Modern Day Impacts (work in progress)
Exploring the impacts of increasing visitation, smartphones, and social media, on wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Since I first came to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 2007 with my family, I've been fascinated by the wild animals that call this incredible place home. Interactions between people and wildlife are intriguing, and never ceases to amaze me. Today, this place I now call home, is vastly different from the one I visited at 12 years old. Visitation for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks has increased dramatically in recent years. The number of visitors to Yellowstone annually was 3,151,343 in 2007 versus the peak with 4,860,242 visitors in 2021. Human-Wildlife interactions have increased as a result of rising visitation in the national parks. With more people comes more roadkill, enormous wildlife jams, and lacking compliance for rules established to protect park visitors and wildlife. The relationship between humans and wildlife has dramatically evolved from what it once was.
In addition to the 54% increase in visitation annually to the region, technology has advanced in the form of social media platforms and smartphones. Today's smartphones are equipped with more megapixels than my very first digital camera, allowing the average person to capture quality images on a device they carry everywhere. Unlike professional equipment, smartphones require the user to be closer to a subject to maintain quality. In the GYE, it is common to witness visitors approaching wildlife with a smartphone in an attempt to capture a quality image. The ability to capture quality photos and videos on smartphones has also led to the rise of viral media. More often than not, viral media from the GYE shows negative human-wildlife interactions. For a photo or video to go viral, it is often posted on a social media platform; this is partially how the roadside grizzly bears of Yellowstone and Grand Teton have become so famous. Roadside bears in Yellowstone have always existed, but now with the age of social media, people from afar can follow bear and wildlife movements close to real-time from the comfort of their homes. Bears like "Raspberry," "Felicia," and #399 have their very own social media pages that are fan operated. The popularity of these "celebrity" bears has changed things for wildlife managers. As with any celebrity, people have invested in all aspects of these bears' lives and are upset when something happens to them. When popular “celebrity” bears in Yellowstone appear with a limp or injury, bear biologist Kerry Gunther receives phone calls and emails from concerned bear fans, demanding that the park intervenes and provide the animal medical attention. When management actions needed to be taken with grizzly bear 399 and her cubs during 2021, thousands of dollars were spent to steer the family group away from continued conflicts. Grizzly 399’s "celebrity" status influenced the actions of wildlife managers, prompting them to approach the situation differently than the average conflict situation. This inevitably resulted in more leniency, and more money being spent on saving the family, than what would be spent on the “average bear.”
Visitor awareness and education is key to solving issues arriving from increased human-wildlife interactions in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. For state and federal agencies, like the National Park Service, a combination of educational tools are utilized to combat human-wildlife conflict. In strategic locations, signs are placed to encourage visitors to maintain a safe distance from wildlife, not to feed wildlife, and secure all potential wildlife attractants. Agencies also use social media content to encourage visitors to recreate safely around wildlife, simultaneously spreading the word on rules and regulations in place for visitor and wildlife safety. Speed limits are set with wildlife in mind. In some areas, lower speed limits are enforced at night when visibility is decreased. Occasionally signs are deployed to warn drivers of ungulate migration, or nearby hazards such as bison herds. Photographers on social media may make it more difficult for wildlife managers when it comes to “celebrity” bears, but some photographers also use it to help wildlife. For example, when a well-known photographer was documented baiting a red fox in Grand Teton National Park, the local photography community took to social media to spread the word that baiting wildlife is a problem, and prohibited. Campaigns, as such, bring attention to unethical wildlife photography practices and help educate visitors as government agencies do.
It is my intention and hope that through this project I can contribute to increased awareness and education of park visitors in and around the Great Yellowstone Ecosystem.
