Ginny spent every summer at Denali National Park, building camp where they hauled in everything, led back country hiking trips, and developed a deep connection to the place.

Susan Stoltz and Ginny Wood, second and third from left

Conservationist and Outdoorswoman

Ginny, a legendary conservationist and pioneering outdoors woman in addition to being co-founder of Camp Denali, died in March 2013, peacefully in her home in Fairbanks, Alaska. I was honored to be present and by her side humming and singing songs to my dear friend until the end. At the age of 95 she had lived an incredible life and was able to stay in her own home, surrounded by love.

Ginny was a decorated member of the WWII Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), she flew fighter planes and bombers across the country, delivering them to bases and to be shipped overseas for the war effort. She arrived in Alaska Jan. 1 of 1947, after a month long odyssey of flying a surplus military plane from Seattle. 

Her close friend Celia Hunter flew a second plane alongside her.  When the temps dropped to -60 degrees below 0 F and there were no return flights to Seattle, Ginny and Celia stayed in Alaska. 

Ginny and her husband ‘Woody’ Morton Wood were lucky to be able to work in the back country of Denali Park, as Woody was a back Country Ranger.  Ginny would often accompany him on some trips. In the summer of 1951 Woody’s job took him to Katmai National Monument where according to Ginny’s stories “…our job was to explore the country there for recreational opportunities.” The next year, Ginny, Woody, and Celia Hunter founded Camp Denali.

View of Denali from Wonder Lake

Ginny was one of the matriarchs of Alaskan conservation, along with her long time friend Celia Hunter. Ginny dedicated her life to preserve Alaska’s environment and wild lands. Ginny’s voice was heard from Washington D.C  to Juneau Alaska with her eloquent writing and  testimony for many Alaskan issues. 

Voice for Alaskan Wilderness

She was a strong voice heard in speaking out on the major environmental issues. Some of those included Project Chariot, (a plan to use nuclear bombs to create a harbor in Alaska’s North Slope), the proposed Rampart Dam on the Yukon River, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, Alaska National Interest lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), and protecting from oil development the Arctic National Wildlife Range which she was involved with creating this area to be set aside as a great example of intact Arctic Alaskan Habitat (now known as The Arctic national Wildlife Refuge). 

Ginny was also one of the state’s first female wilderness guides, leading backpacking and rafting trips in the Brooks Range until she was in her 70’s.  She was a strong advocate for trail construction and preservation, maintaining ski trails and cross country skiing into her mid 80’s.

Walkin’ Jim and [Off the Beaten Path guide] Leslie Stoltz had the great honor of meeting Ginny when they came up to Alaska in 2003 to float the Sheenjek River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They needed a foldable canoe and I mentioned it to Ginny, she was delighted her boat took a trip down the river with these wonderful people.

Leslie Stoltz, Ginny Wood, and Susan Stoltz

Ginny received many awards for her work over the years, which she received with great humbleness, and with comments like “…what’s the big deal, I was just doing what needed to be done along with lot’s of other people.” Awards included the Alaska Conservation Foundation Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, the Sierra Clubs John Muir Award, and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s Citizen Award. 

In 2010, Ginny received the Congressional Gold Medal for honorable service to this country as a WASP pilot.  Senator Lisa Murkowski personally delivered the award to Ginny at her home in Fairbanks. She was inducted into Alaska Woman’s hall of Fame that same year.

Ginny in her later years had a deep love for gardening, and spent hours every summer working the soil  turning her large sunny garden with a hand trowel.  I will always remember walking down the path to her house, looking first in the garden where in the summer she was always there.  With her duct-tape-patched rain pants and sunhat, she would look over to me, with a smudge of dirt on her face, and throw me a smile as wide as the Tanana Valley.  She was an amazing friend to many who worked on environmental issues with her, did backpacking or river trips with her, and many who were inspired by her philosophy, tenacity, and sense of humor.

As Ginny always said  “I was the right age, at the right time, in the right place.”

Ginny Wood, 1917-2013

Walk in Ginny’s Footsteps at Camp Denali, with Off the Beaten Path

Off the Beaten Path travelers often stay at Camp Denali during their stays in Denali National Park. The staff naturalists are always ready with answers to your questions,  the cabins are cozy, the view is extraordinary, and the stay is a  quintessential Alaskan travel experience. Contact a Travel Advisor for more information on seeing the Great Land, off the beaten path. 

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The post Ginny Hill Wood, Camp Denali Matriarch appeared first on Off the Beaten Path.

