yellowstone center for resourcesport on brucellosis in the greater yellowstone area was also...

YELLOWSTONE CENTERFOR RESOURCES

1998ANNUAL REPORT

YELLOWSTONE

CENTER FOR RESOURCES

ANNUAL REPORT

1998

Yellowstone Center for ResourcesNational Park Service

Yellowstone National Park,Wyoming

YCR–AR–981999

Suggested Citation: Yellowstone Center for Resources. 1999. Yellowstone Center for Resources AnnualReport, 1998. Yellowstone Center for Resources, National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park, Wyo-ming, YCR–AR–98.

Table of Contents

iii

Introduction iv

Part I. Resource Highlights 1Conservation of an Historic Buggy 1New Archeological Obsidian Source 1Flooding of Archival Storage 2Bison Plan and National Academy

Report Released 2Tribal Consultations on Bison Concerns 3Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center 3Opal Terrace/Executive House 4Grizzly Bears Meet Recovery Targets in 1998 5Old Faithful Slows, Ferris Fork Heats Up 5Whirling Disease Found in Yellowstone 6Lake Trout in Yellowstone Lake 6

Part II. Cultural Resource Programs 7Archeology 8Cultural Landscapes 13Paleontology 14Ethnography 14Federal Highways Compliance 15Historic Resources 16

Museum Program 18Research Library and Archives 22

Part III. Natural Resource Programs 23Air, Land, and Water 23Bears 25Birds 32Bison 37Fish and Other Aquatic Resources 39Geology and Geothermal Resources 49Vegetation 53Wildlife Management and Monitoring 55Wolves 59

Part IV. Yellowstone Center for Resources andParkwide Support 65

Spatial Analysis Center 65Resource Information 68Funding and Personnel 71

Appendix I. Personnel Roster for 1998 74Appendix II. Publications, Reports, and Papers 76

Introduction

In 1998 the Yellowstone Center for Resources(YCR) benefited from the park’s reallocation of itsbase operating budget. It’s not a particularly glam-orous topic—not like restoring wolves after a 60-year absence, or hosting the first conference devotedto the subject of the varied human experiences andinfluences on greater Yellowstone, but the reality isthat the quality and quantity of work that we can doto understand and preserve Yellowstone’s preciouscultural and natural resources depends almost en-tirely on how robust a recurring staff and budget wehave. In previous years the YCR, which had beencreated in 1993 by combining personnel that wereformerly assigned to several of the park’s other divi-sions, relied upon non-recurring funds to pay a sig-nificant portion of permanent employees’ salarycosts and to pay for special projects. Although thedivision’s funding level for 1998 was approximatelythe same as in 1997, the increased base allocationput the YCR’s recurring expenses on sound footing,and boosted the ability of the professional resourcespecialists to focus on accomplishing the monitoringand management activities for which they were pri-marily responsible.

Not coincidentally, the improved budgetary situ-ation allowed us to strengthen our staff expertise. In1998, cultural resources gained its first permanentfull-time archivist, Lee Whittlesey, a long-time fix-ture around the basement of the Albright VisitorCenter (where the park archives is located) but untilrecently, one who stayed without the security orbenefit of being a permanent employee. An agree-ment was also reached that will ultimately result (inthe year 2000) in the transfer of regional archeolo-gist Dr. Ann Johnson, who has been stationed herebut has owed her work time to many parks in theregion, to tend fulltime to Yellowstone business.The park also hired Dr. Glenn Plumb into a newlyestablished position as Wildlife Section Leader and

supervisor of all bird and mammal programs.The end of 1998 marked the departure of Stuart

E. “Stu” Coleman, Chief of the Branch of NaturalResources, who retired after more than 11 years inYellowstone and additional assignments in otherpark units such as Everglades, Lava Beds, and GreatSmoky Mountains. Stu helped shape a major evolu-tion in NPS resource management as his staff grew,from four full-time natural resource specialists (in-cluding himself) previously assigned to the ChiefRanger to 15 professionals with expertise in fisher-ies, mammals, birds, plants, and geology alignedwith the park’s other resource specialists in theYCR. He was a strong advocate of using interdisci-plinary teams to accomplish projects such as laketrout mitigation and wolf restoration, and continu-ally pushed to improve Yellowstone’s inventory andmonitoring programs. And he personally contrib-uted significant time and energy to resolution of theNew World Mine proposal which, if permitted,would have changed forever the socioeconomic andenvironmental conditions in and around the north-east entrance to Yellowstone and the affected water-sheds. His unique sense of humor has especiallybeen missed around the YCR, and we wish him arich and rewarding post-park life enjoying his fam-ily, his garden, and his beloved antique cars.

The specific projects tended to in 1998 are docu-mented in this report. We continue to endeavor tomake available a record of work completed as wellas our shortfalls, so that we might track our progresstoward our program goals and objectives. Interestedreaders may find more detailed information aboutspecific projects on file at the YCR, on the park’sweb site at http://www.nps.gov/yell and in the park’sResearch Library.

John D. VarleyDirector, Yellowstone Center for Resources

iv

1

Part I. Resource Highlights

CONSERVATION OF AN HISTORIC BUGGY

An 11-passenger buggy was selected to be the first vehicle in the park’s collec-tion to receive much-needed professional conservation treatment because of itsrarity and its embodiment of the way many middle class people visited Yellow-stone early in this century. Manufactured by Studebaker Brothers, the buggy wasused to transport passengers by the Livingston-based Shaw & Powell CampingCompany, which operated in the park from 1898 to 1916. Although it had beenstored outside for decades, the buggy is now the only Shaw & Powell vehicle ingood condition known to still exist. With funding provided through the Yellow-stone Park Foundation, it was stabilized and missing parts were replaced withcompatible materials, and all salvageable original parts and indications of thehistory of its use were preserved. The buggy and related artifacts and photographsare now on display in the lobby of the Old Faithful Inn.

NEW ARCHEOLOGICAL OBSIDIAN SOURCE

This past summer archeological specimens found in the Hayden Valley, on BigGame Ridge, and in a site on the north shore of Yellowstone Lake were found tocontain obsidian from Park Point, on the east side of Yellowstone Lake. The identi-fication of artifact-grade obsidian is important to understanding the sources, distri-bution, and use of archeological obsidian within Yellowstone, and this was the firsttime Park Point obsidian has been identified as having been used for archeologicaltools. Park Point is a secondary source in which the obsidian occurs as cobblesthat have been moved from their original position by water and gravity. Identifica-tion was made through the trace element fingerprint. This discovery illuminates

2 Resource Highlights

some of the complexity of prehistoric obsidianusage in the park and indicates travel by earlyinhabitants along the east side of YellowstoneLake, but additional research is needed to clarifythe geological origin, age and distribution of thismaterial.

FLOODING OF ARCHIVAL STORAGE

As preparations were underway to close theAlbright Visitor Center for the holiday weekendon December 24, someone reported that a waterpipe had burst in the boiler room adjacent to thepark archives, located in the basement. Therecultural resources staff found about two inches ofwater covering the floor, reaching some piles ofrecords and maps that were awaiting proper stor-age. Staff worked quickly to shut off the flow andcontact other cultural resource members at hometo bring mops, buckets, a vacuum, and squeegees.They plunged and hauled away the water that hadpooled because of a clogged drain, and salvagedsome of the damaged materials using blow dryers.Fans and space heaters were set up and checkeddaily to dry the remaining wet areas under themap cabinets and storage units.

It was fortunate the leak was discovered beforethe employees left for the long weekend. After-ward, cultural resources staff arranged for the

building’s drains and pipes to be repaired, pur-chased water alarms to be wired into thebuilding’s central alarm system, and began prepar-ing a plan to address future disasters. This is thethird flood that has affected archival storage in theAlbright Visitor Center, and provided a vivid dem-onstration of the need for a new storage facility.

BISON PLAN AND NATIONAL

ACADEMY REPORT RELEASED

After years ofpreparation, the draftEnvironmental Im-pact Statement for theInteragency BisonManagement Planwas released for pub-lic comment in June1998. The purpose of the proposed action is tomaintain a wild, free-ranging population of bisonand address the risk of brucellosis transmission toprotect the economic interest and viability of thelivestock industry in the state of Montana. Allalternatives require the cooperation of the state ofMontana, the U.S. Forest Service, the NationalPark Service, and the Animal and Plant HealthInspection Service. Every alternative envisionsthe bison population being managed primarilythrough natural processes within Yellowstone Na-tional Park, and all call for monitoring and addi-tional research as well as human treatment of bi-son held in capture or quarantine facilities. Tomanage bison and address concerns about publicsafety and private property damage, risk of brucel-losis transmission to livestock, and eventuallyeliminate brucellosis in bison and other wildlifepopulations, alternatives range from minimalmanagement, emphasis on public hunting, andaggressive brucellosis control through programsto capture, test, and remove or vaccinate bisonwithin Yellowstone National Park. More than67,500 responses containing 212,249 individualcomments on a wide array of aspects in the draftplan were received by letter, electronic mail, and

This buggy, once used to transport Yellowstonevisitors, was the first vehicle in the park’s collectionto receive professional conservation treatment.

1998 Annual Report 3

verbal presentation at 13 public hearings held incities across the United States.

The National Academy of Science (NAS) re-port on Brucellosis in the Greater YellowstoneArea was also published in 1998. The report em-phasized that brucellosis affects both bison andelk and encompasses an area much larger thanYellowstone National Park. The NAS found thatrisk management was critical to controlling bru-cellosis until a proven, effective vaccine and prac-tical delivery mechanism for inoculating bisonand elk are found. Following release of this re-port, the NAS was congressionally mandated toconduct a two-year review of the science andmanagement of ungulates, especially bison andelk in Yellowstone.

TRIBAL CONSULTATIONS ON BISON

CONCERNS

At the request of tribal members, the park heldfive government-to-government tribal consulta-tions in connection with the Draft EnvironmentalImpact Statement for the Bison Management Plan.More than 80 tribal members from 18 tribes and 4American Indian organizations participated. Thepark recognizes the importance of bison to Ameri-can Indian tribes, and has worked with them onthis issue since 1995.

On August 12, the park superintendent, assis-tant superintendent and staff from the regionaloffice and ranger operations, natural resources,and cultural resources met in Mammoth HotSprings with 20 tribal representatives from theBlackfeet, Cheyenne River Sioux, ConfederatedSalish and Kootenai, Crow, Gros Ventre andAssiniboine, HoChunk Nation–Wisconsin,InterTribal Bison Cooperative, Northern Arapaho,Prairie Band of Potawatomi, Rosebud Sioux,Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux, Tuscarora, UnitedSioux Tribes of South Dakota, Winnebago Tribeof Nebraska, and Yankton Sioux.

Subsequent consultations were held at EagleButte, South Dakota (the Cheyenne River Sioux,Pine Ridge Sioux, and representatives of the Grey

Eagle Society of elders); Fort Hall, Idaho (theShoshone-Bannock tribal staff and business coun-cil); Pablo, Montana (the Confederated Salish andKootenai tribal staff and council members); and inFort Belnap, Montana with staff, council mem-bers, and elders of the Gros Ventre andAssiniboine tribes. At Fort Belnap, the tribe’s fishand wildlife director took NPS staff to see theirbison herd and discuss its management.

Through these meetings, NPS staff learnedmore about tribal concerns for Yellowstone’s bi-son herd and the spiritual importance of bison totribes across the country. The meetings also gavetribal members the opportunity to learn about thehistory of bison in the park from natural resourcemangers, and to make recommendations about thefuture of the herd.

YELLOWSTONE HERITAGE AND

RESEARCH CENTER

Planning continued in 1998 for the proposedHeritage and Research Center, a 35,000 to 40,000

Cultural resources branch chief Laura Joss observingcore testing by SK Geotechnical Corporation (June1998). The testing was done to determine theunderground composition and suitability for futureconstruction.


square-foot building that would address the park’smuseum, library, and archival collection storagedeficiencies, and provide needed research, labor-atory and exhibit space. Sites in Mammoth andGardiner are being considered as possiblelocations.

To learn more about similar facilities anddiscuss planning ideas, the park curator andcultural resources branch chief toured the BuffaloBill Historical Center, the Museum of theRockies, and the Minnesota Historical Society’snew multistory structure, which has many simi-larities to the park’s proposed building. In early1998, cultural resources staff met with contractarchitects to review drafts for the proposedfacility, presented proposals to the ResourceCouncil, and participated in subsequent meetingswith park staff to identify specific needs andconcerns.

To determine the underground compositionand suitability for future construction, SK Geo-technical Corporation was contracted to conduct

subsurface core testing of four possible buildingsites in the Mammoth area: the “Ice House” sitenext to the Aspen Dorm, the corner lot across thestreet; the Mail Carrier’s Cabin site; and the park-ing lot south of Building 27. These tests served asa follow-up to ground-penetrating radar testingconducted in 1997 by a field crew of geophysicaland geological engineering students from Mon-tana Tech of the University of Montana.

Test bores to a depth of 20 feet indicated thatmost sites were comprised of decomposed traver-tine. Engineers recommend the use of shallowspread footings, and prefer crawl spaces ratherthan basements in this water soluble material. Atthe corner lot at the toe of the hill northeast of theIce House site, an area of bedrock consisting ofclaystone and weathered sandstone was found thatis considered an excellent site for a building witha basement. Bentonite (“fat” clay) was encoun-tered on the street side of the corner lot site, anddue to the unstable nature of this material, it wasrecommended that this area be avoided for con-struction purposes.

OPAL TERRACE/EXECUTIVE HOUSE

The H.W. Child’s residence, also known as theExecutive House, is a National Register ofHistoric Places property. Designed in the Wrightprairie style by Robert Reamer in 1907, it islocated in the Fort Yellowstone-Mammoth HotSprings Historic District adjacent to Opal Terrace,an active thermal feature. Preliminary monitoringof Opal Terrace shows that the terrace is growingtoward the west and south sides of the ExecutiveHouse. While measures are in place to protect thehouse from the thermal flow, it was recommendedby the resource team that the house be docu-mented to Historic American Building Survey(HABS) standards so that if the building is lost ordamaged, a detailed photographic record of itsfeatures would exist. HABS documentation,which was started in 1997 and continued this year,and should be complete in winter 1999.

Cultural resources branch chief Laura Joss usingground penetrating radar near the Mail Carrier’sCabin with Ann Rodman (YCR) and Marvin Speece(Montana Tech of the University of Montana) inJune 1997.


GRIZZLY BEARS MEET RECOVERY

TARGETS IN 1998

All three populationgoals for the grizzly bearsin the Yellowstone ecosys-tem were achieved in 1998. The population metall three population targets for the first time in1994, but then exceeded the mortality limits from1995 through 1997. If all these goals are met and“adequate regulatory mechanisms” are in place toensure conservation of the species, the grizzlybear may be considered for delisting from itsthreatened status.

The grizzly bear has been listed as a threat-ened species under the Endangered Species Actsince 1975. A primary purpose of the act is torecover listed species to self-sustaining, viablepopulations that no longer need its protection.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which hasoverall responsibility for species recovery pro-grams, has set three goals that must be achievedbefore the grizzly bear population will be consid-ered recovered within the Yellowstone ecosystem:• An average of at least 15 adult females must

have cubs-of-the-year (COY) on a six-yearrunning average within the recovery zone anda 10-mile area immediately surrounding it.

• At least 16 of the 18 bear management units(BMUs) within the recovery zone must be oc-cupied by females with young from a runningsix-year sum of observations, with no two ad-jacent BMUs unoccupied.

• The known human-caused mortality of grizzlybears must not exceed 4% of the populationestimate based on the most recent three-yearsum of females with cubs minus known adultfemale deaths, and the mortality of femalegrizzly bars cannot exceed 30% of the knownhuman-caused mortality.In 1998 habitat-based recovery criteria as well

as a conservation strategy outlining how the griz-zly bear will be managed after delisting were be-ing developed.

OLD FAITHFUL SLOWS, FERRIS

FORK HEATS UP

Old Faithful Geyser’s pattern of eruptive ac-tivity changed noticeably in 1998. The mean andmedian recovery times dramatically increasedfollowing an earthquake in January. In 1997, themean and median intervals between eruptionswere 75.3 and 80.5 minutes, respectively. In1998, those figures changed to 80.9 and 85 min-utes. The geyser has generally been observed tohave two eruption modes—“short” eruptions thatlast less than two minutes and “long” eruptionsthan exceed four minutes—and the length of oneeruption is correlated with the recovery time ob-served until the next eruption. In 1998, a higherproportion of the geyser’s eruptions were “long”;in fact, more than 25 percent of the intervals be-tween eruptions exceeded 91 minutes. Althoughthe geyser has (despite persistent tales to the con-trary) never erupted precisely “every hour on thehour,” it has shown gradual lengthening of thetime between eruptions since 1945, when the av-erage recovery interval was 63.8 minutes.

Between the late fall of 1997 and early springof 1998, an inactive geyser on the bank of theFerris Fork of the Bechler River began to erupt.Thermal watersexceeding 90ºCflooded the trailleading to apopular swim-ming area nearThree Riversjunction. Arearangers and re-source managersinspected the areaseveral times andincreased effortsto monitor thechanges for bothpublic safety andscientific interest. Old Faithful.


WHIRLING DISEASE FOUND INYELLOWSTONE

In mid-September, 41 cutthroat trout(Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri) captured ingillnets set near the mouth of Clear Creek in Yel-lowstone Lake were examined for the whirlingdisease parasite as part of a baseline health survey.Infection by the parasite was confirmed in severalcutthroat trout from Yellowstone Lake. Whirlingdisease, caused by a sporozoan parasite,Myxobolus cerebralis, consumes the cartilage inthe head region of young fish. The disease inhib-its normal feeding, which often results in the vic-tim being more subject to predation, starvation,and premature death. There is no known “cure”or treatment for salmonids infected with whirlingdisease.

Whirling disease is believed to be responsiblefor declines of nearly 90% of the wild rainbowtrout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) populations in someareas of Montana, Colorado, and other westernstates. Since the mid-1950s, when this parasitewas unknowingly imported as fish food into aPennsylvania trout hatchery, it has spread rapidlyacross the United States and infected fish havebeen found in 22 states.

After whirling disease was confirmed in theMadison River in late 1994, NPS and the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service began a cooperativeproject to collect wild salmonids from Yellow-stone Park streams for whirling disease testing.That effort focused on boundary streams adjacentto areas of known or potentially high infection:the Madison, Firehole, and Gallatin rivers. Dur-ing 1997 and 1998, fish from Reese Creek, Fire-hole River, Gardiner River, Soda Butte Creek,Canyon Creek, and Fan Creek were tested, but noinfected fish were found at any of these sites.

Estimated ages of infected fish in YellowstoneLake ranged from 2 to at least 5 years. None ofthe lake trout or longnose suckers (Catostomuscatostomus) from Yellowstone Lake were in-fected.

The Aquatic Resources Center, in conjunction

with the USFWS Fish Health Lab, will be initiat-ing a broad-scale whirling disease survey in 1999to define the spatial distribution and severity ofMyxobolus cerebralis in the Yellowstone Lakesystem.

LAKE TROUT IN YELLOWSTONE

LAKE

Since the presence of introduced lake trout(Salvelinus namaycush) was confirmed in Yellow-stone Lake in 1994, the Aquatic Resources Center(ARC) has developed effective strategies to re-move both reproductive adults and the more abun-dant younger age classes. ARC staff have alsorefined a netting and remote sensing(hydroacoustic) program to determine the spatialand temporal distribution and abundance of bothlake trout and Yellowstone cutthroat trout in orderto maximize lake trout removal while minimizingcutthroat trout mortality.

Juvenile fish, located in deep water where thenets could be left in for longer periods withoutsignificant loss of cutthroat trout, were targeted.The effort expended on gillnetting in 1998 (125boat trips and 1,415 overnight gill net sets) nearlytripled that of 1997. Both the numbers and biom-ass of captured lake trout increased significantlyfrom previous years, as did capture efficiency.Eight lake trout were caught for every cutthroattrout in 1998, compared to a 6.6:1 ratio in 1995.A total of 9,390 lake trout from Yellowstone Lakewere caught by gillnetting since the program be-gan, 7,792 of which were caught in 1998.

7

Part II. Cultural Resource Programsln 1998 the Branch of Cultural Resources continued the important tasks of

gathering information for and/or overseeing contracts for baseline inventories ofhistoric structures; archeological resources; ethnographic resources; and museum,library, and archival collections. Surveys for cultural landscapes and paleontologi-cal resources were being coordinated with other park staff. Once baseline infor-mation about all of these resources is documented, the park will have the informa-tion necessary to properly protect and manage them.

Other priority projects in 1998 included:• Assistance with park-wide road reconstruction projects• National Register inventory and evaluation of historic structures• Evaluation of eroding archeological sites along the Yellowstone

River• Planning for a new collection storage facility• Computerization of the park’s library collection• Preserving and increasing access to historic photographs, artwork,

and vehicles• Training other divisions on cultural resource issues• Consultations with American Indian tribes

Supplemental FundingTo supplement the funds available from the Yellowstone base budget, cultural

resources staff worked with other divisions (e.g. Concessions, Maintenance, Re-source Operations) to prepared proposals for an unprecedented number of fundingcalls in 1998. Support for 1998 cultural resources projects was obtained from theFederal Highways program ($175,200), the NPS Cultural Resources PreservationProgram ($242,100), the NPS Cultural Cyclic Maintenance program ($70,000),

8 Cultural Resource Programs

Yellowstone Association ($25,200), and the park’sFee Demonstration ($19,000) and trails mainte-nance ($40,000) programs.

These funds were used to support ongoingarcheological inventories and monitoring; historicstructures inventories and rehabilitation; archival,library, and museum collection management andconservation; library operations and automation;and site testing and planning for the YellowstoneHeritage and Research Center. The staff archeolo-gist and cultural resources specialist served on theSpecial Emphasis Program Allocation System(SEPAS) rating panel in the Denver Support Of-fice that reviewed funding proposals from allparks in the Intermountain Region and recom-mended projects for funding.

Working With Other DivisionsThe branch chief led the park satellite dish

placement team, with members from concessions,maintenance, telecommunications, and culturalresources, in documenting appropriate locationsfor dishes in the Fort Yellowstone-Mammoth HotSprings historic district, and formalized a processto request placement of dishes parkwide. Satellitedish installation and wiring standards were alsodocumented, and the report and guidelines wereplaced on the park’s intranet.

The staff archeologist assisted the concessionsdivision by preparing the data recovery plan formitigation of an archeological site within theRoosevelt developed area, as required by the pro-posed placement of additional water and sewerlines. Branch staff also:• worked on the cultural resources components

of the Commercial Services ManagementPlan, the Draft Environmental Impact State-ment (DEIS) for the Long-Range Bison Man-agement Plan, the park’s business plan, theState of the Park Report;

• assisted in updating the park’s Resource Man-agement Plan and Cultural Resources Manage-ment Assessment Program (CR-MAP);

• wrote material on the Lake Fish Hatchery His-toric District, the historic military presence in

Yellowstone, and park archeology for thepark’s website; and

• participated in the Government Performanceand Results Act (GPRA) process to developand report on cultural resources components.The branch chief served on the park’s Board of

Survey, which reviewed more than 50 accidentand property loss reports during 1998 to deter-mine negligence and liability, and on the ResearchPermit Review Panel to assess applications forpotential impacts to cultural resources and ensurecompliance with specimen cataloging and storagerequirements. The cultural resource specialist wason the Mammoth Quality Circle committee, an adhoc employee group that identifies and carries outprojects to address safety issues or improve condi-tions in the area. Branch staff also addressedsafety issues in its own work areas, and correctedmany deficiencies identified by OSHA.

Cultural resources presentations were made atthe park’s annual resource management workshop,the Resource Management Operations and VisitorProtection law enforcement refresher, and at threepark employee orientations. Branch staff alsopresented cultural resources information toschoolchildren at Earth Day in Gardiner, includinga computer-simulated archeological dig.

ARCHEOLOGY

The goals of the archeology program for 1998were to address research questions of interest topark management and increase awareness of andunderstanding about the park’s prehistory and therichness of its archeological record.

The summer field season was notable for thehigh number of newly recorded sites (306), for theidentification of a new source of archeologicalobsidian in the park, and for what was not found:no sites were identified eroding along the banks ofthe Yellowstone for the 20 miles between FishingBridge and Canyon and, although 10 weeks werespent working along the river between LakeJunction and Canyon, no fish-net weights wereidentified. Although fish and net weights have


been found in several sites elsewhere along theYellowstone river, apparently the use of nets forfishing in the upper portion of the river was notextensive, or nets may have been restricted tosome particular stretches. This is a topic we willcontinue to investigate.

In the park, 6,317 acres were intensively in-ventoried for archeological resources; in additionto the 306 new sites recorded, 28 sites were revis-ited and documented to current standards. Emer-gency salvage was done at three eroding sites onYellowstone Lake. As part of the effort to deter-mine where the archeology program should focusits future work, data sets for obsidian sourcing andradiocarbon dates were summarized to determinepreliminary patterning.

Fifth and sixth graders from the MammothGrade School participated in archeological testingof a site near Gardiner. The park archeologist alsopresented a talk on the archeological inventory ofthe Yellowstone River to the annual meeting ofthe Montana Archeological Society.

Faunal CollectionsThe question of when during the year early

peoples visited or lived in the Yellowstone area isa topic of great interest and importance. Ethnog-raphers appear to believe that the Sheepeaterslived in the area year-round, at least in the verylate Prehistoric and Historic periods. This raisesthe question, “Why would people have stayed inthe center of the park if it were a bad winter andthe elk and bison left for better grazing at lowerelevations?”

Answers may come from animal bones incamps and kill sites that enable us to determinethe season of death and therefore the months thatpeople were at the site. As in humans, measure-ments of certain animal bones such as the scapu-lae and long bones, are good indicators of fetalmaturity. In ungulates with known breeding andcalving times, the best seasonal indicators arefound in fetal bone measurements that can betranslated into a calendrical date of fetal death.The next best data are from young of the year (up

Fifth and sixth graders from Mammoth Grade School helping Yellowstone archeologist AnnJohnson with site testing.


to nine months old) whose mandibles can be com-pared to known tooth-eruption schedules. Analy-sis of adult mandibles is less precise, renderingprimarily accuracy within a half-year.

As climate has changed through time, it wouldbe naïve to assume a single seasonal patternwould be present during all of the park’s prehis-tory. So we also need to be able to identify a spe-cific age and/or culture for the campsite. Thisevidence is in the form of artifacts that can be as-signed to a particular time range or culture and/orthe presence of charcoal or bone that can be sub-mitted to radiocarbon analysis.

Mammalogists have developed charts showingtooth wear for most ungulates of interest (bison,elk, bighorn sheep, deer, and antelope). However,these charts do not include fetal development andfew regional comparative collections contain fetalspecimens. Fetal bones of bighorn sheep wererecovered from the Ryder site during the 1997excavations in the Black Canyon of the Yellow-stone, but they have not yet been assigned amonth of death. To address the seasonalityquestions, we have begun to develop a moderncomparative collection of fetal bones of knowngestational period from identified ungulatespecies.

