@yellowstonenps

Today and every day we recognize that Yellowstone National Park sits on the land of the Assiniboine and Sioux, Blackfeet, Cheyenne River Sioux, Coeur d’Alene, Comanche, Colville Reservation, Crow, Crow Creek Sioux, Eastern Shoshone, Flandreau Santee Sioux, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine, Kiowa, Lower Brule Sioux, Nez Perce, Northern Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne, Oglala Sioux, Rosebud Sioux, Salish and Kootenai, Shoshone–Bannock, Sisseton Wahpeton, Spirit Lake, Standing Rock Sioux, Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa, Umatilla Reservation, Yankton Sioux, and Little Shell Band of Chippewa. @ynpforever Read and learn more about the many associated tribes of Yellowstone by visiting the link in our bio.

Heads Up: Today, October 9, 2020, at 11:39 a.m., a three-year-old suffered second-degree-thermal burns to the lower body and back. The incident occurred near the Fountain Freight Road, near Midway Geyser Basin. The child took off running from the trail, slipped and then fell into a small thermal feature. Due to the injuries, the child was life-flighted to the Burn Center at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. This incident is under investigation. No photos are available. The ground in hydrothermal areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface. Visitors must always remain on boardwalks and trails and exercise extreme caution around thermal features. Learn more about safety in thermal areas at go.nps.gov/yellsafety. This is the second significant injury in a thermal area in 2020. In May of this year a visitor (who illegally entered the park) fell into a thermal feature at Old Faithful while backing up and taking photos. In September 2019, a man suffered severe burns after falling into thermal water near the cone of Old Faithful Geyser. In June 2017, a man sustained severe burns after falling in a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin. In June 2016, a man left the boardwalk and died after slipping into a hot spring in Norris Geyser Basin. In August 2000, one person died and two people received severe burns from falling into a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin.

Webcam Videos Not only can you watch what is happening right now in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park—home of Old Faithful, Beehive, and Castle geysers to name a few—thanks to our live-stream webcam, but you can also see some highlight videos that our volunteers have captured. You can watch a wolf pack wander through the area in the winter, as well as several different geysers erupting. Check them out at https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm and head down to the "Live-stream Webcam Recordings" section.

News Release: Yellowstone hosted 837,499 recreation visits in September 2020. This is a 21% increase from September 2019, making it the busiest September on record. So far in 2020, the park has hosted 3,383,872 recreation visits, down 11% from the same period last year. The park was closed due to health and safety reasons related to COVID-19 beginning March 24, 2020. Two Wyoming entrances opened on May 18 and three Montana entrances opened on June 1, 2020. All five entrances have been open since June 1. For details, visit go.nps.gov/20041 (link in bio)

The red fox is a superb hunter. With their well-developed sense of hearing and ability to utilize Earth's magnetic field, a red fox can hear very low-frequency sounds of prey beneath 3 feet of snow and pounce on it with remarkable accuracy! To learn more about red foxes, visit the link in our bio.

Did you know Yellowstone takes in over $16M in fees annually? Whether it’s for a Junior Ranger booklet, entrance fee, or backcountry permit, every dollar collected comes across the remit desk of employees like Pat and Cheryl. Acting as each other’s “accountabili-buddies,” together they recount and report every cent from the 10,000 till shifts they receive. “When there are hiccups in the software or connectivity issues, it’s our job to act as financial detectives and sort things out.” – Pat Moran and Cheryl Gallagher, Tellers To view more, visit the link in our bio.

News Release: The National Park Service (NPS) encourages public comment on a proposal to improve telecommunication services in developed areas of Yellowstone National Park. The proposal would also give the park the opportunity to remove antiquated telecommunication systems currently on mountain tops and from the backcountry as underground fiber within the road corridor becomes operational. If approved, the proposal (an application for a right-of-way permit) from Diamond Communications, LLC. would allow for: - The installation of fiber-optic cable along 187 miles of park roads. - The removal of five microwave radio reflectors that were installed in the park’s backcountry around 1980. Currently, these reflectors are an essential component of the park’s microwave radio telecommunication system. The existing microwave radio system is the only means of telecommunication (telephone, 911 and computer networks) to the park. Each reflector is about 28 feet high and 24 feet wide. Broadband over fiber-optic cable could replace this antiquated system. The proposal addresses the following park issues: - Existing bandwidth on the existing microwave radio system is inadequate and no longer meets the park’s needs for business operations, employee communications, and emergency communications and operations. - Due to extremely remote duty stations, recruitment/retention for both the NPS and its business partners is severely affected by a lack of consistent and reliable connectivity. If this proposal is approved, the benefits to NPS staff, partners, and visitors would include: - Improved telephone, cellular phone, and park computer networks and broadband internet services that could meet critical park operations, safety and emergency services, and visitor information needs and expectations in developed areas. Comments must be received by October 21, 2020, and may be submitted online at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/fiber (link in bio) or by mail only. For more information and links to project details and documents, visit the link in our bio.

Thanks to our colleagues at @usgsvolcanoes for this month's Yellowstone Volcano Observatory monthly update! Scientist-in-Charge Mike Poland discusses a news-making seismic swarm along with other geologic activity in the park during the month of September.

Bald eagles eat a lot of fish. In winter, when fish stay deeper in water and lakes and rivers may be frozen, they eat more waterfowl. They will also eat carrion if it is available. Some adult bald eagles stay in the park year-round, but some are already heading south and still others may be arriving from locations farther north. To learn more about bald eagles, visit the link in our bio.

Fumaroles also known as steam vents, can be found throughout Yellowstone and are the hottest of the hot reaching temperatures of 280°F (138°C). A fumarole exists when a hydrothermal feature has so little water in its system that the water boils away before reaching the surface. Fumaroles emit large amounts of gases, primarily steam and carbon dioxide. When the gases emerging from a fumarole contain high amounts of sulfur the fumarole is known as a solfatara. Often the gases hiss and whistle as they escape through the fumarole’s opening. Great places to see and hear fumaroles are Norris Geyser Basin and Roaring Mountain.

News Release: Yellowstone sees an increase in positive employee-COVID-19 cases in September; More than 3,000 surveillance tests conducted. Since the first week of September, 16 of the park’s estimated 2,000 employees, or 0.8 percent, have tested positive for COVID-19, including seven National Park Service and nine concession employees. Eight of the 16 individuals have recovered, while the other eight individuals are still in recovery. All employees who have tested positive have been isolated per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and county public health guidelines. Contact tracing has occurred with the assistance of Park County, MT, and Park County, WY. The park had four positive employee cases between May 18 and August 30. A contractor also tested positive in June. No further information will be released in order to protect each employee’s privacy. In partnership with the states of Montana and Wyoming, the park has substantially increased employee surveillance testing and has conducted more than 1,100 tests since the first week of September. More than 3,000 tests have been conducted since the park reopened in May. To learn more, visit the link in our bio.

Phew! Can you believe it’s already October? Be on the lookout for a full Harvest Moon tonight, scheduled to be on the eastern horizon around 7:26 p.m. MST. The is the full moon that occurs closest to the Fall Equinox every year and usually has a reddish hue. And for an extra special cosmic treat, mark your calendars for the Hunter’s Moon, also known as a blue moon, the night of Halloween. Find out your local moonrise time and don’t forget to share your photos with us!