Post
by timmy » Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:10 pm
Brothers: Thanks so much for your kind words! The richness of this area can be gauged by the fact that this was a simple drive through of about 4 hours. We didn't even get a chance to see any of the famous sites. Truly, we live in a wonderful world!
@shooter & @Vikram: The reaction to forest fires has always been to put the fires out as quickly as possible. However, the fires are a natural way of cleaning the forest and returning the nutrients contained in the dead wood back to the environment. The root systems of these conifers is not particularly extensive, and as they get older, they are subject to rotting from the inside out. The fire killed many trees that it did not consume, and after those trees died, in some cases rot would set in. In any case, the dead trees often would fall over. Remember that there is very little topsoil in these areas -- just little pockets. The trees often snake their roots into cracks in the rocks to get nutrients. The action of the wind blowing on them causes the roots to pry the rocks apart ever so slightly, which then allows the tree to burrow its roots more deeply.
@shooter: This is a very small group of buffalo, even in the Park. The biggest herds of them are along the Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley, a part of the Park we didn't have time to see. In that valley, one can often see moose and even an occasional grizzly bear. Anyway, these buffalo were not in this area around Madison Junction when I was little -- they're more or less a recent introduction. My memories of this area were of elk grazing there, but unfortunately, I didn't see them on this trip in this area. A big push to reintroduce buffalo came when the Park got rid of the bears -- I do remember them very well as a kid! Too many idiots from the city would mess with the bears. We once saw a mother put jam on her kids hand and let bear cubs lick it off. One squall from those cubs, and mama bear would have taken those kids' heads off! We have MANY stories about bears! But there were too many accidents and so the bears were banished to the back country. However, even today, there are occasional gorings of people by buffalo. I do not understand this: City people make fun of country people because of the obvious lack of knowledge about city ways. Yet, when the city people come to the country, they think they know it all and do stupid things... However, on another note: Back when our kids were little, they reintroduced wolves to the Park. As I recall, there were about 3 packs -- maybe there are more. When the elk and buffalo herds become too great, they will drive them out of the Park, where they can be hunted by special drawing. Introducing the wolves is intended to bring the wildlife into a more natural balance of predator and prey. Actually, the solution would be to make the Park larger by incorporating the surrounding National Forest lands into it. This would make the Park large enough for a self-sustaining environment.
@prashantsingh: Yes, the word "bison" is used, but buffalo is used more often. The scientific name for buffalo is Bison bison. This is the same as the use of the name "elk" for the wapiti. Both buffalo and elk are names of Old World animals that Europeans applied to New World creatures. Examples of true buffalo would be the Cape Buffalo in Africa and Water Buffalo in Asia. So, "Bison" would actually be the correct name for the beast, but just like the word "elk", popular usage is "buffalo" even though it is not really correct. Please post your Himalayan pictures!!!!
@Vikram: re: "Great Shaggy Beasts" -- I remember that, while working in Denver, I was doing a project with Hewlett Packard people from Queensferry, Scotland. One of the Scottish guys had never seen a buffalo, so after lunch one day, I drove him up Interstate 70 into the mountains, where there's a small heard by the highway. That was his exact response to seeing them: "They're great shaggy beasts, aren't they?" I guess I think of them in those terms now, too, although one would seldom hear such an expression in the USA! re: Old Faithful geyser: The problem with my pics is that I deliberately avoided seeing the people. One has to stand a fair distance away for safety, and I set the camera zoom to just have the geyser. So there is no perspective for how tall the geyser really is -- well, it erupts pretty high, believe me! I will try to set up some pictures of New Mexico for you in the future.
@Doc, you have surely made my Wife a fan of IFG!
Thank you to all for your generous comments!
“Fanaticism consists of redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.”
saying in the British Royal Navy
