Yellowstone at 150: ‘It’s never dull’
Graceful geysers, grizzly bears – there’s no shortage of adventure in Yellowstone National Park, which turned 150 this year.
The story of this first U.S. national park, which spans 2.2 million acres (in three states), extends beyond 1872, of course; several Native American tribes hold older ties to the land. Beyond the brim of his ranger hat, Rich Jehle sees future chapters, too.
Yellowstone belongs “to my kids, and their kids,” Mr. Jehle tells the Monitor one October morning in the park, rocky ridges reflected in his L.L. Bean shades. A bison lumbers in the distance.
The West District interpretive ranger has worked here for over three decades. Yellowstone is also where the mustachioed naturalist met and married his wife and where they raised two daughters. In an outdoor interview near Madison Junction at the base of National Park Mountain, he discussed the responsibility of long-term stewardship and a lesson in renewal from the fires
