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Sunday, July 31, 2005

CNN Presents: Searching for Extreme Lifeforms in Yellowstone

Besides Chile's Atacama Desert and Mars, the television documentary CNN Presents recently visited Yellowstone while filming a story on the search for life in the world's most extreme environments.

Check out the photos and video on the website.


The search for life in space has always been the stuff of science fiction books and movies. But from the harshest deserts of Earth to the far-flown depths of space, scientists are looking for that elusive sign that we are not alone...

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

A New Decade of Wolves in Yellowstone

Yellowstone NP's wolf recovery project director Douglas S. Smith reflects on a decade of restoration efforts in a feature for the Wildlife Conservation Society:

Yellowstone's Heroine Wolves: Meet Five, Nine, and Fourteen.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Howls heard in unexpected places

Wolf watchers celebrate the ten year aniversary of the successful re-introduction of wolves to the Rocky Mountains:

A Wild West feature from naturalist Susan J. Tweit in the LA Times: "The wolf has reclaimed its dominion in Yellowstone. How far will it be able to wander?"

Howls heard in unexpected places

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Bison Numbers at Record High...but Future is Uncertain

An Associated Press piece in the Arizona Republic about the controversy and implications of bison reaching record high numbers (around 4,200) in Yellowstone NP:

Bison quarantine targets disease: Critics call the plan domestication

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Old Faithful Inn Undergoing 3-year, $22 million renovation

An interesting article from the Billings Gazette about the challenges of renovating Old Faithful's iconic, century-old Inn:

"The National Park Service will only open the inn for business for two months this summer [of 2005], from July 1 to Sept. 1, and for three months next year [2--6], from July 1 to September or October. The inn will resume normal operations in 2007, opening to guests from May to October."

Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn gets a 21st-century renovation

Thursday, July 21, 2005

New Upgraded Yellowstone Webcams

Yellowstone Announces a Major Upgrade to Its Old Faithful WebCam.

According to the NPS press release:


Virtual visitors” to the Old Faithful Geyser WebCam page will find a greatly improved view of Old Faithful Geyser. New cameras at Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs will provide larger and sharper WebCam images than ever before. The new Old Faithful Geyser WebCam was unveiled on Thursday, June 23rd.

The larger, sharper images allow a much better view of eruptions of Old Faithful Geyser, as well as visitor and wildlife activities on and around the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. You will find links to all of our WebCams on the Yellowstone WebCam home page.

We will be keeping our original MammothCam in place because many visitors use it to wave to family and friends back home via the Internet. That is why visitors can often be seen on the WebCam talking on their cell phones and waving toward the camera. As word has spread, this camera has become a highly popular “electronic postcard” that has been sent by visitors to friends and family worldwide.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Yellowstone Wikipedia

For a fascinating introduction to Yellowstone, the world's first and foremost National Park, see its well-organized Wikipedia entry:


Yellowstone National Park is a U.S. National Park located in the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Yellowstone is the first and oldest national park in the world and covers 3,470 square miles (8,980 km²), mostly in the northwest corner of Wyoming. The park is famous for its various geysers, hot springs, and other geothermal features and is home to grizzly bears and wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk. It is the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the largest intact temperate zone ecosystems remaining on the planet.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Yellowstone Construction Updates

As the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports, there's more under construction, scheduled for repair or seismic upgrade than not in Yellowstone these days.


"Six major building projects are under way or scheduled to begin soon. Two major highway rebuilds are halfway completed and more are in the planning stages."


With this in mind, it's more important than ever to call ahead and double-check facility opening dates and road construction schedules this summer.

Friday, July 01, 2005

King Features Syndicate Launches "Travels with Lonely Planet" column

Press release.

Initally, the column will be picked up by the Travel section of around 15 major US newspapers, like the Houston Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, and San Francisco Chronicle.

One of the premier articles will be my piece about the joys of exploring Yellowstone in spring.