From November to April, snow covers much of the Yellowstone landscape, often persisting at higher elevations well into June. Yellowstone’s winter wonderland is a boon for visitors hoping to observe wolves, elk, bison, and other species in their winter habitat, or seeking to float across the winter landscape on skis, snowshoes, and over-snow vehicles. What at first seems a beautiful, yet barren, ocean of white is actually a huge thermal blanket protecting a fascinating ecosystem—the subnivean environment—that exists underneath the snow.

THE SUBNIVEAN WORLD

For Yellowstone’s wildlife, the bitter temperatures, wind, and snow accumulation during winter make surviving to spring difficult. Animals living above the snow must migrate (elk move to lower elevation), adapt (bison grow thicker fur), or change their behavior (grouse burrow into the snow to stay warm). Many other organisms—including microbes, fungi, algae, insects, and small mammals—depend on the subnivean environment to survive the coldest months. Under the snow, ground temperatures hover around 32 degrees, creating a protected winter landscape that maintains stable conditions relative to colder air temperatures above. This winter refuge protects plants and animals from freezing cold and wind, and forms the basis of a complex subnivean food web.

In this under-snow community, some small mammals— like voles, mice, and pika—feed on grasses and seeds they collected in the summer months or that they find under the snow. Others, like shrews, are predatory, chasing down insects. Winter active insects—including mites, spiders, springtails, beetles, flies, and wasps—in turn feed on fungi and algae. A teeming community of microbes helps plant communities survive until spring.

Halfpenny & Ozanne’s classic book Winter describes a matrix of conditions that affect the ability of plants and animals to survive in the subnivium. In the fall, as the daily temperature of the air falls below that of the ground, snow accumulates to a critical point—called the hiemal threshold—when there is enough snow to take refuge underneath. Before this time, many plants and animals may die if the weather becomes too harsh too quickly.

The relationship between snow thickness and density (how much water is in it) determines the thermal index:  a measurement that indicates just how well the snow insulates. The snow must be thick enough to protect animals below from the effects of the cold air. The deeper, lighter, and fluffier the snow is—like a good down sleeping bag—the more insulating it becomes, keeping the conditions under the snow relatively stable. Wetter, heavier snow is not only less insulating, but more difficult for animals to move through in search of food. The snow density and depth also affect the amount of gases like CO2 trapped beneath and the amount of light that penetrates—both conditions that affect subnivean life.

Just when resources are almost depleted at the end of winter, the rate at which the snow melts greatly affects the chances that an organism will make it to spring. Rapidly melting snowpack can result in flooding of small mammal burrows (hence the proliferation of foxes, coyotes, and wolves “mousing” pocket gophers in early spring), or snowpack that’s too dense to travel through to escape flooding. Heavy, wet snow, and ice that develops during freeze-thaw cycles can penetrate burrows or the roots of plants and prevent animal movement.

A REFUGE IN PERIL

Warming temperatures from climate change are causing significant changes to the snowpack in Yellowstone, and current research predicts a sobering future. There is less snowfall overall, fewer days of snow on the ground, and snow is melting faster in the spring. “This isn’t something that’s just going to happen in the future,” says Ann Rodman, the park’s climate science program coordinator. “This is happening now.”

Changes to the depth, duration, and insulation of the snowpack mean changes to the quality of the subnivium as a seasonal refuge, causing in turn a ripple effect through the complex web of other animals—like coyote, fox, and badger—who rely on subnivean species for food in spring and summer. For species like pika—who may not be able to migrate or hibernate—changes in the subnivium can be catastrophic, particularly at the edge of their range where the snow is changing most rapidly. Yellowstone Forever is helping to fund a series of seven climate change sites in Yellowstone, where the subnivean environment is one of the things the park is monitoring.

The next time you’re in Yellowstone in the winter, imagine the hidden plants, animals, and insects underneath your skis or snowshoes. If you’re a participant in a Yellowstone Forever program, you may even be able to help the park with its climate research as a citizen scientist.

This article was originally published in the Winter 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

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Ravens begin eating carrion quickly, usually arriving not soon after a kill, but rather—because of their close association with wolves—being there when the kill is made. As many as 135 ravens have been seen on one carcass! Interestingly, these birds will not only eat some of the food, but cache (store) as much as possible. It is believed that in some cases the raven, not the wolf, will harvest the majority of a large animal carcass.

Wolf at Blacktail Pond. NPS / Jim Peaco

Ravens are highly regarded for their social skills, a complicated communication system, and excellent visual recognition. These vocal birds make lots of noise when they find a dead animal, drawing attention to the carcass so that larger, more “tooled” scavengers can open up the hide and eventually provide food for the ravens.

