Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

Nature’s Last Stand

Story by Bert Raynes

Photography by Bob Woodall


Full Moonrise over the Absaroka Mountains and Yellowstone Lake.

     In all too many places on Earth, man has altered his pre-existing habitat so drastically that many animal and plant species have vanished. Extirpated, gone forever. Overall, worldwide, the scene and scenario for wildlife verges on the tragic—inumerable species disappearing each year, each day—far above previous rates of extinction in pre-historic times. Deforestation, desertization, single-crop farming practices, overfishing, human overpopulation, and pollution are responsible.
     Some surviving species were forced to move elsewhere, if they could, or to modify their behavior to exist—or coexist—within the confines or interstices of their new situation. Come to that, man increasingly is forced to do the same. Yet our understanding of and compassion for wildlife’s welfare appear to be declining at an accelerating rate.
     Thankfully, in a few places on the planet, for reasons of enlightened thought and concern, or more likely, a disinterest in them or their habitat, wildlife yet flourish in a relatively natural state. A few places only, despite an increasing body of knowledge which points to the need for there to be very large areas set aside for many animals even to have a chance to exist in something like their pre-homoerectus situations.
     This is one of those places.
     When you visit large parks like Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, yet buffered from urbanization by surrounding national forests and all together making up the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, take every opportunity to absorb all the scenery you can lay your eyes on: endless vistas and small scenes, bear and vole and squirrel and bison; vast expanses not altered by man; wild animals going about their lives largely as they have been doing for thousands of years, behaving in response to instincts which evolved over millions of years (modified to various extents by the presence of post-industrial man during the last two centuries).


Multi-colored algae in Biscuit Basin

Preserving what you see hasn’t been easy. By 1872, when America created Yellowstone as the world’s first national park, much of the continental eastern United States had been altered or defiled. Forests had been denuded, soil erosion in the plains was deliberate and would become deadly, animal and fish species were or would shortly be decimated. A sorry record, which extends into today, and not compensated for by a slow-growing awareness of the absolute need for conservation and protection. Look ye while ye may at the wonders of Greater Yellowstone and reflect that it could be lost, as it is always under attack, always coveted for other uses. You might want to ally yourself with some of the organizations that devote their energies to retaining or reclaiming some of the continent’s natural resources and treasures.
While it’s not possible to return even the Yellowstone region to prehistoric splendor, there have been steps taken in that direction. The wolf was absent for most of this century, man having eliminated and subsequently reintroduced theregion’s top predator. Its return is to be celebrated. The wolf belongs in Yellowstone, along with grizzly and black bears, the largest herds of elk in North America, bighorn sheep, and over 60 other mammal species.
It’s now recognized that biodiversity requires large areas in which to behave normally: even large parks like Yellowstone aren’t guarantees for wildlife, or for those who wish to observe wildlife literally wild...especially when crocheted with


A Bison herd fords the steamy Madison River

roadways and trails. The effects of a road, a visitors’ center, or campgrounds are manifold. Foot or horse trails are major dislocations. Isolation is, except for the exceptionally hardy, lost.
Ah, but what is left is splendid; you can wait until you get home to join the conservation movement. Right now, fill your eyes and mind with the shining mountains, the snow-covered steppes, the blue skies, the play of light and distance in the forests, the animals braving the season. For a wild animal, surviving winter in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem requires luck, skill, and good instincts and genes.
So, look ye while ye may. And you still can, in the GYE, see various animals responding primarily to long-held instinctual behavior and relatively little to modern man and his many implements. It’s important and rewarding to observe them.

Bert Raynes is a local, some say national, treasure. Bert has devoted himself tirelessly to celebrating the flora and fauna of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Through his books—Valley So Sweet, Curmudgeon Chronicals, and Birds of Jackson Hole—his weekly column in the Jackson Hole News&Guide, and countless discussions with countless residents and visitors, Bert continues to make his case for the valley’s protection.

The Jackson Hole Skier is a free visitors’ guide published annually and distributed at hundreds of locations throughout Jackson Hole, Cody, and other regional communities. To receive a copy in the mail, send $5 to Jackson Hole SKier, P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001.

Copyright 2004 by FPI (Focus Productions, Inc)., P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publishers.

Publishers: Bob Woodall & Wade McKoy, dba Focus Productions, Inc. (FPI)

Editors: Mike Calabrese, Wade McKoy, Bob Woodall

Art Direction & Ad Design: Janet Melvin

Advertising Sales:
JACKSON: Ike Faust, 307-690-5908, 307-733-6995 email: mail.focus@wyom.net
DUBOIS & PINEDALE: Janet Melvin 307-733-6995
CODY: Guy & Barb Hull 307-527-7808