Shane & Sabrina plus Six!

"Aunt Sabrina, Aunt Sabrina it's a Bison!" squealed my 8 year old nephew. Adorned with a Junior Ranger vest and hat, his smile was priceless. He had been patiently counting down the days since school finished, for his vacation to visit his Park Ranger Aunt & Uncle in Yellowstone National Park, and now he was here! Accompanying him on his trip were 5 other "first-timers": His Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Brent, and Cousin Hailie. Despite the 50 year gap between the youngest and oldest they all admired the sights with equal enthusiasm and zest, a testament that whether you are 1 or 101 yrs old, Wonderland brings a smile to every one's face.


I can still remember my first time to Wonderland. I was not a child yet I couldn't help but act like one. "A wolf", I exclaimed, my arm nearly knocking out my husband as he attempted to drive through Hayden Valley. A beautiful all white wolf was dashing at rocket speeds through the open sage brush of Hayden Valley.  I would later learn that she was the Alpha female of the Hayden Pack, and that summer (2007), she quickly became my favorite wolf.


But now Shane and I had the opportunity to share the wonders of Yellowstone with our family. We had six days to discover, explore and fall in love with the beauties of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Although Park Rangers have all sorts of favorite "off the beaten path" spots, our travels did not differ from that of which I would recommend to any other visitor. We found ourselves at all the must-see places such as West Thumb, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Fountain Paint Pots, Mammoth Hot Springs, Hayden Valley, Lamar Valley and of course the Iconic Old Faithful.

Arriving at Old Faithful on Friday, I had my Park Ranger uniform in my travel bag because I had been invited to assist with a film permit. America's First National Park regularly receives film permit requests for all sorts of reasons but this time it was for a reality TV show called Kate plus Eight. I was excited to be one of the rangers assisting with this film permit and even more excited that my family would get to see "Ranger Sabrina in Action!"

Old Faithful was predicted to erupted at 6:31pm, +/- 10 minutes and I was scheduled to sit next to the reality TV show family and share with them a little about Old Faithful. Teaching park visitors about Yellowstone is such a rewarding experience whether the visitors are your family or a reality TV show family! As we waited for Old Faithful to erupt  I taught them about the Yellowstone Super volcano and how a  geyser like Old Faithful works. Soon Old Faithful was erupting and simultaneously my family, Kate plus eight, and hundreds of other families watched as the iconic geyser blew- all of us in awe of the wonders of nature and the powerful force of the Yellowstone super volcano.  Watching Old Faithful erupt immediately brings about all sorts of questions to the spectators mind. Happily, I answered a variety of questions about Old Faithful, and soon the reality TV show family smiled and politely thanked me for sharing my knowledge, before they headed off on their next adventure. As I returned to my family, my nephew proudly proclaimed : "Aunt Sabrina, I want to be a ranger like you and teach people about the park". It was the perfect ending to a fabulous day!

But the next day "Shane and Sabrina plus Six" were also on their next adventure. Exiting the Park through the Northeast Entrance we soon found ourselves exploring the Beartooth Mountains. Climbing up higher and higher through granite domes we stopped at every lookout to snap some pictures. I had seen all these mountains before, taken pictures of all these views before; yet I still found myself mesmerized and snapping my camera at every moment. It's hard to ignore beauty even if you've seen it one hundred times. Stopping for lunch at Clay Butte I watched as my niece and nephew played in the snow patches, dipped their feet into the cold waters of Bear Lake and ran through the open meadows that were filled with shooting stars and other wildflowers. And as we drove home on our final day I looked down at my nephew who was curled up in my lap taking a nap. His sun tanned cheeks were a mixture of pink and brown. His shirt was dirty and his little feet were grimy. His completed Junior Ranger Book lie on the floor of the car.  And his face had a smile on it, with the look of a little boy who had just explored, discovered and fallen in love with Wonderland! I closed my eyes as well and soon fell asleep, with pink and brown cheeks, a smile on my face and a happy little boy curled up in my lap.    