Those social skills have not gone unnoticed when observing wolf/raven interactions. Ravens have often been seen interacting with wolves, especially pups and yearlings. These intriguing birds have been known to grab sticks and play tug-of-war with wolf puppies, to fly over young wolves with sticks and tease the small canines into jumping up to grab the sticks, and even to boldly pull the tails of wolves to initiate a reaction. Some scientists have theorized that individual ravens may even develop special bonds with individual wolves within a pack.

Perhaps we will soon know more about this fascinating animal relationship, as a new research study in Yellowstone hopes to shed light on many facets of raven life, including their relationship with wolves on the landscape.

By YF Institute Staff

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

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In the pre-dawn light of winter, you hear a low howl. Anticipation rises as you look through the spotting scope, hoping to get a glimpse in the dim light.

The sun breaks through the clouds, making shafts of sunlight on the valley floor. You spot them! The entire pack is lined out single file across the valley. One…two…seven…twelve…. As they shift in and out of patches of light, you can see the wind fluttering through their guard hairs and the snow flying off their paws. They are heading straight towards a herd of elk. You hold your breath, but they keep going, topping a nearby ridge. You’re left with the prickly-numb feeling that comes from a brush with wildness—and questions: Why didn’t they chase the elk? Was that the alpha pair in the lead? Where are they going?

Wolf leaving shipping container in Rose Creek Pen, Jan 1996. NPS / Jim Peaco

In the winter of 1995, the first howl of a wild wolf pack in more than 70 years echoed in Yellowstone, the culmination of a long effort to reintroduce wolves after they were extirpated from the park in the 1920s. Between 1995 and 1997, 41 wolves were relocated from western Canada and northwestern Montana to Yellowstone, in one of the greatest wildlife restoration stories of our time. As of December 2019, 93 wolves in eight packs had territories in Yellowstone.

First wolf arrives in Yellowstone, Jan 1995. NPS / Jim Peaco

The return of wolves to Yellowstone offered a new opportunity for people from across the globe to experience and study a wild, intact ecosystem. Yellowstone provided an unprecedented window into the lives of wolves, a second chance to understand and reevaluate our relationship with large carnivores, and the means to solve some of the mysteries of their kind.

Wolf #7 in Rose Creek Pen, Jan 1995. NPS / Jim Peaco

Would you have guessed that the color of a wolf’s coat could be linked to how many pups it has, or how long it lives? Or that the nesting site of a Wilson’s warbler could hinge upon the actions of wolves?

The Yellowstone Wolf Project is approaching a remarkable 25 years of research data, obtained from an annual winter behavior and monitoring study. That data, along with a long-term summer study that tracks wolf kills, and blood samples obtained from wolves, has afforded scientists new discoveries previously unattainable.

To date, 85 scientific publications, 3 books, 22 book chapters, and 27 technical reports have been published by the Wolf Project staff. Add in works by other scientists, universities, popular publications, and filmmakers, and wolves in Yellowstone have inspired thousands of scientific and popular narratives.

What have we learned about wolves?

Doug Smith, Yellowstone’s senior wildlife biologist and Wolf Project leader, has been there from the beginning. He says foremost we’ve learned that restoration—even of a controversial species—can work. “You can take a disturbed ecosystem…and restore the original inhabitants and undergo ecological restoration,” he says.

Senior wildlife biologist Doug Smith examines a wolf kill. NPS / Jacob W. Frank

Here Smith is referring to the idea of “trophic cascade,” where wolves indirectly impact the growth of vegetation by affecting the behavior of their plant-eating prey, creating a cascade of effects on plants, birds, and other species. He emphasizes that how exactly wolves contribute to those effects is an ongoing scientific debate.

One of the main knowledge gaps Yellowstone has filled, says Dan Stahler, lead wolf biologist, is a better understanding of wolf social behavior. Yellowstone’s large prey abundance enables more socially complex packs and more diverse age classes than other places, leading to new insights. “We’ve been able to get to know individuals— knowing their genetic background, observing them doing major life history events, whether it’s breeding, raising offspring, hunting, fighting with other packs,” says Stahler. “It’s really unprecedented.”

Researchers have found that younger wolves (two- to three-year-olds) are the best hunters, but older, more experienced wolves are critical to surviving attacks from other packs. Larger packs are better for defending food and territory, cooperatively raising pups, and surviving if a wolf is sick or infirm; but finding food for everyone is more difficult. Not all packs consist of a monogamous alpha pair leading a pack of non-breeding wolves; 25 percent of packs in Yellowstone have multiple females that breed each year. Blood samples have shown that diseases like canine distemper virus can reduce the wolf population up to 30 percent, and cause pup survival to plummet.

