What a Map Can Tell Us About Greater Yellowstone

I studied geography in grad school. One of the basic premises of geography is that maps can show graphical concepts and ideas that might not be obvious with other forms of communication. The map of roads in Greater Yellowstone serves as a powerful tool, revealing a reality that many fail to grasp. Despite the protection More

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I studied geography in grad school. One of the basic premises of geography is that maps can show graphical concepts and ideas that might not be obvious with other forms of communication.

The map of roads in Greater Yellowstone serves as a powerful tool, revealing a reality that many fail to grasp. Despite the protection of vast roadless landscapes such as Yellowstone National Park, the Wind River Range, Beartooth Mountains, and other smaller wildlands, the ecosystem beyond these large public preserves is marred by a network of roads and human land uses, stretching from cities to ranches.

Roads have numerous impacts on ecosystem function and integrity. An excellent review of the ecological problems of increasing road density is Trombulak and Frissell’s reivew.

Many human practices on private land are fundmenally at odds with preserving ecosystem integrity. Ag is the biggest impact on landscape integity usually involving the replacement of native vegetation with a single species of plant over thousands of acres.Photo George Wuerthner

Even with the best protection, the wildlands’ heart of the ecosystem may not survive intact if the future condition of the lower elevation lands (in private hands) is ignored.

While I have criticism for some of the public agency policy decisions, the future of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem will be determined by how we deal with private lands. Can the ecosystem’s wildlife adjust to a doubling population and consequent increasing recreational use of public lands? Can the watersheds survive with more sediment and pesticide run-off? Can natural processes like wildlife survive as a significant ecological force if homes are built up every valley and ridge?

Rural subdivsion near Ennis, Montana. Roads and human activity degrades ecosystem integrity. Photo George Wuerthner.

So what is to be done? First, not every acre of land has equal ecological value or function. More than 20 years ago, some colleagues and I completed a biological assessment of the ecosystem’s biological hot spots and rated them on their vulnerability to degradation. As a first step, revising and updating such a survey can be useful in identifying the lands that are critical to preserving ecosystem function.

But identifying these lands doesn’t buy you any protection unless you take the second step and work to protect these landscapes. One of the best ways to do this is through regional zoning and planning.

Oregon has state-wide zoning that requires all communities to designate urban growth boundaries. No major urban development can occur outside of the boundary. While this does not specifically protect wildlife, it does reduce the human footprint on the landscape.

Critical wildlife corridors and lands should be acquired and added to the public domain. While plenty of destructive activities can and do occur on public lands, there is at least the potential for public discussion of how lands should be managed.

Bear management area in Yellowstone, marked by the claws of a grizzly. Photo George Wuerthner.

Seasonal closures can be effective. Yellowstone Park has large parts of its landscape closed to human entry as part of Bear Management Units or for other reasons, like reducing disturbance of wolf dens or eagle nests. Similarly, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks will close wildlife winter areas to human intrusions.

The road map of Greater Yellowstone shows us the problem. Other maps, such as those delineating wildlife migration corridors, big game winter range, critical watersheds, and so forth, can show us how to mitigate the problem.

It is time to recognize that what happens on the private lands of the ecosystem will determine the functional viability of the public lands they surround.

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