   

July Mayhem in Yellowstone

I have heard many year-round Yellowstone Rangers proclaim the same thing " I endure the summer in Yellowstone so that I can experience the Autumn & Winter".  I couldn't understand it at first. That was until July arrived with a heat wave and a monsoon of people, and now I find myself counting down the days till September, when a cool breeze will fill the air and the roads will not be a sea of vehicles.


July is the busiest month in Yellowstone National Park. Visitors from all over the world clutter the roads, fill the boardwalks and crowd into visitor centers. Verbal bets were placed by the staff as to what date Old Faithful Visitor Education Center would surpass 10,000 people in one day.  This is the month that we have all been preparing for both mentally and physically. And although we all knew it was coming, it seems that this July has been one that none of us will readily forget.


Cautions, warnings and park regulations seem to have been thrown out the window for many visitors this July despite to concerted effort of the park staff. Safety information is given to visitors as they enter the park, cautions are given at the visitors centers, and dotting every trail in the park are warning & regulation signs.  But much to my dismay I still find visitors standing along the edge of Black Pool- a hot spring that averages 200'F and can cause 3rd degree burns in just 15 seconds. Just last week I had strategically place "stay on boardwalk" universal signs throughout West Thumb Geyser Basin yet I was amazed to discover that at least 100 or more visitors per day ignore them. While walking the basin recently, I watched as a father told his young teenage daughter to step off the boardwalk and sit along the edge of Black Pool so that he could get the perfect picture. Horrified, I ran down the boardwalk shouting at her to get back on the boardwalk and away from the steaming hot pool. I tried to explain the risk involved in what she had done- carefully pointing out that the area she had been walking on was unstable and constantly changing. Thus, what appeared to be solid ground was not, and potentially she could have cracked the surface crust and fallen into the hot spring. After my well articulated speech, they nodded their heads up and down with big smiles on their face- a clear sign that they were not computing a word I was saying. Maybe I needed to be more blunt: People have died in these hot springs, YOU MUST STAY ON BOARDWALKS AT ALL TIMES. The sudden change in my tone and hand gestures brought forth an "Oh, I am sorry". I walked away in dismay knowing that they will likely do the same thing at the next geyser basin.


Completing my walk around the basin I headed towards the parking lot and noticed a large amount of people congregating along the edge of the meadow. This had been a re-occurring event this past week and I knew it was either a Bear or Elk. As I approached the meadow I looked off a ways to find that some visitors were standing 15 feet away from an Elk with her calf. I asked the visitors to back up immediately. They back up 10 feet and began to snap more pictures. My tone became a little more forceful and I made my request slightly more direct "Folks, I need you to immediately back up to where I am, park regulations mandate that you stay 25 yards away from Elk and other large animals." Before I could even finish my sentence another responsible visitor chimed in. "Is that photo worth risking your life". Then a second, "You guys need to get away from those Elk". When the group had made their way back to where I was they explained that the "Elk seemed friendly, and were not bothered by them at all". I am continually perplexed by this idea that "wild animals seem friendly". Are there not enough reality TV shows where animals routinely attack? Are we so disconnected from nature that we as humans cannot distinguish between a wild setting and a domesticated farm?


Visitors are injured daily in Yellowstone despite all the warnings and signage. In our nightly "ranger discussions" it is amazing what is witnessed in just one day. One ranger watched a man holding his hand painfully through West Thumb- apparently he had decided to stick his whole hand into Black pool to see how hot it was. Well, he quickly discovered that it is hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns in 15 seconds. Another ranger described how she watch a mom and dad put grass into their 5 year old's hand and pushed the child toward an Elk and her calf.


Walking through the campground the other night a mother ran up to me and asked if I knew about the Bear in Mammoth. Not knowing what she was talking about she described how her family had been happily watching a Grizzly Bear meander along the edge of the road. From their car they took pictures and were genuinely elated. That was until a car racing around the corner hit the Bear dead center. The Bear, stunned for a quick second by what happened, suddenly jumped up and ran into the woods. The family wanted to know if the bear survived or if it ran off into the woods and died. The mother explained that her children were upset for the rest of the day over what they had witnessed.


