Is Big Brother Heading about National Park's Backcountry for Yellowstone?

What would you think if your travels in Yellowstone National Park's backcountry were being watched by rangers via a remote webcam? It's not out of the realm of possibility under a Wireless Communications Services Plan that the park adopted last spring.








Existing webcams within developed areas could be upgraded to wireless, or new wireless webcams could be installed in developed areas of the park if they are found to meet the siting criteria adopted by this FONSI. No wireless webcams for visitor use will be installed within backcountry areas of the park. It is possible that wireless monitoring cameras could be placed in backcountry areas for resource monitoring or to address safety concerns, but these will not be available for public viewing purposes. (emphasis added.)
BILLINGS, Mont. -- With 88 bison from Yellowstone National Park facing possible slaughter, billionaire Ted Turner has swept in and offered to hold the animals for five years on his sprawling Montana ranch while a new home for them is found. But Turner, ever the shrewd businessman, won't do it for nothing. The media mogul says he will care for the bison only if he can keep up to 90 percent of their offspring.
Dennis Tilton, a rancher from nearby Livingston who worked for a year feeding the animals under government contract, said giving the animals to Turner amounted to "robbing from the public domain." He said the state should put them onto public land to establish new herds.




Visiting Yellowstone National Park in mid-winter is a trip you're not likely to forget for the rest of your life. But how do you pull it off? Here's a primer on the logistics you'll need to tackle.




From Mammoth Hot Springs you also can drive a very short distance to a parking area at the Upper Terraces Area. From there you can cross-country ski along a marked trail or walk down through the terraces on a boardwalk.

There are warming huts where you can come in out of the cold and bask in the glow of a woodstove at Madison Junction, West Thumb, Old Faithful, Fishing Bridge, Canyon, Mammoth, and Indian Creek. Some have vending machines and cold beverages.

object width="425" height="344">Satellite imagery, gps stats, and a whole bunch of stuff definitely suggest that Yellowstone could very well be in trouble soon. Like the park floor has gone UP 8 inches in the last few months, while the surrounding area has dropped.

FYI: In 2007 Bush issued a gag warning to all USGS employees not to talk to the public about Yellowstone until Bush could sensor any new DATA. Go figure!