Tool StoneObsidian characterization. Continuing the

effort to identify the sources of archeologicalobsidian in the park, more than 100 new sampleswere fingerprinted in 1998. To learn more aboutthe range of elemental variation in park obsidians,a geological specimen of relatively poor qualityfrom the Park Point area was submitted for traceelement analysis, yielding an unexpected matchbetween this source and an archeological speci-men from the east side of the Yellowstone River inthe Hayden Valley, as well as a match between aspecimen from Big Game Ridge (south of thelake) and the Park Point source. By going backthrough reports from prior years, it was possibleto determine that at least some of the obsidianartifacts from a campsite on the north shore of

Yellowstone Lake also have the same traceelement signature as Park Point material.

Although it has been therefore possible toresolve some of the unknown obsidian identifica-tions from previous years, other questions remain.The glassy material at the Park Point is clearly insecondary deposit and is probably spread over alarge area. Investigations are needed to determineif local deposits with better tool-quality materialcan be located. Additional studies will clarify itsgeological origin and refine the range of elementalvariation characteristic of this obsidian source.

Of the 706 specimens that have been analyzed,586 (83%) are from Obsidian Cliff and 46 (7%)from Bear Gulch (Fig. 1). Another 43 obsidianspecimens (6%) represented 14 other sources, and31 (6%) were from unknown sources. The distri-bution of obsidian sources in the archeologicalrecord varies by time and by area of the park.This will be investigated as more data becomeavailable.

Park staff have begun working with Dr.

Figure 1. Sources of 706 obsidian artifacts that havebeen found in Yellowstone National Park.

586

46 41 31

ObsidianCliff

BearGulch

13 other sources

Unknown


Michael Glascock (Missouri University ResearchReactor) and Dr. Craig Skinner (Northwest Re-search Obsidian Studies Laboratory) to identifythe sources of obsidian in secondary deposits orgravel around the park. We expect the number ofpreviously unidentified Yellowstone obsidians togrow considerably. During the summer, obsidiansand from Black Sand Basin was characterized(trace element fingerprint); it comes from anotherunknown obsidian source which we speculate thatit and the obsidian pebbles in Black Sand Basinmay be from the Summit flow to the northwest.

Steatite. Occasionally found in the park, ste-atite is also known from a number of sourcessoutheast and west of Yellowstone. When freshlyquarried, this material is quite soft and easilycarved. A partially completed pot was found by aprivate citizen near the Continental Divide north-west of the park. Techniques to distinguish ste-atite sources are not fully developed and are rarelyapplied to archeological materials. However, thisis a research area that would result in useful dataand we are alert to possible opportunities to fin-gerprint the park’s steatite artifacts.

Dacite. Branch staff assisted the MontanaState Historic Preservation Office in their investi-gation of a dacite quarry north of Ennis one week-end. A fine-grained stone, sometimes sufficientlysilicious to be poorly glassy, dacite flakes well fortool manufacture but is often mistaken for basalt.Dacite is a product of cooled magma, and prelimi-nary analyses using x-ray fluorescence (XRF)suggest that its unique arrangements of trace ele-ments could be used to “source” it to differentflows/modern outcrops as obsidian is.

Dacite artifacts have been found in Yellow-stone, and it will be interesting to see if there is acorrelation between multiple sources of stoneoriginating from the west (e.g., Bear Gulch obsid-ian) and Yellowstone sites. With the expectationthat the database for dacite sources will grow rap-idly, several Yellowstone archeological sampleshave been submitted for analysis. The Museum ofthe Rockies, one of the park’s archeological coop-erators, also submitted samples, although none of

them are from the park. Immediate goals are tocontribute to the application of the XRF techniqueto this raw material and to obtain a better under-standing of the range of trace elements that maybe present. The medium-range expectation is thatmovements of prehistoric people can be illumi-nated through this study.

Inventory, Testing, and Data RecoveryCooperative agreements with the University of

Wyoming and Montana State University continueto be used effectively for archeological work inthe park. In support of work to upgrade roads, theOffice of the Wyoming State Archaeologist(OWSA—Paul Sanders) carried out inventory,testing, and data recovery activities. NationalRegister testing took place at four prehistoricsites:• A large camp at Otter Creek along the Yellow-

stone River produced a radiocarbon date of2470± 50 B.C. on a buried cultural level.

• A buried level at a site on Dunraven Pass witha large corner-notched point/knife returned adate of A.D. 20± 50.

• Based on an elk third phalange, a site on theNortheast Entrance Road was dated at 60± 50B.P,. which calibrates to A.D. 1675–1770 and1800–1940. Based on the stratigraphic posi-tion, the earlier range is assumed to be closerto the actual age.

• Data recovery was carried out at a large camp-site on the Gibbon River that has both prehis-toric and historic components.Inventory of the Canyon-to-Fishing Bridge

junction road segment through the Hayden Valley,done by OWSA and the Museum of the Rockies(MOR), recorded 12 sites (8 new) within thehighway right-of-way. Seven of the previouslyrecorded sites had not been revisited since theirinitial recording 40 years ago. A monitoringprogram that will get sites inspected on a morefrequent interval is needed.

It was interesting to find that sites in highpedestrian traffic areas still contained artifacts onthe surface, demonstrating that areas should not be


Canyon of the Yellowstone river (across from theRyder site tested in 1997) identified five buriedcampsites separated by sterile overbank deposits,the most recent (no more than several hundredyears old) only a few cm below the surface.Contents of three eroding cooking features wereremoved for flotation and radiocarbon analyses.This site is particularly interesting because fewsites in the park have been identified as dating tothis time, and the eroding features contain flatriver stones whose function has not yet beendetermined. Features at Ryder have the typicalfire-cracked rock instead of these flat rocks.

MOR and OWSA will be back in 1999 to con-tinue National Register testing in the Hayden Valleyand inventory work along the Yellowstone River.

The staff archeologist salvaged three hearths/roasting pits at different sites on the YellowstoneLake shore that were damaged and eroding as aresult of recent high lake levels. Severe loss ofarcheological materials has probably occurred allaround the lake, indicating a critical need toinventory this area. Macrofloral analyses, char-coal (wood species), and phytolyth identificationswill be done. A charred lodgepole pine cone was

Mack Shortt (Museum of the Rockies) and Ken Pierce(USGS) examine an eroding campsite near the LakeHotel (above) and a buried exposure of bison boneand charcoal in front of the hotel (left).

written off as having been too disturbed to be ofany archeological value without at least conduct-ing reconnaissance inventories to determine ifarcheological resources are present. Next year,eight prehistoric sites on this road segment willhave National Register testing.

Mack Shortt from MOR inventoried the high-way corridors between Gardiner and Mammoth toobtain planning data for future road improve-ments. Data from this area, which is believed tohave been a prime site for winter/spring prehis-toric camping, will be used to develop a model oflocal settlement patterns. MOR also continued theinventory of the Yellowstone River betweenFishing Bridge and the falls at Canyon, recordingmany primarily historic sites. A member of theShoshone-Bannock tribe returned for a secondyear to participate in the fieldwork.

Testing by MOR of the BR site in the Black


recovered from one site, suggesting the presenceof a lodgepole forest two thousand years ago, asthere is today. Dr. Ken Pierce of the USGSinterpreted the position of this feature as being ona barrier bar that once stretched from pump housepoint across the bay in front of where the LakeHotel now stands. A large cooking feature at sitehad two radiocarbon dates: 840±60 B.C. and1040±70 B.C. At two other sites, a hearth was datedat A.D. 780±50, and roasting pit at A.D. 730±60 .

For the second year, volunteer Lee Snapp usedthe global positioning system to establish theboundaries and features within the Obsidian CliffNational Historic Landmark, this year concentrat-ing on the west and south boundaries. These datawill be entered into the park’s GIS system. Thisproject needs to completed in the next few years,as lodgepole pine regrowth is coming backstrongly and is beginning to mask ground features.

Radiocarbon Date AnalysisIn a major effort to collect all the archeologi-

cal radiocarbon dates for the park, it was deter-mined that a total of 54 dates range from A.D.1870–8,000 B.C. Older dates have been found onthe Fishing Bridge peninsula and elsewhere, butdue to lack of context and cultural stratigraphy,these are considered geological. The most com-monly identified culture continues to be one char-acterized by a medium-sized corner-notched pointcalled Pelican Lake, dated at A.D. 200–1000 B.C.in the Northern Plains. We remain puzzled as towhy sites from the most recent centuries are notvery visible in the archeological record.

ARPA ActivitiesIn the spring and into the summer, a seasonal

law enforcement ranger funded by ArcheologicalResources Protection Act (ARPA) monies wasassigned to archeological resources protection.The ranger made many public contacts and wrotethree tickets for collecting archeological materials.

Several staff members of the Branch of Cul-tural Resources and 15 rangers participated in a

week-long course in the protection of archeologi-cal and paleontological resources and how thedivisions can work together to detect, document,and prevent crimes.

The branch chief and cultural resources assis-tant also participated in and coordinated onsitefield trips for an Archeological Resources Protec-tion Act class held at the park in October. Thepark invited regional tribes to send members tothe class, and five representatives from threetribes participated.

CULTURAL LANDSCAPES

The Cultural Resources Branch and the Land-scape Architecture Branch (Maintenance Divi-sion) jointly manage Yellowstone’s cultural land-scape management program. In 1998, the RockyMountain Support Office drafted a priority list ofareas to be researched for a reconnaissance cul-tural landscape inventory.

Branch staff worked with landscape architectsto orient a volunteer group working on the FortYellowstone army cemetery. As an unevaluatedcultural landscape, the work had to be done in amanner which would not impair the integrity ofthe resource. Park staff provided historical infor-mation on the cemetery and recommended appro-priate work such as mowing, weeding, cuttingsmall trees, filling rodent holes with clean sand,righting headstones, and removing branches. Theonly wooden marker in the cemetery (FrankWelch) was in poor condition, and it was recom-mended that it be placed in the museum collectionand replaced with a marker to be made by thepark’s sign shop. The Division of Interpretationagreed to produce a panel describing the cemeteryand its importance to the park.

The Branch of Landscape Architecture con-tracted with Historical Resources Associates toconduct a cultural landscape inventory of the Ste-phens Creek area on the northern boundary of thepark. The draft report was received and reviewedin 1998, and the final report is expected in 1999.


PALEONTOLOGY

Yellowstone preserves an extensive geologicrecord ranging from the Precambrian through theHolocene. Except for the Silurian, rocks of nearlyevery geologic time period are exposed within theboundaries of the park. Responsibility for thepark’s paleontological program is shared betweenthe branches of Cultural and Natural Resources.More than 20 stratigraphic units containing fossilplants, invertebrates, vertebrates, and trace fossilshave been documented.

The Yellowstone Paleontological Survey byNPS paleontologist Vincent Santucci was madeavailable on the internet at www.nature.nps.gov.The report includes recommendations related tointerpretation, protection, management, andcuration of the park’s paleontological resources.Santucci completed much of the fieldwork for thereport while employed as a seasonal law enforce-ment ranger at Madison and teaching paleontol-ogy classes for the Yellowstone Institute.

During a 1998 “Fossils of Yellowstone”class, Yellowstone’s curator Susan Kraft discov-ered a new locality containing fossil plant materialthat may include a new species belonging to theLauraceae family. A paleobotanist at theSmithsonian Institution is currently working toidentify this leaf material, and may follow up witha trip to Yellowstone in 1999 to visit the locality.Also found were fossil material from two aquaticplants, Quereuxia angulata, from the Late Creta-ceous/Paleocene, and a plant identified as Isoetiteshorridus, which is related to the club mosses.

The crushing tooth of a Paleozoic cochliodont,a primitive relative of today’s sharks and rays thatlived during the Mississippian period was discov-ered during Santucci’s 1997 fieldwork and is be-ing researched by a student at the South DakotaSchool of Mines and Technology.

A visiting wildlife biologist discovered apartial jaw with intact teeth from a mammal thathas tentatively been identified as a titanothere, alarge rhinoceros-like animal from the Eoceneperiod. Paleontologist Bill Wall of Georgia

College is conducting further research on thespecimen.

ETHNOGRAPHY

The branch chief attended the Northwest Inter-tribal Agricultural Council Conference, hosted bythe Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Pocatello, Idaho.The biologist made a presentation to the groupregarding the management of Yellowstone’s bisonherd, and gave updates on the Draft Environmen-tal Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Long-RangeBison Management Plan. The branch chief metwith tribal representatives and visited the tribe’sFort Hall Museum.

The branch chief drafted an American Indianconsultation plan for the park’s Winter Use Planand Environmental Impact Statement. The objec-tives are to fulfill NPS responsibilities under sec-tion 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act,which requires Yellowstone to consult with appro-priate American Indian groups, maintain a govern-ment-to-government relationship between the parkand associated tribal communities, and provide ameans to incorporate American Indian communityperspectives (both official and unofficial) intodecisions that affect management of park re-sources.

Joseph Weixelman, an ethnohistorian, washired as a seasonal cultural resource assistant toconduct a reconnaissance survey of the BannockTrail. Archeological evidence indicates that thetrail, which runs across the northern portion of thepark, was used by American Indians as long as10,000 years ago. It was also used historically,and some portions of the park road system followor were built on the trail. Using documentation inthe park archives and at Montana State University,Weixelman worked to locate, document, and GPSportions of the trail in the Mammoth, IndianCreek, Blackmail Plateau, and Tower areas.

The first draft of the ethnographic overviewand assessment, A Documentary Overview ofNative Americans and Yellowstone National Park,by Larry Lender and Peter Nabokov, was deli-


vered and reviewed by park staff. The documentincludes archeological, ethnographic, andhistorical information about groups who used thearea, and makes recommendations for future workwith regional tribes. The final report will beproduced in 2000.

Dr. Raymond Cross, a Mandan-Hidatsa tribalmember from the University of Montana Schoolof Law, taught a 3-day course, “American Indiansand Cultural and Natural Resources Management:The Law and Practice Regarding Federal Lands,”at the YCC Camp in September. The course pro-vided participants with conceptual and practicalfundamentals on American Indian law relating toresource management, including examples of trea-ties, laws, executive orders, regulations, policies,and court cases that addressed American Indianconcerns about access to, use of, and treatment ofcultural and natural resources on federal lands.

Along with the NPS, sponsoring partnersincluded the U.S. Forest Service, Fish and Wild-life Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.Course participants included 52 federal agencyemployees and 24 tribal members from 22 tribes,15 of whom were provided scholarships. Culturalresources staff handled all logistics, videotapedthe class, and coordinated field trips.

Next year the class will be hosted by theShoshone Business Council at the Wind RiverIndian Reservation in Wyoming.

The branch chief continued to work with theVisitor Services Office and tribal members onrequests for entrance fee waivers when affiliatedtribal members wish to conduct traditional orceremonial activities. The tribal member isrequired to get the sanction of the tribal chair forthe fee waiver. Four such waivers were approvedin 1998.

Branch staff worked with the resourcemanagement coordinator to gather examples ofAmerican Indian natural resource collectingpolicies from other NPS units. A draft policy forYellowstone is expected to be completed in 2000.

FEDERAL HIGHWAYS COMPLIANCE

Branch staff have been working to ensurecompliance with Section 106 for each phase of thepark-wide road improvement projects. Work onthe following segments was done in 1998:• Madison to Norris —helped prepare the

environmental assessment (EA) and theDetermination of Eligibility information foradjacent historic structures; submitted ahistoric structures package for determinationof eligibility; assisted with data recovery,planning, and logistics in the vicinity of theGibbon Falls picnic area; and completeddocumentation of several historic sites. Arche-ological data recovery was carried out at alarge campsite on the Gibbon in anticipationthat this area will be used to stage upcomingroad construction.

• Arnica Creek/Bridge Bay—completed cul-tural resources compliance, reviewed the EA,and prepared site documentation.

• East Entrance Road—completed cultural re-sources compliance, provided details andmonitored repairs to the Fishing Bridge struc-ture, and began planning for the FishingBridge stockpile and staging area reclama-tion.

• Northeast Entrance Road resurfacing—moni-tored construction activity through archeologi-cal sites.

• North Entrance Road—assisted with the arche-ological inventory.

• Dunraven and Hayden Valley—began to gatherhistoric structure information and arche-ological site inventories.

• Tower to Canyon—mapped the Tower SoldierStation using both traditional archeologicaland remote sensing techniques by KenKarsmizki (MOR). One feature (a privy) willbe affected by proposed road improvements.A data recovery plan to excavate this pit isexpected to be prepared in FY99.


HISTORIC RESOURCES

Historic StructuresCultural resources staff worked closely with

contractors in 1998 to complete the National Reg-ister inventory and evaluation of more than 1,000historic structures. Hundreds of photographs werelabeled, photo-documentation of interiors and ex-teriors was compiled, and draft inventory formsfor concession structures were reviewed. Workbegan on a guide to assist historic building resi-dents in the proper maintenance and care of theirresidence.

The information gathered during the historicstructure inventory and evaluation will help in thecompletion of the Historic Resource Study byMarcy Culpin, a historian with the Rocky Moun-tain Support Office. Part one, the history of parktransportation is complete. Part two, the historyof park concessions, and part three, the history ofpark administration, should be completed in 2000.

Park HistoryChristine Whitacre, detailed from the regional

office for six weeks to serve as acting historian,was able to complete valuable research such as theOtter Creek area historic overview, documentationof the use and significance of the ram pump onCascade Creek near Canyon, and the backcountrycabins inventory. She also provided compliancefor projects associated with the Midway GeyserBridge and road reconstruction, and continued tocoordinate the park’s historic structures surveyand National Register/National Historic Landmarknomination projects.

Research on the history of fire management inYellowstone by Colorado State University Mas-ters student Michael Smith continued through acontract from the Rocky Mountain SupportOffice. The final report is expected in 2000.

In support of the archeological program, sea-sonal assistant Kara Mills produced the history ofthe Buffalo Ford Soldier Station near Mud Vol-cano and the history of the Cottage Hotel in Mam-moth.

Students from Colorado State University,along with Richard Smart of the Bureau of Recla-mation, who are studying hydroelectric powerfacilities in the western United States, were givena tour of the Mammoth Power House and workedwith archival staff to obtain information on itshistory.

National Historic Preservation ActUnder Section 106 of the National Historic

Preservation Act, projects that have a potential toaffect cultural resources that are listed or eligiblefor the National Register must undergo a compli-ance process. Since the 1996 re-engineering, eachdivision is responsible for initiating and complet-ing the process under the guidance of specialists.In 1998, a full-time cultural resources specialistand her part-time employees were responsible forcoordinating compliance with Section 106 andother regulatory requirements regarding culturalresources.

During 1998, branch staff were involved with136 projects, and reviewed 11 satellite dishplacement requests and 31 other requests to theResource Council to determine whether proposedprojects would affect cultural resources. Of the 11projects that had to be submitted for Section 106review, two were determined to have an adverseeffect.

Meetings were held with Section 106 coordi-nators from other divisions to update them on pro-cedures and projects, and discuss how to improveSection 106 applications in the park.

In August, branch staff organized the annualvisits from the State Historic Preservation Officers(SHPO) of Montana and Wyoming to review cur-rent and proposed projects. SHPO and park staffvisited all of the park’s identified and proposedhistoric districts with Marcy Culpin. Resultinginformation will be included in the National Reg-ister nominations that Culpin is developing forpark historic structures and districts.

National Register DeterminationsSection 110 of the National Historic Preserva-


tion Act requires federal agencies to identify,evaluate, and nominate to the National Registersuitable historic properties under their jurisdictionor control. Listed properties are maintained in away that considers the preservation of their Na-tional Register qualities. In 1998 the WyomingState Historic Preservation Office concurred thatthe Bechler Soldier Station Historic District andthe Midway Geyser Basin bridge were eligible tothe National Register of Historic Places.

Work continued on preparing six NationalRegister nominations for the Grand Loop and thefive entrance roads. Research began on Determi-nations of Eligibility for the Canyon Hotel dump,the Cottage Hotel site, and the Mud Geyser Sol-dier Station (a.k.a. Buffalo Ford or Nez Perce Sol-dier Station).

Oral HistoryThe Fee Demonstration Program provided

funding to begin the collection and transcriptionof oral interviews that will focus on the history ofungulate management in the park and other parkissues as told by those who were directly involvedin the decisions, implementation, and philosophiesthat shaped management views.

PartnershipsStaff from park units in Wyoming, the Wyo-

ming State Historic Preservation Office, and theNPS regional office staff met in Denver to partici-pate in an “Interest Based Negotiation Workshop,”discuss current and upcoming projects, and form aworking group to address annual National HistoricPreservation Act programmatic agreement report-ing requirements.

Branch staff met with the West YellowstoneHeritage Park Advisory Board to discuss the WestYellowstone Historic District, development of theWest Yellowstone Historic Society, and plans fortheir proposed museum and archival collectionstorage facility.

The branch chief helped organize and coordi-nate two quarterly meetings of the YellowstoneMuseum Partnership, which consists of local,

state, and federal museums and historical societiesin the greater Yellowstone region. The membersidentify potential areas of overlap and partnershipopportunities such as exhibits, shared collectionstorage, and website links. They are workingtogether to produce a joint brochure and shareconservators and other professional expertise.

The branch chief also participated as the park’srepresentative to the Yellowstone Heritage Part-nership. This group of private local, state, andfederal organizations along the Yellowstone Rivermeets regularly to plan projects of mutual benefit.The Western Heritage Center received funding forand coordinated a cultural tourism workshop forthe group in September.

Branch staff and a park exhibit specialistassisted in organizing an exhibit of historicWilliam Henry Jackson and contemporary USGSphotographs for the Yellowstone/Montana State

This 1922 photo of a park ranger in front of theLamar Buffalo Ranch is from one of more than 1,100nitrate negatives in the museum collection that werecopied onto safety film in 1998.


University 125th anniversary symposium. Parkstaff installed the exhibit at the Gallatin GatewayInn and later moved it to the MSU Student Union.

The branch chief represented the park at theNez Perce National Historic Trail coordinationmeeting in September, and was elected to the NezPerce National Historic Trail Foundation board asa non-voting governmental representative.

MUSEUM PROGRAM

Photographs, Historic Objects, andSpecimens

Preservation and access. Yellowstone’s pho-tograph archive contains approximately 90,000images, or almost 50 percent of the total museumcollection, and is by far the most in-demand partof the collection. Historic prints by WilliamHenry Jackson were among the beneficiaries ofthe second year of a three-year project to preservea portion of the park’s historic photograph archiveand historic objects collections. The project isimproving access to thousands of photographicimages by removing them from overcrowded,hazardous, and otherwise substandard storageconditions and placing them in archival sleevesand boxes so they can be safely handled and

viewed as needed. Images rehoused during theyear ranged from nitrate negatives taken by parkstaff between the 1920s and 1940s to more re-cently acquired historic prints. Funded by theNPS’s Museum Collections Preservation and Pro-tection Program (MCPPP), the project will enablemuseum staff to better serve both outside re-searchers and park staff who use or refer to his-toric photographs in their work.

Some of the most important artifacts in thepark’s collection were also rehoused to promotetheir long-term preservation. These includedThomas Moran’s personal effects (such as hispaint brushes and other tools), diaries associatedwith the Hayden survey, and Yellowstone mater-ials recently returned from the Midwest Archeolo-gical Center that are subject to the Native Ameri-can Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Partnership with National Gallery of Art.As part of the park’s partnership with the NationalGallery of Art (NGA), the curator received slidesand prints of each leaf of the two Thomas Moransketchbooks in the park’s museum collection.These sketchbooks, which were loaned to theNGA for its recent travelling exhibit on Moran,contain rarely seen and never-published drawingsthat are now available, through these images, for

Hamilton’s grocery store at Old Faithful auto camp, September 1929.


research and educational uses. The sketches havealso been digitized and will be available to thepark in digital form in 1999. A YellowstoneAssociation grant is enabling the NGA tocomplete work on production of a William HenryJackson CD-ROM that will also include examplesof Moran’s work from the Hayden survey.

Nitrate negatives. Nearly 12,000 images inthe park’s collection of historic photos exist onlyas nitrate negatives, which are volatile and canspontaneously combust when subjected to the heatof a normal photo enlarger. The museum staff isworking with the NPS’s Western Archeologicaland Conservation Center to have the nitrates du-plicated onto safety film by a lab in Tucson thatspecializes in this process, but it is expensive. In1998, a variety of funding sources, including agrant from the Yellowstone Association, werepooled to have more than 1,100 of these negativescopied onto safety film. Museum staff are priori-tizing negatives for duplication in accordance withtheir demand for research, their subject matter,and the quality of the original images.

Fishing Bridge Museum. The custom-builtexhibit cases and glass doors in the Fishing BridgeMuseum building cannot accommodate modernsafety glass. To help preserve the historic naturalscience specimens at the museum while promot-ing visitor and staff safety, MCPPP funds enabledmuseum staff to have ultraviolet film applied tothe glass to block UV light, which causes irrevers-ible damage to specimens, and to prevent the glassfrom shattering in case of an accident. Worn-outgaskets on cases were replaced to deter pests.

Historic VehiclesThe second and last year of a MCPPP-funded

historic vehicle project enabled museum staff tomake considerable progress toward the goal ofstabilizing, preserving and documenting the park’scollection of about 30 vehicles: stagecoaches,buggies, wagons, busses, touring cars, and mainte-nance, patrol, and fire-fighting vehicles. (See alsoconservation of the Shaw & Powell buggy in “Re-source Highlights.”)

Museum technicians have completed most ofthe preparations for long-term storage of themotorized vehicles and began work on the non-motorized. Much-needed improvements to thevehicles’ warehouse space were also undertakenthis year. A large opening at the rear of thevehicle room, previously protected only by loosesliding doors, was sealed and retrofitted withdoors designed to exclude pests and reduce dust.Obtained for the cost of shipping, surplus militaryparachutes were procured to use as dust covers forthe vehicles, saving thousands of dollars thatmight have been spent on individual covers.

In November, museum staff members attendedthree of the first training opportunities offered inthe United States on the care and preservation ofhistoric vehicles to museum standards: the “Car-riage Care and Preservation Symposium” at theMuseums at Stony Brook, New York (home of thelargest horse-drawn vehicle collection in theUnited States); a coach conservation workshop atthe Buffalo Bill Historical Center; and a week-long course, “Maintaining Historic MotorizedVehicles in Museum Collections,” taught by aconservator from the Henry Ford Museum.

Knowledge and skills gained during thesecourses were put to work immediately, and haveresulted in vastly improved care and maintenanceof the park’s vehicle collection and considerabletime savings. Application of improved cleaningand maintenance techniques and use of the mostappropriate chemical compounds, tools, andequipment have enabled the museum technicianassigned to vehicle preservation to completeneeded work on vehicles far more thoroughly andin a fraction of the time once required. Thesecourses stressed the importance of preservingoriginal historic fabric (e.g. original parts, paint,upholstery) and debunked the belief that historicvehicles must be operated to be preserved.

