dunworth Cultural Resources Technician 0.21Elaine Hale Cultural Resources Technician 0.91Harold Housley Archives Specialist 0.77Ann Johnson Archeologist 0.50Lon Johnson Cultural Resources Technician 0.17Laura Joss Chief, Branch of Cultural Resources 0.98Susan Kraft Supervisory Museum Curator 0.99Kathryn Lancaster Library Technician 1.00Catherine Lentz Cultural Res. Program Manager 0.51Kerrie McCartney Secretary 0.10Kara Mills Cultural Resources Assistant 0.39Sally Plumb Cultural Resources Assistant 0.31Beth Raz Museum Aide 0.34Charissa Reid Cultural Resources Assistant 0.16Freya Ross Secretary 0.12Lee Whittlesey Archivist 1.00Heather Zachary Clerk 0.06

IGBST & BRDMaureen Hartmann Biological Science Technician 0.36Jason Hicks Biological Science Technician 0.34Tris Hoffman Biological Science Technician 0.17Craig Jamison Biological Science Technician 0.38Mark Lamoreux Biological Science Technician 0.17

TOTAL FTE 49.71 0.09


APPENDIX II. PUBLICATIONS, REPORTS, AND PAPERS

Professional PublicationsBangs, E.E., S.H. Fritts, J.A. Fontaine, D.W.

Smith, K.M. Murphy, C.M. Mack, and C.C.Niemeyer. 1999. Status of gray wolfrestoration in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.Wildl. Soc. Bull. 26(4):786–798.

Brust, J., and L.H. Whittlesey. 1999. Thomas J.Hine: one of Yellowstone’s earliest photogra-phers. Montana Magazine of Western History49 (Summer, 1999):14–23.

Caslick, J.W. 1999. Impacts of winter recreationon wildlife in Yellowstone National Park: aliterature review and recommendations.Appendix I, pages A–1 to 1–110 in Olliff, T.,K. Legg, and B. Kaeding, eds. 1999. Effectsof winter recreation on wildlife of the greaterYellowstone area: a literature review andassessment. Report to the Greater Yell.Coord. Committee, Yellowstone NationalPark, Wyo. 315p.

———, and E. Caslick. 1999. Pronghorndistribution in winter 1998–1999. Yellow-stone National Park. National Park Serv.,Yell. Center for Res., Mammoth Hot Springs,Wyo. YCR–NR–99–2.

Consolo-Murphy, S., and D.P. Reinhart. 1999.Restoring Fishing Bridge Campground: thechallenges of “undevelopment” in America’soldest national park. Pages 210–217 in D.Harmon, ed., On the frontiers of conservation:Proceedings of the 10th Conf. on Researchand Resource Manage. in Parks and on PublicLands. The George Wright Soc., Hancock,Michigan.

Gunther, K.A., and M.J. Biel. 1999. Reducinghuman-caused black and grizzly bearmortality along roadside corridors inYellowstone National Park. Pages 25–27 inProceedings of the International ConferenceWildlife Ecology and Transportation. FL–ER–73–99. Florida Department ofTransportation, Tallahassee. 330pp.

Huff, D.E., and J.D. Varley. 1999. Naturalregulation in Yellowstone National Park’snorthern range. Ecol. Appl. 9(1):17–29.

Knight, R.R., B.M. Blanchard, and P. Schullery.1999. Yellowstone bears in Clark, T.W., A.P.Curlee, S.C. Minta, and P.M. Kareiva, eds.Carnivores in ecosystems: the Yellowstoneexperience. Yale Univ. Press, New Haven,Conn. 429pp.

Kraft, S. 1999. Conservation of a YellowstoneStudebaker Wagon. CRM 22 (6):32–34.

———. 1999. Through ‘the Greatest Gatewayto the Greatest Park—Dudes on the Rails toYellowstone. CRM 22(10):18–21.

———, and G. Chappell. 1999. HistoricRailroads in the National Park System andBeyond. CRM 22(10):4–6.

Murphy, K.M., P.I. Ross, and M.G. Hornocker.1999. The ecology of anthropogenic influ-ences on cougars. Pages 77–102 in Clark,T.W., A.P. Curlee, S.C. Minta, and P.M.Kareiva, eds. Carnivores in ecosystems: theYellowstone experience. Yale Univ. Press,New Haven, Conn. 429pp.

Schullery, P., and L. Whittlesey. 1999. GreaterYellowstone carnivores: a history of chang-ing attitudes. Pages 11–59 in Clark, T.W.,A.P. Curlee, S.C. Minta, and P.M. Kareiva,eds. Carnivores in ecosystems: the Yellow-stone experience. Yale Univ. Press, NewHaven, Conn. 429pp.

Singer, F.J. and J.A. Mack. 1999. Predicting theeffects of wildfire and carnivore predation onungulates. Pages 189–238 in Clark, T.W.,A.P. Curlee, S.C. Minta, and P.M. Kareiva,eds. Carnivores in ecosystems: the Yellow-stone experience. Yale Univ. Press, NewHaven, Conn. 429pp.

