Yellowstone, Montana

Yellowstone February 2017


Yellowstone became a national park 1872, established by the US Congress and signed  by
President Ulysses Grant. It is further believed that Native Americans have been in this area for 11000 years.

Yellowstone is known for its volcanic activity and hot springs. "Old Faithful" is best known and visited. The area is a huge caldera that sits on a super volcano. The caldera seen today was made by an eruption that took place ca. 640 000 years ago.

Old Faithful has erupted since year 2000. This geysir erupts normally every 45 +/- 15 minutes

Running water from the hot spring releases carbon dioxide and precipitate limestone and sulfur that makes
this beautiful coloration.

Little water pond bubbling. Different minerals from the water grows on the ground.

The Bison looking for food in the heated area. At this place it is only water vapor and no sulfur. Here the Bison can rest
and eat even in the middle of the winter.

Bison out plowing the snow to get down to the food.

Moose checking out the photographer 

The Elk also wondering what these photographers want.

Bighorn likes to show off.

Oters just out of the water where they hunt for food.

Lovely winter landscape where water vapor from hot springs makes ice crystals on the trees.

Have the wolves in Yellowstone helped bringing back the balance in the nature?

The wolf was already greatly reduced in number in this area and in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Although Yellowstone early became a national park, no protection was given to the wolf. The wolf was eradicated from the park in 1926 and has been totally absent until it was reinstalled in 1995.

Although there are some disagreement among the biologists, one theory is that the Elk could without fear feed on trees along the riverside. Furthermore, insects and larvae that lived in

these trees also disappeared. Lack of trees and their roots let to more erosion along the banks.

More sediments was brought into the rivers. This, together with less insects caused the fish to also strongly disappear.

Black wolf aware of our presence.

Dough Smith, a wildlife biologist, puts it in this way: "It is like kicking a small rock down a mountain side. It will develop to a scree of falling rocks". Meaning that one event leads to another.
It is believed by these same biologists that when the wolf was reintroduced in 1995 the above mentioned process was reversed.
The Elk, who previously could feed in peace along the river sides, now had to be aware of hunting wolves. They could now only stay for shorter periodes before it was necessary to move on. The trees along the riverside could gradually start to recover and insects and larvae could bloom again.

For the beaver the trees are important. The oter also grew in numbers as the number of fish could grow again.

Grey wolf seen in its environment.

If this development is correct, as some biologists mean, it is evident that the wolf has an   important place and function in Yellowstone Park. The wolf represents the top of the food chain and without

  it this chain is incomplete. Bear and Kyote are not considered huge contributors for keeping the number of Moose, Elk and Bison in balance.