Yellowstone Country Guardians Field Journal

River Guardian Fly Fishing School 2010 Video/Music Montage...

 

 

After a long day spent raising funds, sponsors and awareness for our 2011 River Guardian Fly Fishing School, while fighting the wind and random snow flurries, I felt it was only fitting to post our latest Youtube video tonight.  My spirits were riding high all day as I shared this video/slideshow chronicling our inspiring and successful 2010 River Guardian Fly Fishing School with our supporters. 

For those of you yearning for river adventures donning shorts and sandals, hopefully this video/music montage will add a little extra bounce to your step…

With Nothin’ But Love,

~Michael Leach, Director and Founder 

Soul Fishing at the 2010 River Guardian Fly Fishing School...

 

While the sky is furiously spitting snow flurries, the return of two sand hill cranes and a pair of mountain bluebirds tells of spring on the wing. In the refuge of the YCG office, my body shakes periodically at the chill bombarding the windows and seeping through the cracks. Networking, setting up presentations and writing grants in efforts to raise money for the 2011 River Guardian Fly Fishing School, I found myself in need of inspiration and so I watched several of the emotional testimonies from our 2010 student participants which recently brought the entire YCG board to tears, and I came upon this invigorating video that gave me just the mojo I desperately needed to push onward today.

With spring on the wing and summer soon to come, I hope this video inspires all of you river-rats and lovers of flowing water to dream of adventures looming around the next bend...

~Michael Leach, Director and Founder

YNP Park Roads Open to Cyclists...

Cruising Swan Lake Flats with baby. April 2010.

Skis and wheels. While yesterday provided a fat planked blissful experience with Yellowstone Backcountry Ranger Jim Williams, bombing down the groomers at Bridger Bowl Ski Area, today's announcement that the park's roads are now open once again to bicycles represents a time for wind embracing fun on skinny tires. 

While biking feels far from my thoughts on this cold, blustery day in Gardiner, the knowledge that the next three weeks will provide the opportunity to pedal through the northern reaches of Yellowstone on the roadway from Mammoth to Norris without the presence of skull busting two ton pick-up trucks and 30 foot RV's festooned with side mirrors seemingly built with the sole purpose of decapitating cyclists, is cause for celebration. 

Regardless of whether you are a Tour de France-watching whacko—a category I fall into—who loves to climb the steep grades which abound throughout the park, or one who prefers a more mellow glide on an upright cruiser, the opportunity to soak in the quiet ruggedness of Yellowstone on two skinny wheels with the roads as your personal pathway to adventure is a treasure every lover of Yellowstone should take full advantage of.

For those who have experienced a bright bluebird day with a slight breeze at your back that abruptly turns into a 30 mph headwind with nickel-sized snowflakes bouncing off your helmet, you know that this short-lived and rare occasion is one that must be seized.  And for those of you who have not experienced the unpredictability of an early season biking pilgrimage into a very wild Yellowstone, this spring is your chance to add another memorable chapter to your personal Yellowstone story. 

So dust off your helmets—while there will only be random administrative vehicle travel, unseen patches of ice are always a potential for skull-cracking crashes—and get your bike into the local shop for a tune up--because fickle weather is always possible, and you don’t want to be stranded when a storm hits—and celebrate the sleepless nights of childlike excitement that will inevitably ensue when you commit to your two-wheeled Yellowstone adventure.

~Michael Leach, Director and Founder

Annual Board Meeting: Tightening the Focus...

YCG Board Members in attendance at 2011 Annual Meeting. Bozeman, Montana.

A lively 2011 Annual Board Meeting left us abuzz with enthusiasm after what proved to be a very inspiring and uplifting day on March 12, in Bozeman, Montana.  Held at the beautiful Bozeman Public Library, board members from outside the region joined in via conference call, while members from Gardiner, Livingston, Helena, West Yellowstone, and Lolo, Montana, spent a beautiful spring day re-living the tremendous success and growth that YCG experienced in 2010 and looking into the future of our organization.  Since our inception in November of 2007 and the acquisition of our 501(c)3 status in 2008, every annual board meeting has provided an opportunity to reflect upon the positive change that our programs are striving to inspire, while envisioning the programming for next calendar year.

This year was our most effective annual meeting to date as we greeted our three newest board members: Ashea Mills and Nathan Varley (both talented naturalists and educators), of Gardiner, and the extremely creative Brad Bunkers from Livingston, Montana.  We couldn't be more excited to welcome Ashea, Nathan and Brad, who have already contributed a great deal to YCG and will be tremendous assets to our organization. We started the eight-hour meeting with a slide-show documenting the programs that we have operated over the course of the last 12 months, which proved powerful for all of us who have been with the organization since the beginning and eye-opening for those new to our board.  We followed this up with a testimony session where I shared video and written testimony from student participants of our River Guardian Fly Fishing School and Yellowstone Leadership Challenge.  The testimonies spoke for themselves and moved each board member to tears, undoubtedly inspiring an even deeper commitment to the mission and vision of YCG.

