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WILDLIFE: IMPRESSIONS
ON A LANDSCAPE
JASON IS A LOCAL GUIDE, WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER, AND OWNER OF JACKSON HOLE WILDLIFE SAFARIS, LLC.
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON WILLIAMS
As the sun rises on a chilly summer morning in western Wyoming, one of the longest mammal migrations in North America comes to its seasonal end. As the first returning herd of pronghorn look down from the Gros Ventre Mountains into Jackson Hole, they follow a familiar path, one their descendants have been using for thousands of years. The pronghorn have returned from the upper Green River Basin to the spectacular valley of Jackson Hole for the summer, after traveling a distance of some 170 miles, just as they have been doing since the last Ice Age. This impressive animal, often mistaken for a type of antelope, has survived in North America to become the last remaining species in a 54
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family of hoofed animals that roamed the continent millions of years ago. Jackson Hole, the valley they have traveled so far to spend their summer in, was named after Davey Jackson, an American trapper who became one of the first white persons to eke out a living here. Jackson, like the Native American hunters who came before him, found his way to this “hole,” or mountain valley, by follow-
ing established game trails. These distinct and often intuitive routes through a geographically complex landscape formed the precursors to the trails, roads, and river crossings travelers use today. When you hike a well-worn path or drive along one of the valley’s scenic routes, chances are that countless pronghorn, elk, bison, and deer traversed this country for thousands of years along that
very trail before you. They, in turn, were followed by the valley’s predators, like the coyote, bear, wolf, and mountain lion, and, later, Native Americans and European trappers. They all relied on the valley’s migratory animals for survival. The large elk herds of Jackson Hole also migrate seasonally, though not nearly as far as the pronghorn. After spending the winter in the valley lowlands, thousands of wintering elk begin their gradual journey back into the high country for the summer. Slowed only by deep snow and nutritious spring vegetation, many will travel from the National Elk Refuge all the way to the southern half of Yellowstone, where they’ll spend the summer foraging on the fresh subalpine vegetation found at the higher elevations. During their absence from Jackson Hole, the vegetation that sustained them through the winter will be left to regenerate during the growing season and, with the right combination of
precipitation and sunlight, be ready for them by the next winter. As spring progresses, pregnant cow elk return to annually used calving grounds, like Willow Flats below Jackson Lake Lodge, where they find plentiful spring forage and good hiding places for their newborns. Pronghorn does, like the cow elk, will also hide their fawns in vegetation while grazing nearby, but tend to stay in the open sage meadows throughout Grand Teton National Park. Despite being born odorless and, later, well hidden by their mothers, the newborn elk calves and pronghorn fawns are vulnerable as they gain strength and learn how to walk and run. The ecosystem’s predators are tuned in not only to the migratory paths of prey, but also to their reproductive cycles. Coyotes, wolves, grizzlies, and black bears will descend upon known calving grounds in spring and early summer in hopes of obtaining high-protein, life-sustaining meals. Though it may seem brutal,
this seasonal dance is integral in maintaining a vibrant, genetically strong population of both predator and prey species. Seventeen varieties of carnivores, or meat-eating animals, are found in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem (GYE), including two members of the Ursidae (bear) family. Jackson Hole is home to both the American black bear and the grizzly, a sub-species of brown bear. Both of these omnivores have evolved into extremely capable opportunists that thrive, in slightly different ways, on seasonally available food sources that suit them. A forest dweller, the black bear seeks out everything from leafy greens, tree cambium, and berries, to ants, elk calves, and carrion. The grizzly, on the other hand, will typically be seen in more open areas, where they feed on spring vegetation like glacier lilies, dandelions, grasses, and sedges, and where they also dig up pocket gophers, roots, corms, and 2 01 0
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