The Greater Yellowstone Area:  Conserving a Beacon of Hope and a Western Icon, Together

By Joe Starinchak, New West Unfiltered 7-18-06

Read most any newspaper in the Inter-Mountain West on the subject of natural resources and you probably come away feeling depressed. There is no shortage of negative articles on water conservation, environment, natural resources, and public lands. Whether focusing on the Forest Service selling off public land, budget cuts for federal resource management agencies, the continued expansion of resort communities gobbling up pristine habitat, various lawsuits for and against the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding species listings and de-listings, the common themes are negativity and government-bashing.

The reasons for the negativity are many; controversy and negativity sell copy, people don’t like government, the government has a long history of ineptitude, and public lands issues are polarizing. But a small, dedicated group of natural resource professionals want to change this negativity and connect local people with their local resources. To appreciate these efforts, it is important to understand the complexity of our various environmental issues and how our government is taking a new tact to address this complexity.

Our environment and particularly our public lands and waters are facing many different, complex threats like expanding pollution impacts, invasive species, urban sprawl and the consequences feeding off of our culture’s insatiable demand for petroleum-based products. All of these issues threaten our natural resources; however when they are combined with greater demands on our public resources and a scarcity of public funding to support traditional resource management, the sustainability of this resource base is being questioned. And like it or not, our country is at war. With this as the reality inside Washington D.C., natural resource issues rank low on the government’s priority list of pressing issues. So, what does this mean for a region like the Greater Yellowstone area and surrounding communities like Island Park, Idaho; Cody and Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Ennis, Bozeman, and Livingston, Montana, all of which proudly identify themselves with the region and benefit from the unmatched quality of these resources?

To answer this, we need to look at the question from a big-picture perspective as well as from a practical point of view. Washington D.C. politics affect local communities all around the country by reaffirming two constants in life: change and choice. Traditionally, we have always looked to our government to be the stewards of our natural resources, particularly in a location like the Greater Yellowstone area. However, with our current budget climate and different priorities, relying solely on the government to conserve these resources is not working. It’s not as though the government is going to shed these responsibilities, but because of the complexity of these threats, others outside of the government need to assume a greater role, underscoring the need for change. As for the second constant, choice, communities of the Greater Yellowstone area can choose to proactively maintain the natural resources that support their communities or they can focus on how Washington is out of touch with the West and will not allocate the necessary funds to sustain those natural resources.

Some forward-thinking fish and wildlife professionals from the US Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and Forest Service, the states of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho and other resource-oriented nonprofit organizations have partnered with the Federation of Fly Fishers and the American Fly Fishing Trade Association to make it very easy for local communities and businesses to embrace change and make proactive choices regarding conservation. From a tourism perspective, the Greater Yellowstone area is blessed with amazing natural resources, particularly its rivers, streams and lakes. With blue-ribbon trout waters like the Madison, the Firehole, the Gallatin, the Snake, the Yellowstone, Lamar and Henry’s Fork, and Hebgen Lake, the whole region has positioned itself as a global destination for fly fishermen. Additionally, these waters attract whitewater paddlers and families seeking outdoor adventure. The unparalleled quality of these resources has made the Greater Yellowstone area a global attraction. However, the very thing that drives a powerful economic engine, the trout fishing opportunities, has also become the roadway for introducing and spreading one of our most complex resource management threats, aquatic invasive species.

Aquatic invasive species represent complex threats to our fisheries, lakes and rivers. As an unforeseen consequence that has been exacerbated by our global economy, nonnative plants, animals, fish and diseases are introduced to new ecosystems through numerous means and, if they can establish themselves, they are free from predators and diseases that would otherwise keep their populations in check in their native environments. As a result, they have the potential to expand unnaturally and negatively impact the native species where they have been introduced. Additionally, because they are aquatic organisms, the damage they cause typically goes sight unseen, not discovered until it’s too late and oftentimes, this damage can be quite costly and irreversible. While the zebra mussel invasion of the Great Lakes has made much news, every part of the country deals with its own aquatic invasive species -- and the Intermountain West is no different. Multiple federal, state and local governments have varying levels of jurisdiction over this issue, which can complicate attempts to make the public aware of this issue.

