#33 Travels in the Greater Yellowstone

by Jack Turner, 263 pages.

This is a collection of essays on the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.  The word "essays" doesn't accurately describe the buccolic nature of Turner's writing.  They are a cross between personal, narrative, and well founded ecological arguments.    A lot of the essays are lamentations on the way the ecosystem has changed over the years since Turner first arrived in the area.  He waxes philosophic on the idea of wildlife management and how its role seems to be the killing of animals in order to preserve them.  His whole approach is that Yellowstone is an artificial wilderness.  Though he lamented himself through the pages, he never seemed the curmudgeon, but a thoughtful old man watching the world around him change in a way that wasn't natural.

The real power in his book comes through in his ability to show how the ecosystem is interconnected.  He does this with ease by showing small examples, like the relation of the pine bark beetle and the lack of pine cones for bears.  Changing climate and invasive species are changing the ecosystem, and to try and manage this change is also in a way creating different changes.  For him there is no clear answer.  But he was always quick to point out that some of the villains are slow acting government organizations, and big oil trying to use the reserved lands for profit.  We can all have fun villainizing the gas companies, it is easy to do.  Overall this book lets you appreciate what is preserved in the park, and also to let you know that as wild as you may think it is, it is a controlled wildness.