But the lack of responsible drivers doesn't end there. Car accidents occur daily in the Park.This week, in the Grant area, a speeding truck decided to pass someone on a double solid only to come around the corner and smash into the back of another vehicle. At least one person was emergency helicoptered to the nearest ER for cranial damage. Early in the season the sound of the helicopter would startle me since Yellowstone is a normally a NO-FLY zone. But lately the sound of the ambulance, fire truck and helicopter are a re-occurring daily event, and sadly most of the incidents that are occurring are completely due to those who clearly ignore the Park regulations and the continual ranger warnings.


So how do you escape in the Nation's first National Park in July? Well, unlike the winter when I regularly ski and snowmobile throughout the park, I find myself staying closer to home. I avoid the roads at all costs and I try to hike the trails which are close to home.I wake up early in the morning and enjoy the park when most visitors are groggily waking up in the sold out campgrounds and hotels. I don't ever stop at Bear Jams, Wolf Jams or Uinta Ground Squirrel Jams! And I count down the days, because I know that while most Americans are enjoying their beautiful National Park with over 1 million other people in July, I get to enjoy it year-round. It is one of the many benefits of being a Yellowstone Ranger: I can enjoy the park any day...and I'll do that, preferably, during quieter times!  

Caution: Bear Crossing

Looking down at my watch the other day I found that it was 5pm, and for the first time since the winter I did not have a mountain of work on my desk. I has just completed the last project on my neatly formed daily "to do" list and although I knew there were things to do tomorrow, I was done for the day. Lately, I can usually be found diligently working in my office till 6 or 7pm and I thought about diving into the next day's workload, but as I glanced out my window I saw the sun still brightly shining outside. There had been over one week of sunny skies and beautiful temperatures and there was no denying that summer had arrived. Suddenly a big smile came over my face and I said to myself "I am going home!"

I quickly gathered my things, put on my bike helmet and soon I flying down the road with the wind whipping me in my face. I passed the post office, the restuarant, the lodge, and just as I was making the home stretch I looked up to see an indistinct brown blob emerging from the trees just about 100 yards away. "Bison?" I thought. "NO, BEAR!"

There he was, a beautiful chocolate brown Grizzly Bear weighing upwards of 500lbs. As he crossed the street there was no denying the classic hump on the neck that distinguishes the Grizzly from the Black bear. Cars and RV's all came to a halting stop as this magnificent animal crossed over into the thick of the Lodgepole pine forest. Regardless of his impressive size he disappeared the minute he entered the trees, blending in with the brownish hues of the forest. I sat there in awe, and when the awe passed I sat there thinking "What do I do now?" After all I had no idea how far into the woods he had gone...the same woods that I needed to pass on my bicycle in order to get home. 

I glanced around trying to find a new route and quickly found my solution. It turns out my husband Shane was sitting in his truck at the next corner. With radio in hand he was calling in the bear sighting to the other staff. I rode over to Shane, threw my bicycle in the back of his truck and began assisting him with bear management. 

Within a minute we were joined by 2 Law Enforcement Rangers and 2 Resource Management Volunteers. And that's when the fun truly began. Shane indicated that the bear had walked down the power line road and we all knew where this led- straight into housing. Jumping in our vehicles, we drove over to housing where the power lines meet the back of the Quadraplex unit. Just as we arrived, we found Ranger Darlene with her radio in hand. She had been peacefully reading on her porch when she looked up to find the bear trotting down the road just 50 yards away from her deck. 

But the bear paid little attention to the team of six that had now grown to eight! Four of us were technically off duty but when a bear travels through your housing area it's amazing how many people want to be on duty!

