Yellowstone National Park: First Of The Last Wild Places

By George Robinson

Established in 1872, Yellowstone was the world's first national park. A land of magic and mystical waters, it has long been a place of reverence for many Americans. Former Chief of Interpretation at Yellowstone, George Robinson writes passionately and eloquently about this landscape that is so dear to his heart. Geysers, wildlife, and a long human history are beautifully and lovingly portrayed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Park Partners, Inc
• Release date: Jul 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9781580711029

George Robinson

George Robinson is the author of the critically acclaimed Essential Judaism, as well as Essential Torah: A Complete Guide to the Five Books of Moses (2006). The recipient of a Simon Rockower Award for excellence in Jewish journalism from the American Jewish Press Association, Robinson is a senior writer for The Jewish Week, the largest Jewish newspaper in North America. He is a contributor to the new edition of Encyclopedia Judaica and has written frequently for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, and Hadassah Magazine.

Book preview

YELLOWSTONE

First of the Last Wild Places

by

George B. Robinson

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SIERRA PRESS

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010 Sierra Press

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Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My enduring thanks to my father who introduced me to the National Parks when I was two years old. He started me on a long journey to Yellowstone. I am also grateful to my former colleagues at Yellowstone for sharing with me their knowledge of Wonderland. They know who they are. finally, I will always think of Jeff Nicholas at Sierra Press, and my editor Nicky Leach as more than publishing professionals, they are good friends, who share my passion for words and writing.

—G.B.R.

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CONTENTS

THE SETTING

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

THE PARK

Visiting Yellowstone

Human History

THE GEYSER BASINS

How Geothermals Work

Geologic History

Firehole River Basins

Norris Geyser Basin

Mammoth Hot Springs

West Thumb Geyser Basin

WILDLIFE

Bears of Yellowstone

Wolves

THE WATERS OF YELLOWSTONE

The Role of Fire

Cutthroat vs Lake Trout

Algae, Bacteria & Slime Mold

FIELD GUIDES

Wildflowers

Mammals

Birds

RESOURCES & INFORMATION

SUGGESTED READING

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

COMING SOON

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Great Fountain Geyser at sunset

THE SETTING

Places circle in my mind like gifting birds…

Small, quick perceptions the gifting birds leave me…

Some I can put together, not as a story or theory, but a sense of life, of place…

Random perceptions become groups of experiences, pieces tumbling in…

Puzzle pieces without jigsaw cuts to define them.

—Charles Jones, The Gifting Birds

Yellowstone is both a real place, and a state-of-mind. It is a powerful elixir for me—the kind of place where author Barry Lopez has suggested that I can renegotiate my contracts with nature. Because I have worked in national parks my entire life, I feel a special kinship with Yellowstone, and I am grateful for its gifts to me.

In a way, Yellowstone is the beginning and end of a long personal odyssey—the culmination of a tradition. My journey to Yellowstone began 60 years ago when my father accepted a job in Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California. It foretold a time when I too would work in a geological wonderland.

As a child, I had heard about Yellowstone. I was enchanted by the idea of its wonders. I had seen photographs of Old Faithful, Yellowstone Falls, and grizzly bears in books and magazines, and my teacher had talked about it in school. I formed a mental picture of what it must be like. In Lassen, I had seen fumaroles and hot springs. I had watched steam venting from the cool summit of Lassen Peak. My father had told me how ancient Mount Tehama had collapsed inward to form a huge crater called a caldera. Often, I had seen bears and other large animals. Surely, I thought, Yellowstone must be like these things.

I had gone to Yellowstone with my father when I was a youngster, but I only remembered seeing some of its popular icons—Old Faithful, Yellowstone Lake, Mammoth Hot Springs, some bears. Like many folks, my visit was cursory and superficial. I did not return to Yellowstone until the last few years of my career, and it was only then that I began to see that there was much more to this wonderland than the things that I had dreamed about and seen in my youth. Of course, there were hundreds of facts and figures to learn—many of which I soon forgot—but each day in Yellowstone, gifting birds brought new and precious fragments of thought and feeling that began to merge into a deeper understanding of meaning and place.

I am not a photographer, yet everywhere in Yellowstone my eyes take hundreds of pictures, all perfectly focused, composed, and exposed. I keep those images in my mind’s