Four for the 4th! Celebrating National Parks We Love
SPRING IS A GREAT TIME TO VISIT GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK. IMAGE: ©JORN VANGOIDTSENHOVEN FROM MY SEARCH FOR THE BEST PLACES FOR GRIZZLY BEARS
ROBERTA KRAVETTE, EDITOR,
By Roberta Kravette
After a Year’s Lockdown, We are Ready to Spring Free!
When we first ran this article, spending an entire year sequestered in our small worlds dodging the effects of a killer pandemic was the stuff of nightmares and horror movies. My, how things can change! One change may be that we appreciate our open spaces – and the ability to enjoy them – more than ever.
Writer and historian Wallace Stenger called our national parks, The best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst. Well, that was undoubtedly the original goal.
The pandemic gave us time to reflect, and our collective mirror revealed some brutal truths, but we, the people, have always been willing to learn and change. Hopefully, we can build a future that lives up to Stenger’s words - together.
America is a Land of Incomparable Diversity
MAP OF THE BIOMES OF NORTH AMERICA THANKS TO THE OLATHE SCHOOLS LIBRARY
The United States is home to a staggering array of wildlife (432 mammals) and birds (800) species and an incredible array of flora, including 17,000 vascular plant species and tens of thousands of other lichens, moss, fungi, and more.
Then there are our people numbering more than 320 million individuals who speak over 350 languages. Together, people, birds, and wildlife, live spread out over an amazing expanse of 7 different biomes: Tundra, taiga, tropical rainforest, temperate rainforest, grasslands, desert, and alpine.
Over the last 100+ years, the United States has designated 423 national park sites – and that does not include wildlife refuges or areas or land set aside by the states or cities or ... well you get it.
Getting Back to Nature - Together!
This week we celebrate our return to real (pre-pandemic) summer; lazy warm days, spent with good friends and family, burgers and hot dogs on the grill, (non-meat of course 😄 ), all topped off by national holiday complete with booming, sparkling fireworks. But a Fourth of July party is more than that.
The Fourth of July is really a celebration of us, the United States, the only nation on earth By the People, For the People, a nation of mind-bending diversity, both of its people and its incomparable natural space.
Today, let’s celebrate 4 of the marvelous preserved places in these United States that we have visited in these pages over the years. This is Four for the 4th! - plus one bonus. And be sure to look at some of the link to even more national parks.
Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, Montana
HEARING THE ERIE, HAUNTING SOUND OF THE MALE ELK BUGLING DURING THE RUT IS SOMETHING YOU WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER. THE ANNUAL ELK RUT AT SLIPPERY ANN WILDLIFE VIEWING AREA IS ONE OF NATURE’S GREATEST SHOWS PROMISES WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER ©SCOTT STONE FROM WHEN THE SHADOWS FALL
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Declared a National Wildlife Refuge 1976, the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, named after the area’s most famous artist, is 915,814 acres (370,617 hectares) set atop a glacial plain.
Its forest, rivers, and grasslands are home to a fantastic abundance of wildlife, including Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, grizzly bear, cougar, and mule deer. It is a refuge for many threatened and endangered species like the grey wolf, black-footed ferret, black-tailed prairie dog, and northern leopard frog. Birds like the burrowing owl, mountain plover, and 235 other avian species find safe haven here.
But it is the bugling elk at Slippery Ann that first brought this place to our attention. Read: Scott Stone’s When the Shadows Fall, The Powerful Call of Slippery Ann’s Elk or my Slippery Ann’s Amazing Bugling Elk
The El Yunqué National Forest, Puerto Rico
PUERTO RICO’S EL YUNQUE´ NATIONAL FOREST AND THE RIO ABAJO STATE FOREST ARE TWO OF THE LAST REFUGES OF THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED PUERTO RICAN PARROT. IMAGE: ©ALFREDO IRIZZARY FROM WARNING, YOU CAN ONLY SEE THESE BIRDS IN PUERTO RICO
El Yunqué was declared a National Forest in 1906. The only tropical rainforest in the United States National Forest system. Puerto Rico’s El Yunqué is only 29,000 acres (11,736 hectares) – one of the United States’ smallest national forests – yet one of its most biodiverse.
El Yunqué National Forest’s hundreds of wildlife species are small in size, too, but many exist in no other place on earth. Look for 13 species of tiny tree frogs, coquí, and over 50 bird species, including the elusive, critically endangered Puerto Rican parrot.