Whirling disease, New Zealand mudsnails, and lake trout are three primary aquatic invasive species of concern in the Greater Yellowstone area. Whirling disease, caused by a parasite, causes fish like trout to swim in a whirling motion. It has had a presence in western waters for a while and could truly damage a cash cow like the Madison River. New Zealand mudsnails are “relatively” new, but we are learning more about their impacts everyday and they have the potential to be as bad as whirling disease. These nonnative snails can reproduce asexually at prolific rates and out-compete native aquatic insect larvae that comprise the majority of a trout’s diet. Their asexuality is of great concern because that means it takes only one snail to reproduce – and only one snail to damage the waters that make up the Greater Yellowstone area. As for the third species, lake trout, you’re probably saying to yourself, aren’t they a sport fish? The answer to this question is yes – in their native habitat. This predatory fish, introduced to Yellowstone Lake, has seriously impacted native cutthroat trout. So, what’s the big deal with native cutthroat trout? In the case of the Yellowstone Lake population, these fish are very important for the entire ecosystem. The Greater Yellowstone area is the West’s stronghold for Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Our national bird, the bald eagle, which has a strong presence in Yellowstone and serves as a global tourist attraction that draws birders from around the world and the controversial grizzly bear both rely heavily upon the native cutthroats for food. Without these fish, two recognizable species that make the Greater Yellowstone area so popular have the potential to disappear.

Another invasive species looms near, and the next serious biological invasion may be as close as the nearest airport, in angler’s gear stowed in the hull of an airliner. Didymo, an invasive alga can take over a stream bottom and negatively affect the insects that trout feed upon. Didymo is currently devastating trout waters of New Zealand. While Kiwi-land may seem a world away, modern air travel makes it our next door neighbor; both New Zealand and the Greater Yellowstone area are global fly-fishing destinations.

The four species mentioned above are highlighted because they all have been introduced into the Greater Yellowstone area by humans, either accidentally or on purpose. While each is an example of an aquatic invasive species that is creating different impacts, their similarities are that each species was introduced by humans. This is where the “beacon of hope” phrase referenced in the title originates: the hope lies with you and your choices about how you can help to conserve the waters of the Greater Yellowstone area.

Four years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized the multiple layers of complexity surrounding the aquatic invasive species issue and its limitations as one agency acting alone. As a result, it made several key decisions that produced a much different approach for making people aware of this issue. By combining strategic communications, social marketing and branding processes, the Service, working through the national Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, now leads a national campaign known as Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM The multi-layered intent of the campaign is unify the entire conservation community to speak with one voice about this complex issue so we can empower all recreational users to adopt environmentally responsible behaviors to prevent the spread of harmful species. By targeting aquatic recreation users, Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM strives to make stewardship inherent in all recreational experiences.

It’s been established that people introduce or spread invasive species, and a major pathway responsible for these introductions are recreational users and their equipment. Since most people that recreate around water have a grounded interest in the resources and sustaining them, it made sense to elevate stewardship as part of their enjoyment. To do this, we simplified the aquatic invasive species issue and made it relevant to the target audience through the creation of an identifiable symbol, which is the central focus of the campaign. This symbol (see attached graphic) also references the campaign’s primary resource, a dedicated web site (www.protectyourwaters.net) that provides specific details about cleaning and prevention procedures for various user groups and a whole host of other information related to the aquatic invasive species issue. In addition to serving as the campaign’s primary information resource, it is a gateway for public, private and nonprofit partner organizations to join the campaign and promote the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM conservation message. To target wading anglers, whose boots and waders serve as pathways for transporting harmful nonnative species, an alternate brand signature was developed (see attached graphic).

Currently, Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM has attracted unprecedented partner organizations from all facets of society to promote the conservation message. From the public sector, city recreation agencies, county weed boards and public works departments have joined state fish and wildlife and pollution control agencies, state departments of natural resources and invasive species councils, regional fisheries organizations, federal resource management agencies, tribal and foreign governments as partners of the campaign. This public-sector momentum has attracted numerous nonprofit organizations like local lake homeowner associations, Trout Unlimited and BASS chapters, statewide marine trade associations, local, regional and national environmental and conservation organizations. All of these organizations are complemented by diverse private- sector interests including fishing tackle and boat manufacturers, consumer travel product companies, recreational and multi-media companies, regional internet publishers, hotel chains, chambers of commerce, lodges and full-service resorts, fly and tackle shops, marinas, dive shops and resource restoration businesses.