I asked her not to, but she said no one was being hurt by the photos. If they didn’t even know she was photographing them, she reasoned, how could it matter?

But it did matter. It was a violation of the spirit of the place, the spiritual equivalent of leaving soda cans and freeze-dried food wrappers in a pristine campsite.

I felt sullied by the experience, and saddened. Here was a person who had traveled to the far corners of the Earth, but who had still maintained her blinders, completely missing the gifts of humility and mutual respect that travel bestows.

For a long, long time in the history of travel, of course, exploitation, not appreciation, has been the prime goal—first material exploitation, and then shortly thereafter spiritual exploitation. In fact, it is only very recently that any widespread recognition has been accorded to the notion that travelers need to preserve rather than plunder the places they visit.

The Beginnings of “Ecotourism”

Three decades ago, in the late 1980s, this notion was given a name: “ecotourism.” In the intervening years, “ecotourism” has been joined by “responsible travel” and “sustainable tourism,” but there is still no general agreement on a precise definition of any of these—and in fact, in a fervent desire to jump on the ecotravel bandwagon, some travel operations have stretched the notion beyond all coherence.

Just what is ecotourism? To my mind, ecotourism denotes tourism that is environmentally, socially, culturally, and economically aware, that strives to appreciate, nurture and enhance—not exploit—the countries and cultures it touches.

Why are ecotourism’s principles and ideals so important? They are important because they help us to understand and cherish the world, and to preserve precisely those things we find to cherish.

I think of the world as a glorious puzzle composed of beautiful, precious, unique, and irreplaceable pieces. And I think that we who love to travel—who, in a profound sense, live to travel—are the guardians of that puzzle, for it is we who hold its pieces in our hands, and who celebrate and sanctify its existence in our lives.

As a new year full of exciting adventures is upon us, I think back to that misguided photographer in Pakistan—and realize again how important it is to underscore the responsibilities and the opportunities travel presents, whether we are going to Canada, Costa Rica, or Croatia.

Principles For the Ecotourist to Travel By

Over the years, a number of organizations—among them the Center for Responsible Travel, the International Ecotourism Society, and Ethical Traveler—have promulgated principles of responsible travel, guidelines travelers can follow to ensure that their journeys are as globe-enhancing as possible. Adapted from these guidelines and my own experiences in four decades of world-wandering, here are 10 ecotourist’s tips for travel on a fragile planet:

1. Travel in a spirit of humility and with a genuine desire to meet and talk with the local people. Acquaint yourself with local customs and respect them.

2. Be aware of the feelings of other people, thus preventing what might be offensive behavior. Remember this especially with photography.

3. Cultivate the habit of listening and observing, rather than merely hearing and seeing. Ask questions and seek to understand, not to convert.

4. Realize that people in the country you visit often have time concepts, thought patterns, and cultural preconceptions different from your own. Not inferior, just different.

5. Do not look only for the beach paradise of the tourist posters. Discover the enrichment that comes from seeing another way of daily life.

6. Remember that you are a guest. Do not ask for or expect special treatment.

7. Spend wisely. Remember when shopping that the bargain you obtain is possible only because of the low wages paid to workers and craftspeople.

8. Make no promises to local people unless you are certain you can fulfill them.

9. Be aware of the effect you inevitably have as a visitor, and reflect daily on your experiences; seek to deepen your sensitivity and understanding.

10. Take only photographs; leave only footprints. Do not disturb or despoil the local environment.

In truth, our responsibilities and opportunities as travelers begin as soon as we start to think about a trip. With ecotourism, if you are traveling on your own, try to incorporate the suggestions above into your itineraries and arrangements as much as you can. And if you are planning to take an organized trip, keep the following questions in mind when choosing a tour operator.

Questions for the Ecotourist to Ask When Choosing a Tour Company

Is the tour company really ecologically and culturally aware? On wilderness trips, for example, does it make every effort to pack out whatever it brings in, to dispose of waste as responsibly as possible and to use local resources as efficiently and responsibly as possible? Does it use low-impact forms of transportation whenever possible? Does it work with local guides, and does a percentage of its earnings in some way filter through to the local economy? Does it exhibit attitudes of humility, care, and respect in its itineraries, brochures, and other explanatory materials? Does it earmark some percentage of its income for special programs designed to aid the areas it visits?

Off the Beaten Path is a prime example of an ecologically enlightened company that, through ecotourism, seeks to enhance the planet with its journeys. Traveling with OBP, or a company like it, not only helps guarantee that you get a tour suited to your own philosophy and travel style, it also helps spread the message that truly thoughtful, responsible tourism—rather than lip-service labeling—is good for everyone.

