Science Thrives in Shadow of the Teton Range

Huddled on the northeastern shore of Jackson Lake, the cluster of log cabins resembles a hunting camp more than a major research center.

Some of the buildings date to the 1930s, and wood stoves must be regularly stoked to keep the scientists warm. Pine cones litter the lawns.

But the setting between Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks is unmatched, according to Glenn Plumb, assistant director of the center run jointly by the University of Wyoming and the National Park Service.

“It’s just not a nice place for scientists to come,” Plumb said, gazing across the shimmering lake to the Teton Range. “These are tremendous, unparalleled facilities to support science in the greater Yellowstone area.”

The center coordinates research that affects 40 national parks, monuments and recreation areas. Funded through the park service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, research projects can run several years.

In recent years much of the work has focused on the impact of the 1988 wildfires in Yellowstone.

For example, in 1990 an Idaho State University researcher was awarded $107,979 for a three-year study of the fires’ effects on stream ecosystems. Another project focused on the impact on insects, while another examined how the fires affected vegetation and big game on the park’s northern range.

Other research has included the genetic diversity of plants in Glacier National Park in Montana, rangeland vegetation at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah and DNA fingerprinting of wolves in Montana and Canada.

The center’s history spans more than four decades. It began as an outdoor zoo--at one time under the guidance of the New York Zoological Society.

First based near Oxbow Bend on the Snake River about a mile from Jackson Dam, and now at the historic AMK Ranch a bit farther north, the center early on cooperated with the National Park Assn. and the National Park Service in supporting the Student Conservation Program.

Surprisingly, the center filled a scientific void that long had existed in the park service.

“There’s always been some difficulty in setting out a true scientific program, even though there’s been a lot of scientific work, both biological, archeological and all of this,” said Marshall Gingery, Grand Teton’s assistant superintendent.

When the park service saw an opportunity to develop scientific ties with universities through the center, it jumped at it, Gingery said.

The benefits of the resulting cooperative agreement that keeps the center open are immeasurable, Plumb said, “because it provides the park service with expertise that they lack, that, particularly, maybe they don’t even want to fund.”

And it provides the academic community access to natural laboratories.