Post Fellowship Report

"One small tug in the web of live produces a cascade of change."

Cascade Canyon, Jenny Lake Trailhead, Grand Teton National Park

Project Summary

Four middle school science and language arts teachers from Cushing, OK traveled to four National Parks this summer on a Fund for Teachers Study Fellowship. We traveled to Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, Devils Tower National Monument, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Tetons National Park in Wyoming. We were inspired to visit national parks to expose our students to issues facing the parks and to instill in those students the idea of preserving our natural resources. Many of these issues by their very nature involve citizens making informed choices about land use.  Our team spent two weeks in the field with a biologist and with park rangers.  We are now collaborating on new units to make science relevant for our students.

Wind Cave National Park has the third longest cave system in the United States. Some of the best examples in the world of rare boxwork formations, paper-thin intersecting veins of calcite, can be found in its tunnels. Visitors to the cave threaten to expose its bats to the fungus suspected of causing white nose disease. Scientific research has informed the National Park Service's response to the threat. Rather than closing the cave to the public to protect the bats, the park service is trying to reduce the spread of the disease by educating visitors about how the fungus is spread. We can use this as an example of the kinds of compromise which must be made in order to protect and promote our natural resources.

In Yellowstone, we participated in a four day Summer Wildlife Watching Seminar with a biologist and guide from the Yellowstone Institute. We studied the controversies surrounding the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone. We now better understand the points of view of both the farmers and ranchers, who feel the wolves are a threat to livestock, and the park service as they manage the wildlife within the park. With spotting scopes provided in our seminar, we saw a wolf, grizzly bears, moose and the elusive Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and also tracked a grizzly bear across a streambed. We saw otters, elk, pronghorn, badgers and bison interacting with their young in their natural habitat.

Continuing our study of the wildlife and habitat management issues in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, we traveled south to The Grand Tetons where the mountains seem to come straight out of the lowland and glaciers dot the tops of the peaks. We saw pristine lakes and hiked backcountry trails with park rangers identifying signs of naturally occurring changes in animal populations and habitats in a wilderness setting.

Mrs. Sissom, our guide, and the grizzly bear groupies

Professional and Personal Growth
• Experienced our National Parks firsthand

Elk cow coaxing her baby to cross the river

• Increased our knowledge of wildlife and plant life in the wilderness setting
• Developed a better understanding of the competing demands of oil and real estate development, farming and ranching, and the promotion of the park for the enjoyment of millions of visitors
• Deepened our understanding of necessity of science-based decision making in order to protect the habitats within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
•Deepened our understanding of necessity of science-based decision making in order to protect the habitats within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
•Developed a better understanding of the competing demands of oil and real estate development, farming and ranching, and the promotion of the parks for the enjoyment of millions of visitors
•Brought back lesson plans based on conservation controversies to allow us to teach reasoning and writing skills using engaging content supporting the new Common Core State Standards
•Gathered picture libraries from our fellowship in the parks including images of ourselves doing field research to share with our students
•Challenged ourselves physically backcountry hikes
•Learned about bear safety and preservation of hiking areas
•Developed a passion for preserving our national parks as a treasure not only for ourselves but for our students

Benefits to Students and School Community
• National parks will provide relevant topics for self-generated research questions for English Language Arts curriculum associated with Common Core State Standards.
• Students will gain an understanding of how everything in their world is interconnected and the consequences their actions can have on the viability of our remaining wilderness.
• Students will gain a better understanding of how conservationists must give and take among other interest groups in order to meet the greater needs of an ecosystem.
• With real world examples from our fellowship, we will promote careers in science.

Paw print of a grizzly bear

• Using first-hand experience, our team can now present relevant lessons on topics such as how to tell a black bear track from a grizzly track , how to spot cutthroat trout eggs in a stream, how to find an osprey nest from a distance by whitewash, or understanding when a bald eagle develop its white plumage.
• The future of the wild places will rest on the decisions of our student’s generation. This fellowship will help us promote in our students a sense of ownership of their National Parks so that future generations will be able to see wilderness undisturbed by concrete and industry.

Works in Progress
Future activities for 8th grade classes include collecting information on the controversies surrounding wolves, bison, and grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Using scientific research papers, community blogs, and newspaper articles students will analyze the text, develop a point of view, determine bias in a work, and share their point with the class. Collaborating on presentations, the science and language arts classes will research and present information on these predators and the interrelationship between the many species. They will discover how changes in the population of a prey species may affect the size of predator populations.