Slough Creek Pack, 2005. NPS / Dan Stahler

The project has busted some myths, too, like the idea that wolves are the perfect predator. Hunting elk and bison is a dangerous business. “Everything from their body design to their risk-averse behavior, to the challenges of walking up to an animal five times your size with just your mouth and pulling it down and killing it,” says Stahler, “are limitations to their success.”

Genetic research is another exciting frontier. Complex family trees and DNA studies help shed light on which traits influence survival, how wolves evolved, and even the origin of black coat color—a gene traced back to old-world domestic dogs that plays a role in disease resistance and longevity, among other things.

These are just a few examples of the layers of new understanding about wild wolves.

What does the future hold?

Knowing how a natural population behaves is important for understanding the impact of human actions in other places. Yellowstone is currently part of a study of several parks—including Denali, Grand Teton, and Yukon Charlie in Canada—to better understand the impacts of hunting and human management on wolf populations.

Smith believes social science is key to fostering a positive future for wolves. The relationship between wolves and people is fraught with conflict. Wolves have been delisted and relisted as an endangered species multiple times in an ongoing debate about how to manage them outside the park. A robust wolf-watching community contributes significant economic benefit to local communities and provides a strong constituency for wolves. Outside the park, wolves still incite strong negative feelings in many whose livelihood depends on elk hunting or raising livestock. Social science is needed to better understand the human dimensions of wolf management.

Druid pack pups, 2005. NPS / Dan Stahler

This is part of why the Yellowstone Wolf Project will remain committed to educational outreach, from in-park Wolf Project staff who interact with visitors, to public presentations (Smith provides around 50 programs annually). A new book, Yellowstone Wolves: Science and Discovery in the World’s First National Park, due out through the University of Chicago Press in 2020, will share what the park has learned with a broader audience.

Equally important to the future of wolves is the funding to maintain these initiatives. The Yellowstone Wolf Project was the first program funded by the Yellowstone Park Foundation—one of Yellowstone Forever’s two legacy organizations—and today a significant portion of funding comes from Yellowstone Forever. “We wouldn’t have the highest profile wolf study in the world if it weren’t for Yellowstone Forever,” says Smith.

Back in the park, the wolves have crossed the ridge out of view, ignoring the doings of humans. Yet wolves hold a critical place in the future of wild places. The opportunity Yellowstone provides to see and experience them as well as learn about their biology and behavior gives us new perspectives and pathways to coexistence—for the next 25 years and beyond.

To learn more about the Yellowstone Wolf Project and how you can help, visit Yellowstone.org/wolf-project.

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

The post Yellowstone’s Window into the Wolf World: Celebrating 25 Years appeared first on Yellowstone Forever.

Osman, a cultural resource specialist and landscape architect for Yellowstone, says that nominating these eight historic properties to National Historic Landmark status required a long and painstaking process on the road to achieving the prestigious designation. “Though it can take months, it usually takes years to do the required in-depth research and documentation, and to usher a nomination through the rigorous evaluation process.”

Yellowstone National Park’s National Historic Landmarks include the Old Faithful Inn, Obsidian Cliff, Fort Yellowstone, Lake Hotel, the Northeast Entrance Station, and the trailside museums at Norris Geyser Basin, Fishing Bridge, and Madison.

National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places that possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or commemorating US heritage. These properties constitute nearly 2,600 of the more than 90,000 entries in the broader National Register of Historic Places. Examples include Pearl Harbor, the Apollo Mission Control Center, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthplace.

The historic properties that make it through multiple layers of review at the national level have a chance to achieve recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior—the final step before designation. The Yellowstone National Historic Landmarks that eventually earned this honor, says Osman, are considered especially significant in American history and culture.

So what types of characteristics make Yellowstone’s eight landmarks stand out? Extraordinary architecture is a common theme among many of the landmarks. Osman says that the trailside museums at Fishing Bridge, Norris Geyser Basin, and Madison, built between 1929 and 1931, are considered the best examples of National Park Service rustic style design in the country.

“Their exaggerated architectural features, large scale timbers and boulders, and organic forms served as models for hundreds of other buildings constructed throughout the nation during the work relief programs of the 1930s,” explains Osman. “Architect Herbert Maier designed them in such a way that they appear to be growing out of the ground. The buildings are subordinate to and served as portals to the landscape.”