Travel Like You Mean It With OBP

Bill and Pam Bryan, who founded Off the Beaten Path in 1986, were at the forefront of the responsible travel movement. This was a natural outgrowth of their commitment to conservation and local communities. Cory Lawrence, who took over the reins from the Bryans, has maintained a steadfast commitment to operating the company with the highest level of integrity, attention to best practices, and a genuine desire to contribute to the well-being of the planet and its cultural communities. 

When you travel with Off the Beaten Pat on a Small Group Adventure or Private Custom Journey, you can trust that your journey will be sensitive and proportional, and that you will be a welcome guest. Contact us to learn more! 

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After two and a half hours of steady digging and pulling, my lower back ached from the strain, and my quads burned. A rainstorm blew in, spitting hail, and I decided to take a break. 

As I stowed my 7-inch-long digging knife, water bottle, and bear spray in my day pack, and scrambled down the ridge in the pelting rain, I remembered the hermit thrush’s song and smiled. That thrush is part of why I am spending two weeks volunteering to grub out invasive weeds in the landscape I have loved ever since I can remember.

What does knapweed have to do with hermit thrushes? Knapweed crowds out native plants, killing them with a natural herbicide exuded by its rhizomes and roots. Perhaps worse yet, it doesn’t provide habitat for native insects. As entomologist Douglas Tallamy puts it, “a plant that isn’t feeding insects isn’t doing its job.” Hermit thrushes and other songbirds raise their young on insect larvae. A lot of larvae: Tallamy’s studies show a pair of chickadees needs 6,000 to 9,000 inchworm-sized insect larvae to raise a single brood! 

An infestation of thousands of Russian knapweed plants crowding out the native long-leafed phlox (the white-flowering Phlox longiloba in the photo at the top of the post), yarrow, fleabane, arrowleaf balsamroot (below), and other wildflowers means no insects, and thus no food for nesting songbirds. That’s just one example of how non-native, invasive weeds disrupt and degrade the webs of relationships that create healthy natural ecosystems. 

What makes a species invasive?

It’s not about a prejudice against immigrants. Tens of thousands of non-native species call the United States home without causing harm. But not every species belongs everywhere. Invasives are those relative few who don’t play well with others, the species who behave badly, a detriment to us all.

When knapweed crowds out native wildflowers, that behavior also means less food for the hundreds of species of native bees and butterflies, plus hummingbirds and other pollinators. And the natural herbicide knapweed exudes changes the soil ecosystem as well, which may mean the soil becomes less fertile altogether. 

And of course, plant communities altered by invasive weeds directly affect the lives of the “large charismatic wildlife” that attract millions of visitors to Yellowstone every summer. Like the cow elk in the photo below, grazing placidly in the Mammoth Campground just yards from the space that was my home for the term of my time here. 

Researchers estimate that the United States hosts some six thousand invasive species—plants, animals, insects, microbes—and these misbehaving lives cause a cool $137 billion in damages each year. That’s enough money to buy Twitter, Yahoo, and Toyota, plus BMW, Burberry, Prada, and Louis Vuitton, and add British Airways and Addidas. Invasive plants alone wreak havoc on an area about the size of California, which is a lot of territory to weed.

The other perennial invasive I’m working on while I’m here, houndstongue (Cynoglossom officionale), a robust plant that looks something like comfrey but with deep purple flowers, is poisonous to grazers, including elk. The plant fills its tissues with compounds that stop liver cells from reproducing, causing critters that eat a lot of it—like elk calves, for instance—to slowly die of liver failure. 

I’ve been digging knapweed in the morning, and then switching to the tap-rooted houndstongue in the afternoon to vary the work—and to give me a mental break. I grubbed out a whole trash bag of houndstongue today before heading to Gardiner, Montana, just outside the park, for lunch and internet access (as well as electricity to charge my laptop). 

And now it’s time to head back to houndstongue eradication. I’m working hard, but don’t feel sorry for me. I’m happy doing work that helps heal the landscape that is the home of my heart. My muscles may be sore by the end of the day, but my spirit is singing.

Update:

Three years after I wrote this piece, I’m still volunteering as a “weed warrior” in Yellowstone, one of a loose group that spends weekends or weeks at a time in America’s oldest National Park to help control weeds. I spend at least two weeks in the park every summer, more if my schedule allows. 

