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On the late afternoon of February 11, 2007, with bellies full of Mountain High Pizza Pies, Judge Memorial High School rolled into the Teton Science Schools’ Kelly Campus from Salt Lake City, Utah. We settled the group into their cabins, fit them with gear for the week, played some games, and headed to bed. We all had a long, but exciting week ahead of us!
Throughout the week, the group focused on elements of change in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. They cross-country skied around the Kelly Campus, snowshoed at Bradley-Taggart, carried out and presented research projects on snow science, and spent a day in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was a truly magical place to visit in the wintertime- the bison were digging in the snow, the colorful bacteria in the pools contrasted with the surrounding snow, and we arrived at Old Faithful just in time to see it go off! The final day of the program was spent at the Kelly Campus, celebrating with a monumental ski to Coyote Rock, a slide show, and certificates to all the program participants.
The Teton Science Schools crew wishes to send out a final thank you to the Judge High School teachers and students for helping to make this week such a fun and memorable one!
Viennia, Colleen and I (Dale), will be skiing in the Moose Chase skate skiing race at Teton Village tomorrow. If you are in the area, come by and cheer us on!!!
Jack Turner, author of Teewinot: A year in the Teton Range and Abstract Wild, spoke with the graduate students and faculty for an evening. Jack’s ideas were presented in the context of a book of his that is to be released this summer called Travels in the Greater Yellowstone. Jack’s new book highlights ecological issues in the greater yellowstone ecosystem by documenting various locations throughout the area that illustrate specific problems. For example, the Bear Tooth Plateau is an high alpine area that exists at 10,000 ft and is home to the American Pipit, Black Rosy-Finch, and pikas. The increases in temperature associated with human induced climate change may “push” these species out of this habitat. Jack contends it may be the new silent spring for the Bear Tooths.
Jack also spent a portion of the evening discussing what “wild” means to our society. Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park are often thought of as wild or wilderness. Jack believes they are not as wild as we may think. He posed questions such as, “How can we call something wilderness if we actively try to control it?” Poignant examples he used were the controversial wolf reintroduction and the newly proposed elk and bison herd culls.
His ideas have sparked interesting discussions around our community. The discussion has been timely because it corresponds to the “Ecological Inquiry” class currently happening. In this class, graduate students are exploring multiple perspectives on ecological issues in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Check back for some results of their inquiries.
A couple photos of a common bird around the Kelly Campus.