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
ICONIC BISON GRAZING AT YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL. IMAGE: ©JIM FENNESSY FROM MY 7 DAYS PHOTOGRAPHING THE MOST MAJESTIC PARKS IN AMERICA
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Amtrak to Yellowstone National Park
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Declared a National Park in 1872 by President Ulysses S. Grant, Yellowstone National Park has the distinction not only of being the United States’ first national (not state) park but the first national park on the planet. It was dedicated as a national park partly in response to what was a disappointing effort at California’s protection of Yosemite. (Yosemite was re-dedicated as a national park in 1890). The park’s area is calculated in square miles, more than 3,468 of them (8.983km). It has one of the highest elevation lakes in North America (Yellowstone Lake) as well as forests and grasslands, geysers, and springs, and (for now) a quiet volcano.
BLACK BEAR MAMA AND CUBS CREATE A “BEAR-JAM” AT YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. IMAGE: ©JORN VANGOIDTSENHOVEN FROM MY SEARCH FOR THE BEST PLACES TO FIND GRIZZLY BEARS.
Yellowstone National Park is home to 200 animal species, including 60 mammals, the most famous, of course, being the re-introduced grey wolf and the iconic bison, but also pronghorn antelope, mountain lions, elk, moose, and grizzly bear. Over 300 bird species can be found here, 16 fish species, six different reptiles, and four amphibians. World famous Yellowstone is genuinely one of the United States’ crown jewels.
(Bonus) Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
CATCHING THE AUTUMN GOLD AT GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK IS THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND HIS WIFE AND THEIR FAVORITE TRAVELING COMPANION. IMAGE: ©JORN VANGOIDTSENHOVEN FROM MY SEARCH FOR THE BEST PLACES TO FIND GRIZZLY BEARS.
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Only 10 miles from Yellowstone, Grand Tetons National Park was dedicated in 1929 and expanded in 1950 to include the Jackson Hole Monument and other lands purchased explicitly by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. for the purpose of land preservation.
The Grand Tetons is 310,000 acres (480 square miles / 130,000 hectares) only 10 miles from Yellowstone and bordered by additional preserved wilderness and forest. The majestic Teton Range is the Rocky Mountain’s youngest range, rising without foothills directly from the Jackson Hole valley.
THE GRAND TETONS ARE HOME TO MANY ICONIC SPECIES, LIKE BISON, PRONGHORN ANTELOPE, AND BLACK AND GRIZZLY BEAR, BUT SOMETIMES IT IS THE SMALLER INHABITANTS THAT FASCINATE, LIKE THIS PORCUPINE IN A HEMLOCK TREE. IMAGE: ©JIM FENNESSY FROM MY 7 DAYS PHOTOGRAPHING AMERICA’S MOST MAJESTIC PARKS.
Sixty-one mammal species have been recorded in the Grand Tetons National Park, including icons like grey wolves, grizzly and black bear, and bison as well as coyote, river otters, martens, and wolverines. Cougars are occasionally seen here, and so too, the fastest land animal in North America, the pronghorn antelope.
Read: My 7 Days Photographing the Most Magnificent Parks in America by Jim Fennessy and My Search for the Best places to Photograph Grizzly Bears By Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Big Cyprus National Preserve, Florida
BIG CYPRUS NATIONAL PARK ONE OF THE LAST PLACES ON EARTH TO FIND THE ENDANGERED FLORIDA PANTHER. IMAGE THANKS TO BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE. FROM THE AMAZING WILDLIFE OF EVERGLADES CITY
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Glacier National Park
Yellowstone & Grand Tetons NPs
The Grand Canyon
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The Big Cyprus National Preserve was Established in 1974. The Big Cyprus National Preserve protects over 729,000 acres (295,000 hectares) of swamp habitat including a mix of both tropical and temperate plants. Its freshwater is essential to the health of Florida’s Everglades.
Where else on the earth might you see alligators and bobcats, manatee and black bear, not to mention the beautiful roseate spoonbill? Graceful herons nest among the mangroves; there are also ibis, pelicans, and 200 plus other species of waders, songbirds and raptors. River otters frolic in the fresh water. You may even be lucky and spot an elusive, endangered Florida panther. Read: The Amazing Wildlife of Everglades City and Kayaking with Alligators at Big Cyprus National Preserve both by me, Roberta Kravette
Have you had great experiences in National Parks or Wildlife Refuges? Lets us know below!
BIG CYPRUS NATIONAL PRESERVE IS A FABULOUS PLACE FOR BIRDWATCHING WITH 200 PLUS SPECIES OF WADERS, SONGBIRDS, RAPTORS AND OTHERS CALLING IT HOME. IMAGE: THANKS TO BIG CYPRUS NATIONAL PRESERVE FROM: THE AMAZING WILDLIFE OF EVERGLADES CITY.
This article, was first run in June 2019, updated in April 2021.