I refer to my weeding time in Yellowstone as a “spa vacation,” only half-joking. In just one ten-day stint, I hiked 47.5 miles, pried out approximately 3,050 plants, and hauled off 25 trash bags weighing a total of 290 pounds. Over the past three summers, I’ve spent 50 days weeding in the Park. In that time I’ve hiked nearly 200 miles (just while weeding, not counting hikes during my “off” time), dug out around 15,000 invasive plants, and hauled off 125 trash bags containing somewhere around a three-quarters of a ton of weeds!

Sadly, I’ll never run out of work. Yellowstone is a huge place, and the Park Service’s limited budget pays for only a few crews to control weeds over an area larger than the Los Angeles metro area, with far fewer roads for access. When the magnitude of the weeding overwhelms me, I remind myself that with enough time, hands, and persistence, we can restore healthy landscapes, plant by plant. I’ve seen it happen.

The first year I dug houndstongue at the elk calving grounds around Mammoth Campground, it was so dense, I thought I would never make a dent. But by the next spring, between my effort and that of my fellow weed warriors, what remained was only scattered clusters. We may never eradicate houndstongue completely, but we’ve kept it from taking over.

We all benefit from giving back, from making positive statements in a world that feels far too negative. Weeding to heal this beloved place restores my faith in the resilience of life. The work is my gift to capital-L Life, the greater community of nature that weaves our earthly home and allows me—and all of us—to live. The light in my soul as I lug another heavy bag of weeds down the trail is Life’s gift to me.

Learn more about weeding and other Citizen Science Projects in Yellowstone.

More about Susan Tweit 

Digging into Yellowstone as a Visitor

Yellowstone National Park is far more than just what meets the eye. It’s a complex ecological web with myriad intricate relationships—between natives and invasives, predator and prey, scavenger and hunter, vegetation and browers…the list goes on. If you’d like to learn more about Yellowstone, there’s no better way than going an Off the Beaten Path Small Group Adventure, or spending time with a naturalist guide on an OBP Private Custom Journey. 

Check out these fully guided trips: Essence of Yellowstone and Grand Teton, Yellowstone Wildlife Safari, Hiking in Yellowstone, and Yellowstone’s Winter Wonders. 

Or contact us to start planning your Private Custom Journey.

The post Weeding Yellowstone: Knapweed and Hermit Thrushes first appeared on Off the Beaten Path.

The post Weeding Yellowstone: Knapweed and Hermit Thrushes appeared first on Off the Beaten Path.

NPCA’s Centennial story, “Educating and Inspiring Park Visitors”

From its earliest days, NPCA has introduced the public to the splendor of America’s national parks and celebrated their capacity to teach — and even to transform — all of us.

“The Greatest Waterwheel of the Tuolumne” from The Book of the National Parks

In the summer of 1916, the United States had 14 national parks and 21 national monuments — and while their oversight fell to the Department of the Interior, there still was no centralized agency dedicated to their management.

But that was about to change. . .

The men who would go on to found NPCA, Stephen Mather and Robert Sterling Yard, had been feverishly campaigning for the creation of a unified National Park Service for 18 months — from Mather’s famous “mountain party” of influentials exulting in the grandeur of the parks to Yard’s numerous articles extolling their educational and economic value to the nation.

Sequoia National Park, location of Mather’s Mountain Party

What finally tipped the balance was “The National Parks Portfolio,” a lavishly produced tome that paired Yard’s effusive prose with stunning photographs of parks such as Glacier, Yellowstone, Crater Lake, and Grand Canyon, giving many Americans their first glimpse of the wondrous public lands they shared.

In his foreword, Mather wrote:

This Nation is richer in natural scenery of the first order than any other nation; but it does not know it. It possesses an empire of grandeur and beauty which it scarcely has heard of. It owns the most inspiring playgrounds and the best equipped nature schools in the world and is serenely ignorant of the fact. In its national parks it has neglected, because it has quite overlooked, an economic asset of incalculable value.

The first printing of “The National Parks Portfolio” exceeded a quarter-million books, and Mather made sure that a copy found its way to the desk of every member of Congress. Before the summer’s end, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act of 1916 into law, establishing the National Park Service.

But that was only part of the vision Mather and Yard shared for the nation’s parks. From the beginning, they knew that public lands would need an informed and inspired public to protect them, an independent voice free from political or commercial interests.

