The Dispatch from Moline, Illinois • 54

E2 THE DAILY DISPATCH AND ARGUS Wednesday, November 23, 1988 National Yellowstone Park fire damage immeasurable by material terms Yellowstone fires spark land management debate si i AC rows, no frogs or crickets or flies. No leaves rustled in the breeze and no pine smell freshened the air. There was no trail to amble down, no animal sign on the ground, no excitement that a deer might be standing over the next rise, or fear that a grizzly might be browsing there instead. For a moment there was no sound at all, except the rush of distant tires on a paved park road. Finally, a bird squawked.

It was far away, on the shore of a lake in the valley below. How can you measure the loss of a mountain? -Jf 'fc 'J sonable illusion of primitive America," in the words of the late biologist A. Starker Leopold. As scientific adviser to the Park Service in 1968, Leopold helped instill the controversial notion of "natural ecosystem management" at Yellowstone during the height of the environmental movement. That concept, which has since become park policy, considers Yellowstone a self-contained ecosystem that will maintain its own natural balance if left The park's ecosystem stewards feel that most declines in wildlife have been caused by a long-term absence of fire, due to human suppression during the park's first century.

That ended in 1972, when the park system embraced its policy of natural fire management, or "let-burn." Now that the fires of '88 have finally cleared out the dead wood and By George Stanley Knight News Wire Trees are still burning in Yellowstone National Park and the forests that surround it The fires sparked in June will continue to smolder until they're smothered beneath a thick blanket of snow. Several fires were raging out of control a month after the Old Faithful Inn was spared in September and the nation's attention had turned to the Olympics and the presidential election. Despite the largest fire-fighting effort in U.S. history, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $100 million, the fires have left a blackened trail across 1.6 million acres of public forest and parkland. That's enough space to contain the state of Delaware.

Flatten out the mountains and it might hold Texas. An amazing force of change has swept through America's Park. SpEAk.Nq BULL ELK ROAMS YELLOWSTONE PARK opened paths for renewed growth of Ever since 1872, when President Ul- By George Stanley Knight-Ridder Newspapers When news came out in late July that Yellowstone was on fire, it hurt. I'd never seen the park before, but hoped to someday. Yellowstone was like Alaska even if you'd never been there, you liked knowing it was around.

A year earlier, a botanist had told me about the tremendous pile of old logs, trees, stumps and sticks he'd seen on the forest floor during a visit to the park. When that forest burned, he said, it would really burn. Burn it did. On one very windy day in early September, firefighters in Shoshone National -Forest watched in awe as flames roared over the mountains west of their tent camp. Like defeated soldiers, the firefighters were forced to evacuate headquarters and retreat from the enemy.

At one point, flames rolled off a peak in a series of fireballs, shooting hundreds of yards through the air before crashing into a cliff and exploding like bombs. After reading and hearing about millions of acres of destruction, I was afraid of what I'd find. My first day in Yellowstone turned out to be a nice surprise. The park might have been scarred, but it wasn't charred. In many spots, the fires had danced from here to there as they burned up ancient trees and spared younger ones, painting green and black mosaics across the hills.

Breathtaking canyon views remained, as did the world's largest collection of geysers. Old Faithful was spouting every 45 to 90 minutes. In some spots, even fire scars had become tourist attractions. Seen from the air, the patterns of black looked more like vast ink blotches, with long arms and fingers, than like the mosaic visible from the roads. In some areas, entire mountains had been cleared of life, each resembling Mount St.

Helens, but with toothpicks standing. I walked up a scorched hill, stumbling as a boot sunk into six inches of ash. It was quiet on the mountain. There were no squirrels, no spar the carrying capacity of the land, or about lighting prescribed fires to rejuvenate prairie grasses, or about containing wildfires in a dry year, Yellowstone's ecosystem stewards concentrate on minimizing human interference with nature's plan. ysses S.

