Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

I’ve been out of the office for much of the past two weeks wandering around Yellowstone National Park with some of NRDC’s wonderful supporters.

We spent most of our time in the wild northeast corner of the Park.  At this time of year, the high country is blanketed with several feet of snow, and thus the valleys teem with wildlife.

We saw wolves, grizzlies, black bears, pronghorn antelope, countless elk, bison (cows, bulls, and newborn calves), bighorn sheep, and a great variety of birds and waterfowl.  We scurried up sage-covered hills, hiked muddy trails, endured funky weather, laughed a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed spring (with a dash of winter and a touch of summer) in America’s first national park.

The metaphor of spring as a time of birth and renewal gets pummeled every year right about now, but I’m going there anyways, because my time in the Park and – more importantly – my time with some devoted NRDC members rejuvenated me and put our work in the Northern Rockies in perspective. read more...