Leslie Stoltz was guiding a group to the overlook of Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park early one summer evening in 2020 when a black helicopter began circling the hot spring, sending a young boy into tears.
Spring is here and summer is just around the corner. A number of units within the National Park System are opening their roads, or in some cases, delaying openings.
The year 2022 is the 150th birthday of the creation of Yellowstone National Park. The establishment of the park in 1872 is something to celebrate globally. It is a shining beacon for conservation as well as public ownership. Yet, I don’t think most people appreciate today what a remarkable achievement it was and still is.
"Watching Old Faithful Geyser erupt is a Yellowstone National Park tradition. People from all over the world have journeyed here to watch this famous geyser. The park’s wildlife and scenery might be as well-known today, but it was the unique thermal features like Old Faithful Geyser that inspired the establishment of Yellowstone as the world’s first national park in 1872."
If you take a winter snowcoach or snowmobile tour to Midway Basin and walk on the boardwalk around the edges of Grand Prismatic Spring, you'll notice paw and hoof prints on the shallow terraces of the hot spring. That white you see is not snow, but silica. The hot thermal waters hold silica in solution, and when the water cools, the silica precipitates out.
Soda Butte is a "travertine calcium carbonate mound formed more than a century ago by a hot spring. Only small amounts of hydrothermal water and hydrogen sulfide gas currently flow from this once more prolific spring." Sometimes, you can smell the sulfur in the atmosphere around Soda Butte.
As climate change continues to alter habitats for plants and animals, and as the call for a national biodiversity strategy gets louder, the country's long-distance hiking trails could prove to be valuable corridors for species.