Grant's signature created -r our first national park, all Yellow- are sure to rebound, say the ecosys-stone visitors including John tern stewards. Muir, Theodore Roosevelt and Chief PP0S'ng view held by many Joseph of the Nez Perce had biologists and naturalists trained been looking, for the most part, at more traditional methods of land the same stands of trees. management, suggests a scene That doesn't mean Yellowstone hf a political cartoon than a had been frozen in time. Though Here, overabundant elk still a place of magnificent beauty, and buffalo their numbers units forests had become less produc- Recked by humans or wolves -tive with age. The plentiful moun- strip meadows of grass, flowers, tain lions and bands of bighorn berry bushes and aspen seedlings, sheep enjoyed by Roosevelt at the leaving dry sage prairies in their turn of the century had all but van- wake- Deprived of aspen trees, bea-ished before the fires.

So had the ver can no longer hack it. In need of park's famous begging bears. marihes and ponds formed by bea- For years before the wildfires of ver dams, the parks moose va-June were allowed to burn, a pro- mose- found debate over reversing the In support of their view of an out-park's decline had been kindling. It of-balance wildlife refuge land man-has since heated up. As the smoke agers note that the park lost 60 pep-over Yellowstone clears, clashing cent of its bighorn sheep, down to images have emerged of what the 180 animals in a recent winter.

Un-park is, was and should be. der stress from a losing battle with At its heart, much of the debate is elk over a dwindling food supply, the nvor whothpr th national narks sheep contracted a treatable dis- campers, officials warned. Bear numbers would fall. Even so, the dumps were closed. Hungry bears threatened campers and were transported by park personnel to infinitely more serene environs, often with the aid of a bullet, an overdose of tranquilizer or even an abbreviated helicopter ride.

The number of grizzlies in the park fell. Yellowstone, it has appeared in recent years, is not a large enough ecosystem to support the grizzly. In addition to closing the dumps where bears once supplemented their diet with human garbage, natural ecosystem management at Yellowstone has meant: Ending the roadside attraction of begging black bears. Ending efforts to control the elk population. Ending the treatment of wildlife diseases, such as brucellosis in buffalo and pinkeye in bighorn sheep.

Refusing to save animals in distress, such as drowning buffalo, so that nature can take its course. Allowing wildfires to burn except when human life or property are threatened. Walter Braud I accidentally drove my car through the door of my rented garage. The landlord's insurance covered all but a $250.00 deductible, which he Is assessing me. He says he'll take me to small claims court if I don't pay it immediately.

Does he have the right to do this? If the damage caused to the door was your fault, then you are liable for it. Not only can your landlord bill you for his deductible, but the insur should be managed as wilderness ease, went temporarily blind, then ance company has the riqht to recreation areas, or as natural eco bill you tor tne the damage portion of they paid. stumbled helplessly off cliffs while park scientists refused to help, or, as they would say, "interfere." In the land manager's view, it will take more than forest fires to restore health to the park. In fact, the fires could accelerate Yellowstone's systems where species rise and fall without man's intervention. U.S.

National Park Service staff present the pretty picture of a living museum, where humans can wit- naco Trnmmral fnrocf tnat IS nAarlv I2M $)99 as pristine as when Columbus and aeclme- the "Euroamericans" arrived. Like Rather than worrying, as tradi-a postcard from the past, this Yel- tional land managers do, about lowstone is "the re-creation of a rea- maintaining animal numbers within LB. If you have liability insurance on your vehicle contact your agent immediately. If you do not get a satisfactory response from them, or if you were uninsured, consult your attorney. You may be able to negotiate a settlement with your landlord and his insurance company.

For more information on the law and you, contact your attorney or Braud Warner, at 793-1160. Braud Warnek.ITD. Lawvcrs while supplies last FANCY GRADE EXTRA LARGE PECANS ONE FREEl Unbearably yummy Ice Cream Cone I FOR 1 OH NUTS Store Hours M-F 10-8 SAT. 10-5 SUN. 12-5 Present this coupon when I VWt you purchase a single dip lira 4020 Blackhawk Rd.