While an entrance station may seem like an unusual choice for a National Historic Landmark, the rustic log Northeast Entrance Station built in 1935 is considered the best of its type remaining in the National Park Service. According to its listing as a National Historic Landmark, it “subconsciously reinforced the visitor’s sense of the western frontier and the wilderness he was about to enter.”

One of two hotels among the park’s National Historic Landmarks, the Lake Yellowstone Hotel opened in 1891 as a modest frame lodge with 51 rooms. In 1903–1904 it was reimagined and redesigned by celebrated architect Robert C. Reamer as an elegant, Colonial Revival-style hotel. “The Lake Hotel brought civilization to the wilderness and is one of few remaining representatives of the style and era,” says Osman.

The log-style Old Faithful Inn was completed in 1903 by the same architect. “A masterpiece of rustic architecture, it used natural materials such as gnarled log brackets, allusions to pioneer building techniques, and has a strong connection with its site—Old Faithful Geyser,” reads the National Register nomination of the inn. “Its influence on American architecture, particularly park architecture, was immeasurable.”

The final two landmarks played important roles in American history separated in time by thousands of years.

Fort Yellowstone, listed as a “district,” also includes Norris and Bechler River soldier stations and the Roosevelt Arch at the park’s North Entrance. Fort Yellowstone was built by the US Army in Mammoth Hot Springs to serve as their park headquarters when they administered Yellowstone from 1886 to 1918. They erected many structures including a hospital, a chapel, housing, and horse stables; 40 of the original fort buildings remain, with a row of officers’ quarters opposite an open parade ground to the west.

“As a special subset of our 895 historic structures, most of our National Historic Landmark buildings, including dozens that are a part of the Fort Yellowstone district, continue to be used as they were historically,” says Osman.

In contrast to the buildings comprising the other seven National Historic Landmarks in Yellowstone, Obsidian Cliff is a geologically distinctive, natural feature that also has great significance as a prehistoric quarry and tool workshop. For at least 11,000 years, people obtained obsidian—a shiny, black rock also known as “volcanic glass”—from the area for tool production and for use as trade materials. This site represents the most widely dispersed source of obsidian by hunter-gatherers in North America; artifacts from Obsidian Cliff have been found from western Canada to Ohio.

Osman says that although park staff serve as stewards for all historic properties, the National Historic Landmarks are treated with extra care. “We go to great lengths to make sure these treasured landmarks are protected for future generations.”

Yellowstone Forever recently granted funds to the park to replace deteriorating exhibits and make other improvements at the Norris Geyser Basin Museum in 2020. New, colorful exhibits interpreting the geyser basin will be installed, historic windows that were previously covered will be revealed, and a new ADA ramp will be added to enhance accessibility for visitors of all ages.

This article was originally published in the Winter 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

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The historic Lamar Buffalo Ranch Field Campus, located in the Lamar Valley surrounded by mountains and far from other development, serves as home base for the Yellowstone Forever Institute’s in-depth Field Seminars.

Yellowstone Forever’s Field Campus Manager Katie Roloson, who lives at the ranch in the wintertime, says the facility is spectacular year-round but has some special qualities in the winter that enchant visitors.

“The winter is much quieter since there are significantly fewer people visiting the park, and in the winter only one program at a time uses the ranch. When you stay here you feel like your group has a special piece of paradise all to itself.”

The location, of course, is the biggest draw. “People love waking up in this extraordinary setting and getting outside for early morning wildlife-watching or photography without having to get up really early to drive out to the Lamar Valley,” says Roloson.

Groups stay out for programs most of the day, then return to the ranch for dinner and an evening activity. “After that people tend to cozy up in their cabins for an early bedtime because most classes start early,” says Roloson.

“The bunkhouse is open for anyone who wants to be social. You’ll usually find several people there sipping a beverage, chatting, or playing a board game. We go through a lot of hot chocolate in the winter.”

While the ranch offers comfortable lodging in its wilderness setting, the “off-the-grid” facility offers a different experience than staying at a hotel. The buildings are heated by propane, but walks between the cabins, bunkhouse, and bathhouse require warm clothing and boots, as temperatures in the Lamar regularly drop below zero. Also, there’s no Internet service; cabins have no electrical outlets; and there’s no cell phone reception in the Lamar Valley. Guests at the ranch have the rare opportunity to leave their worries behind and unplug—literally.

Humans aren’t the only species that visit the ranch. Roloson says one of the best aspects of staying there in winter is the variety of wildlife, which can frequently be observed right from the comfort of the bunkhouse.

