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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Download our pdf maps of Yellowstone’s riparian willow communities
By Mike Tercek | October 30, 2008
You can download the pdf version of our Yellowstone willow maps, newly updated with 2008 data.
This report provides maps showing the mean height for all the willow plants that occur in each thicket on the northern range, but we have a lot more data. For example, we have recorded height and distribution separately for each […]
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New funding from the National Science Foundation
By Mike Tercek | August 23, 2008
We have received a $49,000 Small Grant For Exploratory Research (SGER) from the National Science Foundation. This money will allow us to intensively study several non-thermal, high-CO2 plant communities in Yellowstone.
The grant was written in collaboration with our colleague Julie Whitbeck (University of New Orleans).
We’re very excited!
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New research on fungi native to geothermal soils in Yellowstone
By Mike Tercek | May 6, 2008
Walking Shadow Ecology has contributed to a research paper on fungi that live inside plants that grow in Yellowstone’s thermal areas. The research report appears in the journal Microbial Ecology. Click here to view a pdf version.
Topics: General | No Comments »
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