The museum technician also applied knowl-edge gained during these courses to draft a “Con-serve-O-Gram,” a series of NPS technical leafletswritten by subject-matter experts to ensure up-to-date information on specific museum collections


preservation topics. In addition to this leaflet onhistoric motorized vehicle preservation, museumstaff also plan to draft a Conserve-O-Gram onhorse-drawn vehicle preservation in 1999.

Acquisitions and CatalogingNotable Acquisitions. Important donations,

field collections, and purchases added to themuseum collection during the year included:• An 1885 oil painting of Constant Geyser by

the American artist James Everett Stuart,which is the earliest known painting by a pro-fessional artist of a thermal feature in theNorris Geyser Basin, was purchased through agrant from the Yellowstone Park Foundation.Half of the cost of the painting was donated byJane and Ron Lerner, while the other half wasdonated by the New York gallery carrying thepainting, the Spanierman Gallery.

• A series of enlargements of William HenryJackson photographs paired with enlargedphotographs taken of the same locations byUSGS photographers. A display incorporatingthese sets of photographs was mounted for the125th anniversary symposium at Montana StateUniversity and will be installed in a Yellow-stone hotel or lodge lobby in 1999.

• Yellowstone memorabilia and uniforms thatbelonged to her late husband, long-time parkgeologist Rick Hutchinson, were generouslydonated by Jennifer Whipple, the park bota-nist.

• Historic photo albums and scrapbooks contain-ing rare views of the Old Faithful, Lake, andCanyon areas, and photographs of U.S. presi-dents and first ladies visiting Yellowstone weredonated to the park.

• As in 1997, Yellowstone Association fundingwas used at the National Park Antique Showheld in Bozeman to enhance the park’s collec-tions of historic postcards, stereo cards,ephemera, and books.

• Several important fossils (see Paleontologysection) were accessioned into the collection.During fiscal year 1998, 3,592 objects from

the disciplines of archeology, history, biology,paleontology, and geology were added to thecollection, bringing the park’s total number ofmuseum items to 190,613. Nearly 60 percent ofthese items are cataloged into the NPS’s Auto-mated National Catalog System (ANCS+).However, about 13,000 objects and specimenswere cataloged before the advent of computersand still need to be entered into the database. TheNPS chief curator’s office plans on scanning theserecords for the park within the next two years.

Herbarium. The herbarium, which is man-aged as part of the museum collection, continuedto be used extensively by park personnel and out-side researchers, especially during the summermonths. The collection includes about 7,600 spe-cimens of vascular and non-vascular plants thatare identified and mounted, with 6,121 specimensof vascular plants that are catalogued intoANCS+. During the 1998 field season, 235 speci-mens were collected for the herbarium, primarilyplants that are not well represented in the collec-tion, new park records, and exotic plants to docu-ment their arrival and/or spread.

Field collections. Natural science specimensand cultural artifacts collected under approvedpermits are a significant source of new museumitems. Natural science collections (biological,paleontological, and geological specimens) eitherlocated in the park or reported to the park by out-side collectors now number 29,575 specimens.The archeological collection housed within thepark includes 28,574 items, while an additional77,427 artifacts and 17,127 associated fieldrecords from Yellowstone are housed at the NPS’sMidwest Archeological Center (MWAC) in Lin-coln, Nebraska. The number of items at MWACshould remain relatively stable, as the park is nowthe designated repository for archeological materi-als collected within Yellowstone.

Most natural science collections made inYellowstone are, under the terms of their permits,removed from the park for research and storage,but federal regulations governing these permitsstipulate that materials retained in any repository


remain the property of the United States and aremanaged as part of the park’s museum collection.

By the end of the year, the curator had re-ceived eight permits involving collection ofspecimens, but only four collectors had compliedwith the terms of their permits by contacting thecurator’s office for accession and catalog numbersand cataloging instructions.

Public Access and OutreachMore than 700 research and reference requests

were met during the year—20 percent from parkstaff and 80 percent from outside researchers—reflecting a five-year trend toward greater use ofthe collection by outside researchers, while in-park use remains relatively constant or increasesat a more gradual pace. Museum staff membersspent a total of approximately 30 hours per weekassisting researchers. Research and referencerequests, as well as requests for VIP tours or

Portion of a pencil sketch with gray watercolor wash on trees, identified as“Yellowstone range from Lower Canon” in a sketchbook used by ThomasMoran during his 1871 trip through Yellowstone as a guest of the Haydensurvey (reduced from actual size).

access to the collection for special projects, camefrom scholars working on books, journal articles,dissertations, and theses about Yellowstone;filmmakers, videographers and producers of CD-ROMs; park interpreters and resource managers;visiting scientists; environmental organizations;members of the media; neighboring museums; andthe general public.

The greatest demand was for historic photo-graphs, postcards, stereographs, and brochures,and for access to the vehicle collection. Use ofthe herbarium also continued to be heavy, espe-cially during the summer. Numerous loans ofmaterials were approved, including several thatenabled fossil discoveries to be identified.

The park’s lead museum technician hasbecome a recognized expert in the use of ANCS+software, and during the year assisted the instruc-tors at training sessions for museum staff fromparks across the country held at Grand Canyon


National Park and Fossil Butte National Monu-ment, and personally trained staff from BighornCanyon National Recreation Area.

To educate the public about the collections andexplain the park’s relationship with the NationalArchives and Records Administration (NARA),the curator wrote “The Yellowstone Archives andits Affiliation with NARA,” for the NPS journalCRM; and “Will Your Yellowstone PostcardsMean Something to Yellowstone?” for TheYellowstone Postcard Exchange, a newslettergeared toward private collectors. The curator alsodelivered a slide presentation on the park museumcollection and library for the Wyoming LibraryAssociation, and “Bringing Nature Indoors:Museums in Yellowstone National Park,” for the125th anniversary symposium at Montana StateUniversity.

RESEARCH LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES

In 1998, staff expanded the master inventoryof the Yellowstone National Park archives from700 to 1,419 pages and made it available on theInternet via the park’s website. This progress onthe ongoing massive project to automate thepark’s archival and library records was possiblebecause the branch was able to hire for the firsttime a full-time archives technician as well as afull-time library technician, and had the assistanceof one part-time and two full-time volunteers.

The archiving and computer-inventorying ofmore than 100 handwritten log books was com-pleted. Logbooks from the Old Faithful, NorrisGeyser Basin Mount Washburn, Lone Star Geyser,Madison, and Lamar areas which had been storedin other places are now safe in the park archives.

AcquisitionsImportant items for the library collection and

the photograph archive that were acquired bytrade, purchase, or donation include:

• “Alice’s Adventures in the New Wonderland,”an 1884 Northern Pacific Railroad publication;

• three videotapes of Tim Miller’s Yellowstonefilms dating from the 1930s;

• an 1883 Illustrated London News that has anarticle about Yellowstone with woodcuts;

• color photocopies of 143 photographs byHenry Bird Calfee, for which the park hasproposed that the Yellowstone Park Founda-tion purchase the original stereograph cards;

• five rare books obtained in a trade with RonLerner: W.B. Mershon, Recollections of MyFifty Years Hunting and Fishing (autographedby author), 1923; Alfred Lambourne, PineBranches and Sea Weeds, 1889; T.H.G.Esmonde, Hunting Memories of Many Lands(autographed by author), 1925; Willis Lee, etal., Guidebook of the Western U.S. 1915; andT.C. Porter, Impressions of America, 1899.

Assistance with PublicationsPrior to their publication, the archivist re-

viewed several books and articles important to thehistory of the Yellowstone region, including: Dr.Marly Merrill’s Yellowstone and the Great West:The Diaries of A.C. Peale and George Allen (Uni-versity of Nebraska Press); Dr. Peter Hassrick,Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America’s FirstNational Park (for Gene Autry Museum, Los An-geles); David Delo, The Yellowstone, Forever!The Fascinating Story of Our First National Park;James Pritchard’s Preserving Natural Conditions:Science and the Perception of Nature in Yellow-stone National Park (University of NebraskaPress); Tom Carter’s new edition of DayhikingYellowstone; Mike Yochim’s article on the historyof snowmobiling in Yellowstone (published inAnnals of Wyoming); Lee Parsons’s article on thediary of Henry Dana Washburn and Kim Scott’sarticle on the diary of the Folsom expedition (bothfor Montana Magazine of Western History); andFalcon Press’s Yellowstone on My Mind.

23

Part III. Natural Resource Programs

AIR, LAND, AND WATER

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

Partnership to identify GYA air quality issues, air pollution sources, and monitor-ing needs, and recommend management actions. Their report will be completed inearly 1999.

Mining ImpactsNew World Mine. Although the application process for the proposed New

World Mine ceased in 1996 as a result of an agreement that provided for acquisi-tion of property interests held by Crown Butte Mines, Inc. by the federal govern-ment, park staff have continued to track the issue. In 1998, title to the lands andmineral rights was officially conveyed to the United States and planning for recla-mation began. The U.S. Forest Service is the lead agency for the reclamation, andthe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will represent the Department of Interior as acooperating agency. Although the NPS is not an official member of the planningteam, Yellowstone will be represented at the meetings and provide input as appro-priate.

Mineral Hill Gold Mine. Except for water management operations and theremoval of hazardous chemicals as required by its mining permit, TVX Gold, Inc.,suspended operations at the near Jardine, Montana, in September 1996 and an-nounced in December 1998 that the mine would be closed. Park staff continued tomonitor the project and attend community task force meetings. Closure and recla-mation will begin in 1999.

24 Natural Resource Programs

McLaren Mine Tailings. Park staff continuedto work with NPS Water Resources staff to ex-plore options for treatment and removal of theMcLaren mine tailings which are located up-stream and just outside the park’s northeastboundary. Leaching from these tailings has his-torically caused pollution into Soda Butte Creek,which runs into Yellowstone National Park.

Water ResourcesWater rights compact. Park staff continued

to work with the NPS Water Resource Division toimplement the reserved water rights compact thatthe NPS has signed with Montana. Stream flow,pH, and conductivity were monitored at the gaug-ing station on Soda Butte Creek near the park’snortheast boundary. Because of the lack of hydro-logic expertise within the park, the work was con-ducted by a U.S. Forest Service hydrologic techni-cian under an interagency agreement with GallatinNational Forest, with the NPS Water ResourcesDivision continuing to provide technical over-sight.

A term of the water rights compact requiresthat the Montana Department of Natural Re-sources and Conservation notify the NPS of anyapplications submitted for well permits within theYellowstone controlled groundwater area. Of the19 applications received in 1998, the NPS ob-jected to two on the basis that the proposed

groundwater withdrawal would result in a calcu-lable reduction in the surface flow of a parkstream or tributary regulated under the terms ofthe compact. The NPS objection was withdrawnon one of the applications after the applicant low-ered the amount of water requested; the other con-tested application, for a groundwater withdrawalin the Soda Butte Creek drainage, remained unre-solved as of year end. None of the other proposedgroundwater withdrawals would result in a calcu-lable reduction in the surface water flow of a cat-egory 3 or 4 stream or its tributary, and the waterdid not meet the criterion to be classified hydro-thermal, for which restrictions apply.

An objection filed in 1997 to an applicationfor a change in place of use and the purpose of useof an existing water right for a warm water wellwithin the Yellowstone controlled groundwaterarea was withdrawn when the applicant reducedthe amount of water requested and dropped one ofthe proposed uses associated with the permit.Since the original water right existed prior to thesigning of the compact, the NPS could not objectto the use of warm water.

Water quality monitoring. Park staff andcontract workers continued to collect water sam-ples on the four major rivers to monitor levels ofchloride flux, an indicator of changes in geother-mal output. Dr. Irving Friedman (USGS retired),provided oversight of the water sample analysisby the USGS Water Resources Division (Denver)as well as data analysis and interpretation.

Park staff are also working with hydrologistsfrom the USGS Water Resources Division (Chey-enne) as they began a three-year, in-depth nationalwater quality assessment (NAWQA) of the Yel-lowstone River basin. The NAWQA evaluatesvarious measures of water quality, including bedsediment samples, fish tissue, surface water, andaquatic ecology. Sampling within the park willinclude Soda Butte Creek, a tributary to Yellow-stone River, because its water quality is impairedas a result of previous mining-related activity up-stream and outside of the park.

Union Falls.


WetlandsThrough an interagency agreement with the

National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService (USFWS) completed wetland inventorymaps for the entire park. Each 1:24,000-scalemap shows wetland delineations and classifica-tions on a 7.5-minute U.S.G.S. topographic quad-rangle base. The maps and digital information areavailable on the park’s GIS and on the U.S. Fishand Wildlife Services national wetland inventoryweb page at http://www.nwi.fws.gov/welcome.html. Preparation began on a publication aboutthe park’s wetlands, to be co-authored with theUSFWS and completed in 1999.

As part of the parkwide road reconstructionprogram, wetlands were mapped and describedalong the Dunraven Road between Tower andCanyon, and planning for wetland mitigation onthe Madison to Norris road reconstruction projectcontinued.

Wetlands were also mapped in the vicinity ofthe proposed Old Faithful sewage treatment facil-ity so that impacts to the wetlands could be mini-mized.

Other IssuesTurbid Lake Road. During its reconstruction

in the 1930s, a portion of the East Entrance Roadwas relocated to follow the north shore of Yellow-stone Lake. The old segment, referred to as theTurbid Lake road, was not closed to vehiculartraffic until 1988. Reclamation of the roadbed,which began in 1997, continued this year as parkand Montana Conservation Corps staff decom-pacted an additional half-mile to promote reveg-etation; excavated stream crossings and reshapedroad cuts to restore original drainage; andmulched, transplanted, and seeded the area withnative plant species. Additional funds are beingsought to complete the project in 1999.

Earth sciences. Park staff hosted a small con-ference in September to discuss the earth scienceresearch conducted in the park. USGS and uni-versity scientists, as well as park staff, gave pre-sentations on geological, geochemical, geophysi-

cal, geothermal, hydrological, and microbial top-ics.

The park’s only geologist position has beenvacant since Rick Hutchinson’s death in March1997. Vacancy announcements for two newlycreated positions, a geothermal geologist and ageomorphologist position, were announced in De-cember and are expected to be filled in 1999.

BEARS

Yellowstone National Park is responsible forprotecting and maintaining populations of grizzlybears (Ursus arctos) and black bears (Ursusamericanus) as part of the park’s native faunawhile minimizing the chances of bear-inflictedhuman injuries, bear-caused property damages,and human-caused bear mortalities. The BearManagement Office (BMO) is responsible forcoordinating this effort among the different divi-sions and for recording all data related to bearmanagement activities in the park. In cooperationwith the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team(IGBST) for the entire grizzly bear recovery areain greater Yellowstone, the BMO staff assist withresearch on bear food habits, habitat use, behavior,and population. The BMO is also responsible foroversight of nuisance wildlife management andfor wildlife disease, wildlife DNA, and rare mam-mal monitoring within the park. In 1998, theBMO consisted of two full-time employees, onesummer seasonal employee, and two summer vol-unteers.

Grizzly bear sow and cubs.


Population MonitoringBear sightings. There were 1,604 bear

sightings reported in the park in 1998, including736 observations of grizzly bears (Fig. 2), 482 ofblack bears, and 61 of unidentified bear species.Each observation of bears is counted as one sight-ing, regardless of the number of bears present;multiple reports on the same day of what is obvi-ously the same bear or bears are counted as onesighting. The number of bear sightings is depen-dent on factors such as park visitation levels, on-going bear-related research projects, availabilityof preferred foods, and weather patterns.

The first recorded grizzly bear activity in 1998was a track observation in the Witch Creek drain-age on March 12; the first recorded black bearwas seen between Slough Creek and the Yellow-stone River bridge on March 22. The last re-corded black bear activity was a track observationon the Cygnet Lakes trail on October 25; the last

recorded grizzly bear was seen about a half-milesoutheast of Tower Junction on December 3.

Grizzly females with cubs. As part of grizzlybear monitoring in the Yellowstone ecosystem, theIGBST counts the number of adult female grizzlybears with cubs-of-the-year (COY) because theyhave smaller average home range sizes than malesand are the most reliable segment of the popu-lation to survey. The number of cubs per litter andpelage-color combinations of different familygroups aid in identifying individual adult females.Because adult females in the Yellowstone ecosys-tem generally have a three-year breeding interval,the number of females with COY counted over athree-year period gives an estimate of the numberof adult females in the population.

In the GYA, 35 females and 70 COY werecounted in 1998, the largest number of cubs sincethe survey began in 1973. Of those bears, 13 fe-males and 23 COY were found within the park.

Figure 2. Grizzly bear sightings and sign reported in 1998.

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

BB

B

B

B

BBB B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

BB

BB

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

BBB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BBBBB

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

BBBB

B

B B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BBB

BBB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BBB

B

B

B

BB BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B B

B

B

BB

B

B

B B B

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

BBBBBBB

B

BBBBBBB

BB

BBBBBBBBB

B

BBBB

B

B

BBBB

B

B B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

BB B

BBB

BB

BB

BB

B

B B

B

B

BB

B

BB

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BBB

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

BBB

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BBB

B

B

B

BB

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

BB

B

BB

B

BB

BB B

BBB

B

B

BB

B B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

BB

B

BB

BBBB

BBBBB

B

B

B

B

BB

B

BBBB

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

BB

BB

B

B

B

BBBBB

B

B

B

BB

BBB BBBB

BB

B

B

B

BB

B

B B

B

BB

B

B

BB

BB

B

B

BBB

BBB

BB

BB

BB

B

B

BB

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BBB

BB B

B

B

BBB B

BB

B

BBB

B

B

BBBBB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B B

B B

B

B

B

BB

B

BBB

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

BBBBBBBB

BBBBBBBBBB

B

B

BB

BB

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

B

B

BBB

BBB

BBB

BBB

BBBBBBB

B

B

B

BB

BB

B

B

BBBBBBBBB

BBB

BBB

BB

BB BB

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

BBB

B B

BBB BBB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B B

BBB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B B

B

B

B

B

BB

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

BBB

BB

BB

B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

BBBBB

B

BB

BB

B B

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

BB

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B

BB

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

BB

B

B BBB

B

BB

B

BBB

BB BB BB BB

BBB

BB

B

B BB

B

B

BBBBBB

BBB

BBBBB

BBB B BB

B BB


The average litter size observed in the park was1.9 cubs, with 6 one-cub litters, 4 two-cub litters,and 3 three-cub litters seen.

Observation flights. As part of the IGBSTmonitoring program, the BMO also conductedtwo series of observation flights in five of the 18Bear Management Units in the GYA: the Lamar,Pelican/Clear Creek, Two Ocean Plateau,Washburn, and Firehole/Hayden. During the firstseries of flights (13.9 observation hours) 2 blackbears and 32 grizzly bears were observed. One(#290) of these grizzly bears was a radio-markedbear. The signals of 5 additional radio-markedbears were heard in the survey units. During thesecond series of flights (13.4 observation hours),no black bears and 12 grizzly bears were seen, thistime including only one (#205) of 8 grizzly bearswhose signals were heard. The small portion ofcollared bears observed suggests that either theyhave learned to avoid detection from overheadflights or that only a small proportion of the bearsin the park are collared.

Bear mortality. One grizzly bear and fourblack bears were known to have died in the parkin 1998. The grizzly bear died from naturalcauses; three of the black bears died as a result ofvehicle collisions, and the fourth from predationby a grizzly bear. The 10-year annual average forhuman-caused mortalities in the park is 0.8 (± 1.0SD) grizzly bears and 1.0 (± 0.8 SD) black bears.

The death of the grizzly bear, last observed onMay 25 along Upper Pelican Creek, was discov-ered during a routine aerial telemetry flight onJune 6 when its signal was heard on mortalitymode. The adult male’s carcass was located onJuly 15 and sent to the Montana Fish, Wildlife,and Parks (MTFWP) laboratory for necropsy.Due to the advanced state of decomposition, theexact cause of death could not be determined, butthe bear was very old (24 years); his teeth showedextreme wear and severe arthritis was evident inall major joints examined. He may have died ofmalnutrition due to his worn teeth, or he may havebeen killed by another bear; five bear scats and aday bed were found at the scene.

Two of the black bears, both males, apparentlydied immediately after colliding with pickuptrucks. The third vehicle casualty, an adult fe-male, was found lying along the shoulder of U.S.Highway 191 on July 1 with an obvious fractureto the right front leg and shoulder. After beingchemically immobilized, the bear was transportedto Bozeman, Montana, where she was euthanizedbecause of the severity of her injuries. Witnessesreported that a semi-tractor trailer hit the bear; thedriver failed to stop or report the incident.

The black bear mortality due to natural causeswas reported by visitors on August 2 who saw thedead animal across the Yellowstone River fromGrizzly Overlook in Hayden Valley. The carcasswas of an approximately 185-pound adult malethat appeared to have been killed and partiallyconsumed; there were canine puncture wounds inthe skull and two fresh bear scats next to the car-cass. The necropsy done by the MDFWP lab con-firmed that a larger bear of unidentified specieshad killed the black bear; the scats were sent tothe University of Idaho where it was determinedby DNA analysis that they came from a grizzlybear.

Other vehicle collisions. In addition to thethree bears that were known to have died becauseof vehicle collisions, four bears were reported tohave been injured as a result of a vehicle collisionbut no carcass was found. Three of these animalswere black bears; the other’s species could not bedetermined.

Availability of Bear FoodsMost high-quality bear foods were of average

abundance in 1998, except for whitebark pine(Pinus albicaulis) cones, which were below aver-age. Although the winter of 1997–98 was thethird mildest since 1948–49, the number of win-ter-killed elk (Cervus elaphus) and bison (Bisonbison) carcasses potentially available for bears toscavenge was approximately equal to the averagerecorded on survey routes from 1992 to 1997.

During spring, scavenging ungulate carcassesand digging for roots of biscuitroot (Lomatium


cous) were the most commonly observed grizzlybear feeding activities. Elk calves, an importantlate spring and early summer food source, werepreyed upon extensively by some bears. Due totheir high protein and lipid content, spawning cut-throat trout (Onchorynchus clarki bouvieri) rankas one of the most important sources of net digest-ible energy available in the Yellowstone ecosys-tem during the late spring and early summer whenbears are recouping nutritional losses incurredduring hibernation. Grizzly bears grazed exten-sively on bluegrass (Poa spp.) and sedges (Carexspp.) along spawning streams.

During the summer, digging for biscuitrootand pond weed root (Potamogeton spp.) were themost frequently recorded grizzly bear feeding ac-tivities, but analysis of bear scats indicated thatbluegrass, sedges, clover (Trifolium spp.), Evertsthistle (Cirsium scariosum), horsetail (Equisetumspp.), sweet-cicely (Ozmorhiza chilensis), and thefloral tops of dandelion (Taraxacum spp.) werealso extensively consumed. On the Central Pla-teau, bear use of false truffles (Rhizopogon spp.)was evident. Bear scats containing elk remainsappeared to be more common than during previ-ous summers, possibly due to bears scavengingkills left by wolves (Canis lupus).

Grizzly Bear Food SourcesPark staff monitor the annual availability of

three of the most important sources of net digest-ible energy available to grizzly bears in the park:ungulates, mostly elk and bison, cutthroat trout,and whitebark pinenuts.

Winter-killed ungulate carcasses. The Yel-lowstone ecosystem is unique among areas inhab-ited by grizzly bears in North America because ofthe substantial consumption of ungulates duringthe spring season before most vegetal foods be-come available. Grizzly bears feed on ungulatesprimarily as winter-killed carrion from Marchthrough May. Between the beginning of April andmid-May each year, teams of at least two peoplehiked, snowshoed, or skied 315.5 km of surveyroutes to record observations of bears, bear sign,and ungulate carcasses, including species, sex, ageclass, and UTM location, and evidence of scav-enging or predation by bears or other carnivores.In 1998, 5 bison carcasses, 39 elk carcasses, and 1bighorn sheep carcass were documented. Theoverall rate of one ungulate carcass observed per6.7 km of survey route in the areas of thermallyinfluenced ungulate winter range (Firehole ther-mal area, Norris Geyser Basin, and Heart Lakearea) was approximately equal to the annual aver-age of one large mammal carcass observed per 6.4km from 1992 to 1997.

Cutthroat trout spawning. Of the at least 36streams tributary to Yellowstone Lake where griz-zly bears are known to prey on cutthroat trout, 12are checked daily beginning May 1 each year bythe resource management coordinators, and thenweekly after spawning begins until most adulttrout have returned to the lake. Two people walkupstream from the stream mouth and record thenumber of adult trout observed and bear sign;tracks and track measurements are used to deter-mine the number, species, and association of fam-ily groups of bears. The information is used tomanage visitor use and set opening dates for rec-reational facilities in the Lake and Grant Villagedeveloped areas (which are adjacent to spawningstreams) in order to reduce the potential for bear-

Carex geyeri Poa pratensis


human conflict.The numbers of spawning cutthroat trout

counted in 1998 were similar to the 1989–1997averages on most streams except those in the WestThumb area, which were below average. Grizzlybear activity was observed on seven of these 12streams and black bear activity on four.

Whitebark pine seeds. Because of their highfat content and potential abundance as a pre-hiber-nation food, whitebark pine seeds are an importantfall food for grizzly bears. As part of an annualwhitebark pine survey, cones are counted at 19transects throughout the ecosystem. In 1998, the10 transects within the park averaged 9 (±14 SD)cones per tree, which was lower than the annualaverage of 13 (±30 SD) for the period 1987–1997). Although the fall production of whitebarkpine nuts was below average, excavations of redsquirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) middens forwhitebark pine cones was the most frequentlyrecorded fall grizzly bear feeding activity.

Grizzly bear habitat modelling. For the last13 years, park staff under the auspices of theIGBST have been assisting with the developmentof a computerized grizzly bear habitat model (theCumulative Effects Model) designed to assess theinherent capability of the GYA landscape to sup-port grizzly bears while simultaneously measuringthe effects of human activities on landscape pro-ductivity. The area identified for grizzly bear re-covery was processed through the model for thefirst time in 1998. Outputs were generatedaccording to four seasons (spring, estrous, earlyhyperphagia, and late hyperphagia), and thencombined into two periods (pre-July 15, post-July15) to facilitate other habitat comparisons withroad density analyses. The data was also delin-eated by administrative unit. Numerical analysis,including home range analysis for female grizzlybears with young, will continue into 1999.

Grizzly Bear RecoveryThe grizzly bear has been listed as a threat-

ened species under the Endangered Species Actsince 1975. A primary purpose of the act is to

recover listed species to self-sustaining, viablepopulations that no longer need its protection.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which hasoverall responsibility for species recovery pro-grams, has set three goals that must be achievedbefore the grizzly bear population will be consid-ered recovered within the Yellowstone ecosystem:• An average of at least 15 adult females must

have cubs-of-the-year (COY) on a six-yearrunning average within the recovery zone anda 10-mile area immediately surrounding it.

• At least 16 of the 18 bear management units(BMUs) within the recovery zone must be oc-cupied by females with young from a runningsix-year sum of observations, with no two ad-jacent BMUs unoccupied.

