Beyond Hayden: Exploration, Inspiration, and Education in Yellowstone

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Beyond HaydenExploration, Inspiration, and
Education in Yellowstone
Scott Bischke, YERC Lab DirectorBozeman, MT
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Outline

• Introducing YERC
• Staff, facilities, philosophy (ies)
• YERCs research
• Long term, large scale, collaborative.natural
  policy expts
• Great Carnivores, Wild Waters, High Tech
  Landscapes
• Education programs
• Successful Field Intern program
• Supported WS, undergrad, and grad students
• Beyond Hayden
• Program
• Collaborators
• Concluding remarks

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YERC Facilities

• Offices and Geospatial Analysis Lab inBozeman,
  MT on the edge of MSU (2200 sq. ft.)4 Tb
  data Lariat testing
• Field Station (OBFS member) in Cooke City, MT
  with housing capacity for 12

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YERC Business Model Non-profit research and
education
Product Scientific Information (e.g.,
publications), Technical Expertise, and
Collaborative Education Constituents All the
stakeholders in the GYE that are interested in
increasing the role of science at the
decision-making table Study Area Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem with YNP as its core
(benchmark of experiments)
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www.yellowstoneresearch.org
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Outline

• Introducing YERC
• Staff, facilities, philosophy (ies)
• YERCs research
• Long term, large scale, collaborative.natural
  policy expts
• Great Carnivores, Wild Waters, High Tech
  Landscapes
• Education programs
• Successful Field Intern program
• Supported WS, undergrad, and grad students
• Beyond Hayden
• Program
• Collaborators
• Concluding remarks

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• Whats unique aboutYERCs Research Programs?
• We conduct studies that are
• Long Term..both retrospective and prospective
• Large Scale..landscapes, watersheds and
  ecosystems
• Multidisciplinary..complementary and
  programmatic
• We take advantage of
• Spatial Control..near-pristine core of GYE as
  benchmark or standard with which to gage
  anthropogenic impacts
• Unplanned Experiments..both natural and policy
  
  (e.g. fire, wolves)

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YERC works in theGreater Yellowstone Ecosystem
A majority of our work in Northern Yellowstone
but also efforts around the GYE
Many, many excellent researchers in YNP yet
YERC is the largest (manpower, permits) with a 17
year track record of working with YCR and its
collaborators
Forest Pathogens
Predator-prey
Remote sensing
Aquatic Thermal
Invasives
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• YERCs Linked Research Initiatives which
  provide the basis for most of our Intern
  Education Opportunities
• The Great Carnivores 10 current projects
• Wild Waters of Yellowstone 7 current projects
• High Tech Landscapes 10 current projects

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How Wolves Affect the Ecosystem
Top Down vs. Bottom Up ?
Stabilizing vs. Destabilizing ?
adapted from TIME magazine with permission
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• High Tech Landscapes (n10)
• Fire Fuels multi-sensor fusion of SAR, HSI,
  Lidar
• Estimation of Vegetation Biomass with POLSAR
• Species ID and BEM Modeling with Lidar
• Sensor Fusion for Riparian Habitat Modeling
• DEM Accuracy Comparisons by landscape
  attributes
• Trade Space Analysis with simulated INSAR and
  HIS
• Mapping Riparian Habitat on YNPs Northern Range
• Whitebark Pine Disease and Decline
• Forest Regeneration After the 88 Fires
• NASA EOCAP HSI Stream Riparian
  Habitats

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World Class Remote Sensing Data CoverageYERC
possesses a large variety of RS data sets in-hand
for the GYE. These data sets are primarily
high-resolution airborne. We have currently been
developing capabilities with larger format data
sets (e.g., MODIS).
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YERC-NASA EOCAP
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NASA EOCAP Partners/Collaborators

• Bob Crabtree, Yellowstone Ecological Research
  Center
• Andrew Marcus, Montana State University YERC
• Joe Boardman, Analytical Imaging Geophysics
  YERC
• Richard Aspinall, Montana State University
  YERC
• Wayne Minshall, Idaho State University YERC
• Don Despain, BRD, U.S. Geological Survey YERC

20 scientists from 13 groups
Collaborators Kerry Halligan, YERC U.C. Santa
Barbara Jack Norland and Jimmie Richardson, North
Dakota State University Chuck Peterson, Idaho St.
University Rick Lawrence, Montana St.
University Geoff Jacquez, BioMedware, Ann Arbor,
MI John Chadwick, Univ. of Florida Ed Schrader,
Millsaps College Ann Rodman, Yellowstone
National Park, WY
Technical Support John Peel and Bob Stewart,
Earth Search Sciences
NASA Group Greg Terrie and Lee Estep, Stennis
Space Center Joe Spruce, TSG Agreement,
Stennis Space Center
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Outline

• Introducing YERC
• Staff, facilities, philosophy (ies)
• YERCs research
• Long term, large scale, collaborative.natural
  policy expts
• Great Carnivores, Wild Waters, High Tech
  Landscapes
• Education programs
• Successful Field Intern program
• Supported WS, undergrad, and grad students
• Beyond Hayden
• Program
• Collaborators
• Concluding remarks

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Study Nature Not Books
from Niko Tinbergen Nobel prize
winning behavioral ecologist posted on the
entrance door to his students library
and study lab
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YERCs Education ProgramsBridging the Gap
between institutionalized training and
real-world education

