Yellowstone National Park: First Of The Last Wild Places
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About this ebook
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.
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.
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Book preview
Yellowstone National Park - George Robinson
YELLOWSTONE
First of the Last Wild Places
by
George B. Robinson
*****
SIERRA PRESS
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2010 Sierra Press
*****
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.
*****
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.
*****
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
*****
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