Badger and 2 kits, badger babies

The 6th grade classes will focus on creating a brochure for a National Park including location, map directions, dominant features and history.  The brochure will include pictures and diagrams and may be done as a PowerPoint.

The 6th and 8th grade classes will get together for an outside hands-on activity on population dynamics where they assume rolls of predator, prey, water, and habitat. Several rounds are played and students take the data back to class to form graphs that show how populations affect one another.

A Display of God's Handiwork

Mr. Hawkins in the center of the frame

Today we traveled from Colter Bay to Jackson, Wyoming to visit the National Museum of Wildlife Art and some other galleries in Jackson.  It is fitting as we come toward the end of our national parks tour that we appreciate how this natural beauty is depicted in the work of many gifted artists.

I am an artist also.  I began drawing and painting when I was just a youngster.  Many of my early Christmas presents were art supplies.  I like to study and attempt wildlife and western art.  I have only sold a few of my pieces but mainly draw and paint for my own enjoyment.  Much of the experience I have with the subjects I draw and paint comes from personal experiences while out hunting and fishing.  often visit and direct art questions toward Betty Bowen, middle school art teacher and Fund for Teachers Fellow.  Betty is a skilled artist and I often gather insight from her. 

Art brings a peace to me and I try to convey what I feel in the art that I paint.   Today I will be able to view many of the works of Bob Kuhn at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art was established in 1987 in Jackson, Wyoming.  A large collection of art was donated by Joffa and Bill Kerr.  In September of 1994, the Museum opened the current 51,000 sq. ft. facility.   It is located just up the hill from the southern end of the National Elk Refuge and is built into the hillside.   It includes an outdoor walkway filled with various bronze and metal sculpture.  Featured artists include John Clymer, Robert Kuhn, Robert Bateman, Georgia O’Keefe, Carl Rungius, and Charles M. Russell.

The work of Robert Bateman

I have admired all these artists and their works all my life.   It was certainly a thrill to see their work in person and up close.   For example, Carl Rungius used extreme care when painting fur on animals.  His brushwork follows the natural direction of hair on the animal and shows correct anatomy underneath.  You could actually see the sheen on the black bear he painted, and it looked just like the sun reflecting off of the bear’s fur.   I have followed his wildlife art all my life.  I still remember the first time I heard his name.  It was on an educational program on OETA,   Oklahoma Educational Television Association.  I still remember the painting they showed that day.  It showed mule deer escaping a forest fire in the middle of the night.   At the age of 49, I finally got the chance to look at the painting as an original.   Pictures in art books do not show the beauty of the painting in real life and all the detailed brushwork being used along with strong colors.

I feel truly blessed to have seen this collection of art today.   We not only should appreciate our natural resources, but also those who often remind us of their beauty.   Thanks to Fund for Teachers, I have been able not only to increase my understanding of ecology and conservation but I also have had an increased desire to preserve these lessons through art and other mediums so that others can enjoy the beauty that God has given us to enjoy and manage.

Change Happens

Mrs. Nordquist

Taggart Lake Hike from the Taggart Lake Trailhead north of Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center 2.8 or 3.6 miles, 3 hours, difficulty - moderate, Ranger Brian

Ranger Brian and Mr. Hawkins

Our ranger was Brian-a 1st year elementary school teacher originally from Lancaster County,  Pennsylvania. He was select to be part of the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program this summer, but has worked as a summer intern in other parks while in college. In the mornings he writes interpretive curriculum for school aged children, then he leads hikes, and works in the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Moose,WY in the afternoons.

Evidence of an ambitious beaver

Receded creek leaving the beaver dam high and dry 

On the hike we passed first through wetlands where an abandoned beaver lodge was left on dry land due to receding water. Change happens. Animals adapt or die. Then we passed through sagebrush where the pronghorn is the only animal who can digest the woody drought tolerant shrub. There were badger holes, but no badgers. Ground squirrels were abundant.

Sagebrush habitat

Balsamroot, a sunflower-like flower, in an aspen grove

Nature creates amazing adaptations to ensure survival. Because of the intense sun of higher elevations, the bark of an aspen tree is covered with a powdery film which acts sun protection.  If we were to rub it on our skin we would get an SPF of about 8. Also the stand of aspens we were looking at all come from the same root system. If one tree is stressed a new one pops up close by.

