Yellowstone Country Guardians Field Journal

Bioneers Conference...

Join YCG Director and Founder Michael Leach on Saturday, October 17th at the Emerson Theater in Bozeman, Montana at 2:30 pm for his keynote address at the Bioneers Conference.  We could not be more thrilled and honored to be a part of this tremendous global event.  The Born Network and Bioneers Conference speak to the heart of our belief that we need to broaden our environmental dialogue to include how we can work with local residents to strengthen our communities economically, socially and environmentally. 

Take a look at the amazing keynote speaker line-up:

Bioneers Speakers

This is from the Born Network website which we encourage you all to check out:

Saturday 2:30-3:30pm, Emerson Theater- The Wildness and Spirit of Yellowstone: Inspiring Local Communities Presenter Michael Leach, Executive Director of Yellowstone Country Guardians, has deep roots throughout the Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming region and has worked as a naturalist, fly-fishing guide, and writer based out of Gardiner, Montana. Michael's writing has appeared in Wyoming Wildlife, the Yellowstone Discovery and Distinctly Montana. His work as a Ranger Naturalist, and more recently as the Bear Education Ranger in Yellowstone National Park, inspired his vision to start a Yellowstone based nonprofit. Yellowstone Country Guardians is a grassroots organization working on the ground through its education and outreach programs to inspire a sense of pride and to foster a commitment from local communities to ensure that Yellowstone Country remains a place of hope and wildness for this and future generations.

Youth Wilderness Leadership Program Underway...

It was with great excitement that I awoke this morning on the dawn of our first annual Youth Wilderness Leadership Program.  Though a thick cumulus cloud hovers over the stoic summit of Electric Peak, a radiant light rising over the bench of Mt. Everts bathes the northeastern flanks of both Sepulcher Mountain and Electric Peak, as if symbolizing the importance of today. 

I couldn't be more thrilled to share with you our excitement for the start of this weekend's event.  After months of hard work, we will welcome 18 fiery high school students from Gardiner, Livingston, Sprindale, Clyde Park and Bozeman to help them learn more about the importance of their backyard while uncovering their potential as leaders within their respective communities. 

The future of Yellowstone Country rests largely in the hands of the youth of this region and we believe this weekend has the opportunity to be a game changer for many of the tremendous participants from around the area that we will have the pleasure of working with this weekend.  The main retreat site will be the spectacular B Bar Ranch in the Tom Miner Basin and our day in the field will include wildlife watching in the Lamar Valley, a day hike to a gem in wonderland, and a tour of the Mammoth Hot Springs. 

I want to thank all of you who have contributed your time and/or financial support to help make this dream a reality!  We and the kids will make  you proud...

~Michael Leach, Director

Winter In October...

Awoke to a wicked storm brewing in Gardiner this morning!  The winds are crashing against the logs of the house and the brutally frigid temps have been seeping through the windows all night.  Can this really be the cards we will be dealt for all of October?  I guess I should feel fortunate that it's a good day for a grant deadline, because without the January like storm which has locked down the Gardiner Basin I would be yearning to drop everything to pursue runner brown trout in the pools of the Gardner River. 

It has been almost a week since I have seen the rugged sandstone outcropping of Electric Peak and for the third morning in a row the monarch of Mammoth Hot Springs—Bunsen Peak—is shrouded in a white haze and leaving me to wonder whether the extinct volcano cone is simply a figment of my imagination.

On most days the expansive view from our flat bench overlooking the worn and raggedy town of Gardiner and the park beyond often makes us feel as if we are living in the Vatican of Yellowstone. But on days such as today, when the vistas leading into the gaping mouth of the Black Canyon and prominent landmarks such as Turkey Pen Peak, Rattlesnake Butte, Sepulcher Mountain and McMinn Bench are cloaked in the flurries of a storm, our home acts not as temple but instead as a refuge.

One of the many pleasures of being the head boys’ basketball coach here in Gardiner is the opportunity to endure the incessant winds and glacial temperatures that accompany winter in one of the sturdiest structures in town, the gym.  Though I always dread the 6 am practices when I have to awake two hours before the gray rays of light begin to dully illuminate our sleepy little basin, knowing I will soon be in the warmth of a gym with 20 of my boys makes this daunting task more than tolerable. 

