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Gauging the health of the Tetons.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY SAMANTHA ZAZA
(page 1 of 9)
“Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts. We are beginning our descent into Jackson Hole.”
From ten thousand feet above, the Tetons and the valleys east and west of the range look much like the rest of the rural Intermountain West. Rivers wriggle and the arid earth takes on the texture of wrinkly elbows. Croplands, ranches, and towns cut the land into neat lines, which eventually unravel into curving cul-de-sacs and roads creeping up hillsides and into forests.
But what’s truly unique about this remnant of the Wild West is only hinted at from the air. The Tetons and outlying areas make up part of the approximately twenty-million-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the largest relatively intact ecosystems remaining in the world’s northern temperate zone.
“There are very few places on Earth that have a really robust predator-prey system with large charismatic carnivores and ungulates, where the processes are free to interact relatively naturally,” says Steve Cain, senior wildlife biologist for Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). “We have that in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.”
Viewed from high above, it would be easy to assume that the area is thriving in its wild state. After all, the ratio of concrete to conifers leans heavily in favor of the natural world. And the Tetons do receive passing marks in many areas; for instance, some species populations, such as those of the grizzly bear, wolf, and cougar, are better off than they were twenty years ago.
But in an instant the present becomes the past. Rising temperatures globally and ever-increasing development, population, and recreational activities locally beg the question: What is the overall health of our regional ecosystem and how will it fare in the future?
Whether you’re a real estate agent, hunting guide, artist, gas station owner, or biologist, the bulk of the economic base here is tied to the health of the ecosystem, and the relative quality of fundamentals like air and water. It’s in our best interest to be informed.