That’s Why NPCA has…

• Published the award-winning National Parks magazine since 1942

• Reimagined the WPA-era See America campaign for the digital age through an innovative collaboration with Creative Action Network

• Shared more than a thousand supporter stories showing why parks matter through our award-winning My Park Story website

• Partnered with PBS to host “Feel Free: A National Parks Celebration” in Central Park in conjunction with Ken Burns’ national park documentary film

• Published books including the NPCA Guides to National Parks series and “America’s National Parks: An Insider’s Guide to Unforgettable Places and Experiences”

• Established awards named for Stephen Mather, Robin Winks, William Penn Mott and Marjory Stoneman Douglas to acknowledge and honor park champions

• Partnered with Rock the Parks/Litton Entertainment on educational programming promoting park advocacy

and

• Celebrated national parks and their protectors at the annual Salute to the Parks Gala since 1982

Glacier National Park

Add your voice

With 1.3 million members and supporters beside us, we are the voice of America’s national parks, working to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for present and future generations.

Learn more about the challenges and opportunities facing our national parks, then use your voice to advocate on their behalf.

“I’ve always only seen nature through a camera, like on TV, so being out here in nature is different. You get to experience it firsthand.” — Esther Acosta, Mojave Star Party participant

Explore the Parks on fun and informed Off the Beaten Path Journeys

Off the Beaten Path is honored to be in partnership with NPCA to help people experience the parks in meaningful, memorable—and fun!—ways. 

 OBP offers fully guided Small Group Adventures and Private Custom Journeys to the parks. Browse our website for National Park trips, including journeys to Yellowstone, Glacier, Denali, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Zion National Parks, as well as many, many more.

That web listing includes both scheduled Small Group Adventure departures and suggested Custom Journey itineraries. If you don’t see the perfect-for-you Custom Journey, we can plan one from scratch, based on your interests, desires, and needs. Contact a Travel Advisor for more information on OBP’s national parks travel opportunities.    

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Peeking through the lens, I was six years old again. There was the bird I had been yearning to see, a quetzal as resplendent as I had read about—a vivid dream from my distant past. He sat on a tree branch, preening his feathers, cocking his head and looking around with curious black eyes as his dazzling blue-green plumage reflected the light of the rising sun. I had barely a few moments to admire him. Then he took off into the rainforest canopy, vanishing like the fleeting moments of childhood.

As a child, I spent hours reading children’s encyclopedias that explained the wonders of our world in colorful pictures and easy-to-read text. One bird in particular jumped out: It was dressed in crimson, sapphire-blue and emerald-green, with a regal feather-fluffed crown on its head and a tail adorned with feathers that trailed across two pages. The quetzal was breathtaking to behold, even in print. And in life? Well, the bird was once worshipped by the ancient Mayans and Aztecs for its radiant beauty.

Twenty-five years later, I was walking through the cloud forests of Monteverde in Costa Rica, hoping to make my lifelong dream of seeing a real quetzal come true.

By my side was Ricardo Guindon, whom I had met just that morning. Ricardo was a native of Monteverde, and had more than 30 years of birdwatching and guiding experience. He was born to North American Quaker parents who moved from the United States to Costa Rica and settled near Monteverde in the 1950s.

Photo by Trupti Devdas Nayak

When he had heard my desire to see this rare bird, Ricardo had set my expectations gently: “Let’s be realistic. We have a 50-50 chance of seeing a quetzal. But don’t worry. There are a lot of other amazing things to see in Monteverde.”

The quetzal might be conspicuously flamboyant, but it was not going to be easy to spot amongst the dense branches and leaves of the rainforest. Venturing a few steps down the trail behind Ricardo, I silently willed the quetzals to show themselves. We continued walking quietly for the next 10 minutes. Suddenly, a melodious but dolorous two-tone birdsong resounded through the rainforest canopy. Ricardo froze in his tracks, and so did I.

A Very Lucky Day

“Is that a quetzal?” I asked, breathless.

Nodding his head, Ricardo looked at me with eyes mirroring my excitement. “Probably a young male,” he whispered while peering at the branches, trying to spot the bird. Glimpsing the telltale flash of vermillion and jade amongst the trees, he promptly set up the spotting scope and offered it to me. My childhood dream came true—in a matter of spellbound moments—and then, in a flash, the bird was once again lost in the rain forest canopy.

“I can’t believe that the first bird we heard and saw was a quetzal,” Ricardo said, shaking his head in astonishment. “That was incredibly lucky.”

But our luck was only beginning: Later that morning, we saw another of these splendid birds. The second quetzal flew from branch to branch, its fern-green feathered tail trailing behind gracefully.

“The quetzal loves to eat avocados,” said Ricardo. “The birds are most active at dawn, since it’s the best time for feeding and hunting. After they eat their fill, they just sit in one place, still as a statue. It’s harder to spot them then,” he explained.