Each winter morning starts the same:  I take tender steps with achy bones not yet warmed into the cold and darkness of winter.  My head is covered in stocking cap and hooded parka and I usually have a decision to make about my hands.  Being that I often forget my gloves in the tomb of the truck overnight, I more often than not have to make a difficult decision for a foggy brain:  What’s worse?  The painful possibility of pinching the steering wheel between my right index finger and thumb in effort to reduce skin contact to the steely rubber of the trucks piloting device, or, forgoing skin to rubber contact and choosing to encase my hands in a frozen stiff leather glove? But regardless of how I go about arriving on the hardwood in time to open up the locker room doors and prepare the gym for a frenzied practice, there is a sense of relief having hurried from the windswept parking lot of the school and into the sanctuary of our winter home away from home.

I find it a bit disturbing that I am having these thoughts of January on the 9^th day of October but thus far, with the exception of one day, the first week and a half of what is usually my favorite month of the year more closely resembles the short and blustery days of winter than the splendor of autumn.   It is not simply that the calendar on my wall tells me it is far too early for such extreme and yet steady weather, but the land itself does not seem ready for the blustery winds and mercury dropping readings we are now experiencing throughout the region. 

The three day weather forecast for Bozeman, Montana reads: Today’s high 22, low 2, with 100% chance of snow.  Saturday’s high 22, low 5.  Sunday’s high 23, low 7.  And yet, the cottonwoods lining the Yellowstone River and dotting the arid heart of Gardiner still hold their deep green hue and even the 30+ mph winds are not yet tearing the leaves from their stems. 

As I write these words the rattle of the gutters and battering of the windows send small tremors throughout the house and the right side of my body tenses with the sporadic flow of cold air seeping through the door. For the sanity of the residents of our small gateway communities I have to hold out hope that this is just a freakish anomaly, not a harrowing trend.      

~Michael Leach, Director

Within one hour of writing this essay, Electric Peak began to appear...

For the first time in a week the sandstone outcropping of Electric on display in G-town!

 

October On The Wing

For as long as I can remember, October has always been my favorite time of year in Yellowstone Country.  The craziness of summer has passed and this is typically the time of adventure, a time to settle the unfinished business of exploring Yellowstone’s backcountry before winter announces its arrival.  And though I imagine we will still see a few fall-like days, we have now experienced almost a week of winter-like weather here in Gardiner.  Today looks and feels very much like December or March with highs topping out near 32 degrees, with raging winds and wet snow flurries.  The weather forecast is calling for more of the same and certainly doesn’t resemble any October I can remember.

Though the cold temperatures and snow flurries that abruptly followed a 70 degree day last week forced me to shelve my plans for a backcountry adventure into the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone, there was something very comforting about revving up the fire, and cozily working from home with my baby girl for a few days.  But this is now out of control.  We always have snow flurries in October, in fact I have celebrated as many birthdays—which occurs the first week of October—amidst snow flurries as I have without in recent years.  And though I know better, it eerily feels as if winter—still weeks away in reality—is tightening its grip on the region, threatening to undo the adventures that typically fill the 10^th month of the year. 

During the craziness of summer here in Yellowstone I always have received great comfort when the days begin to fade, the nights become longer, July passes into August and August into September, knowing that October is still to come.  October is still to be celebrated.  And the autumn celebration will take form in the way of adventure: the Bechler, Hoodoos, Black Canyon and Tetons.

Most of the trips that require multi-day efforts, trips that can’t be squeezed into the hectic summer schedule of a gateway community member, are pushed off to the fall; and while September provided endless days worthy of exploration, simply knowing October still awaited allowed for just enough complacency to put adventure on hold.

It is not to say that souls hardier than I won’t seize these turbulent days being offered by Yellowstone, but perhaps adventure should not be postponed with thoughts of October on the horizon.  If we always put off adventure with the comfort of October on the wing, or next summer yet to come, we may miss that wondrous journey into the depths of somewhere sacred that has the potential to shape our vision and how we connect with the natural world. 

With the fate of YCG resting largely in my hands, my ability to quench my thirst for adventure has diminished.   Instead I find my energies flowing towards fulfilling the mission of inspiring local communities to nurture the wildness and spirit of Yellowstone Country.  But we all must remember our innate human need to venture into the wilds in search of exploration and adventure.  While we all want to make the most of this one walk upon the earth that is our life journey, I think we all need to remind ourselves of the absolute need to refuel, recharge, and reconnect with what it is we are all working so hard to nurture. 

So next summer, let the comfort of October fuel a restful day reading a powerful book, but don’t let it lure you into believing you can put off adventure for another day, month or year.  Get out there and explore.  Your spirit will thank you, and the world will be a better place for your efforts.  

~Michael Leach, Director

Winter-like snow flurries shaking up the landscape. Gardiner, MT