Rock Island, IL Phone 786-8871 One of the first actions the Park Service took when it adopted the ecosystem approach in 1968, for example, was to close the park's wilderness dumps. Closing the dumps would cause hungry bears to roam in search of food and increase conflicts with Blazes put Yellowstone in spotlight Knight News Wire National Guardsman Bill Amouak looked up from a fire line in Greater Yellowstone, his face sweaty, his orange shirt smeared with ash. Through the smoke and haze, he saw the glaring white belly of a passenger jet gliding through the blue sky, miles above the whirling helicopters with dangling water buckets. Amouak thought nothing of the plane, until he noticed five fighter jets flanking it. He elbowed his buddy, Juan Candelaria.

"We asked around," Candelaria said later. "It was the president's plane." As smoke added color to sunsets and moonrises a thousand miles away, the Yellowstone fires of 1988 attracted attention from everyone who had visited, or one day hoped to visit, America's most famous national park. "I'm holding my breath that all this attention may, in fact, lead to something," said Alston Chase, author of a 1986 book, "Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park." The book is highly critical of Yellowstone's fire and wildlife management policies. Everyone in the Yellowstone area, including Park Service managers, thinks the fires of 1988 have revealed a need for some changes. During interviews with natural scientists, fire-control experts and local citizens, the following suggestions were heard repeatedly: The Park Service should separate its research scientists from its managers, as the Forest Service does.

Since 1968, when natural ecosystem regulation began, park researchers have reported to the Yellowstone superintendent The result, say critics, has been pseudo-science, in which researchers find answers to support the superintendent's policy choices. Park buildings and neighboring communities must be better protected from the fire hazards. Dead-wood must be cleared from the forest floor around towns to provide a fuel break against surface fires. Trees should be trimmed away from cone of Heartland I Homemade Ice 2 FOR 1 I and receive 1 one single dip cone i FREE One Coupon I IICIE CllilEAM I I i i fM hi I Ice Cream, Yogurt Per Customer Cityline Plaza, Mollne I I Popcorn 1 140 19th Ave. Expires 12368 OPEN DAILY 11 A.M.

TO 9 P.I l6ftp Send your kids away for the holidays. The holidays are closer than you think and portraits make wonderful sifts! But hurry because you only have until Dec. 15, 1988 for portraits that will be back in time for holiday sifts. Why wait? Appointments are available upon request. Coming Sunday, December 4 29 Portraits for only $19.95 You choose two 8x10s, three 5x7s and 1 2 matching wallet portraits from two poses in the original portrait envelope PLUS 12 Friendship Prints.

$1.95 lilting fee plui $1 for each additional lub-ject. Certain restrictions may apply. Friendship Prints poM our solKtlon. Offer valid with thi SOUthPark Alall ad. Deadline for portraits in time for the holiday JUUUH 121588.

Offer expire. 123188. Northpark Mall structures in any region that spawns crowning forest fires. More public input through hearings, town meetings, policy review periods must be received by Yellowstone's managers. Distrust of park managers is almost universal in surrounding communities.

Have a Snow Ball! Don't just tolerate winter. Enjoy it. "Escape to Winter" tells you about winter sports and fun right here in the Quad-Cities and weekend resorts only a days drive away. You'll also find out about the latest sports equipment and what's hot in winter wear. Escape the winter blahs.

Escape to Winter. Coming Sunday, December 4 in the Travel Section. JCPenney Where little smiles Hours: ueuumt; idbiu it) uecu3Uico.1ig7 Sunday hfl MM MM MM MM 'f i THE DAILY, DISPATCH 1 THR ROCK ISLAND ARGUS Mmmkm -ii3-' riw- I wiWiHiiiiiitiaiiiMa'w.