Yellowstone NP unit studies or other resources?

[Recovering Sociopath]

We are planning an epic family road trip to Yellowstone NP next summer (July 2017) and I'd love to hear about any history or science resources that would mesh well with a Yellowstone focused study. Our kids will be 12, 10, 6, 4 and 2. Thanks!

[Serenade]

Also thought I'd mention...

 

If you contact the park and request the Junior Ranger booklets, they will mail them to you. You'd still have to pay the $3 per booklet, but you could do the educational activities in the booklets ahead of your visit, then finish up the JR program by doing the hikes and such once you arrive.

 

 

Aw, I was sad to see that they charge for these now.  When did that start?  Two years ago when we went out west, they were still free.

[mommymonster]

The NPS Yellowstone website has some great resources. We're headed there next week, so I've been scouring for resources as well. Some of our favorites so far: 

• Yellowstone has a number of educational resources. See: https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/education/classrooms/curriculummaterials.htm
• Wildlife videos. Everyone loves these! See: https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/iy-wildlife.htm 
• Have the olders research "wolf trophic cascades." Fascinating stuff! Here's a starting point: 
  ... but a counterpoint: http://www.esa.org/esablog/ecology-in-the-news/yellowstone-wolves-take-a-blow-to-their-rep/In any case, fascinating. 

Have a great time!

[debi21]

As far as the fee, I think Yelllowstone is one of the few or only that charge. The charge was in place last July. I think they just get a huge number of kids at that one park. Yellowstone also has three junior ranger badges, depending on age group, with more work or different activities required for each.

 

So I'm trying to think back and besides the obvious science stuff (biology, geology) which is awesome of course, we did see a ranger presentation that was kind of different (but I think it was at Grand Teton NP, not Yellowstone), but they were talking about the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and the presentation was kind of on a historical perspective of how much life (technology) has changed in that 100 years. When they developed Yellowstone, there was no anticipation of the huge numbers of people and the huge numbers of vehicles that would be visiting and now there's kind of a problem with traffic, pollution, etc. Then they talked about going forward, how could they anticipate how to make the NPS relevant and adaptable for the future. Those might be interesting ideas to explore.