• The known human-caused mortality of grizzlybears must not exceed 4% of the populationestimate based on the most recent three-yearsum of females with cubs minus known adultfemale deaths, and the mortality of femalegrizzly bars cannot exceed 30% of the knownhuman-caused mortality.If all these goals are met and “adequate regula-

tory mechanisms” are in place to ensure conserva-tion of the species, the grizzly bear may be con-sidered for delisting from its threatened status.The Yellowstone ecosystem grizzly bear popula-tion met all three population targets for the firsttime in 1994, but then exceeded the mortality lim-its from 1995 through 1997. In 1998, the threetargets were again met (Table 1), and habitat-based recovery criteria as well as a conservationstrategy outlining how the grizzly bear will bemanaged after delisting were being developed.

Confrontations and Conflicts With HumansAggressive bears. Of the 73 reports of bear-

human confrontations in the park in 1998, oneincident involving a grizzly bear resulted in hu-man injury. The annual average for the preceding10-year period average was 0.7 (± 1.3 SD) grizzlybear-inflicted injuries and 0.1 (± 0.3 SD) blackbear-inflicted injuries (Table 2).

In September, a Belgian couple was about 10


miles from the Trilobite Lake spur trail junctionwhen the wife stopped to rest while the husbandcontinued on. He was about 500 meters from hiswife when he left the trail and walked up a hill tosee if he could see Trilobite Lake. Instead he sawtwo grizzly bears about 15 meters away. As theman started to back off, the larger bear charged,knocked him down, picked him up by the leg, andthrew him down again. The man played dead andthe bear left. The man suffered a deep gash andmuscle evulsions to his thigh. No action wastaken against the bear, but several trails in the areawere temporarily closed.

Ten other grizzly bear confrontations and threeblack bear confrontations were considered “ag-gressive encounters,” in which the bear charged orbluff-charged a person or vehicle; in some casesthat occurred in the frontcountry, it appeared thatthe people involved provoked the aggressionthrough their own reckless behavior, but sufferednothing more than a serious scare.

Bear-caused property damages. Two grizzlybears and two black bears were involved in a totalof four incidents of property damage in 1998,none in which the bears obtained human foods.The annual average for bear-caused property dam-age during the preceding 10-year period was 1.2(± 1.2 SD) grizzly bear incidents and 2.0 (± 1.4SD) black bear incidents. In 1998 bears tore outthe seat of personal snowmobile that was parkedin the Canyon residential area (April); chewed ona pair of socks and a backpack, and pawed the tentdown in a backcountry campsite despite the own-ers’ loud protests (August); interrupted the cook-

ing activities underway at a backcountry campsite,stepped on a tent pole and broke it before beingchased away by yells and thrown rocks and sticks(September); and ripped an unoccupied and food-less tent on the east park boundary at the head ofJones Pass (October).

Obtaining human foods. The three incidentsin which bears obtained human foods or garbagein the park in 1998 all involved grizzly bears. Theannual average for such incidents during thepreceding 10-year period was 1.8 (± 1.5 SD) forgrizzly bears and 3.5 (±3.2SD) incidents for blackbears. Two of the 1998 incidents occurred onconsecutive days in June; both involved reports ofvisitors feeding a grizzly sow and with two year-lings within two miles of Sylvan Lake. In August,two hikers eating lunch on the Bighorn Pass trailbacked off when approached by a grizzly bear, butleft behind a pack in their haste. The bearremoved and ate two sandwiches that were insidedespite being pelted with rocks by the hikers. Thebear finally moved 20 yards away and the hikersretrieved the pack.

Bear Management Actions

In the park. Park staff became involved in201 incidents affecting bears in the park in 1998,including:• 149 bear-jams where park rangers were pre-

sent to ensure the safety of park visitors andthe bears;

• 26 postings of temporary bear warnings atcampsites, trails, or other areas;

• 14 temporary closures of campsites, trails or

Table 1. Population status of the Yellowstone grizzly bear.

ResultsRecovery Goal Target Through 1998

Females with COY (6-year average)>15 26

Human-caused mortality limit <13 9

Human-caused female mortality limit< 4 3

Distribution of females with young >16 of 18 18(6-year sum) BMUs BMUs


other areas when the potential for serious in-jury was heightened due to recent bear activ-ity; and

• 12 situations when bear hazing was considerednecessary in order to move bears away fromdeveloped areas, roadsides, or other visitor useareas (7 times on grizzly bears and 5 on blackbears).Hazing methods included clapping, yelling,

and using patrol car sirens; and firing 12-gaugecracker shells; sling shots or thrown rocks orsticks; 12-gauge “Strike Two” rubber slugs; 12-gauge Bean Bag “Thumper Rounds”; thumper gunprojectiles; SL1-37 mm rubber batons; and redpepper spray.

No situations occurred in which it was consid-ered necessary to trap “problem” bears or removeany bears from the park. Most bear managementactions were taken in the Tower (34%), Mammoth(22%), Lake (19.5%), and Canyon (10%) subdistricts.

Moving bears into the park. To reduce thepotential for bear-human conflicts, the park some-times takes in problem bears from the three adja-cent states, especially grizzly bears. Park staffassisted MDFWP with three such grizzly bearsthat were captured, radio-collared, and relocatedinto the park in 1998: two subadults who had beenfrequenting gardens and birdfeeders in separateincidents north of Gardiner, Montana (Septemberand November); and a subadult male who hadkilled a sheep in the Mill Creek drainage north ofthe park (October).

Two of these bears were believed to have re-mained out of trouble and in the park for the restof 1998. However, the third bear, who had re-ceived a helicopter ride to Chipmunk Creek, abackcountry area in the southeastern portion ofthe park (64 miles straight line distance from thecapture site), was recaptured several weeks laterby the Idaho Department of Fish and Game nearParker, Idaho, where he had been feeding in anapple orchard. The bear was released in the Gall-atin National Forest in Montana.

Other assistance to state agencies. In Sep-tember, park staff helped MDFWP capture andradio-collar another subadult grizzly bear who hadbeen frequenting gardens and orchards north ofGardiner, Montana, and transport her by truck toUpper Sunlight Basin in the Shoshone NationalForest, where she was released with the assistanceof Wyoming Game and Fish personnel.

Advice and information. The long-term sur-vival of bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem de-pends on park visitors and surrounding communi-ties having an understanding of bears and bearmanagement practices. In 1998, the BMO pro-vided data, advice, management recommenda-tions, and technical support to 27 state, federal,school, media, and other private groups, agencies,and citizens on topics such as bear-human conflictmanagement, safety in bear country, and bearecology, and presented 20 bear-related educationaltalks and slide shows to various groups.

Table 2. Bear incidents in Yellowstone National Park, 1998.

Species

Reported Incident Grizzly Bear Black Bear Unknown Total

Bear-caused human injuries 1 0 0 1Bears obtaining human food 3 0 0 3

Bears causing property damage 2 2 0 4

Other aggressive confrontations 10 3 3 16Other encounters in backcountry campsites 2 4 1 7

Other encounters in developed areas 27 11 0 38

Bears approaching or following hikers 9 2 0 11


BIRDS

Threatened and Endangered SpeciesBald eagle. Although the U.S. Fish and Wild-

life Service downlisted the bald eagle from “en-dangered” to “threatened” in 1995 because of sig-nificant continental population gains, populationsin the Great Lake region are still at risk because ofheavy metal problems in the Great Lakes region,and those in the Southwest are threatened byhabitat encroachment and development along ri-parian zones.

In Yellowstone, 15 eaglets fledged from 22active nests in 1998. This was the largest numberof nests recorded since counts began in 1989; thelargest number of fledglings was 17 in 1993. Al-though nest substrate instability as a result of the1988 fires caused minimal problems this year, thelarge number of dead trees expected to topple dur-ing the next few decades could result in egg fail-ure, loss of nest sites, or sudden changes in thelocation of a nesting territory.

The bald eagle population was also consideredthriving within greater Yellowstone, where a totalof 83 eaglets fledged from 96 active eyries in1998. The recovery goal of 74 fledglings per yearset in the Greater Yellowstone Bald Eagle Man-agement Plan has been met every year since 1995.The Greater Yellowstone Bald Eagle WorkingGroup, established in 1982, has believed the baldeagle was ready for delisting for some time.

In the 12th annual winter survey of bald eaglesin the park and portions of the northern range out-side the park, a total of 55 eagles were counted:44 were identified as bald eagles, and 11 as goldeneagles. Forty of the eagles were seen in the Jar-dine /Gardiner/Mammoth area. In past years,eagle counts have ranged from 19 to 61, withweather variables and food availability apparentlythe dominant factors influencing eagle numbersand distribution. Since the reintroduction ofwolves to Yellowstone in 1995, scavenging birdsappear to be drawn to winter carcasses madeavailable by wolves, and the late Gardiner elkhunt also continues to provide a large amount of

food biomass for a large number of eagles.Peregrine falcon. Although the peregrine

falcon is expected to be delisted as an endangeredspecies in 1999, population monitoring will berequired for a minimum of five years afterward.In the park, there were 13 nesting peregrine pairsin 1998 and they fledged at least 22 young(Fig. 3). One remote eyrie was not checked due tologistical problems in the field.

Checking peregrine eyries parkwide is a timeconsuming effort. With the support of the inter-agency Peregrine Falcon Working Group, startingin 1999 the goal will be to check a minimum ofone-third of the known eyries in the park everyyear, so that a parkwide survey is completed everythree years. This approach will free up time tocheck for new eyries.

Whooping crane. Endemic to North Amer-ica, the endangered whooping crane continues tobe the rarest crane in the world. As of October 1,1998, the total population was believed to number397 (54 more than in 1997), with 265 birds in thewild and 132 in captivity. But the whoopingcrane is likely to disappear from greater Yellow-stone in the future.

Attempts to introduce captive-born whoopingcranes into the GYA have met with limited suc-cess. One Gray’s Lake cross-fostering adult diedfrom a powerline collision during the winter of1997/98, leaving only two wild birds survivingfrom the original experiment.

In another effort to start a migratory flock inthe GYA, researcher Ken Clegg trained four cap-


Figure 3. Number of peregrine falcons in Yellowstone National Park.

tive-born cranes to follow his ultralight aircraft ashe flew from southeast Idaho to the Bosque delApache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexicoin the fall of 1997. Two of the birds survived andreturned north the following March with migra-tory sandhill cranes, one landing near Craig, Colo-rado and the other near Baggs, Wyoming. As nei-ther was in suitable habitat, Clegg took bothcranes to his Idaho ranch until May, when Yellow-stone agreed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice to accept them. The birds were released inSlough Creek, an area used by nesting sandhillcranes and frequented by many park visitors as theseason progressed. A visitor reported photograph-ing a crane from only three feet away. One of thecranes was moved to the southwest corner of thepark where it met up with a wild bird from Gray’sLake. The other crane could not be caught andremained in the Slough Creek area until it mi-grated south with sandhill cranes in the fall.

A sandhill-whooping crane hybrid that wasborn in a remote area of Yellowstone six years agoresided in the park, where it was seen accompa-nied by a sandhill crane during the summer of1998. Efforts will be made to monitor this birdand determine if it nests and produces young.

Other Species of Special InterestTrumpeter swan. The lack of recruitment

from outside the park combined with extremelylow resident adult numbers and low annual cygnet

production due to weather and predation, furtherreducing the park’s tenuous trumpeter swan popu-lation. During the last 67 years, the number ofcygnets in the park has dropped by an average oftwo per decade, and in recent years adult swannumbers have reverted to a relict population remi-niscent of the 1930s. Nine nest attempts occurredin the park in 1998 (after five in 1997 and 4 in1996); a fall survey found 20 adults and only 3cygnets (Fig. 4).

Swan nesting areas at Seven Mile Bridge andTrumpeter Lake need to be monitored closely forvisitor activity. The swan pair at Seven MileBridge swan pair attempted to nest this year, butthe eggs failed to hatch because they were addled,probably due to a brief flooding episode earlier inthe season. Although Superintendent Finley or-dered the Trumpeter Lake nesting area closed dueto heavy visitor and research activity, the swanpair there also failed to produce young in 1998.

After two years of severe flooding, the smallpopulation of trumpeter swans introduced at fiveranches outside the park in Paradise Valley wasbeginning to rebound, although cygnets were pro-duced at only one ranch in 1998. The wild swanpair at the Beaver Creek Ranch built a nest, but noeggs hatched. The cygnets born to two out of thefour captive swans at the Brandis Diamond “B”ranch disappeared before fledging, and raccoonpredation was suspected. A floating nest platformwill be installed at this site in 1999 to help prevent

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Nesting Pairs

Fledglings

19981983 19891986 1992 1995


Figure 4. Number of trumpeter swans residing in Yellowstone National Park.

Adults

Cygnets0

10

20

30

40

50

60

19981983 19891986 1992 1995

this problem. A pair of captive swans at Bailey’sRanch nested again but failed to produce young.The captive swans at the Brockway Ranch pro-duced four cygnets this year, and park staff re-leased three fledglings on private land on MerrillLake at the south end of Paradise Valley in thefall. The fourth Brockway cygnet was in suchpoor condition because of its runt size and a rarelyseen broken mandible that it had to destroyed.

The park ornithologist was chairman of theinteragency Greater Yellowstone Trumpeter SwanWorking Group, which was organized in 1997 tocollect annual population and production data.

Common loon. The park’s small commonloon population appeared to be doing fine, with 40adults counted in 1998. The number of adults hasranged from 34 to 51 in recent years, with thepopulation experiencing weather-related boomand bust years. Although 12 nest attempts weremade this year as a result of early season flooding,only eight young reached fledgling age.

Osprey. Despite year-to-year fluctuations as aresult of weather and nest tree instability, the Yel-lowstone osprey population continued to maintainits vigor. In 1998, a total of 81 young fledgedfrom 87 nests. Since 1987, the number of nestingpairs has ranged from 61 to 101, and the numberof fledglings from 37 to 104.

Harlequin duck. From 16 to 20 pairs of har-lequin ducks reside in the park each year. Due tothe remoteness of the areas where they are found,

data collection is extremely time consuming andstaff limitations do not permit annual monitoringof productivity, which is extremely variable fromyear to year and highly influenced by weatherconditions. The park ornithologist participates ina Harlequin Duck Working Group.

Colonial nesting birds. The annual colonialnesting bird census was conducted in mid-May,early June, early August, and mid-September onthe two Molly Islands in Yellowstone Lake (Table3). Because of logistical difficulties, only aerialsurveys were done again this year.

Despite the early spring, the American whitepelicans did not arrive any earlier than usual. Thehighest part of Rocky Island was the nesting sitefor 68 pelicans and 74 double-crested cormorantpairs. Flooding was light and short-lived com-pared to the previous two years, but afterwardonly 41 pelican and 64 cormorant nests remained

Table 3. Molly Islands colonial nesting birds,1998.

Nest SuccessfulAttempts Nests Fledglings

American white 366 245 295pelican

Double-crested 92 77 147cormorant

California gull 75 20 21

Caspian tern 5 3 3


with young. Reduction in most bird numbers wasprimarily due to light flooding and some preda-tion. Only 20 of the 75 nest attempts by Califor-nia gulls and 3 of the 5 Caspian tern nest attemptsresulted in hatchlings. The fledglings from RockyIsland numbered 76 American white pelicans, 122double-crested cormorants, 21 California gulls,and 3 caspian terns.

Of the 298 American white pelican nests builtin two aggregations on Sandy Island, 204 pro-duced 219 fledglings. Double-crested cormorantnesting activity was typically low; of the 18 nestattempts, 13 produced 25 fledglings. No Caspianterns nested on Sandy Island again this year.

Although the non-native lake trout in Yellow-stone Lake compete with other wildlife for Yel-lowstone cutthroat trout, they have not appearedto have influenced the production of colonial nest-ing birds, for which weather conditions continueto be the most important factor.

Other Research and MonitoringBreeding Bird Surveys. Data has been col-

lected on breeding bird survey routes in the parkeach year since 1982. The three current routes,each of which comprises 50 census points, arereferred to as the Mammoth (Indian Creek to ElkCreek), the Yellowstone (Washburn Hot Springsto Mary Bay) and the Northeast (Tower Junctionto Barronette Peak) routes. Census data fromthese surveys is sent to the continental clearing-house at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center inLaurel, Maryland where it is used to develop

population trends for songbirds throughout NorthAmerica.

Because there is a chance that these censuspoints will be lost in connection with park roadreconstruction, funding from the Federal High-ways program in 1998 made it possible to photo-graph the stations, pinpoint the locations on amap, and establish GPS locations. These photopoints have preserved a very important long-termsongbird data set in Yellowstone National Park.

Glacier Boulder Census Route. As part of acooperative NPS initiative, the Glacier Bouldercensus route was surveyed for the third consecu-tive year in 1998 to document bird life found ex-clusively in lodgepole pine habitat. Census proto-col is similar to that of the Breeding Bird Survey,with a point-count census consisting of 30 stationsconducted entirely on foot.

Christmas Bird Count. On the 26th annualChristmas count in the Gardiner/Mammoth area,41 species and 1,313 individuals were tallied, in-cluding a northern mockingbird for the first time.Records were broken when two Virginia rails andfour Harris’ sparrows were seen. Four additionalspecies were recorded during the count week. Al-though count day (December 20) was one of thecoldest Christmas Bird Counts on record, withtemperatures as low as –24ºF, the 1998 count tiedthe second highest count on record. Americandipper, Townsend’s solitaire, and common ravennumbers were lower than usual.

North American Bird Migration. For thesixth consecutive year Yellowstone participated in

NPS


Great gray owl.

that was completed in 1998 should be filled outwhen a rare or unusual bird is observed in park. Itis available at all Visitor Centers, some rangerstations, the headquarters mail room, and from thepark ornithologist.

Injured and road-killed birds . A protocolfor 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. These proce-dures were followed very well in 1998. The onlyprofessional bird rehabilitator the park now uses isBig Sky Wild Care of Bozeman, Montana. If pos-sible, the park ornithologist should be contactedbefore an injured bird is sent anywhere.

Salvageable road-killed birds are usuallyadded to the Albright Museum bird collectioneach year. In 1998 all remaining bird specimensthat had been stored in the freezer were added tothe collection.

Computerized data base. Although there is alarge volume of data on Yellowstone birds, earlypopulation data for threatened and endangeredspecies and Yellowstone species of special con-cern have been stored in a centralized computerdata base to date.

Cornell Laboratory of Natural Sounds.This on-going project to record Yellowstone birdswill eventually result in a birds sounds CD.

Other PartnershipsNorthern Great Plains Steppe. The park

ornithologist was invited to participate in the Nor-thern Great Plains Steppe Experts Workshop spon-sored by The Nature Conservancy in Billings,Montana. Scientists from a variety of disciplines(soils, geology, vegetation, insects, amphibians,birds, and mammals) provided input regardingconservation planning for the Great Plains Steppeand set resource priorities.

Montana GAP Analysis. After contributing asubstantial amount of data to the Wyoming GAPAnalysis project several years ago, Yellowstonetook a leading role in the Montana GAP Analysis

the North American Bird Migration Count, heldon the second Saturday in May. Although origi-nally organized to collect quantitative and qualita-tive data on spring bird migration on a continentalscale, the count has become a social event similarto the Christmas Bird Count. On May 9, four ob-servers recorded 91 species and a total of 1,550individual birds. Trend data is difficult to ascer-tain from this type of information since no setcensus points are used, however it does improvesour understanding of bird migration.

Checklist of Yellowstone birds. A total of309 bird species has been documented since theYellowstone National Park bird checklist was es-tablished in 1872. Based on reliable observations,the list now includes seven species that have beenadded during the last two years:• a bay-breasted warbler at Norris on Septem-

ber 17, 1997;• a LeConte’s sparrow at Alum Creek on Sep-

tember 22, 1997;• a juvenile arctic tern at West Thumb on Oc-

tober 15, 1997;• a yellow-throated vireo near Tower Falls on

June 19, 1998;• a Philadelphia vireo on the Old Gardiner

Road on June 30, 1998;• a blackburnian warbler at Mammoth Ter-

races on August 29, 1998; and• a tri-colored heron at Fountain Flats on Sep-

tember 21, 1998.The new Yellowstone Bird Observation Form

NPS


project in 1998 and reviewed more than 300 birdspecies accounts for content and distribution accu-racy. The final product, which is expected to bepublished in 1999, will provide the foundation forfuture bird conservation initiatives in Montana.

Upper Missouri Science Team. As a memberof an interagency Upper Missouri Science Teamthat meets twice a year in Helena, Montana, thepark ornithologist participates with subject expertsfrom a variety of state and federal agencies to setresource conservation planning strategies for theUpper Missouri.

Neotropical migrants. Yellowstone partici-pates in three neotropical migrant working groups:the Montana and Wyoming Partners in Flightgroups and the international Western WorkingGroup Partners In Flight, which includes membersfrom Canada and Mexico who are attempting toprioritizing species and developing conservationplans. Yellowstone continues to assist the Mari-posa Monarca Biosphere Reserve and the Manan-tlan Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, in 1998 pro-viding used NPS uniforms and firefightingclothes.

Public Contacts and OutreachEach year the park ornithologist gives lectures

on birds to the concessioner’s summer and winterguides and responds to hundreds of letters of in-quiry about bird information. Topics addressedduring speaking engagements in 1998 included:“Identifying Different Age Classes of Bald andGolden Eagles;” a warbler identification work-shop and a field trip in Lander for the WyomingChapter of the Audubon Society; a training ses-sion for park naturalists on how to conduct a birdwalk; “The Plight of the Trumpeter Swan” pre-sented to the Board of Directors of the Yellow-stone Foundation; “Managing Rare and SensitiveBirds in the Greater Yellowstone” in Cody, Wyo-ming at the Central Mountain and Plains sectionof The Wildlife Society; and “Alien Birds of theGreater Yellowstone” at the Alien Species Sympo-sium in Bozeman, Montana. The park ornitholo-gist also provided technical assistance for a

French educational television program on wildlife,and for a BBC program by David Attenboroughon “The Life of Birds”.

Thanks to the efforts of the Yellowstone Foun-dation staff, money collected from private dona-tions or honoraria from lectures or appearancescan be deposited in a fund targeted to assist theYellowstone bird program. The park ornithologistcan also actively seek out large donations($10,000+) for the Yellowstone Bird EndowmentFund to build up a monetary reserve large enoughto support a long-term bird program through theinterest earned by the endowment.

BISON

For as long as there have been bison in theYellowstone area, many of them have survived thewinter by migrating to geothermal areas and lowerelevation ranges both in and outside the park. Butfor the last three decades bison entering Montanapublic or private land from the park have beenshipped to slaughter or shot because some of themcarry brucellosis, a disease that also infects do-mestic livestock and often results in abortions byinfected females.

Bison Management and PlanningA multi-agency effort to produce a plan and

environmental impact statement for long-termbison management has been underway since 1992.Alternatives range from testing of all bison in Yel-lowstone and sending to slaughter those that testpositive for brucellosis, to establishing tolerancezones for bison that wander outside park bound-aries onto public lands in winter. Suggestions thatYellowstone become like other bison refuges,fencing the park and periodically culling its bison,have been resisted by park managers. The park’sgoal is to maintain the continuity of the nation’sonly completely wild, free-ranging herd.

When the extreme weather conditions of thewinter of 1996–1997 drove an unusually largenumber of bison from the park, nearly 1,100 bisonwere captured in or near park boundaries and


killed by state and federal officers or sent toslaughter in Montana. These removals, combinedwith natural winter mortality, reduced the Yellow-stone bison population to an estimated 2,000 ani-mals by the spring of 1997.

During 1997, the NPS, U.S. Animal and PlantHealth Inspection Service, U.S. Forest Service,and the State of Montana met and developed alter-natives for a draft plan and environmental impactstatement, which was released for public commentin June 1998. Concerns raised by the high bisonmortality during the preceding winter promptedmodifications to the previously approved InterimBison Management Plan, reducing the number ofbison that would have to be killed if they migratedto the park boundary. The goal continued to be tomaintain Montana’s brucellosis class-free statuswhile permitting the bison herd within the park tofluctuate in response to natural ecological pro-cesses. These adjustments, combined with mildwinter weather conditions, resulted in the Mon-tana Department of Livestock shooting 6 bison (3

adult females and 3 calves) and shipping 5 adultmales to slaughter.

Bison ResearchBison ecology. An NPS-funded program to

build capture facilities for bison management andresearch was completed in 1998. The researchemphasis of this program was bison ecology; theecology of the Brucella organism in the wild and arisk assessment of its effects on wild ungulates;and testing vaccines for their safety in nontargetwildlife species including elk, pronghorn, moose,and bighorn sheep.

A study is also underway in cooperation withthe fish and wildlife program at Montana StateUniversity to develop methods for conductingaerial surveys that will provide scientificallydefensible population estimates, including correc-tion factors that will account for the proportion ofbison not observed. Many of the research projectshave been completed and final reports submitted.Additionally, new funding by the USGS Biologi-cal Resources Division is supporting severalmulti-year research projects including: bison eco-logy in Hayden Valley, winter use by bison ofgroomed park roads, statistical analyses of 30years’ bison data collected by USGS biologistMary Meagher, reproduction and demography ofbrucellosis infected bison, genetic analyses ofBrucella and development of a PCR-based diag-nostic system, continuation of risk assessment fortransmission of brucellosis from bison to elk, andcontinuation of Brucella vaccine safety trials.

Molecular analysis of brucellosis. A team ofmolecular biologists representing the USGS Bio-logical Resource Division, the Idaho NationalEnergy Laboratory, the Conservation GeneticsLaboratory (San Francisco State University), andDiversa Inc. (San Diego, California) is investigat-ing a diagnostic test that may be able to detect thebacterium Brucella abortus using the polymerasechain reaction (PCR) technique. New fundingprovided by the USGS and the park is supportingfield and laboratory activities. Also, several statewildlife veterinarians have agreed to collaborativeBison.

NPS


sampling to expand the scope of the research.Since December 1996, the investigators have setup a PCR field lab at Yellowstone, collected sev-eral hundred samples of bison blood for DNAanalysis, collected 19 strains of Brucella species’DNA for comparison using gene sequencing tech-nology, and begun to compare strains of B. abor-tus from wild bison and domestic cattle to deter-mine their genetic diversity. The results of thisresearch may provide information about thepathogenicity of brucellosis and the risk of trans-mission between wild bison and domestic cattlethat could affect the long-term management ofbison in and around the park.

National Academy of Science reviews. TheDepartment of the Interior commissioned a reportby the National Academy of Science (NAS) en-titled “Brucellosis in the Greater YellowstoneArea” that was published in 1998. The NAS reportemphasized that brucellosis affects both elk andbison and encompasses the entire GYA, not sim-ply Yellowstone National Park. The report’s pri-mary finding is that risk management is critical tocontrolling the disease in the GYA until a proven,effective vaccine and a practical delivery mecha-nism for inoculating elk and bison are found. Fol-lowing upon publication of the report, the NASCommission on Life Sciences was congression-ally mandated to conduct a two-year review of thescience of ungulate management (especially elkand bison) to consider the ecological effects ofungulate populations on rangelands in and aroundthe park. By October 2000, the review panel willsubmit a report that reviews science pertinent tocurrent management strategies in and around thepark, evaluates strategies for ungulate manage-ment with respect to park and range-preservationgoals and makes recommendations for future re-search in the park.