“Many animals move to lower elevations in the winter so we’ll see more wildlife near the ranch like elk, bison, wolves, coyotes, and foxes.” says Roloson. “It’s not unusual to hear wolves howling in the evening. We don’t often catch a glimpse of them right on the ranch property, but we will sometimes wake up in the morning and see wolf tracks through campus so we know they paid a visit.”

This article was originally published in the Winter 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

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As the days shorten and grow colder, Yellowstone begins to brace for winter. Natural processes unseen to the common visitor occur, transforming this dynamic ecosystem from a boisterous, bustling place of bugling elk to a seemingly frozen world sleeping underneath a blanket of snow. With close observation, those fortunate enough to spend winters here can see that every day the world of Yellowstone is still very much alive and in constant flux.

A fresh blanket of snow or a morning so cold you can see a bison’s breath suspended in mid-air is no doubt aesthetically pleasing. But in all that bison breath and in all that porous space between layers of snow pack are processes metamorphosing our most precious resource from a flowing agent of life to unimaginable frozen shapes and formations one might see in a fantasy movie.

When ski pioneer Billy Hofer came through during the harsh winter of 1886 he exclaimed, “I was startled by the resemblances to men and animals the ice-laden trees showed, as, standing sentinel duty on each side of the road, they appeared to be watching our approach. Everything was loaded down with the steam frozen as it had drifted from the geysers. There were fantastic forms of men and women looking into the pools…animals of all kinds and shapes, creatures that outside of the Park nothing but a disordered mind could conjure up.” Hofer was seeing our famous lodgepole pines covered in a phenomenon known as rime ice.

Rime ice forms as wind carries supercooled cloud droplets that freeze upon impact with the cold surfaces of our lodgepole pine needles. Astoundingly intricate formations take shape on the branches of the trees. These ice formations that are so unique to Yellowstone are thanks to our hot and steamy thermal areas becoming supercooled in our winter atmosphere. If you happen to be visiting the park on a chilly winter morning, stop as you pass by one of our geyser basins and let your imagination take control. See what icy images your mind conjures up from our frozen forests.

This article was originally published in the Winter 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

The post Rime Ice appeared first on Yellowstone Forever.

But for animals that can’t easily migrate from Yellowstone to friendlier habitats, the only winter survival strategy is to adapt or die.

Those winter adaptations can be seasonal and readily apparent, like a white-tailed jackrabbit’s coat changing from grayish brown to nearly white. But they can also be tougher to spot, like the circulatory systems in duck feet or beaver tails.

Nature has devised an array of clever tricks for surviving the cold, and Yellowstone is full of wildlife that take advantage of a wide range of winter adaptions. Grizzly bears and black bears are famous for hibernating, while red squirrels and pika are known for caching food for winter.

The most visible adaptation is the seasonal camouflage adopted by snowshoe hares and short- and long-tailed weasels. Those animals’ coats turn mostly white to help them hide against the snow, making it easier to evade predators and catch prey, said Rebecca Roland, a supervisory park ranger at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center.

The change in fur color may have first evolved primarily to enhance insulation, because hollow white hairs contain air instead of pigment. Regardless, the color change now occurs in response to the changing hours of daylight in spring and fall. Because weasels are prey to raptors and other predators—but also prey on squirrels and gophers— the seasonal camouflage switch is critical.

But climate change is bringing later snows and earlier spring melts, throwing the seasonal wardrobe change of weasels and snowshoe hares out of sync. Some research indicates hares are becoming more vulnerable to predation as a result of climate change, because they are turning white before full snow cover and remaining white after much snow has melted in the spring.

Climate change may also be complicating winter for ruffed grouse, said Doug Smith, senior wildlife biologist for Yellowstone. The birds dive into soft, fluffy snow to insulate themselves and take cover from predators. But winter thaws and re-freezes can create thick crusts on snow fields, inhibiting their burrowing and leading to higher grouse mortality.

Another bird that winters in Yellowstone seems unlikely to survive a single sub-zero day, but stays alive by employing multiple adaptations, Smith said. Golden crown kinglets are among the world’s smallest nesting birds, weighing about the same as two pennies. Such a small animal wouldn’t seem to be able to retain enough body heat to survive sub-zero nights.

“But every night before dark, they go into a feeding frenzy to put on fat that gives them energy to burn through the night,” Smith said. Kinglets also cluster together at night to conserve body heat, and allow their body temperatures to drop several degrees, so they burn fewer calories. Finally, to avoid losing heat through their feet, they employ countercurrent heat exchange. It’s an adapted circulatory network that allows their feet to stay very cold, but just warm enough to avoid tissue damage.