• Field Intern Program (highly effective
  N 255)
• MSU undergraduate senior projects
  (engineering, business)
• MSU work study Student Program
• Academic/Agency/Private Sector
  Collaborations
• Outreachseminars, workshops,
  presentations, publications

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A brand new YERC Education Program
Collaborators YERC Project WET (Native
Waters) MOSS Dr. Cathy Whitlock
Biodiversity Conservation Division of
Turner Ent YNP
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Beyond Hayden Strengths

• focuses intern education and research on water
  management issues using geospatial tools
• helps underserved Native and rural Americans
  communities
• creates the foundation for a sustainable,
  nationwide Native American program
• trains future science researchers and educators
  with hands on experience incorporating NASA data
  into K-12 science curricula
• trains future land management decision makers in
  the value of NASA data by placing interns in
  private, public, academic, and NGO entities
• provides for extensive, hands-on, field-based
  intern opportunities in the most exciting Earth
  Science laboratory in Americathe GYE

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Beyond Hayden Highlights (to date)

• Funding as of Nov/Dec 2005 / Completed
  project website
• Two geospatial training workshops for interns
  focused on GPS, GIS, remote sensing, and
  geospatial sciences
• 8 Interns placed in education paths (PWET, MOSS),
  and researcher paths (MSU, YERC)RS computer lab,
  Earth Science lab, rural classroom, and in YNP
• Placed Native American interns from the Northern
  Cheyenne, Blackfeet, and Crow tribes
• Largely completed riparian mapping study on the
  Yellowstones Northern Range started on animal
  movement mapping study started work on
  geosciences incorporation into PWET program

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an international, interdisciplinary,
education program for formal and non-formal
educators of students ages 5 to 18
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Project WET is grounded in the following beliefs

• Water moves through living and nonliving systems
  and binds them together in a complex web of life.
• Water is important for all water users.
• Sustainable water management is crucial for
  social and economic stability and a healthy
  environment.
• Awareness of and respect for water resources can
  encourage a personal, lifelong commitment of
  responsibility and positive community
  participation.

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The Project WET Curriculum and Activity Guide is
the core educators guide

• Interactive
• Non-biased
• Interdisciplinary
• 91 activities developed by over 350 teachers,
  resource managers, and scientists and tested by
  600 teachers and 35,000 students
• Supplemented by additional programs and
  publications

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A Highly Effective Education Delivery Network

• 69 Coordinators from50 US States Territories
• Fish and Game Agencies
• Universities
• Parks and Nature Centers
• State Departments of Education
• NGOs
• 3000 Facilitators
• Teachers
• Volunteers
• Parents
• Park and Nature Center Employees
• Water Resource Professionals
• People with a commitment to water education

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Worldwide Native American Programs

• Project WET USA
• Project WET Canada
• Project WET Mexico
• Project WET Philippines
• Project WET US Peace Corps
• Over 50 more countries have expressed interest
• Native Waters ProgramWW Indigenous people Upper
  Missouri Basin Tribes in Beyond Hayden

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MONTANA OUTDOORSCIENCE SCHOOL

• MOSS is dedicatedto promoting an awareness,
  understanding, and appreciation for the natural
  world through quality educational experiences for
  k-12 students.

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Montana Outdoor Science SchoolsSprouting History

• ESTABLISHED 1994
• s SERVED Over 5,700 youth adults / yr
• PROGRAMS school field trips, teacher
  professional development workshops, community
  festivals, residential camps, summer nature
  camps, more.
• SERVES rural communities in SW Montana

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MOSS Ways of the West Program

• Study in the Natural and Earth Sciences
• Targets grades K-8 w/focus on underserved SW
  Montana communities
• Often working in multilevel, one room, K-8
  schools
• Hands-on, inter-disciplinary, inquiry based that
  engages auditory, visual, tactile, and kinestitic
  learning

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Outline

• Introducing YERC
• Staff, facilities, philosophy (ies)
• YERCs research
• Long term, large scale, collaborative.natural
  policy expts
• Great Carnivores, Wild Waters, High Tech
  Landscapes
• Education programs
• Successful Field Intern program
• Supported WS, undergrad, and grad students
• Beyond Hayden
• Program
• Collaborators
• Concluding remarks

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All of the Beyond Hayden Interns and
CollaboratorsExtend our Heartfelt Thanksto NASA
!
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• The Great Carnivores (n10)
• Canid Ecology Project 6 subprojects
• Scavengers (Food for the Masses)
• Small Mammal Communities in Climate Change
• Uinta Ground Squirrels Fire and Wolves
• Causes of Declining Pronghorn Populations
• Forest Carnivores Detection Methods
• Elk - Snow Dynamics Redistribution

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• Wild Waters of Yellowstone (n7)
• Stream/Riparian Ecological Indicators
• W6 Willows, Wolves, Wapiti Weather
• Fire Effects Cache Creek
• Mining Impacts Soda Butte Creek
• Riparian Avian Communities
• Wetland Mapping and Indicators
• Yellowstone Watersheds Initiative

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Increasing Willow Cover Wolves? Also
climate changefloodsmore ?
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99 vs. 03 slight increase in willow cover
with some height release
2003
Nature is a Multi-causal Interactive System
lt
current beaver bank den
94 vs. 99 3 to 5x increase in willow cover
1994
1999
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