As we walked, I realized that being a guide in the rain forest could be stressful. Enthusiastic and well-meaning travelers came from all over the world, aspiring to see the bird or animal they had dreamed about. This put a lot of pressure on the guides. Now that we had seen the quetzal and achieved our “species goals,” I could sense Ricardo’s mood had shifted. He was more cheerful, more relaxed.

Observing the birds in all their grandeur in their natural habitat filled my heart with joy. Wondering if Ricardo felt like this every time he saw a quetzal, I asked if it was his favorite bird. He smiled before confessing.

“No. I admire the flashy quetzal since it brings so many people to Monteverde. But I personally prefer a small, brown thrush called the yigüirro.”

“Why?”

“It sings beautifully at the onset of the rainy season.”

Looking Deeper 

After a couple of hours, the stillness of early dawn had given way to the bustling activity of humans on the trails.

Photo by Trupti Devdas Nayak

We stumbled across several big groups of visitors seeking the quetzal. Somebody quipped about Monteverde becoming a “crowd forest.”

Ricardo turned to me with a grin. “Want to hike my favorite trail?”

Eager to get away from the commotion, we headed up the lesser-known Chomogo trail that would lead us to the tranquil upper reaches of the forest. Cloud forests are shrouded in dense, low-lying fog, but as we climbed up along the ridgeline, the haze thinned. Views began to open up all around us, allowing us to see surrounding trees clearly while wispy veils of vapor wafted gracefully through the valleys below us.

Hiking in the hushed heights of the cloud forest, we heard the birds before we saw them. A tanager announced itself with a rustle and chirp before popping up on a nearby branch. Bobbing its head and looking around warily in its role as sentinel, it checked its surroundings and signaled to the other birds in its mixed feeding flock to follow.

Suddenly, dozens of colorful native birds descended upon us, flocking through bushes, feeding on fruits, seeds, and insects before moving on as quickly as they had arrived. I stood awe-struck as Ricardo spoke softly into his tape recorder.

“Dec 29th, 8:15am. Ochre-bellied flycatcher. One female seen feeding on berries. Two miles up Chomogo trail. 8:15am. Purple-throated mountain-gem. One female seen visiting witheringia flowers. Two miles up Chomogo trail.”

Ricardo’s true passion, he admitted, lay in tracking the native birds of Monteverde’s cloud forests.

“I have been collecting data on all the endemic species of birds in Monteverde for the past 20 years!” he said proudly. “I track their habits, movements, and populations to ensure the rain forest is healthy and flourishing.”

We continued hiking uphill for a couple of hours before heading back down Chomogo trail, where we stopped at a fork leading deeper into the rain forest. Glancing toward the trail that diverged, I noticed the name on the sign read “Wilford Guindon Trail.”

“Isn’t your last name Guindon?” I asked Ricardo, pointing toward the trailhead.

“Wilford Guindon is my father.”

“There’s a trail in the cloud forest named after your father?”

“Yes, my father was one of the founding members of this preserve in the 1970s,” he said matter-of-factly. “Down that trail, there’s a hanging bridge in the cloud forest named after him.”

What serendipity! Here I was, on a birdwatching tour in Monteverde’s precious cloud forest, and my guide’s father happened to be one of the people who had the prescience to create this very reserve!

“He must be very proud of you,” I said, wonderstruck.

Ricardo told me that yes, his father was proud of him. And Ricardo was also proud of his father: Later in the week, they would meet for a celebration of Wilford’s life and contributions to Monteverde.

“My father used to love hiking these trails,” Ricardo said. “He’s in his 80s and too old now, but he still loves the jungle.”

Birding with the Best

Trupti Devdas Nayak and Guide Ricardo Guindon

As we continued hiking, several guides stopped to chat with Ricardo. He spoke flawlessly in English and Spanish with tourists and locals alike. They presented him with photos of birds and recordings of birdsong. Every time, Ricardo nodded his head with a smile before identifying the bird.

Growing up with the rain forest as his playground, Ricardo knew the forest intimately and considered himself incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such natural riches.

“I used to swing from the tree branches and pretend I was Tarzan!” he admitted with a laugh.

After pursing higher education in the United States, Ricardo returned to Costa Rica. He aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps—to safeguard one of the country’s most precious, biodiverse ecosystems. What makes Monteverde unique is that it is home to such a variety of life. It is home to hundreds of species of mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. It has six species of the cat family that are native to Costa Rica—jaguar, ocelot, puma, oncilla, margay and jaguarundi—and several endangered birds, like the three-wattled bellbird, and of course, the quetzal.

