Prophets and Moguls, Rangers and Rogues, Bison and Bears by Heather Hansen

Author:Heather Hansen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
Published: 2015-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Scientists were largely reactive during that time, and a handful were dispatched only when an issue had gotten too big to ignore. At times when they asserted science-based policies in regard to hot-button issues such as downsizing bison herds or ending bear shows in Yellowstone, they met a staunch opponent in former NPS Director Horace Albright. While Albright was in the private sector by that time, he often weighed in, particularly when it came to Yellowstone, where he had been superintendent for a decade.

As Albright had told biologist Joseph Dixon in the 1930s: “Yellowstone has always been the ‘bear park.’ I would rather see bears not appear at all in other parts of the system than see any material change in the bear shows at Yellowstone.” The statement was classic first-guard NPS: parks are for people, and the animals there must be managed to delight them. Albright also argued with Drury about efforts to end bear and bison feeding and the orchestrated bison stampedes, saying that national parks were not “biologic units.” But Drury stood by the Fauna No. 1 policies outlined by Wright and his colleagues. “[O]ur aim . . . should be to place each wild species . . . on its own, without dependence on man, and occupying its natural niche in the biota of the park,” said Drury.

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