Yellowstone News

Imagine a Yellowstone National Park where Old Faithful suddenly starts erupting sporadically - or does not erupt at all. Imagine Grand Prismatic Spring shrinking. Or Mammoth Hot Springs running dry. Or Steamboat Geyser losing its towering plume. Such scenarios might seem unimaginable, given that these features have consistently, if unpredictably, awed human visitors in Yellowstone for thousands of years. Yet as America escalates its efforts to address its energy challenges, the very core of the Yellowstone mystique - its 10,000 geothermal features - could be at risk.

The non-profit Yellowstone Association Institute (YAI) has announced its line-up of “Lodging & Learning” programs for the 2009 spring, summer and fall seasons. Each of the programs includes daily instruction by an Institute naturalist/guide, comfortable accommodations each night in an in-park lodge, some meals, in-park ground transportation and optional National Park Service evening programs.

The bald eagle wheeled low over the pond, intent on grabbing something from the water for its next meal. After that unsuccessful pass, the raptor flapped its massive wings twice, spun around and made another pass. Again, it came up empty. Undeterred, the eagle made a third pass when I realized it wasn't after a fish at all, but a small duck. The little creature escaped the eagle's talons by diving under the surface each time the raptor approached.

Visitors to Yellowstone National Park this winter will be able to experience the park’s snowy glory in snowcoaches that feature increased passenger comfort and fuel efficiency.

Exclusive ski and golf community Yellowstone Club, in Montana, has filed for bankruptcy protection, a sign that the financial crisis roiling the real estate and leisure industries is not limited to the low end of the market.

Take in the wintry-white Yellowstone National Park aboard a snow coach; watch elk, bison and otters; cross-country ski or snowshoe to geysers; ring in the New Year with Old Faithful. Tour operator Off the Beaten Path, whose Greater Yellowstone trips have found a place on Travel + Leisure’s recently published “20 Life-Changing Trips” list, has a “Winter Wonders” tour promising fun adventures amid a comfortable, relaxing setting.

You couldn't tell from the throngs of people clogging the roads around Old Faithful this summer, but the number of visitors to Yellowstone National Park was slightly down through the end of September, according to figures from the National Park Service. At the end of October, the 2008 tally was 3.09 million, down a little more than 1 percent under 2007's total of 3.11 million.

The number of snowmobiles allowed in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks would be lowered by 39 percent following a judge's ruling that the vehicles dirty the air and displace wildlife.

Exposed logs stacked seven stories high. Gnarled timber railings. Cozy wooden writing desks. Standing in the lobby of the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone National Park is like peering up from the bottom of a box of Lincoln Logs, those old-fashioned wooden building toys. Toss in a giant stone fireplace, copper and iron chandeliers and comfy cushioned settees, and you can't help but get swallowed up in the wondrous and magical vibe of the country's best-known park lodge.

In the waning days of the Bush administration, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne Tuesday announced a plan to conserve bison, also called buffalo, with a second interagency group.

Frogs and salamanders, those amphibious bellwethers of environmental danger, are being killed in Yellowstone National Park. The predator, Stanford researchers say, is global warming.

t was early evening when I approached Old Faithful for the first time - just after an eruption. Should I wait for the next one or keep going? Plenty of daylight remained, but my hotel was still 35 miles away.

National Park Service landscape preservation specialists from the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation (OCLP) are working in the Fort Yellowstone Historic District in Mammoth Hot Springs on condition assessment and the stabilization of the cottonwood trees that line Officer's Row.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wants to proceed with its portion of an agreement that would allow 25 bison a year to migrate from Yellowstone National Park north through a ranch in the Paradise Valley to graze on public land.

Yellowstone National Park plans to start using a more environmentally friendly road-building material called “warm-mix” asphalt beginning Monday with a project in Mammoth Hot Springs.