Forty-some businesses and nonprofits from Jackson Hole, Cody, Livingston, Bozeman, Ennis, West Yellowstone, Island Park and other communities of the Greater Yellowstone area have joined the campaign. These businesses recognized that tourism fuels the region’s primary economic engine, and that legendary waters have made the Greater Yellowstone area a global destination. Additionally, visitors come to the area hoping to catch a glimpse of a grizzly bear, a buffalo or an elk while also enjoying amazing geologic wonders like Old Faithful, or experiencing the thrill of rafting the Snake River. Spending by those visitors reverberates through the economy – one that is based on natural resources of the region. People spend money on lodging, fishing licenses, food, professional guide fees, and fuel for their rental cars. The Greater Yellowstone area has a varied but thriving lodging and travel community, including primitive camps, five-star lodges and a variety of travel-related services. An ancillary service economy follows: multi-media and website design companies, attorneys, residential and commercial real estate agents and developers, grocery stores, electricity companies, and so on. In the end, the entire economy rests on the health and sustainability of the natural resources; virtually everyone in the economy has a vested stake in conserving these resources. In the past, even though these businesses may have had an interest in conservation and sustaining these resources, they weren’t quite sure about the roles they could assume or how they could help. Fortunately, the state-federal partnership in the Greater Yellowstone area has created a mechanism that facilitates and supports a more prominent role by the business community.

To make a difference right now in the conserving the important natural resources, more businesses have to change the way they think by shedding their short-term perspective and adopting a longer-term point of view. With the will to make the conservation of the Greater Yellowstone area’s resources a priority, businesses can easily elevate these behaviors as an important part of the regional experience by integrating the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM message into their marketing and communications. There are other roles the business community can assume to conserve the area’s resources such as auditing and mitigating the environmental impacts of their business processes; however, these roles require more difficult choices. The bottom line is that by joining the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM campaign and promoting the campaign message, businesses can easily use the campaign’s tools to inform and educate consumers and ultimately change their behaviors that will result in sustained resources that support sustained business interests.

For many in the business community, preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species may seem to be relatively narrow niche issue when compared to other problems like urban sprawl, habitat degradation and pollution. However, the exact opposite is true and seeking active involvement from the business community is a key component of the solution. Aquatic invasive species have the ability to cause significant economic and ecological harm to resources that are real economic engines of the Greater Yellowstone area. The continued spread of aquatic invasive species is directly linked to human behaviors. Government communications have only limited effectiveness in changing behaviors, and the business community has diverse marketing and communications channels that can be maximized to help to reposition and elevate sustainable recreational behaviors as an important part of the Greater Yellowstone area’s experiences. With Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM designed as a partnership that enables any organization to easily integrate the conservation message into its marketing and communication efforts, business community participation would significantly enhance the reach of the campaign and would create a powerful public-private partnership that would contribute positively toward conserving the Greater Yellowstone area’s natural resources. This would complement the innovative approach to doing business sustainably that the Yellowstone Business Partnership fosters with various businesses and ultimately, all of these activities will continue to help position the entire Greater Yellowstone area as the epicenter for sustainability and sustainable business practices in the U.S.

Seeing and hearing the same conservation message from multiple sources will strongly reinforce the campaign’s message, exposing more minds to stewardship behaviors. This unified approach will stitch environmentally responsible recreational behaviors into the social fabric of the Greater Yellowstone Area, allowing conservation messages to compete with all of the other commercial messages that dominate our stream of consciousness.

Another role that business and communities can assume with the campaign is to use Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM as a rallying point to actively demonstrate their desires to live sustainably. Businesses can reinforce the need for environmentally responsible behaviors by sponsoring and promoting cleaning demonstrations of recreational equipment, thereby publicly modeling the foundation of the campaign, and accelerating the social acceptance of these behaviors.

In the end, an actively participating business community will help demystify complex environmental issues like aquatic invasive species, demonstrate how the public and private sectors work together to conserve our natural resources, and amplify the importance of each individual person’s actions in conservation. With this meaningful way to involve the private sector in natural resource conservation, the local businesses and communities that depend on these resources can stand side by side with the government, working for the benefit of conservation and the economies of these local communities.
Government agencies plan to work with the fly-fishing and tourism industry sectors to make Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM the de facto conservation message of the Greater Yellowstone Region. If you are a business owner or are heavily involved with your community and you live in the Greater Yellowstone Region and would like to become involved with this effort, please contact Joe Starinchak via email at joe_starinchak@fws.gov or check out the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!TM campaign website at www.protectyourwaters.net. [End of article]