Heavy snow melt from the north side of the bridge

Heavy snow melt from the south side of the bridge

Mountain harebell

"Common" paintbrush (much larger that the variety we have in Oklahoma)

An "erratic," or boulder left behind by a melting glacier

The USGS has a great website with pictures and glacier terminology for the tourist to identify the formations : http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1216/glaciertypes/glaciertypes.html

Taggart Lake

A mountain lake is a beautiful, but in the Tetons there is the additional feature of the mountain range jutting up as if they came out of nowhere to frame the picture. There are no foothills-no transitions-just a backdrop of jagged peaks and white snowfields and glaciers reflected in the glassy waters.

The pay-off for hiking an extra mile

When we completed the 1.4 mile hike to Taggart Lake with Ranger Brian, we had a choice: return with the ranger on the same trail we had used for a total of 2.8 miles back to the trailhead or continue hiking and return on the loop for a total of 3.6 miles to an overlook we would otherwise miss. The possibility of a bear encounter made us nervous, and we didn't have bear spray, but the trail was not isolated. Also we were encouraged by the statistic that a bear had never attacked a group of 4 or more . We took a vote. The possibility of missing anything after we had traveled so far always won. We hiked. Almost 4 miles is an accomplishment especially in the unseasonably warm, for the Tetons, 80 degree weather in the late morning and afternoon.

Some members of the 10% club

10% of visitors to National Park get 1/4 mile from the parking lots. We did. Ranger Brian was right. The views were great.

Nice bridges - dry feet - concentrated impact

Dornan's Original Moose Chuckwagon

Just south of the trailhead was Dornan's Chuckwagon in Moose,WY. There is nothing like the reward of good hamburger after a hike. And the homemade ham and beans were great too.

Outdoor seating at Dornan's

Overachievers...Maybe?

Mrs. Sissom at Inspiration Point at Jenny Lake

OK…so we may be overachievers. Sleep has not been a high priority for us on this trip. To go on the ranger guided Jenny Lake hike, you have to have a token, and there were only twenty-five given out each day on a first come first served basis, so the group was waiting at the visitor center before it opened at 8:30, but it was a 45 minute drive to Jenny Lake and we had to be at  breakfast at 6:30AM. However, the first six tokens were ours making it worth the trouble.

A 600 ft elevation gain - Mrs. and Mr. Hawkins are number 2 and 3!

Jenny Lake from Inspiration Point

Our Jenny Lake hiking experience was full of history, geology, and fun. The lake was formed by glaciers, but got its name from a Shoshone Indian woman who married an Englishman named Richard “Beaver Dick” Leigh. The Leighs assisted the Hayden Expedition of 1872 in the Teton area, thus, Leigh and Jenny Lakes were named after them.

Ranger Ann with the Ph.D. in Geology

The ranger that took us on the guided hike was a geologist cheerleader meaning she was very enthusiastic and passionate about Jenny Lake and the Teton Mountains. Her backpack was full of teaching materials such as wooden blocks showing us how mountains were formed, examples of rocks that we would see in the mountains we were hiking, a yardstick with red tape marking off geological time, and pictures of the plants and animals that lived in the area. There were a couple of things that stood out in my mind. Her arms made a V shape indicating the groove that melting snow makes as it runs off the top of the mountain. Sometimes the snow and ice turn into glaciers making a U shaped groove then as it melts and runs off, it returns to the V shape. Also, she told a story about Angie Algae and Freddy Fungus who took a lichen to each other, and their relationship has been on the rocks ever since. Our students will groan, but I’m sure Mr. Hawkins will be repeating it. The story was her explanation for how plants grow on top of the rocks.

Mr. Hancock, Mrs. Sissom, and Ms. Bowen on the on the 4 mile Jenny Lake Hike.

Cascade Canyon - Is it a U or a Y?

Now, the fun part of this adventure comes from pestering Tracy. There is a certain way she wants the suitcases to be packed in the car so naturally, the rest of the group puts our bags in first so Tracy can pull them all out and repack them while we watch. There is even a video of this because it has been a BIG part of our trip.

Our travels started thirteen days ago meaning six adults have been within one hundred yards of each other nonstop. One would think we would dislike each other immensely at this point, but I feel a closeness and have gained a new respect for each one of them. During our travels, personal stories have been shared and passions of each one has come to light, and these passions are the characteristics that make this bunch a great group of teachers. Minds have been working all week about how to use the knowledge and experiences gained on this trip in the classroom. Tracy did a wonderful job writing this grant, planning our days (and they were packed), and keeping us in line.