“How many quetzals are there in the cloud forest?” I asked, imagining a multitude soaring through the canopy.

“Only about a 100 nesting pairs,” said Ricardo. “But we don’t know the latest count, and that is where I hope my observations and data will help.” Even on his days off, Ricardo spent hours transcribing all his observations. It was tedious but important work. “I hope one day all my efforts are useful to a scientist or researcher,” he said, a wishful fire in his eyes.

“There’s no doubt that your work will be invaluable,” I said.

Ricardo told me that when he was growing up, local families were still clearing the cloud forest to make space for homesteading and cultivation. Although parts of the pristine jungles were protected under the privately owned Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, surrounding areas were open to logging and development.

Ricardo had always wanted to study birds and wildlife and put that knowledge to good use in his country. “I never thought I would be able to pursue my interests like guiding, birding, and conservation as a career,” he said. “This is a dream come true.”

Standing on the trail, surrounded by trills and chirps, I realized that just as Ricardo had played a part in my childhood dreams, I was also playing a part in his.

Stirring from my reverie, I turned to see Ricardo whispering into his tape recorder.

“Dec 29th, 11:45am. Yigüirro. One female singing. Three miles down Chomogo trail.”

Ready for your own Costa Rican Quest?

Off the Beaten Path has been sending serious and beginning birders, wildlife watchers, and curious travelers to Costa Rica for years, on guided small-group trips such as Costa Rica’s True Nature and independent custom journeys. See the itineraries for two of our custom trips, Iconic Costa Rica and Costa Rica Retreat, which you can take as-is, or tweak and adjust to suit your specific needs and interests. Or contact an OBP Travel Advisor to start planning your own quest from scratch, whatever that might be—wildlife watching, river rafting, birding, walking in the tree canopy on hanging bridges, or whatever you dream. 

The post Seeing the Quetzal: A Costa Rican Birding Quest first appeared on Off the Beaten Path.

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Pronghorns are the fastest land mammals in North America, capable of impressive speed and endurance. They can sprint away from predators at 60 miles per hour, and keep running for miles at speeds of 30 to 40 miles per hour. 

Such abilities surely came in handy 11,000 years ago, when pronghorns were running from American cheetahs, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, and early nomadic hunters. And run they must have, because they’re the only large hoofed mammal to have survived North America’s Ice Ages unchanged.

That makes the pronghorn North America’s most native living ungulate—despite its exotic looks. With its odd horns, pretty tan and white markings, and striking black facial accents, Antilocapra americana looks like it would be at home among the wildebeests on an African savannah. It’s no wonder William Clark noted in his 1804 journal that pronghorns looked “like the antelope or gazella of Africa.”

aka Antelope

Ever since Clark set the precedent, people continue to call them antelope. But the more proper common name, “pronghorn,” comes from the forward-facing prong mid-way up the buck’s horn. No other horns in the animal kingdom branch. Further distinguishing the pronghorn from all the other horned mammals, pronghorns shed the outer layer of their horns every year and regrow a new sheath of keratin over the bone core. (Wondering what the difference is between horns and antlers? Read more.)

Pronghorns are beautifully adapted for open spaces and built for speed. Their extra-large tracheas support the volume of breath needed to maintain top running speeds, and their lean, narrow legs have super strong bones to withstand the impact. They also have huge eyes, with extraordinary eyesight to scan long distances for danger. And when they see danger? They don’t run and hide—they just run.

Steve Jorgenson

Because pronghorns evolved in an open landscape without trees, flight survival didn’t require jumping over forest deadfall. Pronghorn became specialized runners, not bounders. So unlike deer and elk, pronghorns are at a loss when it comes to fences. They can long-jump, but they can’t leap over obstacles of even modest height—like fences. They’ve adapted as best they can, figuring out how to scoot under barbed wire fences, but wires near the ground or woven-wire sheep fences defeat them. When confronted with such barriers pronghorn will usually turn back, or if forced ahead, risk injury trying to cross. 

From Ancient Predators to the Modern Perils of Fencing

Today, instead of American cheetahs, fences and roads are among the pronghorn’s biggest threats to survival.

When William Clark wrote about this beautiful creature in his journal, an estimated 35 million pronghorns roamed western grasslands, sagelands, and scrublands. By the early 20^thcentury those numbers had dwindled to under 20,000. Fortunately, modern conservation efforts have restored pronghorn numbers to nearly one million. But pronghorn aren’t out of the woods, so to speak.