The theme of this year’s annual board meeting was “Tightening the Focus” of our organization.  After four years of operation, running programs, receiving feedback from student participants, and collaborating with other organizations, we have found our niche and have discovered how we can be most effective at inspiring guardians of Yellowstone Country.  With engaging discussion and debate, the board set the tone for our next three years of programming.  Through seasonal multi-day programming, YCG will continue to create education and outreach programs that inspire our teenage residents at the grassroots level--which in turn touches the entire community--all the while continuing our efforts to deepen a conservation ethic through our YCG Regional Road Tour. 

While we will continue to grow, learn and evolve as an organization, our last two years of programming and work with other organizations has helped us tighten our focus while developing a plan that we believe will strengthen our communities' commitment to this awe-inspiring region.      

I want to send a special shout-out and with nothin’ but love thank you to our board of directors for their time, energy and efforts. 

With Nothin’ But Love,

Michael Leach, Director and Founder

Board Members Nathan Varley, Ashea Mills, Michael Leach and Brad Bunkers feeling the mojo after a successful meeting.

Three of YCG's founding board members Megan Hecht (Secretary), Michael Leach and Steve Hoffman (Vice President).

Progress For Yellowstone Bison?

 

On my way to meetings in Livingston today on a rainy, wet afternoon, I was surprised to be stopped by a red light near the 14 mile marker upon entering the mouth of Yankee Jim Canyon.  With only one vehicle in front of me, I recognized the long legs and bearded face of a friend who works as the lead bison biologist in Yellowstone National Park.  After getting out of the truck for a quick hug in the rain, I asked him what was going on with all of the construction and man-power.  It appears that Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer who has been flip-flopping on bison all winter—really for his entire tenure—ordered the construction of a cattle guard (or shall we now call it a bison guard?) on the southern edge of Yankee Jim Canyon. 

While this seemingly unilateral decision to construct a bison guard on the major paved artery leading out of Yellowstone’s north entrance adds yet another confusing chapter to Montana’s policy towards managing Yellowstone’s wild bison, it also feels like an encouraging sign.  After suggesting earlier last week in a meeting with Yellowstone Superintendent Daniel Wenk that bison should be shot within the confines of Yellowstone National Park, Gov. Schweitzer flip-flopped days later when he suggested the need for a buffer zone north of the park increasing the winter habitat for Yellowstone’s bison.

In an interview with the Helena IR late last week Schweitzer said, “Why treat the bison in this way? When they cross an imaginary line — boom, boom, boom — shoot them like a couch. We’re attempting to enlarge the area where bison are allowed to leave the park, within the constraints of keeping them away from livestock.” 

So little of bison management in Montana makes sense, and though the construction of this cattle guard will likely do little to keep bison from migrating north of Yankee Jim Canyon if allowed to range beyond Yellowstone’s north boundary—without the assembly of ample fencing made improbable by the rugged and steep terrain—this simple act speaks to the possibility of progress and perhaps even an increased tolerance of a magnificent animal that represents the elephant of North America.   

For those of us who celebrated the election of Gov. Schweitzer  seven years ago in hopes that he would usher in a new era of bison management, we have been confused and disillusioned by his seemingly bi-polar approach to bison in Montana.  Regardless of logic—and I certainly believe his frantic brucellosis reasoning was simply to appease the fear mongering members of the cattle industry who loudly protest bison in Montana—his decision to put a 90-day ban on slaughtering Yellowstone bison has resulted in a positive outcome for 500+ bison now occupying the Stephens Creek Capture Facility, and still breathing life into the wild heart of Yellowstone.

We can only hope that today’s construction of a metal cattle grate symbolizes progress and greater tolerance for our beloved Yellowstone bison.         

~Michael Leach, Director and Founder

The Paw-Print of Spring...

Grizzly tracks in snow. NPS

 

With thawing snow turning the land surrounding Gardiner, Montana, into a muddy mess and grizzlies on the move, it appears that spring is finally announcing its arrival.  While we still await a number of winged indicators that declare that spring has fully arrived in Yellowstone Country, the announcement of grizzly bear tracks on the Mary Mountain Trail within Yellowstone National Park on the Yellowstone Plateau on March 1^st is reason to celebrate. 

