A Walk on the Wild Side

"Move…. Now!”?Paige yelled when we were surprised by three panting bison bursting through the high willows behind us as we emptied water out of our soggy boots. I was a long way from Silicon Valley on the fourth morning of rising at 4:30 a.m. to measure bird populations in Paradise Valley and in Yellowstone National Park. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to accompany Paige on her daily transect hikes identifying bird songs in return for keeping an eye out for wildlife while she took rapid notes at each return to preassigned GPS points. In this case, I wasn’t doing my job as a lookout very well. That day we were surveying in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley where we were challenged to stay 100 meters from wildlife and the bison were consistently on the move.?

Every morning during sampling, Paige goes to specific GPS waypoints within the valley and park to study which birds are active in the willows. She applies her well-honed ornithology skills from her studies at Montana State University and terrific knowledge of birdsongs to collect important data on how many breeding pairs of different species of birds have returned to the willow habitats in the riparian areas of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). In a previous role, Paige was the field crew leader for the Mexican spotted owl study in Capitol Reef. Aside from getting up at O dark 30, the mornings were beautiful with incredible listening experiences - songbirds broadcast their territorial songs from dawn to late morning each day. We didn’t talk at all when she was actively measuring, or walking between points, but she would give me a roll up each time we finished. Some birds stood out, Lazuli Buntings, MacGillivray’s Warblers, Belted Kingfishers in Paradise Valley along with Meadowlarks, Brewer’s Sparrows, and Spotted Sandpipers in the Park. Ten minutes was spent at each repeatable GPS point, then we quietly walked 100 meters to the next--exactly the same locations as in previous years. Her dedication and patience to collect this important data really impressed me.

Why is this important? Like so many ecological phenomena in the park, it relates back to the reintroduction of the wolves to the GYE back in 1995. By then, the elk population had grown to the point where it was negatively impacting the riparian ecosystem and, more specifically, the growth of willow communities. Also, the reduction in habitat for beavers had a negative effect on river erosion.??

Redistributing the elk population through top-down effects by wolves lowered their numbers in some riparian communities dominated by willows. This combined with decreases in elk population levels due to a variety of factors including wolves, helped conserve the willow populations and in some cases, willows reestablished where there had been significant grazing before wolf reintroduction. The willows are an important home to many bird species, and mammals both large and small that browse on willow. Turns out the dense growth provides cover and nesting sites. Even the willow pollen is an important source of food for honeybees early in the spring.?

It’s been my pleasure to serve on the board of YERC for the past three years, but this was my first time out in the field where I could experience what our researchers do on a daily basis.?I currently work for Cisco, and the company has a program called Time2Give Back. This program enabled me to spend a week assisting Paige in measuring the biodiversity response to willow revegetation courtesy of the wolf reintroduction as well as time with other field researchers measuring the tributaries feeding into the Yellowstone River through YERC’s RiverNET program.?

Mornings were filled with assisting and viewing what our researchers do, and afternoons I spent time with Tory Dille, our new Development and Communications coordinator. We were able to work together on marketing, development plans, and prepping materials for our upcoming Board of Directors meetings.

It was a great experience and the biggest take-aways for me were:

(1) You can take corporate experience and effectively apply it to nonprofit growth that matters.

(2) Our environment is in crisis and we each need to pick at least one meaningful project to get behind and make change happen.

(3) The people who do the “on the ground” research that give us scientific evidence of how humans are affecting the earth and how we can correct problems NOW - are folks of dedication and patience. They are definitely unsung heroes. Here’s to you YERC staff who pulled it all together and work tirelessly for what matters - to protect and sustain the Yellowstone Greater Ecosystem! At its core is the world’s first national park - Yellowstone - and what Wallace Stegner said was America’s best idea.

If you’d like to learn more about YERC or any other environmental agencies and projects that I know of, please reach out to me and I’m happy to help you find a fit for your much needed talents.?Or please help by donating to YERC (yellowstoneresearch.org) .??