Dear Supporter,

Roadless lands in Idaho and keeping grizzly bears away from garbage are in the news this month. Read on for stories from Yellowstone National Park and the lands that surround it.

Wildlife

Hot, dry weather last summer left grizzlies and black bears searching high and low for food. Unfortunately, places like Island Park, Idaho, became flash points for human-bear conflicts that resulted in animals being removed from the population. This year, GYC is launching a project to make Island Park safer for both bears and humans by using high-tech garbage bins. [Grizzlies]

Bison- NYT article - The plight of the Yellowstone bison made the front page of the New York Times in late March. GYC National Parks Program Director Amy McNamara's hard work in getting agencies to rewrite the Interagency Bison Management Plan, in combination with this winter's brutal slaughter of more than 1100 bison, has raised the awarenes of this issue nationally. [Bison]

Waters

When the just-completed Teton Dam in eastern Idaho failed in June 1976, it left 11 people dead and caused more than $1 billion in damage. Today, some Idaho lawmakers want to build a new dam at the same site to help meet the state’s insatiable appetite for water. [Teton Dam]

Lands

Idaho Roadless The Bush administration has been working to overturn the 2001 Clinton Rule since its first week in office. Each state was asked what national forest lands they wanted to see more roads on. Most states were happy not to add any more roads to their national forest lands but Idaho, controlled by powerful phosphate mining intrests, wants to crack the lid wide open on pristine lands adjacent to Yellowstone in the southeast corner of the state. [Idaho Roadless]

Pronghorn Migration Corridor The Bridger-Teton National Forest took a small step toward protecting one of the longest land migration routes in North America when it proposed a migration corridor connecting pronghorn winter range near Pinedale, Wyo., with the Gros Ventre range northeast of Jackson. [Pronghorn]

Community Events

Mark your calendars for these upcoming events. Meet members, have fun, and learn more about Greater Yellowstone. [Events]

WILDLIFE

Bears in Island Park, Idaho Protecting bears (and people) often boils down to one thing—garbage. Properly stored garbage reduces the risk of bears becoming habituated to human food sources. Unfortunately, when bears get into garbage and start seeing humans as a food source, they usually end up dead. The old saying, "A fed bear is a dead bear" rings true in many Greater Yellowstone communities. In an effort to help the community of Island Park be a safer place for both bears and people, GYC is teaming up with a local citizens group, Island Park Advocates for Responsible Development (IPARD), to get bear proof garbage bins into the hands of local residents.

To kick off the project this summer, GYC and IPARD will host a "Living with Wildlife" workshop that will focus on educating community members about the responsibilities that come with living in bear country. At this workshop, the two organizations will announce the creation of the Island Park Community Bear Proof Container Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to make money available for Island Park residents to purchase bear proof garbage bins (think of your standard garbage can, but steel reinforced and on steroids). GYC will donate the first two bear proof containers to the Flat Rock Club, a 100-year old fishing lodge located on the banks of the Henry's Fork. Educating folks about how to live better with wildlife and giving them the hardware to do so is what this project is all about. [more] [even more!]

WATERS

Teton Dam What do you get when you combine the effects of climate change, one of the nation’s fastest growing populations, and a political establishment that is dominated by irrigated agriculture interests?

If Idaho legislators get their way – perhaps a new dam on the Teton River in the parched southeast corner of the state. In late March, the Idaho Legislature voted to spend $400,000 to study the idea of building a concrete dam on the Teton River that would cost an estimated $435 million.

On June 5, 1976, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s new 305-foot high earthen dam on the Teton River collapsed, sending a towering wall of water roaring downstream toward Rexburg. When the floodwaters receded, 11 people were dead, 18,000 head of livestock were lost and the lower Teton River’s native cutthroat trout fishery was nearly destroyed. [view photos of the 1976 collapse] [more]

LANDS

Idaho Roadless Lands
For the past seven years, the conservation community has successfully blocked the Bush Administration’s numerous attacks on the last remaining Roadless Areas in our National Forests. The Bush Administration has used every trick in the book, beginning with a postponement of the Clinton 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule’s implementation within their first week in office, and their later attempt to appeal the 2001 Rule outright. When this didn’t work, the Bush Administration initiated a state petitioning process that would effectively allow management of our national roadless lands to be unfairly influenced by state industry and politics.

Idaho is the first state to have submitted a petition. This petition and the subsequent Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) offers substantially less protection for the great majority of Idaho’s 9.3 million roadless acres, and sets an extremely bad precedent for future management of our nation’s roadless lands. Don’t let the Bush Administration push through their last focused assault on our wild heritage. [more]

COMMUNITY EVENTS

GYC's 25th Annual Meeting will be in West Yellowstone, Mont., on June 6-7. Mark your calendars, buy your tickets online, load up the car and get ready for a visit.

Ronnie Bedford and Friends are celebrating GYC's 25th Anniversary in Powell, Wyo.! This legendary jazz drummer will play on April 19 at Northwest College. [jazz]