Yellowstone's Northern Range - Greater Yellowstone Science ...

HISTORY OF RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT
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to abate in the late 1870s, gradually tapering off
further in the early 1880s, Little information has
survived on the number of animals killed, but
Schullery and Whittlesey (1992) reviewed
contemporary informal accounts of the slaughter
of a minimum of 8,000 elk on portions (though
by no means all) of the northern range in 1875.
Most of these were killed in the park, including
4,000 reportedly killed in 1875 in the Lamar
Valley. Thousands of other animals-bison, deer,
pronghorn, and bighorn sheep-were also killed,
most for their hides, while their carcasses were
poisoned to kill predators and scavengers.
Schullery and Whittlesey (1992) suggested that
by 1883, when
public hunting
became illegal
in Yellowstone
National Park,
wolves and
other carnivores
may
already have
been seriously
reduced, more
than two decades prior to the well-known federal
predator'control program of the early 1900s.
In 1886, the U.S. Cavalry was assigned to
protect Yellowstone National Park, and did so until
1918. The National Park Service was created in
1916, but did not assume control of park management
until 1918, and at first continued the wildlifemanagement
policies developed by the army.
Wildlife-management practice and philosophy has
undergone many changes in Yellowstone National
Park, which has been a primary testing ground for
new ideas and approaches (Haines 1977, Wright
1992, Schullery in press).
THE ERA OF INTENSIVE
MANAGEMENT AND EARLY
RESEARCH
From the arrival of the army in 1886 to the
1930s, wildlife management in Yellowstone
National Park was in good part seen as protecting
the grazing animals and other herbivores from
Figure 1.2. Deep
snow made elk easy
to reach, for both
poachers and early
visitors. Haynes
photo from the NPS
flles.
poachers, predators, and other threats, including
winter mortality. As early as the 1880s, conservationists,
especially sportsmen, had recognized that
the park could serve as a reservoir of game to
restock surrounding lands with an endless supply
of elk, deer, and other popular species, so the 1883
prohibition of hunting in the park received wide
support from hunters in the then-young conservation
community (Schullery in press). As the
animals became less wary and easier to see, the
park became recognized as one of the world's
foremost wildlife sanctuaries, which in turn meant
that the animals became an important attraction and
a significant part of the visitor experience (Figure 1.2).
But at the turn of the century, wildlife
biology was in its infancy, and there was little
available expertise in how best to manage the
wildlife of a large wilderness reserve (Figure 1.3).
Management mostly came down to protection of
the "good" animals, which even included feeding
them in winter. Much of what was "known" about
these animals was in fact folklore or misconcep-
Figure 1.3. Hunters
loading elk at the
Gardiner Depot,
1919. Once they
were protected by
Yellowstone National
Park and Mofllana
game laws, migrating
members of the
northem Yellowstone
elk herd supported an
important sport hunt
in SOlltheastem
Montana. NPS
photo.