Bears Can Climb Trees Too

Mrs. Nordquist on the trail

 Swan Lake Hike from the Colter Bay visitor center, 3 miles, 3 hours, difficulty - easy.

Our team met Ranger Ellen on Monday 7/8 for a 3 mile hike through forest and wetland communities to learn about the plants and animals living in Grand Teton National Park. Ranger Ellen is a 3rd grade teacher volunteering as an interpretive ranger this summer for the National Park Service. Last summer she was selected to participate in the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program where school teachers help the Park Service develop curriculum and then take their summer work experiences in the parks back to their students in the classroom.

Mrs. Sissom at the far right

Our teacher-ranger used effective instructional techniques to encourage involvement in our rather large group of 26 hikers. Paying particular attention to the children in our group she passed out laminated cards of plants and animals and habitats that we would see on the hike and rewarded us as we found our assignment with Jr. Ranger stickers. It was fun. I found the beaver lodge on my laminated card in Swan Lake and received my "Survivor" sticker which I will proudly display in my classroom next year.

Swan Lake

Swan Lake is an example of a changing community. The lake is filling in with silt. It will soon, geologically speaking, be a meadow. But for now the geese and swans and ducks and osprey and swans seem happy enough with the habitat. But there were a lot of lily pads.

Mrs. Sissom and Mr. Hancock looking for wildlife

Bever dam

Yes, we expected to see trumpeter swans at Swan Lake. And we did. But not from close enough to get a good picture. Besides if 26 hikers were to get close enough to those swans multiplied by the 10,000 + visitors, by my calculations, which get as far as Swan Lake, the grasses around the lake would be trampled and the behavior of the swans might be changed, so the Park Service seeks to concentrate the impact of the human visitors. We stayed on trails and viewed the swans from a respectful distance with our binoculars and zoom lenses. As a result, visitor get to enjoy the beauty of nature without ruining it in the process.

We have heard a lot of contradictory advice about what to do to avoid encounters with bears and react appropriately in the event of an encounter. I bought a bear bell and Ranger Chuck scoffed and people made jokes about finding bells in bear scat. Ranger Ellen had evidence to show us about why climbing a tree to escape a bear would not be a good idea. There are bear claw marks reaching 4 feet above her head on this tree. The bear was not that tall. It had climbed that tree. Okay - so much for the advice to climb a tree if we felt threatened by a bear. 

We hiked with rangers because they helped us interpret the experience and because they carried bear spray, but we finally got brave enough hike on our own. We were happy that we never saw a bear while on the trail, but our fear of a bear encounter did not keep our team from experiencing the beauty a truly wild place.

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous."
Aristotle

The Man Who Cried Wolf

Mr. Hawkins

 There was once a boy who cried wolf.   The boy would cry out and the villagers would come running to save the community from the big bad wolf.   The villagers would arrive only to find out that there was no wolf present and return to their homes.   One day the boy cried wolf and there really was a wolf and none of the villagers came when needed.   Friday morning , July 5, 2013, was the last day of our Summer Wildlife Institute course in  Northern Yellowstone near the Lamar Valley.   I had hoped to see a wolf on our trip and had done much research so I would be informed on the history and the habits of the wolves that had been  returned  to the Yellowstone ecosystem in 1996.  

I personally was interested in the wolf.  I had studied how the packs in the park area had developed buffer zones between each other and how a wolf from another pack would be killed if entering a territory not his own.  I knew that wolves would den up when it came time to have pups and that the whole pack would find a central location in which to bring food to the new wolf pups.   Every wolf in the pack will contribute to this endeavor. 

We arrived in the valley only to find a large group of people on a high hill with high power spotting scopes.   You can learn a lot about watching wolves from watching people.  If you see a traffic  jam it might be a wolf jam, a bear jam, a moose jam, or even  an elk or bison jam.  I thought it would be funny some time if we would go to a high point and set up our equipment in the direction of a low stump or other topographic feature and see how many people we could get to come to a stump jam.  Now we return to the wolf story.  Rick McEntire, a retired Yellowstone biologist, is an authority of spotting wolves and identification.  He has spent much time on wolf research in the park.   He has his own crowd of followers that keep radio contact with him when a wolf is spotted.   This morning we found Rick and his group in the Lamar Valley near a rendezvous site where a den of pups was located on a tree-line point about a half mile away. 

