Living Yellowstone
The Park 10 and 25 Years After the Fires

by Michel Pierre

photography by Michel Pierre

published by Michel Pierre

produced by Sweetgrass Books

  • Yellowstone, the oldest national park in the world, is not only one of the most wonderful places on earth, but also one of the most active. By comparing pictures taken at the same places at different times between 1998 and 2015, the book illustrates the short-term evolution of the landscapes and features of the park.



80 pages, 8 1/2" x 12 1/2", 180 color photos, 3 map(s), 30 softcovers per case

softcover
ISBN 10: 1591521823
ISBN 13: 9781591521822
$19.95


IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK, YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:

Yellowstone's Rebirth by Fire

Yellowstone Wild and Beautiful

Yellowstone: Like No Other Place On Earth

Portrait of Yellowstone: Land of Geysers & Grizzlies

The Best of Yellowstone National Park

Field Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

A Ranger's Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes

 

 

 

 


Living Yellowstone
The Park 10 and 25 Years After the Fires

Though each case is different and exceptions exist, general observations can be made about the speed at which the features and entities of the park have shifted.

The fastest visible changes are related to the colors and patterns of the hot springs. Most of the bright colors of the springs are produced by bacteria living in hot water, and each species of bacteria has its own color and temperature range. A change in temperature in a pool leads to a change of bacteria and then a change of its color. The more shallow the pool, the higher the possibility of short-term change.

The activity of the geysers can change significantly in very variable periods. Though some geysers, like Old Faithful, have had regular eruptions for more than a century, others are always unpredictable. Others have bursts of activity for a few years, during which eruptions can happen daily, and then suddenly become quiet for decades. The cones of the geysers, however, are extremely stable. Their structure grows so slowly that it is impossible to see significant differences in 17 years.

The growth of the vegetation and particularly of young trees is observable over a 17-year period. In Yellowstone, where the winters are long and hard, this growth is slower than in other places. As mentioned before, this phenomenon is well visible on the pictures taken 10 and 25 years after the fires that burned most of the forest in 1988.

The trees that are killed by hot water overflows from the springs and are partially petrified afterwards are remarkably resistant and can stay unchanged for decades; this amazing phenomenon can be seen on some of the pictures presented here....

-from the Introduction



World traveler Michel Pierre was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1962, graduated as an engineer in electronics in 1985 in Belgium, and has been living in Switzerland since 1988. He has long held a passion for nature, wild birds, and photography, and his photographs have been published internationally in magazines and books.

Michel has been particularly fascinated by the western national parks in the United States ever since he first visited Yellowstone with his wife Nadine in 1998. Still a favorite, Yellowstone keeps calling him back over and over again. Witnessing and recording the changes in the landscapes inspired his new book, Living Yellowstone.


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