Ducks and geese use countercurrent heat exchange in their feet, and other animals also employ the adaptation, including beavers, who use it to keep their tails from freezing. “Beavers are masters at winter adaptation,” said Smith, who is best known for leading the reintroduction and management of gray wolves in the park, but who also studied beavers earlier in his career.

Beavers dig dens or build lodges along rivers, where they create pockets of relatively warmer air. And because their pelts are excellent at keeping them dry, beavers can swim comfortably in water that may be cold by our standards, but is still much warmer than below-freezing air temperatures.

Beavers are also relatively safe from predators in their dens and beneath the ice. But wolves are known to find spots where ice is thin or gone, and wait for beavers to surface. So once again, climate change may be further altering the survival odds in Yellowstone, because “warming temperatures mid-winter mean more dead beavers,” Smith said.

Like beavers, wolves have winter coats that are amazingly well-adapted to the cold. Outer guard hairs shed water and protect against wind, while a thick, dense layer of underfur insulates amazingly well, he said.

Smith recalls bringing in the first wolves from Canada for reintroduction to Yellowstone in 1995. They were held in metal shipping crates overnight at temperatures of –35 degrees Fahrenheit.

NPS / Jim Peaco

“They showed no ill effects,” he said. “In fact they seem perfectly happy at –50. I don’t know if they’ve found a temperature yet where a wolf will shiver.”

But like the color-changing weasels, wolves’ amazing coats undergo a seasonal change for warm weather that is surely familiar to most any dog owner.

“Of course, they shed,” Smith said. “Quite a bit.”

This article was originally published in the Winter 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

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Did you know that Yellowstone has its own boa constrictor, or is home to a butterfly that uses antifreeze to survive the winter? Yellowstone doesn’t just protect bears, wolves, bison, and trout. While not all of the park’s residents are furry, toothy, or otherwise “charismatic,” each has an important role to play in the ecosystem. Read on to learn about some of the lesser-known—but still fascinating—species found in Yellowstone.

RUBBER BOA

One of five snake species in Yellowstone, the rubber boa is the park’s only member of the constrictor family and is a relative of tropical boa constrictors. No longer than two feet, the rubber boa looks like an overgrown earthworm; its small scales give it a smooth, “rubbery” appearance. The snake feeds on mice, reptiles, and amphibians. Because these boas are nocturnal and like to hang out under logs and rocks, or buried in leaves or soil, seeing a rubber boa is a special treat.

POCKET GOPHER

These small rodents are rarely seen above ground except in the jaws or talons of the predators that eat them. Active year-round, pocket gophers eat forbs, grasses, and stems, bulbs, and tubers, surviving over winter on vegetation they’ve stored in their tunnels. Occasionally a lucky observer may see a plant disappear underground inch by inch as a pocket gopher pulls on it from below! Come spring, their telltale “sausages”—long, spherical columns of dirt pushed out of their tunnels and into the snow—are left behind after the snow melts.

MOTTLED SCULPIN

Native fish get a lot of attention in the park from anglers, as well as from cutthroat trout and arctic grayling restoration efforts. Fewer people are familiar with more diminutive natives like the mottled sculpin, found in cold, shallow streams throughout the park. “Mottled sculpins are a really cool, often overlooked native fish,” says park biologist Pat Bigelow. “They live and feed in riffles and are well-camouflaged, so they often go unnoticed.” They are an important food source for trout and have interesting spawning habits. During early winter and late spring, the male chooses a protected nest site under a rock or ledge. The female then swims in, turns upside down, and deposits her eggs on the ceiling!

MOURNING CLOAK

The most widely distributed butterfly in North America, you can find mourning cloaks in Yellowstone and at home. While many butterflies live only a few months in summer, mourning cloaks survive as long as 11 months, often overwintering as adults. “They fill their tissues with a natural form of antifreeze,” says Yellowstone Butterfly Count organizer George Bumann, “and then hide beneath tree bark or rock piles until spring.” Mourning cloaks are one of the first butterflies to emerge in spring, often before flowers are blooming. They eat nectar instead of sap from tree trunks. Their dark brown wings trimmed with beige resemble a traditional garment worn in mourning, hence the common name “mourning cloak.”

NORTHERN PYGMY OWLS

While pygmy owls appear small, cute, and fluffy, they are actually fierce predators. Not much bigger than your fist, they are able to kill songbirds and rodents as much as three times their size. Pygmy owls are commonly found throughout the mixed forest and open meadows of the northern range, nesting in cavities in aspen trees or snags. “Most owls are nocturnal,” says owl researcher/naturalist Katy Duffy, “but pygmy owls can be active during the day, so there’s a good chance of seeing them.” They will often perch at the top of a live tree, or anywhere on a snag. Duffy says the owl’s tail is disproportionally long and held out at an angle. “If you see something at the top of a tree that looks like a fist with something sticking out, it could be a pygmy owl,” she says.