Rick McEntire, seated, and his wolf "groupies"

I am pretty good most of the time at locating wildlife.  This time it took me awhile to see the young black wolf as it worked its way in and out of the sagebrush flat in front of us.   I hate to say it but I would have never had the thrill of seeing this wolf with my low power binoculars.   I saw and watched him for over twenty minutes in the spotting scope off and on by sharing the scope with my teammates.  I knew where the wolf was located in the scope by using features such as the two trees that make a V-shape or looking just to the left of the lodgepole pine point.  When I would look with my binoculars, I would only barely see a dot  that moved.   I would have never had my thrill of a wolf sighting without quality spotting scopes provided for our Yellowstone Institute Field Seminar.  We were not disappointed.  

I am a loud person and when you get me excited , I do not think about the noise I make at times.   I had to be shushed when I first saw that black beauty of a wolf.  I cannot tell you what joy it brought to me to see this magnificent creature placed back in its natural habitat.  According to other rangers in the park, there were 174 wolves in Yellowstone a few years back, but the numbers have dwindled to about 69 adults this year.   It has been reported that we have 20 young pups this year.   Distemper and mange have taken some.  Other animals have been harvested outside park boundaries by hunters in adjoining states that allow wolf hunts.  You must understand the size of this animal.    Remember me telling you about the dot in my binoculars.   This dot face to face can stand 36 inches at the shoulder and has a paw print the size of your hand minus the fingers.   This is an impressive killing machine.  An adult wolf can weight from 90-130 lbs.   It is three times the size of the coyote I would see in Oklahoma.  Yes indeed.   The man who cried wolf.

I guess you can tell what animal gets my blood flowing.  

I do not want you to think this is all that Yellowstone has to offer.   Brad Bullins was our guide for the week from July 2-5,2013.  He works for the Yellowstone Association.   The Yellowstone Association is dedicated to educating and gathering support for conservation efforts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.  Brad did not let us down.  He took us out all day every day, and there were days we spent 11 hours out viewing wildlife.  He did a phenomenal job putting us on the various wildlife species.   I toured a bookstore in Grant village and found out that I was familiar with over 60% of the common wildlife species available in this area.  We went to small ponds and saw 4 inch blotched tiger salamanders and a banded garter snake.  

We saw bald eagles in the nest. We found out that the bald eagle does not gain the characteristic white head and tail feathers until they are at least four years old.  We saw a fight between a bald eagle and several ravens.  We heard distinct calling sounds.   We also laughed at the commercials you see on TV where there is a long high pitched screech made by an eagle on the commercial.  That sound on TV is really the call of a Red Tailed Hawk.

Eagles make a chirping sound with several short pauses.  Eagles sound like an overgrown tweety  bird rather that a loooooong pitched scream.  I have learned on this trip that I have so much more to learn about wildlife.   It is sad to think that we continually destroy habitat and natural areas for our own selfish concerns.  We also saw golden eagles nesting on a high cliff.   You can often find a nest in the distance by locating the whitewash below the nest.   It will look like someone splattered a white can of Walmart paint on the cliff below the nest.   You could lay down in this nest.   These birds are huge.   We saw two quite large chicks in the nest and we saw the female land about 100 yards away to keep an  eye on the nest and protect her young.

We encountered a tennis match when we located some bears at the same time we were looking at the wolf.   We would switch our scopes to see the bears which were less than a mile away when the wolf was not visible.   We did not find anyone in the group that was bored.  We came along a jam and could not find a place to park so we continued on .  When we came back shortly and found out that it was moose.   I had never seen these animals in the wild.   This was a huge bull moose with palmated antlers and very long points coming off of the front.  He was about 150 yards off of the road.   The only thing that is disappointing is that many of these beautiful animals are too far for quality photos unless you have very expensive photographic lenses.

Several times during the week I would spot what I thought was a coyote going through tall grass away from us only to find a sandhill crane in my binoculars.  These birds have been on the endangered species list.  They are beautiful birds that are quite large and from a distance to have the sandy brown coloration of a coyote.   We saw huge white pelicans around the waters.   They are easier to spot because of the white color.

We saw mule deer bucks in velvet.  We saw pikas that look like fat little rabbits with curved ears like an Ewok from Star Wars.  We traveled out to Trout Lake and took a hike up into the backcountry to view otters and cutthroat trout.   We saw the Columbia spotted frog that loves to hide in the marsh grass.   This grass provides cover for the frogs and young fish from predation and allows a suitable number to live long enough to become breeding adults that travel up the inflow creek to spawn by laying pink eggs that are sticky and attach to the rocks of the inflow.  