We all jumped back into our vehicles with the knowledge that the bear, who continued to follow the power line road, was headed right for the employee RV housing area. Within seconds a stampede of Ranger's ran into Ranger Roy's RV lot.  With the parade of rangers, the bear went down into the ravene which lies behind the RV area. Now although we would never want to disturb a bear's behavior in a wild setting, please keep in mind that when it's in our housing area all bet's are called off! In fact, we regularly haze bears out of housing areas, campgrounds etc., as we do not want them to feel comfortable in these areas. The ultimate goal is to prevent any bad human/bear interactions.

As the bear meandered down the ravine we once again we lost sight of him. Our super-team split up. Two rangers headed towards the campground, two more back to the road and four of us stayed in Ranger Roy's yard! All of us trying to get a visual of the bear to determine it's location and course. 

Within just a few minutes I spotted him again all the way at the bottom of the ravine about 150 yards away. He had picked up the power line road once again but this time was heading away from our housing area. He continued to trot along without a care in the world. His meanderings though, had the visitors, rangers and surrounding wildlife in a tizzy! A herd of female Elk and calves took off over the hillside as soon as they caught the scent of the bear. They were fully aware that although the Bear seemed careless about their existence, he could change his mind in a heartbeat. As they bolted and dashed out of our view Shane quickly realized that those panicked mama Elk were headed in the direction of the main road. We called it in over the radio, and back into the vehicles we all piled, making our way to the main road. 

By the time we arrived there was a lineup of cars, trucks and RV's all over the road. They were watching the Elk unaware that a bear might be ensue. Our team of rangers advised the visitors of the possible bear while also making sure that they understood that we might be asking them to get back into their vehicles should the bear pass through. Together we all waited. And waited. And waited some more. It appeared our Bear was gone, lost from human view within the wild lands of Yellowstone. The visitors began to disperse as did the plethora of Rangers.

Heading home I was filled with excitement and adrenalin. My timing had been perfect and I was overjoyed that I had chosen not to dive into the next day's workload.  That evening we shared stories and pictures with our co-workers of the beautiful Grizzly that we had seen, tracked and admired. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day. That Grizzly Bear is just one of many reasons why millions of people flock to Yellowstone every year, for the hope and opportunity to see a truly wild animal in a truly wild landscape. 

   

Welcome Back Summer...

It is 9:30pm, and the sky is a mixture of blue and pink as the sun sets behind the Lodgepole Pines. It's Solstice, the first official day of summer, and for a change the weather actually parallels what that date suggests. Summer has arrived to the interior of Yellowstone. The snow has finally melted in my backyard and our porch railing have been reassembled.  The new deck furniture which Shane built himself out of salvaged wood are accented by our Thai prayer flags. And there is no better way to celebrate the newly arrived sun and warmth than by having a Solstice Party.

By 7pm on June 21st there were 30 people in my backyard. Each brought a dish to share and before I knew it we were all dining on a variety of flavors from homemade Asian wraps to Italian meatballs. Both old friends and new friends were sharing stories, learning from each other, laughing in unison and creating some of their first memories of the summer. A summer spent living and working in Yellowstone is a wonderful example of community. People of all ages and walks of life arrive each day from all over the country. They move into park housing and soon report to their appropriate office- all hoping that their work will have them outside more than inside! They make new friends and are united by a passion to see, experience and protect the Park's Resources. Age, sex, and race seem to matter little.


These past few weeks the human population of Grant Village has grown exponentially while the wildlife also abounds. Elk, which have spent all winter at the Elk Refuge, (south of the interior) slowly made their way back to the Grant Village area. Female Elk sprout up in park housing, the meadows along the main road and in the West Thumb Geyser Basin. This annual pilgrimage was not a new sight for the seasoned staff but for those of us experiencing our first Spring in Grant Village, it has been quite the treat!