MORMON CRICKET

About as long as your index finger when full grown, Mormon crickets are a grasshopper-like insect found in western North American rangeland. They feed primarily on vegetation but will also eat other insects—including other Mormon crickets! While usually found in lower numbers, they sometimes travel in migratory swarms numbering in the millions. Although they can’t fly, Mormon crickets can crawl and hop 25 to 50 miles a season. Female Mormon crickets are distinguished by a long, sword-like ovipositor sticking off of their body. Close observers might be able to catch them pointing the ovipositor straight down into the ground to deposit their eggs into the soil.

NORTHERN FLYING SQUIRREL

How many of Yellowstone’s squirrel species have you seen? Uinta ground squirrel, golden-mantled ground squirrel, and the American red squirrel are regularly spotted by visitors. There’s a more secretive—and seldom seen—relative of these common squirrels that also lives in the park: the northern flying squirrel. Hanging out high in the treetops of coniferous and mixed coniferous forests, flying squirrels emerge at night to glide gracefully through the trees. These squirrels don’t actually fly, but instead glide from limb to limb by using a fold of skin (called a patagium) that stretches from wrist to ankle. Flying squirrels use their flattened tail and patagium as a sort of parachute when landing, after which they scamper up a tree to avoid predators.

Jenny Golding is a former director of education for Yellowstone Forever. She currently runs the website A Yellowstone Life, and writes from her home in Gardiner, Montana, on the border of Yellowstone National Park.

All photos courtesy of the National Park Service

This article was originally published in the Fall 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

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The life of the western tiger salamander (Ambystoma mavortium), one of Yellowstone’s few species of amphibians, is intriguing. Seldom seen, this seclusive salamander begins its life as an egg deposited in one of the many ponds and lakes of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, before developing into a rather distinct tadpole (or larval) form.

Unlike frogs and toads, salamander tadpoles come out with external gills and four legs, bespeckled with golden flecks on otherwise brown to golden bodies, making them easy to differentiate from our other amphibian species. When transformation into adults takes place around mid to late summer, they lose the gills. The flat, fin-like tail found in tadpoles becomes more rounded. Around that time, they begin to develop the olive-to-green stripes or blotches of the adults. (In fact, the species living here was only a few years ago referred to as the blotched tiger salamander).

These young adults emerge from their watery home into a more terrestrial, though still moist, environment, often living in very wet soils or under logs and cover where they will not dry out. Once there, they lead a rather secluded life, undercover and mostly out of sight, feeding on abundant invertebrates such as earthworms, crustaceans, and insects, along with a few very small species of mammals, fish, and other amphibians.

Under conditions we still don’t completely understand, western tiger salamanders may also undergo a very unusual metamorphosis. On rare occasions these amazing little creatures skip their transformation into a terrestrial form. They continue to develop into adults, yet retain the gills and the fin-like tail and their truly aquatic lifestyle. These rarer versions of salamanders are referred to as “axolotls” (an Aztec word meaning “water dogs”), or paedomorphs. Although a rare form in many salamanders, this particular species has been found as axolotls in many areas throughout the park.

Photo: NPS / Jacob W. Frank

This article was originally published in the Fall 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

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His lustrous and sweeping landscapes created from the Hayden Expedition of 1871 offered idyllic views of places like the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. Sketches and photographs made from vantages around the Canyon are among the artist’s most familiar and beloved images.

Nearly 150 years after Moran and photographer William Henry Jackson prowled the rims above the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, the Canyon area’s busiest and most scenic overlooks are getting some much-needed repairs and upgrades. Improvements are making it easier and safer than ever for modern-day Morans and Jacksons to create their own masterpieces.

Construction is wrapping up this fall on upgrades to the Brink of the Upper Falls overlook, one of six major overlook overhauls either completed, underway, or in planning since Artist Point was revamped in 2007.

Improvements made at Artist Point included a new approach to viewing areas that complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The makeover proved popular with visitors, particularly those who use wheelchairs or otherwise prefer an accessible, sloped path over stairs or steeper approaches.

Visitors at Artist Point

The Artist Point project set a standard for offering new accessible routes that is part of the design narrative for other overlook upgrades made since, and in the works, said Eric Ackley, a Yellowstone landscape architect.

“The idea is to provide an accessible route that offers an equal or comparable experience for visitors as a non-accessible one,” Ackley said.