We saw an Engelmann Spruce tree that had died that had an age of  1,000 years +.   The trees in this area are being attacked by the spruce budworm that begins eating the trees at the terminal buds causing eventual death.  We saw Golden Eye ducks that fish in these inland waterways.  These ducks have a brightly colored golden eye with a dark pupil.  We saw a mother otter and her two kits.   Otter young are referred to as “kits”.  We saw an example of elk thistle which is a thistle with a spiny purple top and spined leaflets that can be used for survival if caught out in the wilderness.   We were told it tastes like celery and is a preferred bear food.   We learned how to look for evidence of bear feeding activity.   Many times a bear will roll over rocks to expose worms or ants below.  If you find a rock that has lichen or colored growth on it and one part of the rock does not this is evidence the rock has been rolled over recently.  Bears will also tear rotten logs apart or steal pine cone caches from red squirrels. 

We pulled into the Lamar Buffalo Ranch for a bathroom break and we saw a mature badger and her two young kits just outside the freshly dug den.   A badger will move her den several times during the time she raises her young.   The young badgers we saw were beginning to be mobile and were approaching the time that the female would take them on hunts with her.   We simply sat there in the bus watching the behavior of the badgers.   We had to be extremely quiet.  We witnessed them scratching fleas just like a human would scratch under an armpit.  It was hilarious to watch these youngsters.  None of us were in a rush when wildlife was available.

Well the best way to tell a long story is not to tell it.   I just could not help sharing with you all the wonderful things that we saw in only one last 24 hr period on our trip.  To me this was a trip of a lifetime.   I will always remember the sounds, sights and events that made up this trip into Yellowstone.

Wolfffffffffffff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Animal Signs

Mrs. Nordquist

Our Yellowstone Institute Summer Wildlife Watching Field Seminar was the highlight for me of our Fund for Teachers Fellowship. For three mornings we were up at 4:30AM so we could see animals before they took cover from the heat of day returning to our lodging at 4:30 or 5:00 in the afternoon. We were successful.

Buffalo and pronghorn in the Lamar Valley

Uinta ground squirrels on lookout

Bighorn sheep between Mammoth and Gardiner, MT

A close look at bighorn sheep with Mr. Hancock, Mr. Hawkins and Mrs. Sissom

Bison crossing the Lamar River

 The bison thundered across the valley and plunged into the river. We could hear them snorting and see their breath as they crossed.

Cow elk teach her baby to cross the river

Pelican fishing

Mama badger and 2 kits nearly ready to leave the den

Digging dens is dirty work and requires grooming

 Maybe these guys looked so healthy because of the large population of uinta ground squirrels.

Hike to Trout Lake in the Lamar Valley

Trout Lake was worth the hike

Otters on Trout Lake

Spawning trout in the inlet to Trout Lake

Columbia spotted frog at Trout Lake

The Columbia spotted frog is one of 3 amphibians in Yellowstone. It is a little bit too cold in the winter for most.

Elk skull close to Nez Perce Creek

 This skull and other bones in the area told a story of death for one animal. It had been there for a while evidenced by the flowers growing up through the nasal cavity.

What was this trap intended to catch?

In a failed survey of wolverines in Yellowstone, traps like these were intended to catch wolverines in order to study the population in Yellowstone. Despite what looks like a sturdy trap, the wolverines usually escaped within 2 hours.

Back grizzly paw in sandy soil

Notice the length of this track from toe to "heel." We missed seeing the bear by 5 minutes that morning, but returned to the location of the sighting to see if it had left us any signs. Mr. Hawkins found this footprint.

Front grizzly paw

In the heat of the day there was still much to learn. And I have learned about tracking animal signs, the habitats where you are likely to find animals, and how to track landscape features in order to pinpoint an animal in a zoom lense.

Grizzly groupies in Lamar Valley

Mrs. Sissom and our great guide Brad Bullins discussing the 2 grizzlies all these people were watching in Lamar Valley. And with the help of spotting scopes provided by the Yellowstone Institute, wildlife 1000 yards away seemed like they were 25 feet in front of me which is disconcerting when a grizzly bear seemingly turned and looked me in the face. I had to look up and remember that the grizzly was a dot in the distance.

Thanks to the Yellowstone Association for providing scholarships to teachers who attend their field seminars. With the help of our guide we have gained a much more intimate knowledge of our 1st National Park and the wildlife which live in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. With our deeper understanding of the complex issues surrounding wildlife management, we will be planning research projects focusing on the stewardship of our National Parks in the future.