Smith, D.W. 1999. Beaver survey inYellowstone National Park, 1998. Nat. ParkServ., Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. YCR–NR–99–3.

The following publications and reports published in 1999 were authored or co-authored by Yellow-stone Center for Resources staff.

84 Appendix II

———, W.G. Brewster, and E.E. Bangs. 1999.Wolves in the greater Yellowstone ecosys-tem: restoration of a top carnivore in acomplex management environment. Pages103–126 in Clark, T.W., A.P. Curlee, S.C.Minta, and P.M. Kareiva, eds. Carnivores inecosystems: the Yellowstone experience.Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, Conn. 429pp.

Speece, M., and L. Joss. 1999. Ground pen-etrating radar studies at Mammoth HotSprings. Yellowstone Science 7(2):11–14.

Whittlesey, L.H. 1999. ‘Everyone can under-stand a picture’: photographers and thepromotion of early Yellowstone. MontanaMagazine of Western History 49(Summer,1999):2–13.

Yellowstone National Park. 1999. The state ofthe park. National Park Service, MammothHot Springs, Wyo. 304pp.

———. 1999. Yellowstone Center forResources, annual report, 1998. Natl. ParkServ., Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. 78pp.

Administrative ReportsGunther, K.A., and M.J. Biel. 1999. Annual

report of bear management activitiesconducted under endangered speciessubpermit #87–1. Unpubl. report on file atBear Management Office, YellowstoneNational Park, Wyo. 6pp.

———, ———, R.A. Renkin, and H.N.Zachary. 1999. Influence of season, parkvisitation, and mode of transportation on thefrequency of road-killed wildlife inYellowstone National Park. Unpubl. reporton file at Bear Management Office,Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. 12pp.

———, ———, H.L. Robison, H.N. Zachary,J.F. Hicks, and C. Donough. 1999. Bearmanagement office administrative annualreport for calendar year 1998. Unpubl. reporton file at Bear Management Office,Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. 67pp.

———, M.T. Bruscino, S. Cain, T. Chu, K. Frey,M.A. Haroldson, and C.C. Schwartz. 1999.Grizzly bear-human conflicts, confrontations,and management actions in the Yellowstone

ecosystem, 1998. Interagency Grizzly BearCommittee, Yellowstone EcosystemSubcommittee Report. On file atYellowstone National Park, Wyo. 56pp.

Joss, L. 1999. Tribal consultation/affiliation:background research on Sioux interests inYellowstone. Unpubl. report on file atYellowstone National Park, Mammoth HotSprings, Wyo. 6 pp.

Mattson, D., K. Barber, R. Maw, and R. Renkin.1999. Coefficients of productivity forYellowstone’s grizzly bear habitat. Unpubl.report submitted to the Interagency GrizzlyBear Committee. On file at the IGBSTOffice, Bozeman, Mont. 95 pp.

Mills, K. 1999. Legal authorities for AmericanIndian gathering. Unpubl. report on file atYellowstone National Park, Mammoth HotSprings, Wyo. 65 pp.

Renkin, R.A., C. Hendrix, and R. Gray. 1999.Experimental revegetation trials in theGardiner triangle area-first year progressreport. Unpubl. report on file at YellowstoneNational Park, Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo.16 pp.

Schullery, P., and L.H. Whittlesey. 1999. Earlywildlife history of the Greater YellowstoneEcosystem. Presented to the National Acad-emy of Sciences. Unpubl. report on file atYellowstone National Park, Mammoth HotSprings, Wyo. 23pp.

Thompson, T. 1999. Canyon to Fishing Bridgehighway: geothermal resources. Unpubl.report on file at Yellowstone National Park,Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. 4 pp.

———. 1999. Flood Geyser road pullouterosion region. Unpubl. report on file atYellowstone National Park, Mammoth HotSprings, Wyo. 3pp.

———. 1999. Grand Loop Road failure atRabbit Creek/Old Freight road. Unpubl.report on file at Yellowstone National Park,Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. 3pp.

———. 1999. Proposed Old Faithful VisitorCenter: geothermal assessment. Unpubl.report on file at Yellowstone National Park,Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. 6pp.


Information Papers

Gunther, K.A. 1999. Bear management areaprogram, Yellowstone National Park. Info.Paper No. BMO–5. Yellowstone NationalPark, Wyo. 4pp.

———. 1999. Bears and menstruating women.Info. Paper No. BMO–7. YellowstoneNational Park, Wyo. 2pp.

———. 1999. Recovery parameters for grizzlybears in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Info.Paper No. BMO–6. Yellowstone NationalPark, Wyo. 4pp.

———. 1999. Where are all the bears? Info.Paper No. BMO–4. Yellowstone NationalPark, Wyo. 2pp.

———. 1999. Yellowstone National Park bear-related injuries/fatalities. Info. Paper No.BMO–1. Yellowstone National Park, Wyo.2pp.

Yellowstone National Park. 1999. Currentactivity of selected geysers—1999.Yellowstone Center for Resources,Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. 1p.

ANNUAL REPORT 1999

YELLOWSTONE CENTER FOR RESOURCES

annual report 1 9 9 9 - national park serviceprocess management, an “experimental management”...

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