Yellowstone

Wolves, as you have undoubtedly heard, are once again thriving in Yellowstone. The 66 trapped in Canada and released in Yellowstone and the Idaho wilderness in 1995-96 have generated more than 1,700 wolves. To the delight of scientists and tourists — and the dismay of many ranchers — more than 200 wolf packs exist in the area today. Courts and government agencies are still sorting out how the wolves should be managed. But one thing is abundantly clear: The reintroduction has succeeded in ways that extend far beyond the health of the wolves themselves.

An article in the Sept. 13, 1962, edition of The Herald Argus recognized a local family's timely arrival that earned them a part in celebrating a milestone in the number of visitors to national parks. As Paul Geiman and his family of Catonsville entered the east entrance of Yellowstone National Park during their August vacation tour, they were greeted by Superintendent Lemuel A. Garrison , who informed them they had been selected to participate in special symbolic ceremonies in observance of the National Park Service Billionth-Visitor Day. Mr. and Mrs. Geiman , their daughter, Jane , 15, and her friend, Adele Weetenkamp , 15, also of Catonsville, were extended complimentary lodgings and meals by the Yellowstone Park Company and were presented appropriate gifts and souvenirs by the concessioners in Yellowstone National Park.

The summertime trip to a national park is an American vacation classic. But natural wonders do not disappear with the crowds. Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming offers a series of educational vacations called "Lodging and Learning" to highlight its year-round attractions. This winter's offerings include "Old Faithful Winter Adventure," which includes a ski tour to Lone Star Geyser, wildlife watching, and a trip to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River in a "snowcoach" -- a van-sized vehicle that can traverse the park's snowy roads.

The National Park Service is allowing the grizzly who killed a defenseless hiker to continue to mingle with more potential victims ("Yellowstone: Grizzly left alone after fatal attack," July 8). This is a subtle way to divert blame from the Park Service to the victim. The statement that it's the first fatal mauling in the park since 1986, while technically correct, is misleading. Less than one year ago, a person was killed and two injured by a grizzly in a campground near Yellowstone National Park, according to the Huffington Post . The Park Service seems reluctant to accurately represent the danger and take action.

FEDERAL PAYMENT of $65 million to the Crown Butte mining company to block a gold mine at the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park is the best way out of a bad situation. But it shouldn't be a precedent for future efforts to protect invaluable natural treasures from despoliation by mining.If Congress agrees -- and that is a major hurdle -- the government would pay Crown Butte Resources with federal mineral royalties to abandon its plans. Despite charges of "goldmail," the firm would merely recover its costs and the expense of a comprehensive cleanup.

YellowstoneFormed by megaton volcanic blasts, sculpted by glaciers and boiling water, Yellowstone's singular landscape became the world's first national park in 1872. Its more than 2.2 million acres straddling three Western states first attracted adventurers on horseback and later the adventurous elite by railroad.In 1903, during a dedication at Yellowstone's northern entrance in Gardiner, Mont., President Theodore Roosevelt expressed his hope "to see a steadily increasing number of our people take advantage of its attractions."

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- U.S. Magistrate Steven Cole often works seven days a week. And not just as judge, but as his own secretary, clerk, court recorder and bailiff in what may be smallest courtroom in the West.The 48-year-old federal judge's sole jurisdiction is Yellowstone.The only federal judge to live in and oversee a national park, Judge Cole is only the fourth magistrate in the past 100 years of park history.His docket is routinely crowded with drunken-driving and drug-related cases, since serious felony cases such as rape and murder are transferred to the U.S. District Court in Cheyenne.

THE ROAR is so loud that it drowns out the sound of Old Faithful. The air is more polluted than in downtown Los Angeles. That is winter in Yellowstone National Park under the onslaught of snowmobiles. To protect the environment, wildlife and quality of visits, the National Park Service is moving to ban snowmobiles at Yellowstone and two dozen other parks. That effort must not be stayed. The phase-out of snowmobiles reflects long overdue enforcement of an executive order of the Nixon administration, 10 years of environmental study and three years of public hearings and comment.

OLD FAITHFUL is losing steam pressure and its century-old reputation for reliability. The grand geyser at Yellowstone National Park has slowed down, with longer and less predictable intervals between super-heated eruptions. Earthquakes have altered the underground geology, objects tossed into the cone by curious visitors have clogged and chipped the geyser's vent, tapping of geothermal wells in the region may have affected the fragile geyser system.The nation's first national park, visited by over 3 million people a year, is facing other problems, too. Infected bison wander from the park, threatening the health of cattle.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- In the 1880s, after the herds of bison that once swarmed over the Western plains had been hunted to the brink of extinction, a few hundred of the animals were found living in the mountains of this national park.The Army stepped up patrols against poachers, and park authorities created a ranch in the park to raise bison. The restoration project was so successful that it became a symbol for the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, which have an image of a buffalo on their badges.

