The Crew all jacked up after finishing our second year of bear box projects in YNP.
We awoke early on the final morning of the 2011 Yellowstone Leadership Challenge to cool temperatures, sunshine and clear blue skies. It was an idyllic autumn morning. After a festive breakfast, we all gathered in the main room at our lodge provided by Dome Mountain Ranch and shared a passionate discussion following a reading of a recent piece about the Yellowstone bison issue—one of the most heated and contentious wildlife conflicts anywhere in the west. Following the reading we engaged in a debate that truly reflects the grassroots nature of YCG and programs such as our Yellowstone Leadership Challenge.
Watching the students go from engaged to committed throughout the course of the three day program is what makes all of the time, effort and planning worth while. It was clear as we debated the local bison issue that we were in the presence of the future leaders of the region. We often say that no one has more to lose from the despoilment of a wild Yellowstone than the youth of this region, and no one has more to gain from the preservation of this wild landscape. Providing an opportunity to discuss and debate issues such as bison, wolf and grizzly bear management is what will help us to move forward and find solutions that will allow our communities—four legged, winged, finned and two legged—to thrive, making this one of the most special places on the planet to call home.
Following our bison discussion we loaded up and journeyed back to the sleepy community of Gardiner—while bustling in summer, Sundays in October bring a quiet calm to this gateway community—and cruised under the legendary Roosevelt Arch en-route to Tower Fall Campground. Building upon our service project from the 2010 Yellowstone Leadership Challenge, we met up with YCG friend Travis Wyman—one of my best friends and my former assistant basketball coach at Gardiner High—for a day filled with bear education and yet another meaningful service learning opportunity.
While the ground was frozen, with loads of passion and excitement still resonating from our successful service project the day before, students busted through the hardened crust and with the guidance of Travis, pioneered a new style of bear box platforms. As the former bear education ranger in Yellowstone National Park, this is a very meaningful project for me on a personal level. We speak each day about inspiring a legacy and living a life that matters and both our Day Two and Day Three service projects demonstrated a commitment from each YLC student to leave a positive mark, benefiting both the bears of Yellowstone and the thousands of campers that will have a safe place to store their food and camp cookware.
Following our bear project with Travis and the Yellowstone National Park Bear Management Office we went for a hike up Tower Creek where we conducted our “I Believe” activity along the banks of its pulsing waters. Next we all found our own spot to sit, meditate and reflect on our personal experience. Sitting along the low but hurried waters of Tower Creek, the wind whistled through the skeleton lodgepole pine forest which was burnt during the 1988 forest fire, while the clouds floated across the brilliant blue sky. It was hard not to simply enjoy the gentle caress of the warm sunshine knowing this may very well be the last such day before the snow begins to fly.
After our Tower Creek excursion we journeyed to the enigmatic and dynamic Mammoth Hot Springs where I shared a short geology talk followed by our drive back to the ranch. As is always the case on the final afternoon of our Yellowstone Leadership Challenge, we were in full scramble mode to clean up the lodge and pack up the trucks all before one final session of powerful inspiration.
The last hour of every YCG program wraps up with one last motivational speech that I share with students, followed by student testimony. This is always an emotional, inspirational and powerful time. In hopes of leaving the students with one final high-energy “locker room talk” as I like to call them, we re-visit all of the core values and critical concepts that the program emphasizes throughout each day. Following the 20 minute speech the teens were jacked up, and we mentors simply sat back and listened as the students shared their final testimonies which always move us to tears.
The drive back to Livingston was full of laughs, fun, discussion and bumping beats. The third annual Yellowstone Leadership Challenge has come to an end and 20 local teens that represent Yellowstone’s hope for the future have uncovered their potential as leaders in their respective communities and their ability to positively shake up the world around them.
~Michael Leach, Director and Founder
Girl power!
A busy crew busting through the harden ground making a trench for the bear box platform.
A happy Mizz Cameshia getting after it.
MJ all smiles as the crew is moving 400 pounds of bear saving steel.
The first bear box of the day completed. Mad props to the girls for getting it done.
All smiles all the time. Olivia and Taylor who joined the YCG crew for our 2011 River G School relishing another fulfilling day.
A lesson in stream ecology along the banks of Tower Creek.
The 2011 Yellowstone Leadership Challenge Crew.
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