Opening my front door slowly last week, I poked my head outside and looked both ways. "The coast is clear" I thought to myself. I was being extra careful as news had travelled around that a Mama Elk had just recently dropped a calf in our housing area. Walking slowly with my pup Alice we made sure to use our keen listening and seeing skills. Sure enough, coming around the corner, I found Mama and her calf cuddled in the sparse brush off the side of the road in housing. Quickly, Mama glanced at me and gave me that panicked Mama Elk look. I'd been thoroughly warned about that look! Mama Elk routinely charge humans when they get too close to their babes. Backing up slowly I re-routed our walk to give her a wide breadth of space.I was soon free of her scolding eye however, Mama continued to wreak havoc in housing for the week. If you weren't being extra careful you would find yourself being chased into your car, your home or even your neighbors home with little to no warning!

 But now I want you to imagine having 5-7 protective Mama Elk with calves in the middle of the West Thumb Geyser Basin with over 300 people at any given time. Yep, now, that is chaos!


What was supposed to be my team's first week of leading guided walks through the Geyser Basin ended up being a week of educating and protecting thousands of people about Elk. After several Mama Elk chargings and some VERY close encounters, it was officially decided to shut down West Thumb Geyser Basin to the public! Placing barricades at each entrance, some determined visitors ignored the barricades only to be chased out of the basin by VERY angry Mama's! Each day our barricades got a little bigger and more detailed until finally all visitors got the message that the Basin was indeed, closed. The interpretive staff stood guard at the entrance areas while also using props like skulls, antlers and pictures to educate visitors about our commitment to protecting the park's resources, which included Elk! But just when things seemed to be under control, two bull Elk with small yet growing antlers, decided they would hang out in the West Thumb Geyser Basin parking lot for two days as well! Hello, Chaos! And so, I take my hats off to all of the Grant Village Field Rangers- whether they work for law enforcement, resource management or interpretation, as they all diligently worked together to ensure visitor and resource safety in the Nation's first National Park.   


Although the Mama Elk and their calves have moved out of the Basin, and into the higher surrounding hillsides, this has been merely a prelude to the chaos that lies ahead of us. As children all across the country finish their last day of school it will take just a fraction of time for  families to pile into their cars, SUV's or RV's, and drive to Yellowstone Park. They will flock to the park in army sized numbers with hopes and dreams of seeing Bears, Bison and Elk.  Every campground and every lodge inside the park will be full by 11am, while the roads will be an endless sea of vehicles.  Soon, our community of rangers will experience more than just Solstice Parties. As hoards of people flock to Yellowstone between late June and early September, our community of rangers will be tasked with visitor and resource protection and education for more than 2 million people. They will lead a variety of educational walks, talks and hikes while simultaneously keeping visitors 100 yards from Bears and Wolves and 25 yards from all other large animals. They will respond to wildlife jams, car accidents, domestic violence, injuries and missing persons reports. They will repair boardwalks, pick up trash, clean restrooms, and purify water. They will try their hardest to maintain the delicate balance between preserving wilderness while also providing public enjoyment. A difficult yet rewarding task in the Nation's first National Park. 

Yellowstone Lake: Beautiful yet Complex

What was once a frozen Arctic landscape is now a mixture of water and melting ice. Yellowstone Lake, the largest lake above 7000 ft in North America, is slowly melting. It changes by the minute; at times the newly exposed water saturates the ice giving it a crystal blue color, other times, in the early dawn, it looks like a frozen ice cap once again. These changes however are only a mere fraction of the changes that are occurring beneath the surface. As Spring slowly raises the water's temperature it causes the indigo waters of Yellowstone Lake to "turn over". Beyond the view of our eyes the water "flips", causing nutrient rich sediment from the bottom of the Lake to be brought towards the surface- a critical and  important cycle in this Lake's ecology. The churning waters provide rich nutrients for microbes and amphipods to feed upon which in turn provide food for larger critters. Eventually this cascading effect touches the lives of everything living in and around the Lake- including the humans!

For the residents of Grant Village, the Lake's ecological "turn over" process has the ability to deeply impact the survival of the human population within Grant Village. And no one has a more clear understanding of this than my husband Shane.While the Lake turn-over is a prolific, almost joyous time, for microbes and fish, it happens to be a rather unhappy time for the man who runs the Grant Village water treatment facility.