We love to travel. We love our national parks. And we love a good argument. So there's a lot to embrace in the new book National Geographic's "The 10 Best of Everything: National Parks. " But there's some stuff to pick at, too. For example, seeing Acadia top the list of best places to watch sunrise and sunset made me smile. But after leafing through the book, I was disappointed that my favorite Revolutionary War battlefield — Cowpens — didn't make the cut. But Bob Howells seems pleased by both reactions.

Wolves, as you have undoubtedly heard, are once again thriving in Yellowstone. The 66 trapped in Canada and released in Yellowstone and the Idaho wilderness in 1995-96 have generated more than 1,700 wolves. To the delight of scientists and tourists — and the dismay of many ranchers — more than 200 wolf packs exist in the area today. Courts and government agencies are still sorting out how the wolves should be managed. But one thing is abundantly clear: The reintroduction has succeeded in ways that extend far beyond the health of the wolves themselves.

HELENA, Mont. -- An annual census of wolves at Yellowstone National Park has found a precipitous drop in the population. But park biologists, who suspect a deadly disease, canine parvovirus, say they will let nature take its course. "Parvo can be vaccinated for and can be treated, but we wouldn't do it because we couldn't catch every animal," Daniel Stahler, a park wolf biologist, said. "And this allows them to build up a natural resistance." The census found 22 pups, compared with 69 last year.

My wife and I are planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Can you provide information about the nearest airports and whether we need to rent a car? If you're traveling in the fall or winter, your best option is the airport in Bozeman, Mont. There's no public transportation, but Karst Stage (karst stage.com) runs a shuttle service during the winter to West Yellowstone (the town adjacent to the park's west entrance) and Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. Most lodges have already closed for the season, but two, Mammoth Hot Springs and Old Faithful Snow Lodge & Cabins, have availability in winter, usually around late December.

We were searching for villains. Legendary bad guys that huff and puff and blow houses down. Evildoers who frighten boys named Peter and girls named Little Red Riding Hood. Fiends in sheep's clothing. Big. Bad. Wolves. We got lucky right away. At least we thought we did. "There's one!" shouted photographer Hal Stoelzle soon after we entered Yellowstone National Park last winter. The animal was about 100 yards away and seemed to be digging in the snow. Hal jumped out of the car, sank deep into a snowdrift and then decided to set up a tripod with a long lens rather than venture farther into the field.

After a 30-year struggle, grizzlies are multiplying throughout Yellowstone National Park as another top predator -- the gray wolf -- has helped build the bear population in a surprising way. The numbers tell the success of grizzly bear restoration: About 650 bears roam the Yellowstone region today -- up from roughly 200 when the animal was first protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1975 -- and bears have expanded their range by 40 percent, says...

FEAR OF exploitation and degradation is what inspired Congress in 1872 to set aside 2.2 million acres in three states to preserve the unique volcanic region known as Yellowstone as the world's first national park. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the measure declaring that the sensitive area, with its roaring geysers and bubbling mud, would forever be set apart "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." But modern-day lawmakers have joined President Bush in turning that guarantee on its head.

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK, Wash. -- On the ragged coast of one of America's wildest, most remote national parks, Susan Lybarger poked her head out of her tent, surrounded by a forest of fiberglass.Old-fashioned campers, she and her family had staked out two nylon domes in a dusty parking lot full of 3-ton motor homes, converted buses and 40-foot-long vehicles with names like Kountry Comfort.In the campground of 1995, where an occasional eagle can be seen flying over satellite dishes mounted on trailer roofs, RVs rule.

FEAR OF exploitation and degradation is what inspired Congress in 1872 to set aside 2.2 million acres in three states to preserve the unique volcanic region known as Yellowstone as the world's first national park. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the measure declaring that the sensitive area, with its roaring geysers and bubbling mud, would forever be set apart "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." But modern-day lawmakers have joined President Bush in turning that guarantee on its head.

On the eve of the opening of snowmobile season at Yellowstone National Park, a federal judge ordered the National Park Service yesterday to scrap a Bush administration plan to expand snowmobile use in the park and reimpose a Clinton-era policy phasing out the machines. The ruling, in a lawsuit brought by a number of environmental groups, also affects neighboring Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, which connects the two parks in northwest Wyoming. The plaintiffs, including the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, argued that the Park Service had ignored its own research that shows that prohibiting snowmobiles would be the best way to protect the parks' resources.