Robert Gresswell

Historical threats to the native western trout included overharvest, fish stocking, and habitat degradation

YNP tried to protect the fish with stricter angling regulations

Cultural Resources tour of GRTE

Jackson Lake Lodge (1955) is a National Historic Landmark (2003) -- first modern structure of the NPS, landed in between the original Parkitechture and the Mission 66. Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed the Lodge and it was built between 53-56. He also designed the Ahwahnee (North Rim of the Grand Canyon) trying both times to blend with the landscape(though the definition of "blending" did change during that time. The building is made of "shadow box" where the concrete was power washed to look like wood. This is not the original finish but the company that created the original acid finish is still around but it does need to go on fresh concrete. The Lodge was built to accommodate cars -- the parking lot, the long Porte cochere. Rockefeller never wanted TVs, pools, or golf courses here. The point was to have people come to the Park, not to the Lodge.

There are some Vernon items in the Lodge, these are not part of the larger museum collection (of the 10,000 items, about 1400 are in the collection).

The art in the lobby are Rungius copies. Most of the originals are at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

Betsy -- historic architect

Abby -- acting deputy superintendent 

Erica -- Teton Weed and Pest

Colter Bay Visitor Center

Vernon collection was loaned to the Park Service in 1972. It was eventually donated to the Park. About half of the exhibit was on exhibit until  2004 when the superintendent id'd the fact that the collection needed some conservation.

AMK Ranch

The land was originally owned by a man named Sargent who never really made a go of it and ended up committing suicide and his brother let the land lapse into bankruptcy 

Oldest Research station in the Park Service

Owned by NPS; run by University of Wyoming 

Michael -- Director Research Station

Katherine -- 

Johnson Lodge (May-Lew Lodge for May and Lewis) -- rare two-story log building (at least rare out here)

On the National Register because of how it exemplifies rustic

The logs on many of these have black areas where mold would grow and then be shellacked in the next year. It could be argues that it was part of the history of the area that log buildings were treated like that. It certainly protected the logs. 

There have only been five caretakers for these buildings. You can see the transitions from caretaker to caretaker.

17 total buildings on the property

Boathouse

Johnson era buildings are the ones that have green caps on the end (to stop the log from sucking in moisture)

Johnson was one of Hoover's who bought this land for a dollar. He sold the property on 36/37. He sold the property to the Berols. Alfred was an executive with the Eagle pencil company. The AMK was for Alfred, his wife Madeline, and son Kenneth. The Berols very much loved this property and lived here all summer.

Kenneth sold the property to the Park Service in the 70s and UW took over soon after (though they had been in the park since probably the 40s)

The AMK Lodge has a branch of the UW libraries in the back wing

There is a bat problem and a carpenter ant problem but they are working on both of thos

Revised Leopold -- 3 pillars 

What Staffan has done to grow stewardship

Transparency -- BE with people, let them know what you're doing, when, and why. Let them know what's going on when problems crop up

Get Feedback -- hear what they think, solicit honest comments and then go back and let them know how you used it

Understanding -- get people on your side, to let them see what you're doing so that there's not a break in trust

Engagement -- make sure that the people who are supposed to be involved, get involved. Make sure that people not only know that you should be involved; they're going to be willing to ask you

I

Tuesday keynote

David Quammen

Asked by National Geographic to write an issue about Yellowstone. Quammen actually wrote the entire issue.

Eventually he came down to 2 ideas: the paradox of the cultivated wild and the grizzly bear as the hub of the great wheel

Bechler Day 3

Woke up around 5 and couldn't get back to sleep so I read until Trudy woke up around 7. 

There had been rain off and on during the night so I thought it might be wet out and when we opened the tent door, there were two little icicles hanging off the bottom. But when Trudy opened the rain fly, it was dry. Apparently, our body heat had generated condensation which then froze.

