Download free software for analyzing climate data
By Mike Tercek | July 11, 2010
We are offering free, custom-written software that assists in the screening and analysis of weather data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NCDC data are available from hundreds of US weather stations in the National Weather Service’s Cooperative Observer (COOP) Network.
This software is already being used by the National Park Service’s Inventory […]
Topics: General | No Comments »
Record Cold, Sublime Silence, and the Most Beautiful Song
By Matt Johnson | February 20, 2010
Described on the local public radio station as “a teeth chattering cold”, the recent South Florida cold snap turned trees brown, ruined crops to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, killed massive numbers of fish, and froze reptiles in place.
Having just moved to Miami from Yellowstone National Park, I did what […]
Topics: General, Matt Johnson | No Comments »
2009 Riparian Willow Survey Report
By Mike Tercek | October 16, 2009
During 2009, we continued our mapping and inventory of riparian willow on Yellowstone’s northern range.
The latest maps appear in our 2009 report, which can be downloaded here:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE REPORT
Topics: General | No Comments »
On the Passing of Number 6
By Tom Torma | February 18, 2009
If Einstein was correct that God does not play dice, then perhaps the passage of legendary bull elk Number 6 was no mere coincidence. The 725 pound bull elk died last week while jumping over a fence. He tripped and was trapped between two large boulders, where he slowly suffocated to death.
Number 6’s untimely demise […]
Topics: General, Tom Torma | No Comments »
There is no way to stop killing bison
By Mike Tercek | February 13, 2009
Nothing can grow forever. If the human population continues to grow long enough, the mass of all the people standing shoulder to shoulder on our crowded planet would eventually exceed the mass of everything else, including the mountains and the oceans. There would be no room for plants to grow, […]
Topics: Essays, General, Mike Tercek, Yellowstone News | 1 Comment »
Geothermal Development in the Yellowstone Area
By Tom Torma | February 9, 2009
The case for finding alternatives to fossil fuels is compelling for any number of reasons – national security and preventing climate change both make a more than sufficient case. Of the alternatives presented, geothermal energy seems to be one of the most promising. It is conceptually simple and ecologically promising. Water is piped deep into […]
Topics: General, Yellowstone News, Tom Torma | No Comments »
Amphibian decline in the Lamar Valley
By Tom Torma | January 12, 2009
The world’s amphibians are disappearing. It has been estimated that amphibians are going extinct at 211 times the normal background rate. The recent study “Climatic change and wetland desiccation cause amphibian decline in Yellowstone National Park” by Sarah K. McMenamin, Elizabeth A. Hadly, and Christopher K. Wright, suggests that Yellowstone is not immune from this […]
Topics: Essays, General, Tom Torma | No Comments »
Bison Management and Grooming the Road between Madison and Norris
By Tom Torma | January 11, 2009
There is no doubt that snowmobilers hold considerable sway over how Yellowstone is managed in the winter. Despite overwhelming public opposition, a recent federal court decision grants access for 720 snowmobiles to enter Yellowstone each day. Most of the controversy around this issue focuses on air and noise pollution, but there are also questions about […]
Topics: Essays, General, Tom Torma | No Comments »
Another close bear encounter
By Mike Tercek | January 1, 2009
A few nights before I saw the bear, I dozed off in my living room recliner. After a while I reached that twitchy place between sleeping and waking, that place where distorted shapes from the room around you can filter into dreams. I remember being annoyed because a purple, trapezoidal version […]
Topics: Essays, General, Mike Tercek | 1 Comment »
The River of Aquamarine
By Matt Johnson | December 20, 2008
We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.” – Henry Thoreau, Walden or, Life in the Woods
A pair of swans, announcing their arrival with muted, mysterious and beautiful trumpeting songs, floated over the […]
Topics: General, Nature Notes, Matt Johnson | No Comments »
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