Geothermic, acidic soils, and heavy erosion around Canyon’s viewpoints have degraded overlook infrastructure over the years, Ackley said. Safety issues arose as visitors went off paved surfaces to use social trails, or backed up along aging barriers to take selfies of the canyon views.

Planners held a design contest to develop a consistent, overall approach for all of the overlooks and began construction in 2016 on viewpoints at Uncle Tom’s Point and Inspiration Point. Those projects were concluded in 2018.

The total budget for the series of overlook upgrades is approximately $14 million, much of which has been raised by Yellowstone Forever and its partners. The projects are costly because of the challenges of construction in Yellowstone.

“We’re constructing these overlooks on the side of a canyon in soil that is weak, to say the least,” Ackley said. “Extra measures are taken to stabilize the rock structures and the pathways, and that costs quite a bit.”

Early construction at Inspiration Point

Additional costs come from working in an environmentally sensitive area with specialized equipment, finding housing for workers, and operating in a short construction season.

Designs for the new overlooks reflect the rustic, natural aesthetic of when many of the sites were initially built as Civilian Conservation Corps projects in the 1930s. The goal is to have overlooks that blend into the landscape as much as possible, Ackley said.

That wasn’t always a guiding principle for development around Canyon, said Yellowstone historian Alicia Murphy. “There used to be a lot of development all around the rims, with buildings almost hanging off the edge,” Murphy said.

In 1898, “Uncle Tom” Richardson built a trail that used ladders and ropes to help visitors climb to the bottom of the canyon. “They did this wearing slick-soled shoes, the men wearing three-piece suits, and the women in heavy skirts,” Murphy said. “They just went for it, which is pretty amazing, but that’s just how climbing was at the time.”

In the 1940s, an idea was floated to construct an elevator to the canyon floor. It wasn’t built for a number of reasons, but the National Park Service and concessioners did build an array of buildings close to the edge of the rims, Murphy said, including stores, camps, cafeterias, and ranger stations. As part of the National Park Service’s 50th anniversary modernization efforts in 1966, the structures were removed to restore a more natural view.

Visitors at Brink of the Lower Falls

New construction around Canyon is designed to maintain those natural views, which often means excavating into hillsides to give overlooks a lower profile, Ackley said.  “It’s a delicate design balance, providing safe views that are still accessible for all,” he said. “We approach each area individually and try to maximize what we can get in the way of historic views and accessibility. But it has to relate to the context of the surrounding landscape.”

Funding from Yellowstone Forever has been critical in helping the National Park Service realize the best results possible on the overlook projects, starting with $1.5 million in contributions raised toward Artist Point.

“The Canyon overlooks and trails are the second most visited area in the park after Old Faithful. It’s obviously a magical place,” said Jeff Augustin, senior director of park projects for Yellowstone Forever.

Some overlook infrastructure around the Canyon area hasn’t seen major work for decades, Augustin said. “We had safety concerns, as well as about the overall impacts to the visitor experience,” he said. “This was something that was on the superintendent’s list of funding priorities, and we were able to bring a matching component where private philanthropy would match public funds at a 1:1 ratio.”

So far, Yellowstone Forever has raised over $6.5 million toward repairs, improvements, and structural makeovers at six overlooks. Artist Point, Uncle Tom’s Point, Inspiration Point, and Brink of the Upper Falls have been completed. As funds become available, Brink of the Lower Falls and Red Rock Point are next on the list.

For most visitors, the changes will amount to safer, more convenient, and less congested access. But for visitors who use wheelchairs or otherwise have additional accessibility needs, the new overlooks mean the difference between being able to take in some of the same views that inspired Moran and Jackson, or being excluded from those spots entirely.

Inspiration Point now accessible to all visitors. NPS / Jacob W. Frank

Getting to overlooks using the older, less accessible trails has proven difficult in the past for frequent park visitor Kristin L. Blevins, who doesn’t normally use a wheelchair, but whose injuries make it difficult to stand or walk much without pain and spasms.

“When I visited Yellowstone last year with an Army buddy (with similar injuries), there were many places we didn’t visit,” Blevins said. “Even in a few locations it was difficult to do the number of stairs, the length of the walk, or the steep terrain.”

Blevins said any improvements in accessibility at popular attractions are always a welcome benefit for a wide range of people who deal with mobility issues.

“It will help us see more of the park,” she said, “which is always good.”

This article was originally published in the Fall 2019 issue of Yellowstone Quarterly.

Photos: Taken by YF / Matt Ludin unless credited otherwise.
Painting: The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Thomas Moran, 1872

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