We decided to wait for a while and let our stuff dry since most of it was still damp. We finally hit the trail a little after 10 with mostly blue skies ahead but some darkish clouds dotting the sky. We made it to the slough fairly quickly and I had my water shoes on so I de-pantsed and waded in. It was muddy from yesterday's rain so it was quite exciting to wonder whether the next step might be into a hole. There weren't any. So we pantsed back up and headed on.

We had each made a prediction when the stock group we met yesterday might pass us. Trudy predicted at the junction and I predicted about a half mile beyond. They caught up with us just as we were about at the junction but they were just getting off for lunch. We also decided to pause.

Bechler Day 2

I actually slept pretty well but we still didn't get moving until almost 8. It didn't help that the overcast clouds made it seem later than it was. We did hit the trail at 10 and about two miles in saw some loose horses. We had made it to the stock site, 9A2.  The people were friendly and they hit the trail soon after we passed them because they passed us as we were drying our feet at the nearby stream crossing.
It sprinkled off and on as we made our way up the hill toward Dunanda. We opted to take the lower trail that runs through 9A3. We grabbed a quick lunch and the changed into our bathing suits and headed for the hot springs. And was it ever beautiful. After about an hour and a half of floating, it started to thunder so we decided that it might be good to head back.
About 1/3 of the way down the trail, it started to rain. Now, I had made the fatal error of believing the forecast of 30% chance of rain and not brought a rain jacket. I have learned this is not wise in the past but somehow I forgot. So I was pretty well soaked through. But I did stop by the horse camp to drop off the sunglasses that had been left at Dunanda. The owner was pretty darn excited to have them back.
When we got back to camp, it was still raining, so Trudy and I crawled into the tent to read for awhile. We got out for a quick dinner and then drifted off to sleep

First day in Bechler

I picked Trudy up a little after 8 and we were off -- over Dunraven (the Norris road was closed) and then Canyon and out through Madison. We stopped in West for coffee, whiskey, and sandwiches from Eddie's Deli. The BLT was $11 but there was a LOT of "B" so it worked.

Thank God Trudy remembered how to get to Bechler because the signage is horrible. After about 11 miles down a gravel road, we got to the parking lot. And So... many... cars. Good Lord. The last time I came down. I remember a few cars on the day we went in and only one other on our way out. Today, the lot was full. Thank god I have a mall car or we would have been waiting around for the two tours that had just come out (about 10 eating a picnic lunch and another 10 or so getting off a horse ride). 

We checked in with the backcountry office and were on our way.

The whole time we had been talking about this trip, Heidi and Trudy had been warning me about the slough crossing and the subsequent bog. We forgot it has been a very dry fall and the slough crossing was barely above my knees and the bog was completely dried out.

We knew we were about 4/5 of the way there so we stopped for a whiskey break. It was delightful. 

We continued on to 9A1 and set up camp and filtered water. We had our permit checked by a young ranger who wanted to make sure we weren't up to any tomfoolery. Then dinner and just waiting for an appropriate time to turn in.

Roosevelt Cookout

Jeanette picked me up just after 2:30 and I hopped in her truck with Carrie. We headed upturn hill and picked up Mel. Traffic was light and we made it to the corrals by 3:35z as we arrived, one of the wranglers started explaining the ride. He was a fantastic speaker and was able to stretch his talk when the other speakers were not loading the horses as quickly as he expected.
Cole and Ric were our wagon leaders. We had a lot of fun on the way out with a mixture of Cole telling us some of the history and explaining some of the natural elements here. Then he had everyone introduce themselves and say their favorite part that they've seen or want to see.
Then we made it to the cookout and Jeanette brought out her water bottle which was filled with wine. And we sat and enjoyed that while the food line went down. Then we got up and waited in line with options for cornbread muffins, coleslaw, potato salad, corn salad, and steak. Delicious, perfectly cooked steak.
Then there were songs and stories around the campfire. And back onto the wagons and back to Roosevelt.