FISH AND OTHER AQUATIC RESOURCES

Lake Trout in Yellowstone LakeSince the presence of introduced lake trout

(Salvelinus namaycush) was confirmed in Yellow-

stone Lake in 1994, the Aquatic Resources Center(ARC) has developed effective strategies to re-move both reproductive adults and the more abun-dant younger age classes. ARC staff have alsorefined a netting and remote sensing (acoustic)program to determine the spatial and temporaldistribution and abundance of both lake trout andYellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkibouvieri) in order to maximize lake trout removalwhile minimizing cutthroat trout mortality.

Gillnetting. As in previous years, threegillnetting strategies were used in 1998:• From late May through September, control

nets of many mesh sizes to remove lake trout.• During August, distribution nets of 11 mesh

sizes to establish the distribution of lake troutand cutthroat trout throughout the lake.

• Beginning in mid-September, spawner netsprimarily in large mesh sizes to remove repro-ductively active lake trout from known spawn-ing areas in the West Thumb and locate newones.While most cutthroat trout were caught in

shallow water (< 10 m) and catches declined inprogressively deeper water, small lake trout weremost efficiently captured at depths exceeding50 m, and large lake trout were most easily cap-tured at intermediate depths (10–20 m). In gen-eral, control gillnetting efficiently captured laketrout and few cutthroat trout, with a cutthroat-to-lake trout catch ratio of 0.59:1.

The distribution netting indicated that cut-throat trout and small lake trout were fairly evenlydistributed throughout the lake, with slightlyhigher numbers of small lake trout in the WestThumb Basin, and that large lake trout were pri-marily confined to the West Thumb Basin andareas west of Dot and Frank Islands.

Lake trout began migrating into shallow waterwhen surface water temperatures declined to12oC, similar to previous years, and spawned frommid-September through late-October. Thespawner nets caught a total of nearly 400 adultlake trout at Carrington Island and at another loca-tion in the southeastern section of West Thumb,


with a cutthroat-to-lake-trout catch ratio of 0.25:1.No significant concentrations of spawning fishwere found at other locations. Captured fishweighed a total of more than 950 kg, with an aver-age size of 617 mm total length (TL), and spawn-ing males outnumbered females 2.5:1.

By targeting juvenile fish in deep water wherethe nets could be left in the water for longer peri-ods without significant loss of cutthroat trout, theeffort expended on gillnetting in 1998 (125 boattrips and 1,415 over night gill net sets) nearlytripled that of 1997, and both the numbers andbiomass of captured lake trout increased signifi-cantly from previous years, as did capture effi-ciency (Table 4). Eight lake trout were caught forevery cutthroat trout in 1998, compared to a 6.6:1ratio in 1995. A total of 9,390 lake trout have

been removed from Yellowstone Lake bygillnetting since the program began.

Lake trout movements. Despite concertedeffort, only three of the lake trout that were radio-telemetered in 1997 were recaptured during 1998.However, with the assistance of researchers fromUtah State University, 24 lake trout were surgi-cally implanted with depth-sensing transmittersand tracked from June through October usingultrasonic telemetry. Unlike the radio telemetry,the ultrasonic fish were easily relocated after re-lease and, under ideal conditions, could be de-tected at distances of up to five kilometers, per-mitting data collection throughout the summer.

It was found that lake trout travel long dis-tances during their daily and seasonal movements;several fish traveled the circumference of the WestThumb Basin in a 24-hour period with peak activ-ity shortly after sunrise and again before sunset,and several inhabited pelagic regions where theyremained suspended in the water column far fromany bottom structure. If this behavior is common,it may explain the difficulty experienced in effortsto capture large lake trout throughout the summerin nets set along the lake bottom. Without bottomstructure to direct fish into the nets, this open wa-ter behavior would limit capture efforts duringmuch of the year.

Food habits. Researchers from Utah StateUniversity have also been involved in determiningthe diet and predatory impact of lake trout by

Lake trout (top) and two cutthroat trout.

ARC

Table 4. Gillnetting in Yellowstone Lake, 1998.

Lake TroutYear Effort Caught Biomass Efficiency Ratio

1994 39 2 0.4 kg 0.05 252:11995 250 153 39 kg 0.61 6.6:11996 401 580 1,135 kg 1.40 1.7:11997 538 863 1,501 kg 1.60 2.5:11998 1,415 7,792 4,123 kg 5.51 0.13:1

Total 2,643 9,390 6,798 kg

Effort: number of 100 m /net-nightsEfficiency: number of lake trout caught per 100 m/net per nightRatio: number of cutthroat trout caught per lake trout


Figure 5. Based on stomachcontents of lake troutcaptured in 1996–97,calculated as a proportion ofdiet by wet weight. “Otherinvertebrates” includesmayflies (Ephem-eroptera),crane flies (Tipulidae), andclams (Plecypoda).

examining the stomach contents of fish capturedin gillnets set at various depths throughout theyear. Based on sampling in 1996 and 1997, theyfound that small lake trout (<400 mm TL) ate pri-marily invertebrates (amphipods, leeches, chi-ronomid pupae and larvae, and zooplankton, indeclining order of importance), but when laketrout reach approximately 300 mm in length, theybegin preying on small cutthroat trout (Fig. 5).Cutthroat trout comprised 51% of the diets of in-termediate-sized lake trout (400–600 mm), and94% of the diets of larger lake trout. The largestcutthroat trout identified in lake trout diets was350 mm long.

Population abundance. The Idaho Depart-ment of Fish and Game and the Wyoming Gameand Fish Department conducted hydroacousticsurveys throughout Yellowstone Lake to estimatethe minimum population abundances of both spe-cies. These surveys count fish air bladders de-tected by the sonar equipment and, based on thesize and depth distribution of gillnetted fish, theseacoustic targets can be assigned to species of fish.The hydroacoustic sampling found that:• 89% of the cutthroat trout were within 12 m of

the surface during the day.

• The total estimated cutthroat trout population(>100 mm TL) in Yellowstone Lake was1,736,350 fish ± 531,320 (95% CI), with 25%of the population in the West Thumb andBreeze Channel portions.

• The highest densities of lake trout in the WestThumb Basin were at 10–25 m and the lowestdensities at 25–40 m depths. Similar distribu-tions were found in the main basin of the lakeexcept that fish densities below 40 m werevery low.The minimum lake-wide population of lake

trout is currently estimated at 10,000 fish, but fi-nal estimates have yet been tabulated.

Angler removals. To evaluate the effective-ness of a trial two-week extended fishing seasonon Yellowstone Lake intended to remove morelake trout during early June, 750 anglers weresurveyed along the western shoreline and atBridge Bay Marina. They reported catching 5,852cutthroat trout and 29 lake trout with 14,000 hoursof angling effort. During the same days as theinterviews, we counted 1,748 and 524 anglersduring the roving and access portions of the sur-vey. When extrapolated to lake-wide catches, thisdata was used to estimate that more than 150,000

Other invertebrates

Unidentified fish

Lake trout eggs

Zooplankton

Chironomids

Leeches

Amphipods

Cutthroat trout

Class Size of Lake Trout

<400 mm 400–600 mm >600 mm

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

The Diet of Lake Trout in Yellowstone Lake


cutthroat trout and 730 lake trout were caughtfrom June 1 through August 31. The resultingestimated ratio of cutthroat trout to lake troutcaught during the entire season (204:1) was simi-lar to that derived from the Volunteer Angler Re-port cards. As in previous years, anglers wererequired to report all lake trout captures to NPSpersonnel.

Anglers only reported catching 67 lake troutduring the extended fishing season of the first twoweeks of June. However, their reported catch forthe entire season was only 250 lake trout, which isonly 22–32% of the estimated actual catch basedon angler surveys. If the same ratio of reported toestimated actual catch applies to the initial two-week period, this would suggest that anglers re-moved approximately 250 fish (67/0.27) then,despite poor weather conditions, and that the ex-tended season significantly aided lake trout re-moval efforts.

Long-term prospects. Lake trout removalabsorbs a significant portion of ARC’s operatingtime and budget, but based on model simulations,the removal of nearly 10,000 lake trout since 1994has saved more than 350,000 cutthroat trout frompredation. This measure of success easily offsetsthe loss of 5,424 cutthroat trout caught in the gillnets. The increasing refinement of the gillnettingmethods should continue to reduce the incidentalcatch and mortality.

The large number of cutthroat trout still resid-ing in Yellowstone Lake—an estimated 25% inWest Thumb along with most of the lake trout—suggests little current population-level impact fromthe presence of lake trout, and that the cutthroattrout population may be resistant to them at cur-rent lake trout densities. The number of cutthroattrout found in the West Thumb was especiallysurprising because counts of spawning cutthroatsin tributaries there have declined in recent years.

Based on three years of extensive data indicat-ing a more than four-fold increase (9% in 1996 vs.44% and 41% in 1997 and 1998) in large laketrout mortality, it appears that the netting programmay be effectively reducing the number of large

lake trout (> 600 mm TL) in Yellowstone Lake.But catches of smaller lake trout in small meshnets (19–38 mm meshes) suggests there are largenumbers of these fish recruiting to larger sizes,and that increased predatory impacts on the cut-throat trout population will soon be evident.

After the current fishing regulations went intoeffect in 1975, the cutthroat trout were able torecover from previous overexploitation. There-fore, if lake trout consumption of cutthroat troutcan be limited to similar levels as this past anglerexploitation, it should be possible to maintain ahealthy cutthroat trout population. However,maintaining current exploitation rates from bothsources suggests that greater angler restrictions forcutthroat trout may be needed in the future. (An-glers currently remove about 40–50,000 cutthroattrout a year.) The experimental fishing regulationchanges on Yellowstone Lake for 1998 and 1999will provide much needed information to explorethe utility and feasibility of reduced angler har-vest.

Cutthroat Trout MonitoringLong-term monitoring of the age and size

structure of Yellowstone cutthroat trout has beenessential in evaluating fishery trends as they relateto changes in angling regulations. But since thepresence of introduced lake trout was confirmedin Yellowstone Lake in 1994, assessing their cur-rent and potential impact on Yellowstone cutthroattrout has received greater emphasis. Monitoringefforts include spawning surveys of Yellowstonelake tributaries to gather information on age, sizeand abundance of adfluvial cutthroat trout at esta-blished monitoring sites while developing tech-niques to monitor additional backcountry tributar-ies of Yellowstone Lake.

Clear Creek Fish Trap. During 1998, ARCstaff monitored spawning Yellowstone cutthroattrout that entered Clear Creek, a tributary of Yel-lowstone Lake entering on the east shoreline. In-formation was recorded on the dynamics of thesespawners, including the timing and magnitude ofthe spawning run. In addition, fishery data was


collected on the size, age, and stage of maturity ofcutthroat trout, providing information on annualtrends of length and age structure of upstreamspawners.

On May 13, the Clear Creek fish trap and weirwere installed. Through most of the season, fishpassage and enumeration occurred through anelectronic tunnel bank attached to an electronicfish counter. A sub-sample of 100 trout that en-tered an upstream trap box were measured fortotal length (mm), weight (g), sex, and stage ofmaturity at the beginning of each sampling week.Additional lengths were obtained from 75 troutsampled daily following completion of the 100fish sample. Numbers of upstream migrating troutwere totaled daily from hourly fish counter read-outs and from trout sampled and released up-stream of the weir. Downstream migrating fishwere counted as they passed through a down-stream tunnel bank. Trout that entered the down-stream trap were netted, tallied, and released be-low the weir. During periods of peak runoff,downstream migrating trout were also capturedwith nets as they congregated above the weir.

A total of 18,050 cutthroat trout were countedpassing through the upstream trap and counter in1998, while 11,040 cutthroat trout (61% of the

total upstream run) were counted downstream inClear Creek. This figure is comparatively largerthan in recent years, where annual totals of up-stream spawners have remained below 10,000fish. Overall, the long-term data on the number ofcutthroat trout entering Clear Creek has fluctuatedannually (Fig. 6), with the highest totals occurringfrom 1965 through 1987. Cutthroat trout averaged387 mm TL, with males measuring slightly largerthan females. These results are similar to 1997,when the average size of cutthroat trout was 388mm in TL. Prior to 1997, a trend of larger fishentering Clear Creek was apparent (Fig. 6). Re-

Clear Creek fish trap.

Figure 6. Number of cutthroat trout migrating upstream (left) and mean total length of cutthroat trout (right) inClear Creek, 1944–1998.

NPSN

umbe

r of

Fis

h

Mea

n Le

ngth

Year Year

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

80000

70000

60000

50000

40000

30000

20000

10000

0

460

450

440

430

420

410

400

390

380

370

360

350


sults in the past several years however have beenvariable, with no evident trends in size.

In 1998, we assumed our estimates of thenumber of spawning cutthroat trout entering ClearCreek beginning in mid-May were accurate. Un-like in previous years, the fish weir remained in-tact throughout the spawning season. Althoughwater flowed over the trap for a brief period dur-ing runoff, migration upstream during this periodwas probably minimal. The upstream tunnelbanks also remained open during this period, al-lowing fish to navigate through the weir ratherthan ascending over it. In addition, lake levels in1998 did not exceed levels where fish could navi-gate pass the weir through side channels createdaround the trap.

The estimate of 18,000 trout migrating up-stream in Clear Creek represents the largest countsince 1991. These results are encouraging becausea general trend of decreasing upstream migrantswas evident since 1987, with the number of fishcounted from 1994 through 1997 representing thelowest spawner counts since 1961. However, theannual estimate still remains well below the stableperiods in the 1980s when recovery of the popula-

tion was potentially met following restrictivemanagement regulations. This result of lowspawner escapement remains unexplained, and theimplications on the numerous piscivorous mam-mals and birds which utilize the spawning migra-tion. Monitoring efforts will therefore continue inthe future.

LeHardy Rapids Dipnetting. The spawningrun at LeHardy Rapids, a series of small cascadeslocated six kilometers downstream from themouth of the Yellowstone River, is monitoredeach year to determine spawner, size and age dis-tribution, sex ratios, time of peak spawn, andgrowth rates.

Using dip nets, three-person crews sampled forcutthroat trout every Monday from June 8 untilJuly 13 in pools along the edges of the rapids.The captured fish were placed in large metal tubs,anesthetized, measured for total length andweight, and visually identified as to sex and stageof sexual maturity. Scale samples taken from aweekly sub-sample of up to 20 fish were analyzedfor age and growth; when available, two scalesfrom each fish were read to minimize error duringanalysis. All captured fish were marked with a

ARC

Brian Ertel of the ARC works on the upstream portion of the log barrier atCanyon Creek.


caudal fin clip and released upstream.During weekly sampling in 1998, 53 spawning

cutthroat trout were captured, compared to an an-nual average of 428 since 1974, making it thesmallest sample since 1987 and the second small-est sample during the 25-year monitoring period.The 1998 samples continued to show a downwardtrend in fish age and length of female spawners,but the small sample size may have skewed thesenumbers. It is also unknown what effect, if any,the removal of gametes from spawning cutthroattrout by the Wyoming Game and Fish Departmentbetween 1993 and 1997 had on the population.

Since whirling disease was discovered in Yel-lowstone lake in 1998 and since cutthroat troutmove between the lake and the river, testing forthe parasite will be conducted next year in severalareas near LeHardy Rapids.

Arnica Creek Fish Trap. A tributary of Yel-lowstone Lake that enters the northern portion ofWest Thumb, Arnica Creek was selected for moni-toring in 1997 because it contains the largestspawning migration of cutthroat trout in the WestThumb basin of Yellowstone Lake where largepredatory lake trout are abundant. The objectivesfor 1998 were to update the spawning run infor-mation, and refine trap installation and fish sam-pling techniques applicable to future monitoringefforts in a backcountry setting.

The trap and weir were installed on May 28and operated through August 11. As in 1997,problems with the weir made it impossible to pre-vent fish from bypassing the trap; sampling waslimited to dip-netting trout that entered the up-stream trap box, which remained open only duringdaylight hours. Downstream migrating fish weresimilarly collected in a downstream trap.

Only 81 cutthroat trout were counted upstreamand 10 fish in the downstream trap. Therefore,annual comparisons of the number of upstreammigrants were not made. Numerous changes tothe design of the trap and weir were madethroughout the year, and at the end of the seasonsemi-permanent structures were installed to facili-tate easier installation while eliminating the open-

ings that contributed to error associated with up-stream counts in previous years.

Whirling Disease SurveysWhirling disease, caused by a sporozoan para-

site, Myxobolus cerebralis, is believed to be re-sponsible for declines of nearly 90% of the wildrainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) populationsin some areas of Montana, Colorado, and otherwestern states. Since the mid-1950s, when thisparasite was unknowingly imported as fish foodinto a Pennsylvania trout hatchery, it has spreadrapidly across the U.S. and infected fish have beenfound in 22 states.

After whirling disease was confirmed in theMadison River in late 1994, the NPS and the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service began a cooperativeproject to collect wild salmonids from Yellow-stone Park streams for whirling disease testing.That effort focused on boundary streams adjacentto areas of known or potentially high infection:the Bechler, Madison, Firehole, and Gallatin riv-ers. During 1997 and 1998, fish from ReeseCreek, Firehole River, Gardner River, Soda ButteCreek, Canyon Creek, and Fan Creek were tested,but no infected fish were found at any of thesesites.

Whirling Disease Found. In mid-September,41 cutthroat trout captured in gillnets set near themouth of Clear Creek in Yellowstone Lake wereexamined for the whirling disease parasite as partof a baseline health survey. Infection by the para-site was confirmed in several cutthroat trout fromYellowstone Lake. Estimated ages of infectedfish ranged from two to at least five years. Noneof the lake trout or longnose suckers (Catostomuscatostomus) from Yellowstone Lake showed anysigns of infection.

There is no known cure or treatment forsalmonids infected with whirling disease. Thissporozoan parasite has a two-host life cycle. Theinfective spores consume cartilage and affect pri-marily recently hatched fry up to about threemonths of age, when most of the cartilage trans-forms into bone tissue. Most of the infection typi-


cally occurs in the head region of a fish. If aninfected fish is preyed upon or otherwise dies, theresistant spores are eventually released intoaquatic sediments, where they remain viable forup to 30 years and may be ingested by the widelydistributed Tubifex worm. With suitable environ-mental conditions (i.e., water temperature), thespores metamorphose in the worm and are re-leased into the water at the infective TAM stage.The probability of an individual fish becoming in-fected appears to be correlated with density ofTAMs, water temperature, species, and age of fish.

Because Yellowstone cutthroat trout may be assusceptible to infection as rainbow trout, the po-tential for population-level declines is substantial.The Yellowstone Lake cutthroat trout populationis valued as one of the most important inland cut-throat trout populations in the intermountain west,not only because it is the world’s largest cutthroatpopulation, but these fish reside in the most exten-sive intact area of remaining cutthroat trout lakehabitat. Much of the recent work by NPS fisherypersonnel has been directed toward lake trout con-trol. This additional threat to the population couldbe equally serious.

Surveys in 1999. The Aquatic ResourcesCenter, in conjunction with the USFWS FishHealth Lab, will be initiating an intensive whirlingdisease survey in 1999 to define the spatial distri-bution and severity of Myxobolus cerebralis in theYellowstone Lake system. The proposed surveywill consist of two sample protocols.

The most reliable method for detecting thepresence and severity of the whirling disease para-site in a stream environment is through the use ofsentinel fish in cages. Newly hatched or youngfish are placed in the test stream for 10 days totwo weeks. When the fish are about five monthsold, the heads are examined for spores. Sentinelcage testing will be done in 12 tributary streamsof Yellowstone Lake, Fishing Bridge, and the Buf-falo Ford area of the Yellowstone River.

Older cutthroat trout that are incidentally cap-tured during the lake trout gillnetting effort will beexamined for the presence of the whirling disease

parasite. Laboratory examination of cutthroat troutfrom these gillnetting studies could provide a de-tailed description of the lakewide seasonality ofparasite distribution in older cutthroat trout. Indi-rectly, this will assist in determining age-specificsurvival and indicate portions of the lake whereM. cerebralis infection levels may be high.

It is unclear what the long-term effect ofwhirling disease on the native cutthroat troutpopulation of Yellowstone Lake will be. Insuffi-cient data exists about the basic aspects of thedisease, such as transmission methods or whysome fish are more susceptible than others. Sur-vey results from 1999 and subsequent years maysuggest answers to some of these questions thatare not only applicable to Yellowstone Lake, butto cutthroat trout populations throughout the west-ern United States.

Westslope Cutthroat Trout RestorationWestslope cutthroat trout (Onchorynchus

clarki lewisi) currently exist in only a few streamsin Yellowstone National Park, and in some casesin a hybridized form. The presence of non-nativefish, particularly rainbow trout and transplantedYellowstone cutthroat trout, has resulted in inter-breeding of the three species and isolation ofpopulations of unknown genetic structure. In1997, ARC initiated a program to restorewestslope cutthroat trout within park boundaries.Streams where westslope cutthroat trout histori-cally occurred were examined as possible restora-tion sites, and an experimental pilot study wasbegun in Canyon Creek, a tributary of the GibbonRiver below Gibbon Falls. Objectives were toremove introduced species that potentially inhibitsuccessful reestablishment of westslope cutthroattrout, while isolating the stream with an artificialfalls barrier to prevent non-native fish from enter-ing the stream. ARC staff also collected informa-tion about abundance and life history of westslopecutthroat trout in streams throughout their histori-cal range, and analyzed the genetic composition ofremaining populations by obtaining geneticsamples from several sites in each stream to deter-


mine the extent of genetic introgression from in-troduced species.

Canyon Creek. Objectives for 1998 weresimilar to those in 1997: 1) remove as many non-native trout as possible with electrofishing gear,concentrating on reproductively mature agegroups; 2) test the efficiency of the removal meth-ods, particularly among mature age groups; and 3)test the effectiveness of the existing artificial fishbarrier in preventing non-native trout from reen-tering the stream from downstream sources. Can-yon Creek was chemically treated with antimycinin 1975 and 1996 to remove non-native trout in aneffort to restore Arctic grayling, and a falls barrierwas constructed near the mouth to prevent theirreturn. Non-native trout were found in CanyonCreek several times after treatment, and it wassuspected that the artificial barrier was not com-pletely effective. Beginning in 1997, ARC im-proved the barrier by raising its height and con-centrating stream flows over the artificial falls,then released 130 marked fish downstream to testthe improvements. Staff then electrofished fromthe barrier to a natural falls 3 km upstream, re-moving 5,000 (67%) of the estimated 7,641brown, rainbow, and brook trout from 12 samplesections than averaged 250 m in length. Biolo-gists resampled each section during 1998 usingthree or four electrofishing passes in an upstreamdirection, recording numbers of the different fishspecies and sub-sampling fish length, weight, andmaturity stage.

From April through September 1998, staffremoved another 6,493 brown, brook, and rain-bow trout. Brown trout were again the most abun-dant species (97.3%), averaging 112 mm TL (n =2,731); brook and rainbow trout averaged 155 mmand 87 mm (n = 2 and 21), respectively. Thepopulation of non-native trout in the entire sam-pling reach was estimated at 7,471, indicating thatnearly 87% were removed from Canyon Creekduring 1998. Age-0 trout comprised 80% of allfish sampled, and no captured trout were classi-fied as post-spawn fish. Our combined efforts in1997 and 1998 resulted in the total removal of

11,493 non-native trout.Removal efficiencies of non-native trout were

tested in the first three sampling sections. Biolo-gists calculated that an average of 81% (range, 73-91%) of fish were removed following the thirdelectrofishing depletion pass. Mature trout (> 125mm TL) were more easily captured that immaturefish, as in 1997. However, comparisons of troutabundance between years indicated limited suc-cess in removing trout in 1997. More fish werecaptured in sections one and two in 1998 than inthe previous year. Similar results were foundwhen comparing size distributions of fish betweenyears; a large number of age-0 trout, which repre-sented nearly 87% of all fish sampled, were againcaptured in 1998. This indicated that either a sig-nificant proportion of mature trout evaded sam-pling or trout were reentering the stream throughthe artificial barrier.

Preliminary surveys in April and June 1998revealed that the barrier was not effective in pre-venting non-native trout from migrating upstream.As a result, additional barrier improvements weremade in 1998. Wire mesh, screening, and plywoodwere added to eliminate remaining flow, to pre-vent fish from entering the sample reaches and toeliminate resting areas for fish that did attempt toascend the cascade. To test these adjustments 300marked fish were released below the artificial fallsin June; none were located in electrofishing sur-veys upstream of the barrier on September 10.

Abundance and removal estimates were poten-tially biased due to failure of the barrier to preventnon-native trout from entering Canyon Creek in1997 and early 1998. Also, reduced removal ef-forts in 1997 may have allowed trout time tomove around the barrier or avoid capture by mov-ing into previously sampled sections. ARC staffcurrently have no way of quantitatively estimatingthe proportion of trout that entered the study reachfrom downstream sources. However, since nomarked trout were located in the upper reaches,including the first three monitoring sections, im-migration may not have been responsible for largenumbers of trout captured in 1998.


Removal efficiencies of trout in 1998 weresimilar to those calculated in 1997, which wassomewhat encouraging particularly among thelarger size classes. However, estimates suggestthat not all mature fish were removed. Samplingbrown trout prior to their fall spawning period willfurther reduce recruitment, but a sustainable effortto remove these fish will likely be costly and la-bor-intensive, necessitating at least two moreyears of electrofishing. Burned areas with abun-dant woody debris makes navigating around orthrough these areas difficult, further reducing cap-ture efficiencies. Other removal methods may beconsidered, particularly if abundance efforts andreduction in 1999 are similar to results in 1998.

Westslope cutthroat trout genetics. During1997, ARC staff collected fin-clip samples from atotal of 91 putative westslope cutthroat trout atseven sites from streams in the northwest region

of the park and sent them to the Wild Trout andSalmon Genetics laboratory at the University ofMontana for DNA analysis. Results indicated thatwestslope cutthroat trout were hybridized withYellowstone cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, or bothat all sample sites except Fan Creek, but samplesizes were small. Fan Creek and several of itstributaries were therefore resampled in 1998 toobtain additional genetic samples along with esti-mates of population abundance, and age and sizedistribution of the westslope cutthroat trout. Sam-pling was also expanded to include two sites onCougar Creek and a single site on the upper Gall-atin River. DNA results from these 263 sampleswill be available at a later date.

Arctic Grayling StatusThe distribution of the Arctic grayling

(Thymallus arcticus), which were once abundantin the larger streams of the upper Missouri Riverdrainage above Great Falls, Montana, has beenreduced to less than 8% of its original range. Thelisting of the fluvial (stream dwelling) Arcticgrayling under the Endangered Species Act hasbeen designated as “warranted but precluded.” Inthe park, where fluvial grayling were once foundthroughout the Gallatin drainage, and in the Madi-son drainage and its tributaries below Gibbon andFirehole falls, reproducing populations may nolonger be present, although anglers continue toreport catching them in the Gibbon and Madisonrivers. The historically fishless headwaters of theGibbon River contain adfluvial (lake dwelling)populations that were introduced in Grebe Lakeand Wolf Lake earlier this century.