Spring in Yellowstone is a precarious event, not predictable and highly volatile.  Unlike other parts of the country where the arrival of songbirds and raptors indicate the need to begin packing away your winter gear, a minimum of six more weeks of cruising on flat planked skis still awaits residents of Yellowstone Country.  And though today offered t-shirt temperatures in the forties, with mostly blue skies and the occasional snow flurry, winter’s vengeance will surely rear its ugly head yet again as we move towards longer and warmer days.

While it’s not yet time to stash away the skis and substitute the bike in their place, the re-emergence of Yellowstone’s first grizzly is certainly a symbol worth recognizing and celebrating.  Whether it be hunger, curiosity or simply the need to stretch its legs and move its muscles, the simple act of lumbering across the snow-entombed Yellowstone landscape is this bear’s gift to those of us who yearn for Yellowstone’s most splendid and anticipated season.  In the east, those desperately wishing for the end of winter rest their hopes on the shadow of a domesticated rodent (groundhog day); but in Yellowstone, the outline of a massive paw-print left behind by the most authentic representation of wildness in North America represents the beginning of the end of our longest and harshest season. 

The wild spirit of Yellowstone, it is a beautiful thing.  With this symbolic walk across the snow, we can finally begin dreaming of river adventures and backcountry hikes soon to come.  And unlike skiing across Swan Lake Flats or through the forest on any number of backcountry mountains scattered throughout the region during the winter months, when avalanche and bone aching temperatures pose the greatest concern, grizzlies are amongst us yet again.  The announcement of 2011’s first re-emerging grizzly is a reawakening of the landscape, returning a heightened level of wildness to our beloved Yellowstone

~Michael Leach, Director and Founder

Thank You Livingston!

We are still abuzz after the opening night of our 2011 YCG Regional Road Tour which kicked off amidst a spring-like snow flurry in the original Yellowstone Gateway community of Livingston, Montana.  With the majority of our student participants in recent programs coming from Livingston, we highly anticipated our presentation in the windy city last night as this bustling community is at the heart of YCG's work. 

Livingston certainly did not disappoint.  I only wish that all of our supporters and members of the YCG family could have been in attendance last night to experience firsthand the love, passion and energy that filled the historic Elks Lodge last night. We couldn't have asked for a better turn-out and I can speak on behalf of all of our supporters and volunteers when I say that we were humbled and inspired the size of the crowd and the diversity of those in attendance. 

This is why we love Livingston. This is why we strive to represent thriving communities like Livingston, because those in attendance last night symbolize the hand that is our logo. We firmly believe that the fate of a wild Yellowstone rests in the hands of our local communities and thus we strive to inspire a commitment to the wild spirit of Yellowstone.  It certainly felt as if that commitment was inspired last night as we shared the evening with a very lively and engaged audience.  Our hopes for the future of YCG soared to new heights last night as we shared our "Yellowstone Sermon" with a room full of proud Yellowstone Country residents. 

I want to take this time to especially thank our sponsors Dale Sexton and Timber Trails along with Brad Bunkers and Engine 8.  These sponsors helped to make last night a special event for YCG and the Livingston community. Thank you for your support and all that you do to help make our communities a better place to live!

With Nothin' But Love,

Michael Leach, Founder and Director

SPONSORS:

 

The Wildness and Spirit of Yellowstone:Yellowstone's Grizzlies...Livingston, MT

Join us Thursday, March 3^rd at 7 pm at the Elks Club in Livingston for a presentation about grizzly bears and Yellowstone. The Wildness and Spirit of Yellowstone is a celebration of place, wildness and the Yellowstone community.  Telling the story of the Yellowstone grizzly, this presentation will stir those who know and love Yellowstone Country to re-commit to its future, and motivate others to re-discover the beauty of living with wildness.

With spring on the wing and Yellowstone adventures soon to come, join us as we explore the depths of Yellowstone and learn how Yellowstone Country Guardians works on the ground to inspire a commitment to this important landscape.

Presenter Michael Leach, Executive Director and Founder of Yellowstone Country Guardians, has worked as a naturalist, fly-fishing guide, and writer based out of Gardiner, Montana.  His work as a ranger naturalist, and more recently as the Bear Education Ranger in Yellowstone National Park, helped inspire his vision to start a Yellowstone-based nonprofit. 

Yellowstone Country Guardians is a grassroots organization working on the ground through youth-driven education and outreach programs to inspire a sense of pride and foster a commitment from local communities to ensure that Yellowstone Country remains a symbol of wildness for this and future generations.      

Time: 7 pm

Place: Elks Lodge

Date: Thursday, March 3^rd, 2011