I received a call at 5pm on Wednesday from Shane telling me that he would be home late. By 8 pm he finally walked through the door after being at work since 7am. Over a quick dinner Shane explained that our drinking water in Grant Village comes from Yellowstone Lake, therefore what happens to the Lake greatly impacts our drinking water. It's Shane's job to make sure that the water which comes out of our faucets is ALWAYS in compliance. One aspect of "staying within compliance" is to make sure that the turbidity level of the water never exceeds 0.3ppm. I would soon discover that is not an easy task.


At 10pm Shane said he had to go back to the water plant for about 1 hour in order to make sure that our drinking water was being processed properly but two hours later I awoke to find that he had not returned. Remembering that I couldn't call him since his cell phone had recently died,  I decided that he was probably fine and just running late. But when I awoke at 1am to find that he had still not returned I began to get a little nervous. Tossing and turning I knew that I was not going to get any sleep until I knew he was safe. Throwing a jacket over my pajamas, I jumped into the truck and drove a short 1.5 miles to the water plant. In the cold of the night I knocked on the aluminum door and I was quickly relieved when I saw Shane's face opening the door. Entering the plant I looked around and realized that in nine months of living in Grant I had actually never seen the water plant.

 "Want a tour?" Shane asked. "Why not!" I said. And so at 1:30 am, in the still of the night, I was touring the Park's water treatment facility in my pajamas!


 By 2:00 am I was well versed in how the Lake's ecological processes cause the water's turbidity to increase thus putting our water treatment facility on the brink of being out of compliance. I watched as Shane pressed buttons, tested water and completed mathematical equations in his mini laboratory. He is the "guy behind the scenes" treating water for more than 5000 people a day who will brush their teeth at the lodge, cook their dinner at the campground, and fill up their water bottles at the visitor center. He is the park ranger who is seldom seen but who is entrusted with a great amount of power.

Thirty minutes later we both crawled into bed with the acceptance that tomorrow was going to be a long day. However, when the phone rang at 3:15am it became apparent that it was going to be a REALLY long day for Shane. The call was from the Park's Dispatch office, calling to inform Shane that the turbidity alarm was going off at the plant. It would be another 45 minutes before he crawled back into bed and when the sound of the alarm clock went off at 6:30am Shane was back in his uniform preparing for another day of "Shane versus Lake Yellowstone".

Day 2, did not prove to be much better at the water plant. With limited sleep, Shane somehow managed to work another long day totaling 16 hours. With over 8,000 years of experience, the Lake's natural Spring cycle was giving Shane's a run for his money! The water was turbid, and the only way to keep the drinking water in compliance with the limited technology at the water plant was to have someone managing it around the clock...which Shane did with success. By Day 3, Shane was gaining momentum, and when he arrived at home by 5:30pm I knew the battle had subsided. 

While driving to Fishing Bridge the next day the view of the Lake alternated from rippling open water to frozen stacked up blocks of ice. A family sat and ate their lunch on the shores near Pumice Point while the first fishing boat of the season launched from the marina. Whether we realize it or not, we are all are somehow connected to Yellowstone Lake's ecological cycles.  Water molecules everywhere circum-navigate the globe which means that the water in your community could one day end up swirling around in Yellowstone Lake.  However, I hope that you become connected to the Lake on a more personal level. I hope that one day, you might visit Yellowstone and spend an afternoon fishing for trout on the Lake. Or maybe you'll sit along the shoreline admiring a flock of ducks as they float on the surface.

Perhaps, one day you'll even be lucky enough to photograph an Eagle enviously watching a River Otter who dines on fresh fish. But even if you never visit Yellowstone, you are connected to this Lake in a metaphysical way, because your mind and heart know that somewhere beyond your community lies an enormous alpine lake which is being preserved to ecologically function the same way it has for over 8,000 years. And even if you never get to experience first-hand the beauty  and complexity of Yellowstone Lake perhaps, one day your children, or your children's children, will.  

We do not inherit the land, we borrow it from our children.
 ~ Native American Proverb