In 1994, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servicebegan monitoring the survival of grayling that hadbeen recently stocked into Cougar Creek. Searchefforts made in 1997 in other drainages foundonly two grayling upstream of Little Gibbon Fallsnear Grebe and Wolf lakes, from where they mayhave dispersed. In 1998 ARC staff continued toinventory streams where fluvial grayling could bepresent, while quantifying non-native trout popu-lations in potential restoration sites. However,

Arctic grayling.

ARC


electrofishing surveys in Cougar Creek and theGibbon River located no grayling.

Other areas that warrant study include thelower reaches of the Gibbon River below GibbonFalls, where prior investigations have found gray-ling, although the relative abundance was smallcompared to other species. Anglers have reportedgrayling catches there with increasing frequency;angler report summaries from 1998 indicate thatnearly 56% of grayling landed were reported be-low Gibbon Falls.

Angler SurveyAll park employees and visitors at least 12

years of age who intend to fish in the park arerequired to obtain a fishing permit. Since 1994, afee has been charged for this permit; in 1996, thefee was increased to $10 for a 10-day permit and$20 for a season permit. Attached to the permit isa postal Volunteer Angler Report (VAR) card thatrequests information on fishing dates, times, loca-tions, numbers and lengths of species landed andcreeled, boat or shore fishing, and the level ofangler skill level and satisfaction with the overallfishing experience. Data from the returned cardsis used to estimate the amount of angler use, land-ing and harvest rates, and the captured species’mean lengths—information that assists in ARC’sevaluation of the affect of angling regulations andlong-term fishery trends.

Of the estimated 3.1 million people who vis-ited the park in 1998, about 71,800 purchasedfishing permits, and 4,342 returned usable Volun-teer Angler Report catch cards (6% of those is-sued). Surveys conducted by interviewing oneperson in each vehicle leaving the park during thesampling period at each exit suggested that 5.2%of the people who purchased a fishing permit didnot fish, leaving an estimated 70,712 people whodid.

Based on the VAR cards and the exit surveys,it was estimated that anglers creeled 21,535 fish in1998, about 4% of the 596,645 fish that werelanded. The average angler fished for 2.5 days, on1.3 different waters per day, and 2.6 hours per day.

Mean annual landing and creel rates were 0.99and 0.04 fish/hour, respectively. Nearly 81% ofthose who fished on only one day landed at leastone fish.

Cutthroat trout were the most frequentlycaught fish in 1998 (64%), followed by rainbowtrout (15%), brown trout (8%), and brook trout(6%). Mountain whitefish, lake trout, Arctic gray-ling, and unidentified fish made up the remaining7%. The mean length of the 37,521 landed fishreported on VAR was 13 inches (330 mm); 63%were more than 12 inches (305 mm), and morethan 47% were more than 14 inches (356 mm).Lake trout had the greatest average length (17.9inches; 455 mm), followed by cutthroat trout(14.4 inches; 366 mm).

GEOLOGY AND GEOTHERMAL

RESOURCES

As of December 31, the park was still withouta geologist. As a result, the seasonal technician,Tim Thompson, compiled and analyzed data per-taining to seismic and geothermal activity in thepark during 1998. With the technician’s involve-ment in geothermal assessment of the proposedOld Faithful wastewater plant reconstruction andother non-monitoring activities, the park is stilllacking an extensive compilation and summary ofgeothermal and geyser activity. Significantchanges in geyser activity occurred between 1996and 1998, but a complete report reflecting thesechanges is still several years away. In March, thetechnician presented an abstract and talk on mod-eling geyser activity to the Oregon Academy ofSciences.

Earthquakes and Seismicity1492 earthquakes were documented in 1998.

On the Richter scale, the earthquakes ranged inintensity from sub-1.0 to 4+ magnitude. Therewere several reports from park personnel and visi-tors of felt earthquakes. The majority of earth-quakes within the park occurred in swarms, out-side of the caldera boundary, with the highest con-


centration of seismic events located northeast ofWest Yellowstone and west of Norris in the Mt.Holmes area. Smaller swarms of seismic eventswere recorded north of Old Faithful and elsewherewithin the caldera.

On January 8, two earthquakes shook theWest Thumb Geyser Basin. The first earthquakeregistered ~2.8 on the Richter scale and oneminute later was followed by a magnitude ~2.6.Since little monitoring is conducted in the geyserbasin during the winter months, it is unknown ifthe seismic events influenced activity in the basin.

On January 9, a low magnitude earthquake(~2.2) shook the northern portion of the UpperGeyser Basin near Biscuit Basin. The quake oc-curred at 1:50 A.M. MST and was felt by at leastone person. Within a few hours, several thermalfeatures responded to the event. Giantess Geyser,a geyser of impressive but rare activity, beganerupting between 1:50 A.M. MST and 7:00 A.M.MST. Based on observations and electronicthermo-couple data, the eruption of Giantess wasnot a complete eruption. The eruption abortedshortly after it began. Cascade Geyser, a geysernot seen in eruption since 1992, also erupted theday of the earthquake. The earthquake had a dra-matic effect on Old Faithful Geyser. Shortly afterthe earthquake, the median and mean recoverytime between eruptions of Old Faithful began toincrease (see following discussion).

Old Faithful GeyserEruption activity of Old Faithful Geyser un-

derwent substantial changes during 1998. OldFaithful’s mean and median recovery times (IBE)dramatically increased following the Januaryearthquake. In addition to the increase due to theseismic event, Old Faithful’s IBE increased sig-nificantly due to a seasonal component acting onthe geyser’s system. The possibility that OldFaithful Geyser’s recovery times are significantlyinfluenced by a seasonal component was first in-vestigated by the seasonal physical science techni-cian in 1997. In order to better understand his-toric changes and analyze long-term changes in

Old Faithful’s activity, the technician and severalvolunteers began to construct electronic dataframes of Old Faithful’s IBE. By September of1998, all recorded IBE between 1981 and 1997had been entered into ASCII files. To date, thisdata represents a total of 82,033 recorded erup-tions of Old Faithful. This project is far fromcompletion, but it is hoped that a completed datafile obtained from the historic data logbooks canbe completed within the next five years.

Old Faithful’s IBE dramatically increasedduring 1998 (Fig. 7). The reported mean and me-dian of 1997 were 75.3 and 80.5 minutes, respec-tively. During 1998, the mean and median bothincreased to 80.9 and 85 minutes, respectively.Much of the increase in IBE was the result of thesystem operating less often in the “short mode.”A greater proportion of Old Faithful’s durationswere “long” and thereby followed by longer re-covery times (IBE). More than 25% of Old Faith-ful recovery times exceeded 91 minutes, and thegeneral lengthening of IBE appeared to have aneffect on the amount of time visitors stayed in theOld Faithful area. The increasing amount of timethat visitors are staying in the Old Faithful areahas the potential of increased impact on resources.Since 1945, the average recovery time of OldFaithful Geyser has increased from 63.8 minutesto the 1998 average of 80.9 minutes—a phenom-enal 17-minute increase in mean recovery time.

400 —

300 —

200 —

100 —

0 —

— — — — —

40 60 80 100 120

IBE (Minutes)

Freq

uenc

y

Figure 7. Old Faithful recovery time (IBE) for 2,063eruptions as recorded by Old Faithful naturalists andvolunteers in the log book for 1998.


Using data compiled by the physical sciencetechnician, volunteers, and past geologists, themean annual recovery time was plotted for eachyear, from 1945 to 1998 (Fig. 8). With the excep-tion of a large increase in mean IBE following1988, all other times of significant increases coin-cide with seismic events. Two of the major in-creases coincide with regional earthquakes: theAugust 17, 1959 magnitude 7.5 Hebgen Lakeearthquake and the October 28, 1983 magnitude7.3 Borah Peak, Idaho earthquake. Two signifi-cant increases coincide with local seismic events;the June 30, 1975 magnitude 6.1 Norris-CentralPlateau earthquake and the January 8, 1998 mag-nitude 2.2 Biscuit Basin earthquake. The increasein annual mean IBE show clearly in the plot.There is increasing evidence that with each majorseismic event, Old faithful IBE increases. Whilethere is wild fluctuation on a year-to-year basis,seismic events have a long-term effect on OldFaithful recovery time.

Other Long-Term MonitoringThe long-term monitoring of several impor-

tant geysers continued during 1998. The in-creased flow in energy observed through 1997 hotspring and geyser activity began to subside by thespring of 1998.

Upper Geyser Basin. 626 IBE were recordedfor Castle Geyser, of which 593 followed majoreruptions and 33 followed minor eruptions. The

mean and median recovery times of major IBEwere 695.1 and 693 minutes, respectively.

The increased energy flow in the Giant andDaisy geyser platforms observed in 1997 had sub-sided significantly by early spring of 1998. Splen-did Geyser was dormant and, as a result, DaisyGeyser’s eruption pattern stabilized; 3726 IBEwere recorded for Daisy Geyser with a mean andmedian IBE of 102.2 and 102 minutes, respectively.

Giant Geyser continued its eruption patterninto the beginning of the year. Twenty-one erup-tions were recorded in 1998. During the firstthree months of 1998, Giant erupted every three tofive days. This long series of Giant eruptions thatbegan in 1997 came to an end on April 30. Giantdid not erupt again until late fall.

The only known eruption of Giantess Geyseroccurred on January 9. This was the aborted erup-tion that was either triggered by the Biscuit Basinearthquake or shut down by the earthquake.

Plume Geyser remained very consistentthroughout 1998; 9018 IBE were recorded with amean and median of 36.43 and 36 minutes, respec-tively. In past years, Plume has been effected byactivity of Giantess Geyser, but with Giantess inac-tive, recovery times of Plume Geyser were stable.

Cascade Geyser erupted on January 9, trig-gered by the Biscuit Basin earthquake. The lastknown eruptions of Cascade were recorded in1992. A detailed record of the eruption activitywas recorded by the naturalist staff at the OldFaithful Visitor Center.

The Fan and Mortar Geyser complex ceasederupting in late May. No eruptions were observedfor the remainder of the year; 1998 was the firstsummer in many years that the complex failed tohave eruptive activity. The new feature across thetrail from Fan and Mortar appeared to be servingas a new relief valve for the energy once availableto the complex.

In 1996, an old spring depression across thetrail from the Fan and Mortar complex began tosink and fill with thermal waters. The depressionbecame an active mudpot by the end of that yearand continued in this phase throughout 1997. No

80 –

75 –

70 –

65 –

— - - - - - - - - - - - - - — - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - — - - - - - - - — - - - — - - - - - - - - - - —

1945 1959 1975 1983 1987 1998

Year

Ann

ual M

ean

IBE

(Min

utes

)

Figure 8. Old Faithful mean recovery time (minutes),1945–1998.


historical information exists for this feature exceptthat the ground above the depression was alwayswarm. The mudpot presented a dangerous situa-tion and a log fence was constructed around thefeature to ensure visitor safety. The southern edgeof the depression was once covered by the originalroadbed through the Old Faithful area. There issome speculation that the feature was a spring thatwas filled in during the original road construction.During the fall of 1998, the feature changed froma mudpot to an erupting spring. Soils that oncecovered the depression were absorbed by the geo-thermal system, exposing an old sinter platform.No probing was done to determine the depth ofthe spring, but the diameter is approximately threemeters with water temperatures exceeding 90o C.This beautiful spring serves as an example of thechanging dynamics within a geyser basin. In par-ticular, the spring points out the need for thought-ful recognition of old spring depressions whenconsidering new construction and trail routes.

Midway Geyser Basin. The section of thenew highway crossing the Rabbit Creek area con-tinued to collapse at a point where the roadbedinfringed upon an old spring depression. Eventhough this section of the road was determined tobe a problem area in the geothermal assessmentprior to the road construction, fill material wasstill built up on the old spring edge. As a result,intense heat and steam continued to breakdown

the roadbed, indicating that a future collapse isinevitable.

Flood Geyser’s IBE remained bimodalthroughout the monitoring period from June 25 toSeptember 8. In past years, Flood Geyser tendedto lose its bimodal distribution of IBE as the sum-mer months progressed. This was not the caseduring 1998. Recovery times between eruptionsof Flood Geyser ranged from 9 minutes to 61 min-utes, with recovery times alternating betweenshort and long. The mean and median of 2855IBE were 27.4 and 38 minutes, respectively.

Lower Geyser Basin. 542 IBE of Great Foun-tain Geyser resulted in a mean and median of633.6 and 623 minutes, respectively. Occasion-ally, the geothermal system of Great FountainGeyser enters into what has been called a “wildphase.” Without warning, the geyser will end itstypical eruption activity and begin a series of vig-orous splashing, boiling, and venting of steam.During such a phase, cyclical eruptive activityceases for several days. On January 10, one dayafter the Biscuit Basin earthquake, Great FountainGeyser began a wild phase which continued untilJanuary 15.

In the Kaleidoscope Group, Kaleidoscope,Deep Blue, and Deep Blue’s satellite vent were allactive. Some eruptions of Kaleidoscope wereestimated to exceed 70 feet.

Fountain Geyser was stable with recoverytimes between 6.5 and 8.5 hours. Eruptions ofFountain were powerful enough to expel wateronto the boardwalk.

Norris Geyser Basin. For the third year in arow, no widespread annual disturbance was ob-served. Several earthquake swarms were recordedsouth of Mt. Holmes and west of the Norris Gey-ser Basin, and this seismic activity appears to bepartially responsible for the stability of the Norrisbasin in recent years.

Echinus Geyser experienced a major changein eruption activity. In recent years, eruptions ofEchinus would end with a deep draining of thegeyser’s pool. This was not the case followingeruptions observed during 1998. Eruptions began

Ferris Fork Geyser reactivated in 1998. Ferris Forkin the foreground. Photo courtesy Tim Thompson.


from a high water level within the pool and endedwithout a deep drain. The 2023 recorded IBE forEchinus indicated a mean and median of 68 and62 minutes, respectively.

Ferris Fork. Between the late fall of 1997 andearly spring of 1998, an inactive geyser on thebank of the Ferris Fork of the Bechler River beganto erupt. Thermal waters exceeding 90o C floodedthe trail leading to the popular thermal bathingarea. The spring directly across the river from thereactivated geyser stopped overflowing. Becauseof the danger of the hot water covering the trail,the trail was rerouted around the erupting feature.Further inspection of the Ferris Fork thermal arearesulted in observations by the physical sciencetechnician of unusual degradation of the area sur-rounding the Ferris Fork pool.

The Ferris Fork pool is a well known swim-ming area in the Bechler region. It is a naturalpool formed by a heated gas vent and an islandsplitting the river into two halves. Two geother-mal sources provide the heat to the pool: a hotspring runoff from the hillside above the pool andthe large gas vent at the bottom of the pool.Twenty-five years of human use had destroyed theisland ecosystem and the soils and vegetationalong the bank of the Ferris Fork. A very largeearthen dam was constructed in the 1970s and1980s to force the river away from the pool. Thisaction forced the river into an unnatural path thatbegan to erode the island which splits the FerrisFork at the pool. Action was taken in 1998 to re-move the dam and allow the river to return to itsnatural channels. Future monitoring will provideinformation as to renewed health and natural ten-dency of the river channel and pool area.

VEGETATION

Yellowstone Sand VerbenaYellowstone sand verbena, Abronia ammo-

phila, is a species endemic to the park whoseknown distribution is limited to certain areasalong the shore of Yellowstone Lake. An informalcensus in the early 1990s found fewer than 1,000

plants in the population and evidence of extirpa-tion from at least part of its historical range, andcaused heightened concern about its status.

A portion of the Canon/National Park Founda-tion “Expedition Into the Parks” grant to Yellow-stone was used as challenge funds to obtain anadditional grant from the National Fish and Wild-life Foundation Native Plant Conservation Initia-tive for the survey and assessment of Yellowstonesand verbena during the 1998 field season. A footand boat survey of possible habitat along the en-tire shoreline of Yellowstone Lake, Lewis Lake,Delusion Lake, and Riddle Lake located threepreviously unknown sites of the species on sandyareas of the Yellowstone Lake shoreline.

Preliminary investigations in late summer of1997 found that the north shore population hadundergone extensive recruitment since the early1990s, highlighting the need to establish perma-nent monitoring plots and initiate a precise popu-lation count. A total of 8,325 sand verbenas werecounted at all known sites in 1998, using a onemeter grid system so that trends in any part of thepopulation could be monitored though time, andfour permanent belt transects were established.Determination of whether large sand verbena matswere composed of one or more individual plantswas difficult, so this number represents a mini-

Yellowstone sand verbena.


mum count. Only 10 percent of the plants were inthe largest size class, which composed most of theplants present in the early 1990s, indicating thatsome factor has permitted extensive recruitmentsince then. Approximately 45 percent of theplants present were probably from recruitment ofthe preceding two years. Less than 5 percent ofthe total plant population was located at the threenewly discovered sites.

Plant InventoriesThe presence of four species of vascular plants

were reported for the first time in the park in1998, two native and two exotic:• Plains mustard (Schoenocrambe linifolia

(Nutt.) Greene) and lotus milkvetch (Astraga-lus lotiflorus Hook.), both discovered in thenorthern part of the park, are native speciespresumed to be a long-term component of thepark’s flora that were previously overlooked.

• Meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris L.) is anexotic species that has become established inthe vicinity of the Bechler Ranger Station.

• In conjunction with the parkwide road recon-struction program, vascular plants that are con-sidered “species of special concern” were sur-veyed along the Dunraven Pass Road from theChittenden Road to Canyon Junction. Stiffgoldenrod (Solidago rigida L. var. humilis

Porter) is presumed to be a casual introductionsince only one plant was present on the imme-diate roadside. Possible trail reroutes were also surveyed to

prevent inadvertent impacts on species of specialconcern. Trail sections examined included thesocial trail from Shoshone Lake to Shoshone Gey-ser Basin, the Coyote Creek trail and the SouthBoundary and Snake River trails in the vicinity ofFox Park. This fieldwork resulted in several addi-tional populations of rare plants being located.

Vegetation Management and ResearchHazard trees. The management biologist

assisted in conducting hazard tree surveys that ledto the felling and removal by fire cache, resourcemanagement, and AMFAC crews of nearly 1,000trees from park campgrounds, housing areas,horse corrals, and the Grant Village trailer court.The combination of partial burning, previous thin-ning, old-growth stand age, acceleratedwindthrow, underground construction activities,and dense human occupation necessitated treeremovals to reduce the risk of life and propertyloss and damage. The tree removals and subse-quent revegetation efforts adhere to the concept ofoverstory management in high-use developed ar-eas.

A lodgepole pine tree along the Mammoth toNorris road corridor near Willow Park that hadbeen damaged but not killed during the 1988 firesfell on a private vehicle in 1998, causing propertydamage but no human injury. The tree only re-cently died and showed no signs of bole damageor rot, but the root system was compromised fromburning. The incident demonstrates the need forcontinued roadside tree management, particularlyalong road segments that burned during 1988.

Aspen. The management biologist continuedwith the long-term monitoring and hypothesistesting of the elk-aspen-fire relationship. Fourexperimental exclosures used in the research de-sign were removed. In addition:• 15 postburn aspen seedling plots were resam-

pled to determine trends in mortality, ungulate

Surveying Yellowstone sand verbena.


utilization, height growth, and competitionwith conifer seedlings; and

• the Junction Butte aspen subplot was clipped todetermine annual biomass production. About 20lbs. of biomass material have been produced peracre each year for the past five years.The management biologist also collaborated

with Dr. William Ripple of Oregon State Univer-sity regarding the establishment of long-term tran-sects to assess changes in elk utilization and aspengrowth habits in “core” wolf territory areas. Astudy plan and field design are expected to beimplemented during the 1999 field season.

Whitebark pine. The management biologistassisted the USFS in setting up two transects tomonitor white pine blister rust on the east bound-ary of the park, and consulted with and providedlogistical support to the USFS Forestry SciencesLab, Ogden, Utah for continuation of the nation-wide Forest Inventory and Monitoring Program.To assess overall forest health, 10 of 15 long-termmonitoring plots established in the park were re-visited in 1998.

Using the vegetation map compiled for grizzlybear habitat modelling, the management biologistderived the distribution of whitebark pine, bycover type and habitat type within cover type forthe Grizzly Bear Recovery Area. Classificationswere developed in consultation with Kate Kendall(USGS-BRD, Glacier NP) and Dan Reinhart(YNP). Data were derived from the mapped veg-etation database used in grizzly bear habitat mod-elling.

Fire management. All of the 13 known firesthat occurred in the park in 1998 were lightning-caused and burned a total 226 acres. Of the 11fires that were managed as prescribed naturalfires, the Sour fire accounted for nearly all of the110 acres burned. The larger of the two sup-pressed fires, the Rescue fire, burned a total of 16acres. The management biologist participated inthe sampling of a long-term vegetation monitoringplot established near Cascade Lake and workedwith two graduate students whose research entailsmodelling fire behavior.

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT ANDMONITORING

Rare Mammals Sightings and SignThe most noteworthy mammal observations

reported in 1998 were of mountain goat (10), wol-verine (7), raccoon (2), lynx (1), and fisher (1), allof which are rarely sighted in the park. The totalsshown in the table below include observations byboth experienced and inexperienced observers andphysical evidence such as a photo, plaster cast oftrack, track, scat, hair, or DNA sample (Table 5).The fisher report was a scat found by an observerthat had experience with captive fishers, but DNAanalysis of the scat to confirm the species identifi-cation has not yet been completed.

Wildlife SurveysPark staff shared costs and time with the

Northern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife Work-

Table 5. Rare mammals sightings and sign,1998.

Total

Amphibiansa 4Badger 6Beaver 9Bighorn sheep 38Bobcat 3Fisher 1Long-tailed weasel 2Lynx 1Mountain goat 10Mountain lion 31Muskrat 2Pine marten 3Raccoon 2Red fox 46Reptilesb 3River otter 8Whitetail deer 12Wolverine 7

a 1 boreal toad, 1 boreal chorus frog, 1 spotted frog, and 1 leopard frog. b 1 garter snake, 1 bull snake, and 1 rattlesnake.


ing Group to complete counts of ungulate herdson the northern range.

Elk. As has occurred in some previous years,poor flying conditions prevented the winter elkcount until January 30, 1999, when 7,122 elk wereseen inside the park. On February 11, 1999, 4,620were seen outside the park, for a total of 11,742.However, this estimate is problematic becausesome animals may have migrated in or out of thepark between the flights, and because the flightsoccurred during an annual late-season hunt thattakes place north of the park boundary in Januaryand mid-February.

Pronghorn. A count of pronghorn on April20, 1998, found 231 animals, compared to the1997 spring count of 210. The pronghorn popula-tion has remained relatively stable between 210and 235 since 1995. Two park volunteers, Dr. Jimand Edna Caslick, conducted road surveys for thefourth consecutive year to assess pronghorn distri-bution and evaluate possible effects of bison man-agement activities on pronghorn.

Mule Deer. A helicopter survey by TomLemke of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks onApril 23, 1998, located a total of 1,748 mule deeron the northern range, of which only 24 were lo-cated inside the park. Since the spring helicoptersurveys began in 1990, fewer than 75 mule deer ayear have been located inside the park.

Bighorn Sheep. Tom Lemke also surveyed

bighorn sheep by helicopter in and outside thepark. On April 23 and May 4, 1998, he located134 bighorn sheep, of which 45 were inside thepark. On April 23, in the Mt. Everts/Mammotharea, 14 out of 17 known radio-collared sheepwere observed (82%) compared with a 1997 countof 10 out of 16 known marked sheep (63%). Al-though the survey area has remained the same, thetotal count is down 65 (37%) since 1995.

Spring 1998 estimated recruitment for the en-tire survey area dropped from 19 lambs/100 ewesin 1996 to 11 lambs/100 ewes in 1998. The an-nual December 1998 ground count found 67 big-horn (28 rams, 26 ewes, 10 lambs and 3 unclassi-fied) with 38 lambs and 108 rams per 100 ewes.During 1998, known sheep mortalities includedone-full curl ram of unknown cause and one 7/8-curl ram illegally shot on November 15 nearDevil’s Slide, just north of the park. Groundcounts suggest that the bighorn sheep populationhas not recovered to numbers that existed prior tothe 1981–82 die-off from pinkeye.

Bison. NPS staff conduct aerial surveys of theentire bison population about once a month.Based on high survey counts in May (2,478) andDecember 1998 (2,203), the bison population wasestimated at 2,200 to 2,500 animals. By Decem-ber 1998, boundary management actions undermild winter weather conditions resulted in theMontana Department of Livestock shooting only 6

Bull elk. The pronghorn population has remained relativelystable between 210 and 235 since 1995.

NPS NPS


bison (3 adult females and 3 calves) and shipping5 adult males to slaughter.

Bats. With funding provided by the FederalHighways Program, contracts to conduct bat sur-veys along the Mammoth to Norris and Canyon toTower road corridors were awarded to The Mon-tana Natural Heritage Program, The Nature Con-servancy, under the direction of Sam Martinez andDave Genter.

Wildlife Capture and HandlingElk in distress. The bull elk evolved with

antlers for a reason, but they can become a nui-sance for elk who get caught up in the trappings ofhuman civilization. This year brought three morecases in which park staff intervened to free elk oftheir encumbrances. In August, after one bull elkhad somehow gotten about 50 feet of 18-gaugeinsulated wire tangled in its antlers and was drag-ging another 50-75 feet of wire behind, Inter-agency Grizzly Bear Study Team personnel sta-tioned at Norris immobilized the animal and re-moved the wire.

In November, two young bull elk were re-ported to be standing in the Gardner River withtheir antlers tangled in a nylon rope, a dead treestump, and a root ball; park staff determined thatthe elk could not be immobilized because of therisk of drowning. Instead, a hooked-blade rescueknife was attached to the end of a long fiberglasspole and used to cut one of the elk free. As theother elk, which remained in the middle of theriver with the tree stump, was not responsive toattempts to try to move it closer to shore, parkpersonnel entered the river to get the animalwithin range of the pole and were able to cut itfree of the root ball. Both elk then ran away fromthe area and were observed several days later nearthe Roosevelt Arch, apparently no worse for theirexperience.

Habituated coyotes. Park staff euthanizedfour coyotes that were frequenting developed ar-eas. In one case the animal had a broken femurand was in apparent pain and discomfort; its stom-ach contents indicated that it had consumed a

large quantity of plastic. The other three coyoteswere behaving aggressively towards people. Twoof the coyotes, including one who had bitten threepeople, were tested for rabies; both tests werenegative. Analysis of the carcass of another coy-ote that may have starved to death found the stom-ach packed with a leather belt, plastic, cloth, andStyrofoam.

Wildlife in BuildingsIntegrated Pest Management. As the park’s

IPM coordinator, the management biologist imple-mented a variety of techniques to address the 22pest complaints reported parkwide during 1998caused by small mammals (mice, bats, groundsquirrels, packrats); insects (ants, spiders, beetles,and wasps); and swallows. The years 1995 to1997 saw an annual average of 25.3 pest com-plaints.

