Yellowstone Center for Resources 2005 Annual Report

Yellowstone Center for Rsources

Introduction Yellowstone’s unique geological and biological resources inspired its creation as the world’s first national park in 1872. The National Park Service (NPS) is legally responsible for preserving, unimpaired, the park’s natural and cultural resources and values for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The Yellowstone Center for Resources works to fulfill these responsibilities for the resources we are mandated to manage and protect by providing outreach, contributing to literature, promoting interpretation, and striving to learn more about them. This report covers calendar year 2005, and also the period October 1 through December 31, 2004. This year marked the opening of the Heritage and Research Center to the public, the initiation of a large-scale wolverine study, the discovery of a genetically pure population of westslope cutthroat trout in the park, and the first stage of development for a Greater Yellowstone Science Learning Center website. Also in 2005, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to remove grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from the list of threatened species. The bison population summer count was estimated to be 4,900 animals, and an independent study of bison ecology and movements concluded that winter road grooming is not the major factor influencing bison distribution and range expansion. The northern Yellowstone elk population, which has decreased substantially over the past decade, numbered 9,545 in 2005. At the tenth anniversary of wolf restoration to the park, wolves numbered 118, showing the largest annual population decline since restoration began, due to poor pup survival caused by disease. Highlights of the year included the Eighth Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Greater Yellowstone Public Lands: A Century of Discovery, Hard Lessons, and Bright Prospects, which broke all previous conference attendance records and featured keynote speakers including U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and former NPS Intermountain Region Director Karen Wade. The Ethnography Program hosted a cross-cultural exchange with members of the Crow Tribe that allowed participants an opportunity to reconnect with their heritage. A workshop on arid lands reclamation was convened to discuss and recommend strategies for reclamation and long-term management of the Gardiner Basin area on both park and U.S. Forest Service lands which are dominated by exotic vegetation introduced by past homesteading, railroad, and gravel mining activities. Steamboat Geyser erupted again in 2005. YCR’s partnerships and agreements with other federal and state agencies, academia, and public organizations continued to be critical to our successes in stewardship. The YCR also benefitted from the hard work of many volunteers, one of whom, archeology volunteer John Reynolds, was selected as the Intermountain Region’s 2005 representative for the national George B. Hartzog, Jr., Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. The Historic Structures Program was again assisted by the Tauck Guest Volunteer Program, which received the Department of the Interior’s “Take Pride in America” award in the corporate sponsorship category. Research Permit Office (RPO) staff authorized 221 research permits to investigators from across the U.S. and foreign countries, highlighting the park’s value as a scientific laboratory as well as a pleasuring ground. For more information about specific topics of interest, readers may contact us at (307) 344-2203, visit the park’s web site at www.nps.gov/yell, or visit the Greater Yellowstone Science Learning Center website at www.greateryellowstonescience.org. Tom Olliff Chief, Yellowstone Center for Resources