Goodbye Yellowstone...

Wednesday, May 12, 2010, Jackson Wy

Steph and I got up early, and went out to the geyser basin to look around. We saw the tail end of an Old Faithful eruption as we approached, then headed down the valley via the upper geyser basin path. Immediately we saw several smaller geysers, Anemone and Plume erupting… The walkways, made of wood or fake wood were frosty and slippery. Below Grand Geyser there were no other foot prints… we were the first into the area that day… well not quite… A bit further on, near Giant Geyser there, in the frost, were a set of bear prints… large bear prints… so somewhere nearby was a grizzly bear. We never saw him, but he was there…

We walked as far as Morning Glory pool, we saw Riverside Geyser erupt… then headed back up to the hotel to meet Kelly and have breakfast. Along the way we saw a lone buffalo. Breakfast was wonderful. Fortified we checked out of the hotel, packed the car, then took a last visit to the visitor center. We showed the ranger our “wolf” picture… the consensus was it wasn’t a wolf, it was a very large coyote… we also showed them the photos of the truck scattering the buffalo… they took the license plate number of the truck… The incident had been reported by others… The rangers received word that the West Yellowstone road was closed for a few hours so they could drive a herd of Buffalo back into the park.

We left Old Faithful and headed down the Firehole River, stopping at Biscuit Basin and Fountain Paint Pots. We encountered the small buffalo heard along the road.
At Madison, we headed to west towards West Yellowstone. There were heads of elk and buffalo all along the river. We soon encountered a ranger, the leader of the vanguard, who asked us to stop, and wait until the buffalo had passed… we had blundered into the annual buffalo roundup. We were the third car in line, and had a great view. Shortly the bison arrived. They were being herded, much like cattle at a fast walk up the road by rangers on horseback. Included were lots of very young "red dogs" including a couple still sticky from birth with bloody umbilical cords. We saw at least 200 bison walk by, likely more. The animals didn't seem particularly stressed, and even the newborns could keep up.

Of course there is a significant back story… and more than a little controversy… Yellowstone’s bison are wild… they migrate within the park as the seasons change in search of better pasture. Bison do not respect the park boundaries… To the south, Grand Tetons National park is safe. To some extent the National forest lands are safe, but to the east and north the State of Montana, and the Montana Department of Livestock, and the politically powerful Montana ranching community have rules including slaughter of any animal which might come into contact with cattle. Buffalo can carry a form of tuberculosis. Montana cattle are certified as tuberculosis free. The ranchers believe that the buffalo pose a risk to their cattle. The Montana Department of Livestock (note: not wildlife, livestock, does the name suggest a bias?) reserves the right to shoot any bison that stray out of the park after May 15th

Of course there is another point of view… people note that the disease probably originated with European cattle, that elk and other wild animals also carry the disease, and elk and bison and cattle co-exist in the Grand Teton area without issue, but that is Wyoming, and this is Montana, home of the Montana Department of Livestock.

As a result, each spring, there is a campaign to “haze” the buffalo back into Yellowstone, and safety… The park rangers use horses… the Montana Department of Livestock is known to use helicopters…

Naturally, this is a time when the buffalo would be at lower elevations (of course the land in Montana around the park is at lower elevation) in search of better pasture (better pasture means cattle). This is baby season…

Considering the alternative, it seems a reasonable process, especially considering the alternative. I am uncomfortable with the helicopter, but the horses seem ok… I have seen bison much more disturbed by car and truck traffic on the road, elsewhere.

We enjoyed the bison parade… As unnatural as it seemed… We counted 173 cars inbound from West Yellowstone, held to clear the road for the round up. We exited Yellowstone, then drove south though Idaho towards Teton Pass, Jackson, and Grand Tetons.