Building modifications were suggested as aresult of continued problems with swallow mitesat the Lamar Institute cabins, and the Instituteagreed to purchase materials that would physicallyinhibit swallow nesting activity on a portion ofthree cabins selected for testing. Clear plexiglasswill be installed there prior to swallow nestingactivity in the spring of 1999.

When a seasonal housing facility in Mammothreported an ant infestation, an inspection found noobvious structural damage but led to the removalof an exterior log barrier adjacent to the facilitythat housed a colony of carpenter ants.

Bat colonies. An interdisciplinary team ofbiologists, engineers, and cultural resource man-agement specialists headed by Mike Bogan(USGS-BRD, Denver) and field coordinator KeithGeluso completed the second and final year of asurvey of maternal bat colonies associated withhistoric buildings. Data loggers to record tem-perature/humidity fluctuations were installed inthe Bechler Ranger Station, Lake Ranger Station,Hamilton Stores employee dorm, and Lamar Insti-tute bunkhouse. Results of the survey and hy-pothesis-testing data collection may have impor-tant bat management implications.


During a second annual bat count in the Lakedeveloped area on July 28 to quantify little brownbat numbers, roost sites, and roost entrancesamong buildings, only 18 bats were observed,compared to more than 500 in 1997. Althoughthis decline may have been result of exclusionarywork completed in the lodge in the fall of 1997,the effectiveness of this method cannot yet be de-termined because similarly low densities and oth-erwise intermittent bat use was found during park-wide monitoring of known roost sites by maternalcolonies. Very few pregnant females were ob-served except in the most optimal roost sites suchas the Lake Ranger Station. The late arrival ofsummer weather probably contributed to the de-crease in bat numbers and resulted in low repro-ductive output, with non-reproductive femaleschoosing alternate roost sites instead of colonialroosting by pregnant females.

Owl translocation experiment. When a pairof adult owls took up residence in a dormitory atOld Faithful and laid three eggs on a rafter closeto the emergency exit, signs were posted askingresidents to use the exit only in case of emer-gency. Great horned owls are notoriously danger-ous during the nesting period. The park ornitholo-gist constructed a natural-looking nest in a pinegrove that the adult owls frequented about 200meters away from the dormitory. On May 27,when the three owlets were 7–20 days old, parkstaff in protective headgear and clothing movedthem to the new nest along with some freshly ac-quired pocket gophers from the old nest. Afterseveral trips to the artificial nest in the pines, theadult owls adjusted to their new home and imme-diately fed the owlets pocket gophers. All threeowlets fledged from the makeshift nest.

Discouraging bird nests. Swallows, wood-peckers, and ravens pose obstacles for people re-sponsible for the care and management of build-ings and pose some health risks. However, be-cause these species are protected under the Migra-tory Bird Treaty Act, mitigation options are verylimited. Plastic netting can be used to discouragenesting, but it will backfire if installed incorrectly

or too frequently. Although some park staff havebeen trained in netting installation, some incidentsof incorrect installation continue to occur eachyear.

Road-Killed WildlifeA total of 88 large mammals (species in which

the adults weigh at least 30 pounds) that died as aresult of collisions with vehicles on park roadswere reported in 1998 (Table 6). As usual, be-cause of their relative abundance, elk (36%) andmule deer (27%) were the species most oftenkilled. This was the second lowest annual road-kill count since record-keeping began in 1989 (thelowest, 80, occurred in 1997), and was signifi-cantly lower than the annual average of 113 (± 20SD) recorded from 1989 to 1997. The largestnumber of reported roadkills occurred in 1994,when 148 were recorded.

The average rate in 1998 for all park roads was0.4 road-kills per mile; the highest rate, as always,was on U.S. Highway #191, where it was about1.4 road-kills per mile. Although U.S. Highway#19 comprises only about 7% of the paved roadsin the park, it is the only park road with a 55 mphspeed limit (the others are posted at 45 mph orslower), and it accounted for 31% of the reportedroad-kills in 1998.

Table 6. Large mammals killed by vehicles,1998.

Antelope 1Beaver 2Bison 13Black bear 3Coyote 7Elk 32Grizzly bear 0Moose 3Mule deer 24Raccoon 2Wolf 1a

Total 88

a Other wolf mortalities occurred outside YNP.


Wildlife Disease MonitoringIn 1992, the park began working with the

Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory on a wild-life disease sampling program to:• establish baseline disease data for wildlife spe-

cies;• establish disease monitoring protocols for

wildlife species that can be used throughoutthe NPS System;

• survey and monitor wildlife for diseases andenvironmental toxins; and

• establish a wildlife serum and tissue bank forfuture analysis.WASO funded the purchase of sample collec-

tion and storage supplies, basic training for parkstaff in wildlife necropsy techniques, and the diag-nostic services to be provided by the WyomingState Veterinary Laboratory. Carcasses aresampled on a time available basis only.

Necropsies. Five necropsies were performedon the wildlife carcasses in 1998: two coyotepups (both diagnosed with parvovirus infection),one grizzly bear (old age), one black bear(wounds inflicted by a grizzly bear), and onemountain lion (probably from complications re-lated to old age). After seven years of the pro-gram, 184 animals representing 35 different spe-cies have been sampled.

Tissue banking. In 1998, DNA tissue and/orhair samples were collected from five coyotes,three black bears, three mountain lions, and oneantelope. After eight years of the program,samples have been collected from 242 animalsrepresenting 11 different species.

Carcass DisposalTo reduce the road hazard to scavengers such

as bears, wolves, and coyotes, and the potentialfor bear-human confrontations, the carcasses ofwildlife that have been road-killed, poached, ordied of natural or other causes are often moved.Of the 126 large mammal carcasses reported tothe BMO in 1998, 43 were moved to designateddisposal sites; 25 were dragged away from theroad to safer locations; 20 were used in other

wildlife programs or used for museum or natural-ist programs; 9 carcasses were collected for feed-ing captive gray wolves; and 8 were collectedwhole for use as bear bait. The disposition of twocarcasses was not reported; the remaining 19 werenot considered a problem and left where theywere.

Although there were seven coyotes, threeblack bears, and one wolf fatally struck by ve-hicles in the park in 1998, none of these incidents,nor the grizzly bear-inflicted human injury in-volved carcasses as attractants.

WOLVES

Population StatusAlthough the number of wolves in the GYA

increased from 86 at the end of 1997 to 110–120at the end of 1998, the number of packs withbreeding pairs declined from nine to six (Fig. 9).Three packs that had produced litters in the springof 1997 lost one or both members of their breed-ing pairs during the following year; two of thesepacks had disbanded by the end of 1998, with theformer pack members traveling solo or in smallergroups.

Reproduction. Four of the six packs that didhave breeding pairs had two litters, resulting in atotal of 10 litters born in the GYA in 1998. Littersize ranged from 2 to 8 pups and averaged 5.5pups, with a total of 44 pups, 36 of which wereknown to be alive at the end of 1998.

All denning sites were monitored from the airand some from the ground in order to estimatebirthing dates and the number of pups. At someof the dens, remote telemetry equipment was usedto gain continuous data on den site attendance.Most packs that had bred previously in Yellow-stone used the same den site again. All birthingdates were in April.

Mortality. Of the 18 wolves that are knownto have died in the GYA in 1998, 6 were adults, 4were yearlings, and 8 were pups from either the1997 or 1998 cohort (3 were known to have diedand 5 were presumed dead.) Natural causes of


Figure 9. Wolf pack territories. Eleven groups occupied the GYA in 1998.

0 10 20 miles

N

National Parks

National Forests

Wolf Pack Territories

Roads

Yellowstone National Park

Grand TetonNational Park

Jackson

Dubois

Cody

Cooke CityGardiner

Bozeman

West Yellowstone

Rose Creek

Druid Peak

Soda Butte

Crystal Creek

Leopold

Chief Joseph I

Sunlight

Nez Perce

Jackson Trio

Teton Duo

Chief Joseph II

death included avalanches, other wolves, and elk.Six human-caused mortalities resulted from con-trol actions, illegal take, and wolves being struckby vehicles.

Of the 60 mortalities that have occurred sincewolves were reintroduced in the GYA in 1995, atleast 23 were human-caused, including 6 by ve-hicle collisions, most of them on Highway 191 inthe northwest corner of the park.

Population MovementsThe territories of the six wolf packs for which

at least 25 locations were obtained in 1998 rangedfrom 135 square miles (Leopold) to 955 squaremiles (Soda Butte); the average territory of thesepacks was 359 square miles.

Overall, the wolves occupied a larger portionof the GYA in 1998. Three new or recentlyformed packs (the Teton Duo, Jackson Trio, and


Chief Joseph II) established territories outside ofthe park, and the Soda Butte Pack, which hadmostly restricted its range to within the park inprior years, roamed south several times to the Na-tional Elk Refuge near Jackson, Wyoming. Theonly wolf known to have left the GYA in 1998was a disperser from that traveled to near Powell,Wyoming, and was unintentionally killed in a coy-ote trap.

Leopold Pack. At the end of 1998, theLeopold Pack still occupied the Blacktail DeerPlateau, including Swan Lake Flats and some-times areas as far south as Norris Geyser Basin.With a litter of five pups in 1998, they had a totalof 13 members, but several uncollared wolveswere not always with the pack and hard to track.

Chief Joseph Pack. Considered one packwith two breeding females in 1997, the Chief Jo-seph Pack again had two breeding females in1998, but were regarded as two units: Chief Jo-seph I & II. The alpha male in the Chief JosephPack apparently bred two females, but tended onlyone female’s litter; Chief Joseph I with theseseven pups ranged in the northwestern part of thepark. The other female raised her six pups alone(Chief Joseph II) and established a territory northof the park in the Absaroka-Beartooth wildernessthat did not overlap with that of the other ChiefJoseph wolves as it did the year before. Two ofthe Chief Joseph II pups were hit on Highway 191in separate incidents in October and November.

Rose Creek Pack. Despite two known mor-talities and several dispersals, this pack of 22wolves remained the largest in the GYA. Roam-ing the central northern range, the Rose CreekPack produced two litters for the second consecu-tive year, but this time the two females shared aden instead of denning separately. One femalepack member became the fourth victim of theDruid Peak Pack, which has aggressively de-fended the territorial boundary between the twopacks.

Druid Peak Pack. This pack of wolvesspends most of its time in and around Lamar Val-ley. Like the Rose Creek Pack, two Druid Peak

females had pups, using the same den, but onlytwo pups were recorded, and only one survived.

Crystal Creek Pack. With 16 members, theCrystal Creek Pack was the second largest in theGYA, having produced litters in 1997 and 1998.Living in Pelican Valley most of the year, theywere seen interacting regularly with grizzly bearswith mostly benign results, although the bearstend to “win” when a carcass is in question. Thealpha male died in August after his femoral arterywas severed during a battle with an elk; the elkdid not survive the altercation either and was con-sumed by the surviving pack members. Within amonth a yearling male had dispersed from theDruid Peak Pack and joined the Crystal CreekPack. The Crystal Creek alpha female, the firstwolf carried into a pen in Yellowstone in 1995,was the only remaining member of the originalpack.

Soda Butte Pack. Another pack with only thealpha female remaining from the original mem-bers, this one did not produce a litter in 1998 be-cause the alpha male, who had died of old age inMarch 1997, had not been replaced. The SodaButte Pack ranged across the southern portion ofYellowstone from Heart Lake to the Thorofareregion. The pack had seven members until No-vember when a female dispersed and joined upwith a male who had dispersed from the WashakiePack. They settled near Grand Teton NationalPark, where they became known as the TetonDuo.

Thorofare Pack. The Soda Butte Pack tres-passed onto the Thorofare Pack’s territory in Janu-ary, killing the alpha male; the alpha female andone pup perished in an avalanche probably whilefleeing the Soda Butte Pack. The five survivingpups, only one of which was radio-collared, ap-parently remained together the rest of the winterand part of the spring, but tracking these uncol-lared wolves was difficult and inaccurate. Aerialobservations during the summer indicated that thewolves had split up. One collared wolf settled inGrand Teton National Park and the National ElkRefuge near Jackson, Wyoming, with what was


Staff from Helicopter Wildlife Management from Salt Lake City, Utah, handle a Yellowstone wolf caughtwith a netgun.

probably her sibling and a dispersing male fromthe Nez Perce Pack. They became known as theJackson Trio.

Washakie Pack. This pack also disbandedbecause of the loss of the adult wolves—the adultmale in October 1997 for livestock predation, andthe adult female in June 1998 for the same reason.Of the four remaining yearling wolves, two werecollared. Based on reported observations, it ap-peared that the two uncollared wolves remained inthe DuNoir Valley where the pack had lived. Thetwo collared wolves, a male and female, left thearea and ranged widely over the southern portionof the GYA. As noted above, by the end of 1998,the male disperser had paired with a dispersingSoda Butte female and settled near Grand TetonNational Park.

Nez Perce Pack. Five members of this packwere put in the Nez Perce pen in late 1997 be-cause of livestock depredations. After escapingover the top of the pen for the third time, one of

the male wolves paired with another free-rangingwolf who happened to be his sister. They an-chored their movements around the pen for thewinter and produced at least one pup in 1998; an-other pair inside the pen had a litter of four pups.When the penned wolves were released in June,the two groups united at a nearby den site andmoved to Hayden Valley together for the rest ofthe summer. In August, the adult female that hadbeen confined to the pen the previous winter, aftertwo incidents of livestock predation, abruptly dis-persed and was shot while chasing livestock. Byearly winter, only three pups were sighted, so atleast two pups had died. A male wolf dispersedin November and with two dispersers (see Thoro-fare Pack) formed the Jackson Trio. The sevenremaining members of the Nez Perce Pack rangedin the Firehole River drainage at year’s end.

Sunlight Basin Pack. A male wolf that haddispersed from the Rose Creek Pack in late 1997and a female who had left the Druid Peak Pack in


early 1998 met up in the Sunlight Basin area inMarch, too late to mate this year. They remainedtogether for the rest of the year, primarily in thebasin, although they occasionally traveled westand through the eastern part of the park.

Wolf Management ActivitiesRadio-collaring. Although all of the 31

wolves relocated from Canada in 1995 and 1996were radio-collared so that their movements couldbe monitored, collaring of their descendants wasonly done sporadically when wolves had to becaptured for some other reason. The captures un-dertaken specifically to collar wolves were donein 1998, primarily to obtain information aboutwolf population dynamics, which is germane tothe delisting criteria (10 breeding pairs for threesuccessive years). The use of radio collars alsofacilitates other wolf management and law en-forcement objectives.

In January and March, 27 wolves from eightpacks were captured and collared without injuryto the human participants or to the wolves: 17pups, 2 yearlings, and 8 adults. The collaredwolves included 37% of the pups in the 1997 co-hort, which met the goal of collaring 30% to 50%of each pup cohort. The captures were done byhelicopter net-gunning or darting, both safe andproven ways to capture wolves. Helicopter Wild-life Management from Salt Lake City, Utah, do-nated use of the equipment and services needed tocollar the 21 netted wolves. To dart the other sixwolves, Hawkins and Powers of Greybull, Wyo-ming, provided the helicopter and Carter Niem-eyer of Wildlife Services did the darting.

The captured wolves were notably large and ingood condition (as subjectively determined byfield personnel with broad handling experience).The male pups weighed an average of 95 pounds,and the female pups 85 pounds; one male pup inthe Soda Butte Pack weighed 105 pounds in Janu-ary. A 120-pound yearling male in the LeopoldPack weighed three pounds more than his father.The alpha male of the Crystal Creek Pack, theheaviest wolf yet weighed in Yellowstone, was

141 pounds, but that included 10 to 15 pounds ofmeat recently consumed from a fresh elk kill.

Denning area closures. The area in a one-mile radius around the Rose Creek and DruidPeak den sites was closed to visitor use fromabout April 15 to June 30, 1998. A no-stoppingzone was also set up along the road to Cooke Citynear the Druid Peak den to keep visitors fromparking outside established turnouts and stoppingnear wolves trying to cross the road. Pups at theLeopold, Crystal Creek, and Nez Perce den siteswere incidentally protected from disturbance be-cause the Blacktail Deer Plateau, Pelican Valley,and Nez Perce Creek bear management areas re-stricted visitor use.

Predation on domestic animals. Three cattleand one dog were killed by wolves in four loca-

At times wolves are confined in pens for managementreasons. Members of the wolf project carry dinnerinto wolves confined in a pen.


tions in the GYA during 1998. Four wolves asso-ciated with these predations were legally killed.Defenders of Wildlife paid about $500 to compen-sate livestock producers and pet owners for eachconfirmed loss.• No control action was initiated when the

Washakie Pack killed a dog on the Diamond Granch near Dubois, Wyoming, in April, butafter three calves there were preyed on in June,the alpha female and a yearling male werekilled by Wildlife Services personnel. Theremoval left four yearling wolves in the packwhich roamed widely in the southern GYAthereafter.

• An adult female from the Nez Perce Pack waskilled in August after she harassed livestock inthe Centennial Valley, Montana, her third in-volvement in livestock incidents.

• The unconfirmed loss of a dog to the ChiefJoseph Pack was reported by the AndersonRanch in the Tom Miner Basin, Montana. TheAndersons were provided with a radio receiverso that they could monitor the pack’s activitieswhen in the area.Safety protocols. Staff reviewed safety pro-

tocols for wolf project activities, made numerousoperational changes, and outlined a strategy forfurther improvements. A manual for safety, equip-ment care, and storage of biological specimenswas drafted, and a two-hour session on opera-tional safety was added to winter study orientationtraining.

Research ProjectsWolf-prey relationships. As part of an ongo-

ing study of wolf predation, the packs were inten-sively monitored for 30 consecutive days duringMarch and November-December. The Leopold,Rose Creek, Druid Peak, and Chief Joseph packswere monitored by teams of two persons from theground and from aircraft; the Crystal, Soda Butte,and Nez Perce packs were monitored from aircraftonly. Wolf-prey behavioral interactions, predation

rates, time in attendance, percent consumption ofkills by wolves and scavengers, the condition ofwolf prey, and characteristics of the kill sites wereentered into a data base. The abundance and sex-age composition of elk within wolf pack territo-ries were estimated from the ground and fromaircraft. Data on wolf kills documented outsidethese winter-study periods were recorded opportu-nistically.

Project staff detected 109 definite and 120probable kills made by wolves in 1998, including197 elk (86% of total), 6 mule deer (3%), 7 coyote(3%), 6 pronghorn (3%), 5 bison (2 %), 3 moose(1%), 4 unknown prey (1%), and 1 wolf (1%). Ofthe elk kills, 43% were calves (0-12 months),21% cows, 21% bulls, and 15% elk of unknownsex or age. Because calves probably account forless than 30% of the northern herd, these data in-dicate their greater vulnerability than adult elk towolf predation. Packs on the northern winterrange averaged one ungulate kill per 2-3 days dur-ing March and one kill per 3-4 days during No-vember-December. Wolves fed from their killsover periods ranging from 6 to 17 hours. Scaven-gers that visited wolf kills included coyotes, redfoxes, grizzly bears, black bears, ravens, magpies,bald eagles, golden eagles, and gray jays.

Graduate studies. The wolf project providesfinancial and in-kind support for collaborativeresearch by graduate students and other researchscientists affiliated with other institutions, prima-rily universities. In 1998, wolf project personnelassisted in supervising six graduate studentswhose topics included: leadership behavior ofwolves; hunting success of wolves and their be-havioral interactions; statistical and ecologicalmethods for estimating the abundance and compo-sition of wintering elk on the northern range; be-havioral interactions between avian scavengersand wolves; denning behavior of wolves; and theecological relationships between wolves, wolf-killed prey, and scavengers.

65

Part IV. Yellowstone Center forResources and Parkwide Support

This section describes the work accomplished or coordinated by the YCR staffwho provide services for other YCR branches and other park divisions:

• The Spatial Analysis Center, responsible for the park’s geographicinformation system (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), soilinformation and other resource databases;

• Research Support, which oversees the permitting process for visit-ing and park researchers;

• Research Information, which produces publications and providesspecial programs on natural and cultural resource topics; and

• Funding and Personnel Support for the YCR division.

SPATIAL ANALYSIS CENTER

The Spatial Analysis Center (SAC) is the home for the park’s geographicinformation system (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), image analysis, soilinformation support, and a park resource database system. Its main business is theacquisition, analysis, organization, presentation, and storage of information,especially that concerning the cultural and natural resources of the park. Its goalsare to maintain an up-to-date GIS lab, provide GPS equipment and expertise,increase the GIS and GPS skill level of park staff, acquire new data and make ituseful, provide information and technical support to park staff, and make informa-tion available to outside agencies and the public. SAC staff have seen an increaseddemand for spatial data about the park and the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA)resources and are working to meet those needs.

66

Examples of projects that the SAC supportedor initiated during 1998:• A spatial inventory of more than 1,100 thermal

features in the park, including point locationsthat were determined with GPS units and con-verted into GIS layers, data such as tempera-ture and pH, and a digital photograph.

• The National Wetlands Inventory data devel-oped by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service onthe characteristics, extent, and status of thepark’s wetlands and deepwater habitats arenow available digitally in 7.5’ quadrangles inARC/INFO format.

• Support for projects done by researchers in thepark, including snow modeling, elk habitatuse, thermal studies, caldera modeling, paleo-botany, and paleontology.

• Preparing an accurate GIS layer of all parkbuildings with links to databases maintainedby cultural resources, maintenance, conces-sions, and AmFac, to be completed during the

summer of 1999.• Updating the GIS layer of the park’s road sys-

tem to include all secondary and service roads,to be completed during the summer of 1999.

• As a result of the Federal Highways program,the park has improved GPS capabilities andthe beginnings of GIS layers for rare plants,archeology sites, and wetlands.

• Working with the Division of Resource Man-agement Operations and Visitor Protection,SAC developed a demonstration of how GPSand GIS can be used in the search and rescueoperations; it has been used by park staff attraining sessions across the country.

• Working with Fire Cache staff, SAC is im-proving the data layers needed to map andpredict growth in naturally ignited and pre-scribed fires.

• Digital Raster Graphics (DRGs: scannedUSGS topographic maps) and Digital Ortho-photo Quarter Quadrangles (DOQQs: digital,

Support

Map of the Lamar Canyon area located in the northeast section of Yellowstone.


orthorectified, geo-referenced black and whiteaerial photographs at a one-meter ground reso-lution) are now available for Grand Teton Na-tional Park as well as for Yellowstone.

New TechnologiesSoftware. SAC continued to run its GIS

software on Windows NT rather than UNIX. Allfive computers in the GIS lab have ArcView andtwo also have ARC/INFO software. Several newESRI products (Internet Map Server, SDE, andTracking Analyst) will enable more data to beserved over the Internet and to run specializedanalyses on the data. An image compressingsoftware called MrSID was being used to decreasethe storage size of images without losing muchresolution, as has become especially importantwith more than 70 gigabytes of DOQQ image datato be stored. Several new sets of imagery of thepark became available, including Landsat TMscenes and AVIRIS hyperspectral imagery.

Hardware. The SAC workstations have beenupgraded with more RAM and better graphics,and two CD writers and a scanner have beenadded to the hardware in the lab. Two new GPSunits were added, including a TrimbleGeoExplorer II and a PLGR from the Departmentof Defense. A donation from Canon was used topurchase a digital video camera along with thesoftware and hardware to read the video.

Database development. SAC staff continuedto add information into the searchable database ofdatasets, which now includes subject areas such asaquatic ecology, archeology, entomology, fire,geothermal systems, history, herpetology, mam-malogy, ornithology, paleontology, soil science,water quality, and wildlife management.

Creation of a new database about each devel-oped area was begun in 1998 to make relevantresource and infrastructure information availableover the park’s Intranet to staff involved in projectplanning, compliance, and implementation. Thedatabase will include information about historicstructures and other cultural resources; surficialand bedrock geology; soils; wetlands; threatened

and endangered species; and existing roads, trails,and buildings. A simple interface will be devel-oped to enable the user to create maps, charts, andreports and attach photographs, drawings andother scanned documents.

Sharing DataAs part of its goal to put the huge investment

that has been made in park data sets into the handsof more users, SAC staff continued to make GISdata sets and software directly available to parkemployees through equipment in the lab or overthe park’s computer network. ArcView was in-stalled on all of the lab computers as well as onseveral computers in different divisions and in theinterior of the park. For those not on the network,data was available on CDs; included with the parkDRGs is a copy of ESRI’s free software,ArcExplorer, which enables the user to view GISlayers and print maps.

SAC staff has worked closely with GallatinCounty to share data and ideas. Through a coop-erative effort between the federal and state agen-cies and private industries in Wyoming and Mon-tana, the Aurora Project has been set in motion tomake data sharing easier and more cost-efficient.Cross-boundary data was also being shared with

Researcher in one of the park’sthermal areas.

68

Montana State University and the University ofWyoming.

Research SupportYellowstone has been a magnet for scientific

research since 1871 when geologist FerdinandHayden organized one of the first expeditions intothe region. In 1898, the first formal research per-mit was issued was to William Setchell for thestudy of Yellowstone’s microorganisms. Thepark has long been an important resource to thescientists whose discoveries have in turn madesignificant contributions to scientific knowledge.

For example, geologists have discovered in thepark details about the forces that drive some ofEarth’s most powerful volcanoes. Microbiologistsdoing research in Yellowstone have contributed toa major paradigm shift in biological sciences asthey learn more about the abundance, the ecologi-cal importance, and the genetic inheritance of pre-viously unknown microorganisms such asArchaea, the surviving microorganisms most simi-lar to the earliest forms of life. Archaeologistshave found evidence of people inhabiting the Yel-lowstone area since shortly after the retreat of theglaciers and have helped other archaeologistsidentify tools made from Yellowstone obsidianand taken thousands of miles away.

On a more immediately practical note, exten-sive study of Yellowstone’s northern range hasguided current wildlife management policies,while study of park visitors’ behaviors and opin-ions have assisted park managers in their para-doxical task of providing simultaneously for theenjoyment and the preservation of park resources.Park managers use the results of scientific projectsto help determine how best to fulfill their legallymandated obligations to park resources and parkvisitors.

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 Center for Resources, the office ofPlanning and Compliance, Resource Management

and Visitor Protection, Maintenance, and Inter-pretation. Research permits were granted for 275projects underway in 1998: about 25% forwildlife, 17% for microbiology, 16% forgeological sciences, 10% for ecology, and 7%each for plant sciences, cultural sciences, andeducational projects for students.

Scientists from 36 states and several foreigncountries undertook projects ranging from cutting-edge discoveries about the magma a few kilome-ters underground to fourth graders learning aboutthe scientific method for the first time. Resultsfrom research in Yellowstone were published in adiversity of journals including the InternationalJournal of Systematic Bacteriology, the WildlifeSociety Bulletin, the Plains Anthropologist, andU.S. Geological Survey Open-File Reports. Pre-sentations about Yellowstone were given at scien-tific conferences sponsored by the Association ofAmerican Geographers, the Society of RangeManagement, and the Lunar and Planetary Sci-ence Conference, among many others.

