
This fox was spotted tracking a snowshoe hare from atop the Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance earlier this month.
Since the NPS is obliged by law to preserve the parks “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people”—as well as to conserve their natural resources—officials are pondering ways to carry out these sometimes opposing obligations. Way back in May of 2011, I developed a plan for a shuttle system on the west side of the park. Unlike a park such as Zion, which essentially has one central road, the figure-eight system of park roads in Yellowstone does not lend itself well to shuttles, but having only the most-traveled west side accessible by shuttle and creating incentives to encourage able-bodied visitors to use them would help the congestion.
As someone who has enjoyed the park for over three-quarters of a century, I don’t want us to love it to death!
—Janet
Photo credit: Yellowstone Forever, @ynpforever Twitter feed, January 6, 2017