Photo by Melensdad

Wyoming’s governor is calling for more snowmobiles to be granted access to Yellowstone? It must be fall. Calling on his extraordinary expertise on Yellowstone and ecology, Gov. Matt Mead pulled the number 540 snowmobiles per day out of thin air. While the NPS conducts another impact study, the current limit is about 330 snowmobiles and 80 ‘snowcoaches’ per day. I’m not sure what a ‘snowcoach is, but based on a quick search it’s either a covered, tow-behind sled or a huge snowbus from the 1960s. Regardless, all look like they would do a wonderful job terrorizing Yellowstone wildlife.

Authorities in Yellowstone have trapped a 420-pound grizzly at the site of the fatal mauling of a man from Michigan. It was the second fatal mauling in Yellowstone, though the first bear was allowed to survive since rangers determined it was a defensive attack. The recently trapped bear has had hair samples taken and then it was fixed with a radio collar and released. A lab is running the DNA and comparing it to grizzly hair found on the scene of the mauling. If there’s a match, they’ll use the radio collar to find the bear and kill it. It’s a smart solution; otherwise they just kill the animal and never really know if they caught the right one.

Photo by Karthikc123

Montana authorities are saying that fillets cut from 58 fish taken from the river in Yellowstone that was affected by 42,000 barrels of Exxon oil are showing no oil. They’ve declared the fish safe to eat. There was oil found in the fish livers and gonads, so the fish might disagree that there were no adverse affects from the spill. In any case, just stay away from the gonads. And Exxon.

via Moldy Chum

Earthquakes in New York and Colorado. A hurricane in New York. And now a barrage of 700 lightening strikes in Yellowstone in one 24-hour period. These are the things that happen when I try to leave town for a week. The strikes in Yellowstone ignited six wildfires though none larger than an acre. So are we having crazy weather or has a government hostile to the US testing a doomsday device? We’ll find out soon enough. The good news is that all the fires in Yellowstone are being managed and none look to pose much of a danger to the park.

Geyser enthusiasts revere Yellowstone the same way that climbers look at Yosemite: the promised land, and the best proving ground in America. The Geyser Gazers are a group of like-minded folk who search the backcountry for remote geysers, taking measurements and documenting their idiosyncrasies. Sounds like fun, I bet you run into as many clandestine marijuana farms as you do new geysers.