As part of the NPS system of research moni-toring and reporting, each year researchers whohave been granted permits are required to submit asummary of their work that is published in thepark’s “Investigators’ Annual Report.” A proce-dure for submitting these summaries over theInternet was tested in 1998 and will be formallyintroduced in 1999.

RESOURCE INFORMATION

The resource information group was led by aresource naturalist (writer-editor), with a technicalwriter-editor and a visual information specialist onthe paid staff. High-quality professional workwas again performed by returning volunteers, awriter who worked for six months and a retiredwildlife biologist and his wife, a former executivesecretary, who worked from November throughMarch.

PublicationsThe quarterly magazine Yellowstone Science,

Support


in its sixth year of publication, featured articles ontopics such as wolverines, river otters,pronghorns, carcass beetles, and endangeredperegrine falcons; stream responses to the 1988wildfires; geyser gazing by volunteers; theAbsaroka volcanic province; and an index toarticles in the historic Forest and Stream journal.It also featured interviews with Richard Sellars,who discussed the history of resource manage-ment in the NPS; former park historian AubreyHaines, who discussed his long career and manyYellowstone tales; and geographer Judith Meyer,who discussed how Yellowstone and other speciallandscapes provide “a sense of place”. Accompa-nying two of the interviews were reviews of theirrecent books: Sellars’ Preserving Nature in theNational Parks: A History, and Meyer’s The Spiritof Yellowstone.

Donations continued to support about 25percent of the annual printing costs of YellowstoneScience, the rest of which were paid through agrant from the Yellowstone Association. At the

request of Montana State University, the magazinepublished a special supplement featuring theprogram and abstracts from a symposium cel-ebrating the park’s 125th anniversary.

Other publications produced in 1998 includedPaleontological Resources of Yellowstone Na-tional Park, by Vincent Santucci; the YellowstoneWolf Project, Annual Report 1997 by Douglas W.Smith (YCR); The Yellowstone Bird Report, byTerry McEneaney (YCR); and a report on theSystemwide Archeological Inventory Program:Rocky Mountain Cluster Plan, by J. A. Truesdale(University of Wyoming), with contributions byAdrienne Anderson and Ann Johnson (YCR).

The 1997 annual report for the YellowstoneCenter for Resources’ activities was produced, andfive issues of the park’s resource managementnewsletter, The Buffalo Chip came at approxi-mately bi-monthly intervals. The publicationsaimed to maintain the documentation and avail-ability of information about ongoing research andresource management activities throughout thepark.

The resource information staff also helpedprepare a four-page insert on Grizzly Bears: Onthe Road to Recovery in the Greater YellowstoneEcosystem, working with the Interagency GrizzlyBear Interpretation and Education Subcommittee,who contributed articles and arranged for printing,and staff from the YNP Interpretive Division, whodid the layout. The supplement appeared in news-papers around the ecosystem in January 1998.YCR writers completed feature articles for thequarterly park newspapers given to visitors enter-ing Yellowstone’s entrances, and contributed to abriefing book produced by the Interpretation Divi-sion for all of their employees.

The resource information staff assisted otherpark specialists and divisions by responding toseveral special requests. The writer-editor as-sisted planning staff with a final report andfollowup public newsletter about winter use plan-ning and management, took over editing and pro-duction of Yellowstone’s Design Standards at therequest of the branch chief for landscape architec-

70

ture, and continued to produce slides and graphicsto help subject-matter specialists illustrate theiroral and written presentations. The visual infor-mation specialist designed special artwork for the125th anniversary MSU symposium.

The resource information staff continuedpreparing for publication a special color-illus-trated State of the Park report for the park super-intendent, with the intent of completing theproject in 1999. The volunteer writer drafted aspecial report summarizing the research that hasbeen done on effects of the 1998 wildfires inYellowstone; the report was sent to three scientistsoutside the park for review. Staff hope to com-plete and publish this special report in 2000.

Presentations, Field Trips, and GeneralInformation

The resource naturalist (writer-editor) re-sponded to some 100 written requests, phonecalls, and email inquiries about varied topics,especially wolf restoration, wildland fire, grizzlybear recovery, other threatened or endangeredspecies, elk and northern range management,bison management, geology and geothermalactivity, economics and sociology, human-wildlifeinteractions, exotic species, boating on parkrivers, and finding employment in Yellowstone orother national parks. She presented 20 illustratedprograms as an invited speaker to schools in theecosystem and to groups visiting the park, andarranged for other YCR staff to give talks ontopics including those mentioned above as well asaquatic resources management, bioprospecting,bison management, elk and the northern range,and park geology.

Resource seminars presented to park staff byvisiting scientists and managers covered: grizzlybear conservation on the Kenai Peninsula and inYellowstone; the use of synthetic radar inferom-etry to detect ground displacement; wildlife man-agement in Kruger National Park, South Africa;and models of carnivore home ranges.

Staff from the Center for Resources alsotaught or assisted with Yellowstone Institute

courses on grizzly bear ecology and management,wolves, carnivores, greater Yellowstone, andsmall mammals. They gave dozens of interviewson resource topics and hosted national and inter-national visitors, providing special tours in thefield for many of these guests.

The resource information staff provided up-dates for the park’s annual interpretive training,the annual resource management workshop, andparkwide employee orientation sessions. Thewriter-editor designed a resource information seg-ment for Yellowstone’s Intranet and Internet web-sites, using material written by staff specialistsand VIPs. The site was illustrated with appropri-ate photographs, maps, and graphs, and was up-dated several times in 1998 with more currentinformation on the status of natural and culturalresources. Plans are to add more information tothe site as time permits.

Montana State University SymposiumThe resource information staff assisted the

YCR Director, the Public Affairs Officer, andothers in planning and promotion for the sympo-sium “Making a Place for Nature, Seeking OurPlace in Nature”, held May 11–23, 1998 atMontana State University in Bozeman. Thesymposium was held to commemorate the longhistory of Yellowstone’s influence on scholarlyresearch and creative activities.

A series of scientific conferences addressedNational Parks and Equivalent Reserves in theGlobal Ecosystem; The Greater Yellowstone Geo-ecosystem: An Integrated View of Geology andBiology; Life in Extreme Environments; and Fireand the Yellowstone Ecosystem: Ten Years ofStudy and Change. Additional workshops wereheld on The Greening of Yellowstone: Progressand Partners for the Future; The Greater Yellow-stone Data Clearinghouse: A Paradigm forSharing Information; and Biosphere-GeosphereLinkages in Yellowstone: Defining a New Genera-tion of Ecosystem Research in Greater Yellow-stone.

Special film and photo exhibits highlighted

Support


Contemporary Artistic Visions of Yellowstone;Yellowstone’s Documentary Legacy; BringingNature Indoors: Museums in Yellowstone NationalPark; and Yellowstone Revisited. Several hundredattendees could choose to hear a variety of notedspeakers, including President Jose Maria Figueresof Costa Rica and Assistant Interior Secretary DonBarry.

Contributions To Other ProjectsThe resource naturalist continued to participate

on an interagency team preparing a ConservationStrategy for long-term management of grizzlybears in greater Yellowstone. The writer-editorcontinued to facilitate analysis and interpretationof data on wolf genetics and paternity, workingwith park wolf biologists and technicians from theDiversa Corporation and ZooGen laboratories.

FUNDING AND PERSONNEL

Base Operating BudgetTo build a framework that would enable man-

agers to easily assess the park’s overall financialstatus, prioritize future funding needs on a park-wide basis, and articulate our fiscal situation toemployees, the public, and other stakeholders,management invested substantial time in creatinga new model for distributing the park’s base bud-get. As a result, YCR’s base operating budget wasnot approved by Superintendent Finley until mid-April. Support for the NPS from both Congressand the Administration led to an additional$2,302,000 in base operating funds being grantedto Yellowstone for FY98. After applying the newdistribution formula, each division received anincrease over the previous year’s funding levels,although the park’s allotment remained insuffi-cient to cover basic operations at the levelsneeded.

YCR total funding levels ended up being ap-proximately the same as those authorized inFY97, but for the first time since its creation thedivision was able to fund core operations frompark base. Prior to FY98, YCR was forced to rely

on alternative, undependable funding sources foran unacceptable percent of its base operations.The $2,245,600 base allocation represented a 61%increase over the official recorded base fundsawarded to YCR in FY97 (Tables 7 and 8).

Additional FundingFee Demonstration funds. Approximately

$31,000 from the park’s Fee Demonstration pro-gram was authorized for site analysis and designof the proposed Yellowstone Heritage Centerbuilding. None of the facilities available in Yel-lowstone meet the standards required to house andpreserve the significant and irreplaceable museumcollections and National Archives entrusted topark management. In order to evaluate options,the feasibility of constructing a new facility wasexplored. This FY98 funding was spent for sitefeasibility testing in Mammoth Hot Springs. Soilsampling and drilling was done, and preliminarybuilding designs were completed.

Fishing fee program. YCR received authori-zation to use $284,800 from fishing permit feerevenue to cover part of the estimated $400,000total cost of the aquatic resources program inFY98. Using data available from the first twoyears of the program, parkwide allocations wereadjusted downward in FY98 because projectionshad been overly optimistic in previous years. Theamounts reported in these annual reports are ac-tual dollars spent.

Federal Lands Highways Program. FederalHighways funded $330,800 for natural resourceinventories, archeological surveys, and culturalresource compliance along the road corridors inthe park scheduled for major repair or reconstruc-tion in the near future.

Special Emphasis Programs. The Branch ofNatural Resources received $110,700 for the thirdof a three-year joint Yellowstone-Grand Tetonbison/brucellosis research study from the NaturalResource Preservation Program, as well as $9,800for an evaluation of bear management areas and$10,000 to replace the inadequate fish screens onReese Creek.

72

The Branch of Cultural Resources successfullycompeted for a total of $242,100 Cultural Re-source Preservation Program and related funding.These funds were used for historic vehicle restora-tion, historic photo collection storage, natural his-tory exhibit improvements, National Registerevaluations and nominations of archeologicalsites, archive and library collection maintenance,and historic structure inventories.

National Spatial Data. YCR again adminis-tered funding ($50,000) for the National SpatialData Infrastructure information center and sharingof geographic information systems technologybetween local, state, and federal governmentswithin the Greater Yellowstone area, a projectstarted in FY97.

NPS Water Resources. In addition to theannual $153,000 of base funding Yellowstone ap-plies to the Montana Water Compact, the WaterResources Division of the National Park Servicealso supplied $24,000 in FY98 for a hydrologystudy on Upper Soda Butte Creek.

Canon grant. A Challenge Cost Share grantof $15,300 was awarded to botanist JenniferWhipple for a rare plant survey in partnershipwith Canon, Inc.

Donations. A total of $37,700 in funds do-nated to the park by private organizations or indi-viduals was used to support Wolf Recovery pro-gram operations.

PersonnelSince nearly 80% of the overall parkwide bud-

get is devoted to staffing costs, position manage-

ment and prioritization became the main focus ofthe FY98 budget re-alignment exercise. As thepark organization chart was evaluated, it becameapparent that several key resource managementpositions were lacking. As a result, YCR wasgiven permission to fill a number of lapsed or newpermanent full-time positions: archeologist, ar-chivist, supervisory wildlife biologist, supervisoryfisheries biologist, supervisory GIS manager, su-pervisory geologist, and a geothermal geologist.However, because of a hiring freeze imposed bythe Washington NPS Human Resources Officebeginning in August, only three of these positionswere filled by the close of the fiscal year:• Temporary archivist Lee Whittlesey com-

peted for and was converted to a new full-time, permanent archivist position.

• Glenn Plumb, formerly of Badlands NationalPark, was selected for the supervisory wild-life biologist position.

• An agreement was reached to transfer regionalarcheologist Ann Johnson to the Yellowstonepayroll half-time beginning in FY99 and full-time effective FY2000.

ContractingThe total amount of contracts or task agree-

ments obligated in FY98 was $960,200, primarilyfor five projects: the Yellowstone ThermophilesConservation Project, Montana Water Compact,archeological evaluations for the Federal High-ways project, bison/brucellosis research, and sup-port of the Greater Yellowstone Data Clearing-house project at Montana State University.

Support


Tabl

e 7.

Yel

low

ston

e C

ente

r fo

r R

esou

rces

dis

trib

utio

n of

FY

98 fu

nds.

Pro

gram

Par

k B

ase

CR

PP

NR

PP

Fis

h F

eeF

LHP

Fee

Dem

oO

ther

Fed

eral

Priv

ate

Tota

l%

of T

otal

Cen

terS

uppo

rt/S

cien

ce72

5,90

0-

--

--

--

725,

900

21.4

%N

atur

al R

esou

rces

710,

200

-19

,800

284,

800

120,

100

-39

,300

-1,

174,

200

34.6

%C

ultu

ral R

esou

rces

271,

500

242,

100

--

177,

500

31,0

00-

-72

2,10

021

.3%

Res

ourc

eTec

hnol

ogy

121,

000

--

-33

,200

-50

,000

-20

4,20

06.

0%W

olf R

ecov

ery

221,

000

--

--

--

37,7

0025

8,70

07.

6%B

ison

Man

agem

ent E

IS19

6,00

0-

110,

700

--

--

-30

6,70

09.

0%

Tota

l2,

245,

600

242,

100

130,

500

284,

800

330,

800

31,0

0089

,300

37,7

003,

391,

800

100.

0%

Tabl

e 8.

Fun

ding

his

tory

of t

he Y

ello

wst

one

Cen

ter

for

Res

ourc

es.

(for

mer

ly th

e R

esea

rch

Div

isio

n)

Nat

iona

l Par

k S

ervi

ce F

unds

FY

ON

PS

Fee

sP

FR

PN

RP

PC

RP

PW

RD

FLH

PF

ee D

emo

Oth

erU

SF

WS

Oth

er F

eder

alP

rivat

eTo

tal

8316

5,50

0-

--

--

--

-10

4,00

0-

-26

9,50

084

501,

300

--

--

161,

400

--

-10

4,00

0-

-76

6,70

085

588,

400

--

--

133,

000

--

-10

4,00

0-

3,51

282

8,91

286

607,

400

--

150,

000

-11

2,00

0-

--

136,

550

-9,

310

1,01

5,26

087

719,

300

--

200,

000

-10

8,00

0-

--

115,

000

-6,

758

1,14

9,05

888

767,

000

170,

000

-25

0,00

0-

172,

000

--

-10

4,00

05,

400

2,82

41,

471,

224

8979

3,40

040

6,00

01,

863,

000

56,0

00-

108,

000

--

-13

3,00

04,

000

3,01

73,

366,

417

9084

7,40

0-

755,

000

56,0

00-

75,0

00-

--

111,

650

12,0

002,

157

1,85

9,20

791

916,

300

-78

5,20

056

,000

--

--

-14

8,12

315

,000

55,1

011,

975,

724

921,

025,

660

-68

5,00

025

,000

--

--

-18

2,05

010

,000

10,1

001,

937,

810

931,

004,

600

-78

5,00

016

,000

--

--

-18

8,00

0-

20,0

002,

013,

600

941,

250,

000

--

260,

000

33,2

0015

6,00

043

,300

-16

4,60

055

,000

24,6

0010

,000

2,06

1,70

095

1,50

0,00

065

,000

-42

0,00

045

,000

6,80

030

3,60

0-

53,0

0020

,000

-5,

300

2,41

8,70

096

1,54

4,10

027

4,50

0-

404,

000

201,

100

119,

800

626,

700

-38

,000

-64

,958

31,5

043,

304,

662

971,

674,

100

213,

400

-20

4,00

022

8,40

0-

433,

700

340,

600

42,7

00-

398,

300

48,0

003,

583,

200

982,

245,

600

284,

800

-13

0,50

024

2,10

024

,000

330,

800

31,0

00-

-65

,300

37,7

003,

391,

800

74

APPENDIX I. PERSONNEL ROSTER FOR 1998FTE Borrowed FTE

Headquarters/Professional SupportTami Blackford Secretary 0.70Wayne Brewster Deputy Director 1.00Sarah Broadbent Technical Writer Editor 0.93Renee Evanoff Visual Information Specialist 0.91Bob Lindstrom Management Assistant 1.00John Mack Wildlife Biologist 1.00Melissa McAdam Budget Analyst 1.00Sue Consolo Murphy Resource Management Specialist 1.00Joy Perius Administrative Assistant 1.00Paul Schullery Resource Naturalist 0.38Holli Traucht Center Clerk 0.26John Varley Director 1.00

Advanced Resources Technology/Spatial Analysis CenterDale Anderson Computer Operator 0.38Eric Compas GIS Specialist 0.57Michael Heiner Computer Operator 0.41Vicki Magnis Computer Operator 0.10Alan Mortimer Computer Operator 0.29Ann Rodman Soils Scientist 1.00Shannon Savage Computer Operator 0.32Ian Varley Computer Operator 0.22

Natural ResourcesMark Biel Biological Science Technician 1.00Tami Blackford Secretary 0.30Jennifer Carter Biological Science Technician 0.31Emma Cayer Biological Science Technician 0.03Wendy Clark Wildlife Biologist 1.00Patricia Corry Biological Science Technician 0.27Cheryl Decker Biological Science Technician 0.34Stu Coleman Chief, Branch of Natural Resources 1.00Jerry Gitter Survey Technician 0.24Kerry Gunther Wildlife Biologist 1.00Mary Hektner Resource Management Specialist 1.00Gregg Kurz Biological Science Technician 1.00John Mack Wildlife Biologist 1.00Terry McEneaney Wildlife Biologist 1.00James McGrath Biological Science Technician 0.07Vicki Pecha Visitor Use 0.05Roy Renkin Vegetation Mgmt. Specialist 1.00Hilary Robison Biological Science Technician 0.30Freya Ross Secretary 0.24Daniel Seifert Biological Science Technician 0.30Tim Thompson Physical Science Technician 0.31Debra Tirmenstein Biological Science Technician 0.42Jennifer Whipple Botanist 0.79Heather Zachary Clerk 0.08

Appendix


FTE Borrowed FTEWolf Operation

Deb Guernsey Program Assistant 0.59Richard McIntyre Biological Science Technician 0.34Kerry Murphy Wildlife Biologist 0.59Douglas Smith Wildlife Biologist 1.00

Aquatic ResourcesRebecca Anthony Biological Science Technician 0.33Timberley Belish Biological Science Technician 0.36Meredith Burnett Biological Science Technician 0.05Brian Ertel Biological Science Technician 1.00Trisha Giambra Biological Science Technician 0.34Patti Howard Office Assistant 0.31Meredee Lloyd Biological Science Technician 0.39Jeff Lutch Biological Science Technician 0.99Daniel Mahony Fishery Biologist 1.00Jim Ruzychi Biological Science Technician 1.00James Schaffer Biological Science Technician 0.05

Cultural ResourcesGeorge Briggs Museum Technician 0.61Christine Burgess Museum Aide 0.19Sean Cahill Museum Technician 0.15Vanessa Christopher Museum Technician 0.96John Dahlheim Management Assistant 0.06Kirk Dietz Museum Technician 0.30Elaine Hale Cultural Resources Assistant 0.48Laura Joss Chief, Branch of Cultural Resources 0.99Ann Johnson Archeologist 0.31Susan Kraft Supervisory Museum Curator 1.00Catherine Lentz Cultural Res. Program Manager 1.00Kathryn Lancaster Library Technician 0.18Anne Lewellen Museum Technician 0.49Kara Mills Cultural Resources Assistant 0.19Scott Pawlowski Archives Technician 0.80Beth Raz Budget Clerk 0.23Charissa Reid Cultural Resources Assistant 0.31Freya Ross Park Ranger 0.24James Thompson Cultural Resources Assistant 0.17Randy Thompson Archeology Technician 0.10Joseph Weixelman Cultural Resources Assistant 0.25Lee Whittlesey Archivist 1.00

IGBST & BRDChad Dickinson Biological Science Technician 0.10Ed Olexa Biological Science Technician 0.30

TOTAL FTE 45.14 0.13

76

Professional PublicationsConsolo Murphy, S., and B. Kaeding. 1998.

Fishing Bridge: 25 years of controversy re-garding grizzly bear management in Yellow-stone National Park. Ursus 10:385-393.

Gunther, K.A., M.J. Biel, and H.L. Robison.1998. Factors influencing the frequency ofroad-killed wildlife in Yellowstone NationalPark. Pages 32–42 in Proceedings of the Inter-national Conference on Wildlife Ecology andTransportation. FL-ER-69-98. 263pp.

Gunther, K.A., and H.E. Hoekstra. 1998. Bear-inflicted human injuries in Yellowstone Na-tional Park, 1970–1994. Ursus 10:377-384.

McEneaney, T., B. Heinrich, and B.Oakleaf.1998. Greater Yellowstone Falcons: Their Tri-als, Tribulations, and Triumphs. YellowstoneScience 6(2): 16–21.

Murphy, K.M. 1998. The ecology of the cougar(Puma concolor) in the northern Yellowstoneecosystem: interactions with prey, bears, andhumans. Ph.D. dissertation. Univ. of Idaho,Moscow. 147pp.

Murphy, K. M., G. S. Felzien, M. G. Hornocker,and T. K. Ruth. 1998. Encounter competitionbetween bears and cougars: some ecologicalimplications. Ursus 10:55-60.

Phillips, M.K., and D.W. Smith. 1998. Graywolves and private landowners in the GreaterYellowstone Area. Transactions 63rd NorthAmerican Wildlife and Natural ResourcesConf. 63:443-450.

Schullery, P., W. Brewster, and J. Mack. 1998.Bison in Yellowstone: a historical overview.Pages 326-336 in Irby, L. and J. Knight, eds.International symposium on bison ecology andmanagement in North America. Mont. StateUniv., Bozeman.

Singer, F.J., D.M. Swift, M.B. Coughenour, andJ.D. Varley. 1998. Thunder on the Yellow-stone revisited: an assessment of management

of native ungulates by natural regulation,1968–1993. Wildlife Soc. Bull. 26(3): 375-390.

Varley, J. D., and P. Schullery. 1998. Yellowstonefishes: ecology, history, and angling in thepark. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Penn.154pp.

Whittlesey, L. and P. Schullery. 1998.Yellowstone’s Creation Myth. George WrightForum 15(3).

Administrative ReportsBiel, M.J., K.A. Gunther, J.F. Hicks, and H.L.

Robison. 1998. Biological assessment of raremammal activity near the site proposed forexpansion of the Old Faithful wastewatertreatment facility, Yellowstone National Park.U.S. Dep. Inter., Natl. Park Serv., Bear Man-agement Office, Yellowstone National Park.23pp.

Caslick, J., and E. Caslick. 1998. Pronghorndistribution in winter 1997–1998. NationalPark Serv., Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo.YCR-NR-98-4.

Gunther, K.A., M.T. Bruscino, S. Cain, T. Chu, K.Frey, M.A. Haroldson, and C.C. Schwartz.1998. Grizzly bear-human conflicts, confron-tations, and management actions in the Yel-lowstone ecosystem, 1997. Interagency Griz-zly Bear Committee, Yellowstone EcosystemSubcommittee Report. U.S. Dep. Inter., Natl.Park Serv., Yellowstone National Park. 45pp.

Gunther, K. A., and M.J. Biel. 1998. YellowstoneNational Park 1998 annual report of bear man-agement activities conducted under endan-gered species subpermit #87-1. U.S. Dep. In-ter., Natl. Park Serv., Bear Management Of-fice, Yellowstone National Park. 6pp.

Gunther, K.A., M.J. Biel, H.L. Robison, S.L.Johnson, and V. Pecha. 1998. Bear manage-ment office administrative annual report for

APPENDIX II. PUBLICATIONS , REPORTS, AND PAPERS

Appendix


calendar year 1997. U.S. Dep. Inter., Natl.Park Serv., Bear Management Office, Yellow-stone National Park. 60pp.

Gunther, K.A., M.J. Biel, and R.A. Renkin. 1998.Biological assessment of grizzly bear andblack bear activity and habitat near the site ofthe proposed Canyon contractor camp, Yellow-stone National Park. U.S. Dep. Inter., Natl.Park Serv., Bear Management Office, Yellow-stone National Park. 55pp.

Gunther, K.A., M.J. Biel, and R.A. Renkin. 1998.Assessment of grizzly bear and black bearhabitat and activity adjacent to the Old Faith-ful wastewater treatment facility. U.S. Dep.Inter., Natl. Park Serv., Bear Management Of-fice, Yellowstone National Park. 6pp.

Mattson, D., K. Barber, R. Maw, and R. Renkin.1998. Coefficients of productivity for Yellow-stone’s grizzly bear habitat. Report submittedto the Yellowstone grizzly bear subcommittee.74 pp.

McEneaney, T. 1998. Yellowstone bird report1997. National Park Serv., Mammoth HotSprings, Wyo. YCR-NR-98-3.

Santucci, Vincent. 1998. Paleontological re-sources of Yellowstone National Park. Na-tional Park Serv., Yell. Center for Resources,Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. YCR-NR-98-1.

Smith, D. W. 1998. Yellowstone wolf project,annual report 1997. Nat. Park Serv., MammothHot Springs, Wyo. YCR-NR-98-2.

Truesdale, J.A., with contributions by A. Ander-son and A.M. Johnson. 1998. Systemwidearcheological inventory program: RockyMountain Cluster Plan. Natl. Park Serv.,Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. YCR-CR-98-1.

Yellowstone National Park. 1998. YellowstoneCenter for Resources, Annual Report, 1997.Natl. Park Serv., Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo.82pp.

Information PapersGunther, K.A. 1998. Yellowstone National Park

bear-related injuries/fatalities. Inf. Pap. No.BMO-1. U.S. Dep. Inter., Natl. Park Serv.,Yellowstone National Park. 2pp.

Gunther, K. A. 1998. Characteristics of blackbears and grizzly bears in Yellowstone Na-tional Park. Inf. Pap. No. BMO-2. U.S. Dep.Inter., Natl. Park Serv., Yellowstone NationalPark. 2pp.

Gunther, K. A. 1998. Where are all the bears?.Inf. Pap. No. BMO-4. U.S. Dep. Inter., Natl.Park Serv., Yellowstone National Park. 2pp.

Gunther, K. A. 1998. Bear management area pro-gram, Yellowstone National Park. Inf. Pap.No. BMO-5. U.S. Dep. Inter., Natl. ParkServ., Yellowstone National Park. 4pp.

Gunther, K A. 1998. Recovery parameters forgrizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem.Inf. Pap. No. BMO-6. U.S. Dep. Inter., Natl.Park Serv., Yellowstone National Park. 4pp.

Gunther, K. A. 1998. Bears and menstruatingwomen. Inf. Pap. No. BMO-7. U.S. Dep. In-ter., Natl. Park Serv., Yellowstone NationalPark. 2pp.

ANNUAL REPORT 1998

YELLOWSTONE CENTER FOR RESOURCES

yellowstone center for resourcesport on brucellosis in the greater yellowstone area was also...

Documents