Market hunting was a big factor in the original decimation of pronghorn populations, but so was the fencing of the West. Fencing doesn’t just keep a pronghorn getting from one field to another.  Pronghorn herds must cover large distances to move from summer to winter ranges—in the longest terrestrial migrations of any land animal in the Lower 48.

About 400 pronghorn summer in Grand Teton National Park. In the fall, those animals begin their annual trek along a traditional migration route of about 150 miles from the park to winter range near Pinedale, Wyoming. Generation after generation has followed the route, beginning thousands of years ago, long before humans turned the path into a gauntlet of roads, fences, and development. Safe passage along this “Path of the Pronghorn” is essential to the survival of the Grand Teton population.

To the north, pronghorn in Yellowstone National Park are facing similar challenges. When Yellowstone was established as America’s first national park in 1872, summer visitors regularly saw pronghorns in the Lamar, Hayden, and Lower Madison Valleys. For centuries, those animals migrated from that summer habitat, in what is now the park, to critical lower-elevation wintering grounds north and west of today’s park boundaries.

But as lands surrounding the park have been developed over the last century, this ancient migration route has been obstructed by fences and other obstacles that have prevented Yellowstone’s pronghorn from reaching crucial winter habitat. Such barriers also isolated the herd from other pronghorn in the region, leaving Yellowstone’s pronghorn population extremely susceptible to disease and severe weather.

In 2004, park biologists estimated that fewer than 200 individuals remained in the Lamar Valley. This small population was at high risk of extinction, leaving Yellowstone vulnerable to losing its native pronghorn.

NPCA’s Strategic Defence

In 2010, National Parks Conservation Association began a major pronghorn conservation project to restore the Yellowstone herd’s migration, by engaging volunteers to remove or modify fencing north of the Park in Paradise Valley. Recently, NPCA expanded its program to also include a historic winter migration route west of the Park, in the Madison Valley.

Restoring Ancient Paths

See NPCA’s beautifully illustrated story map, or keep reading—

Along both the northern and western migration routes, NPCA collaborates with numerous partners, including private landowners and public land managers, to remove or modify fences. Pinning up the bottom wire or rung of a fence generally doesn’t impede the fence’s ability to contain cattle or horses, but it does allow pronghorn to crawl underneath.

Since its inception, NPCA’s pronghorn program has covered dozens of miles of fences. As a result, pronghorn numbers in Yellowstone are increasing and the herd is accessing more of their historic winter habitat—including range that has been blocked for decades.

Reports of pronghorn reoccupying habitat after a long absence indicate that NPCA’s initiative is helping restore Yellowstone’s speed goats. But there is more work to be done, more miles of fencing to assess, pull, and pin.

Volunteers Make it Happen

The program’s success relies on the hard work and dedication of volunteers. On fencing days, volunteers work together to either remove fences or rebuild existing fences to be wildlife-friendly. While it can be demanding work, these projects take place in some of the most beautiful places in the country, and volunteers are proud to have such a direct role in opening up habitat for pronghorn and other wildlife. (Interested in volunteering?)

NPCA’s strategies of collaborative community engagement, strong science-based conservation, and volunteer-driven programs will continue to remove barriers and restore pronghorn migrations throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

The only organization doing this work north and west of Yellowstone, NPCA has built strong relationships with private landowners, public land managers, and volunteers. These relationships are helping conserve the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem for both human and pronghorn generations to come.

–Susan Ewing, OBP, and NPCA staff

Where to See Pronghorns in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

Off the Beaten Path partners with NPCA to deliver the best in conservation travel and wildlife watching trips and tours. Interested in pronghorn viewing in Grand Teton, or curious to know where to see pronghorn and other wildlife in Yellowstone?

For naturalist led, fully guided wildlife watching trips with great odds of seeing pronghorns (aka antelope), consider Essence of Yellowstone and Grand Teton, Yellowstone Wildlife Safari, Hiking in Yellowstone, The Great American West, and Yellowstone’s Winter Wonders. OBP can also plan a personally tailored Custom Journey just for you, that provides quality wildlife viewing time with a naturalist guide intimately familiar with the Great Yellowstone Ecosystem. Our Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks custom itinerary would be a great starting place.

The post Yellowstone Pronghorns: Don’t Fence Them In first appeared on Off the Beaten Path.

The post Yellowstone Pronghorns: Don’t Fence Them In appeared first on Off the Beaten Path.