Dear HCN,
Having just returned from
a four-day camping trip to Yellowstone National Park, I was
interested in Dave Tillotson’s letter (HCN, 9/5/94). Unfortunately,
what I would like to tackle is a little more difficult than a
vehicle ban: visitor stupidity!
A huge number of
park visitors blatantly ignore warnings about approaching wild
animals and walk right up to elk, buffalo and moose. I witnessed
some agitated buffalo traveling north on the road just south of
Firehole Canyon Drive, resulting in a two-mile backup of northbound
vehicles and physical aggressiveness by some of the buffalo toward
the vehicles: The car in front of me, traveling south very slowly,
was butted by a buffalo.
I agree with Tillotson –
naturalness is not being preserved in the park. Perhaps the
geysers, rivers and Yellowstone Lake will be the last to go, but
must we get to that point before a radically new approach to park
management is put in
place?
Emily
Tracy
Caûon City,
Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Unnatural in Yellowstone.
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