The US National Parks and Famous Natural Sights

     John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, is the first white American known to have visited the area now know as Jackson Hole as early as 1805-1806. One part of that survey, led by geologist James Stevenson, traveled into Jackson Hole via the Teton Pass before meeting up with the other half of the expedition in Yellowstone. While passing through, the team mapped the area and surveyed its geology and biology.

     On July 26, 1923, local and Park Service representatives including Albright met in Maud Noble’s cabin to work on a plan to buy private lands to create a recreation area to preserve the «Old West» character of the valley. In 1927, John D. Rockefeller founded the Snake River Land Company, so he and others could buy land in the area incognito and have it held until the National Park Service could administer it. In 1928, a Coordinating Commission on National Parks and Forests met with valley residents and reached an agreement for the establishment of a park. Wyoming Senator John Kendrick then introduced a bill to establish Grand Teton National Park. It was passed by both houses of the US Congress and signed into law by US President Calvin Coolidge on February 26, 1929 (APPENDIX C, Ill.44) [30].    

     Geography and Geology. The park covers 484 square miles (1,250 km²) of all land water. Part of the Rocky Mountains, the north-south-trending Teton Range rises from the floor of Jackson Hole without any foothills. Seven of these peaks between Avalanche and Cascade canyons (APPENDIX C, Ill.47, Ill.48) make up the often-photographed Cathedral Group. Jackson Hole is a 55 miles (89 km) long valley with its lowest point near the south park boundary. The valley sits east of the Teton Range and is vertically displaced downward from corresponding rock layers in it, making the Teton Fault and its parallel twin on the east side of the valley normal faults with the Jackson Hole block being the hanging wall and the Teton Mountain block being the footwall. Grand Teton National Park contains the major part of both blocks. The glaciated range is composed of a series of horns and arêtes separated by U-shaped valleys headed by cirques and ended by moraines, making the Tetons a textbook example of alpine topography. The largest lake in the valley is Jackson Lake. To the south is Burned Ridge, which runs down the center of Jackson Hole roughly perpendicular to the range and cut in two by the Snake River [29, Pp. 2-7].

     The rock units that make up the east face of the Teton Range are around 2500 million years old and made of metamorphosed sandstones, limestones, various shales, and interbeded volcanic deposits. The Paleozoic-aged sediments were deposited in warm shallow seas and resulted in various carbonate rocks along with sandstones and shales. Mesozoic deposition transitioned back and forth from marine to non-marine sediments. In later Mesozoic, the Cretaceous Seaway periodically covered the region and the Sierran Arc to the west provided volcanic sediments. A mountain-building episode called the Laramide orogeny started to uplift western North America 70 million years ago and eventually formed the Rocky Mountains. This erased the seaway and created fault systems along which highlands rose. The Teton Range started to grow along a north-south trending fault system next to Jackson Hole some 9 million years ago in the Miocene epoch. During the Last Glacial Maximum, these glaciers melded together to become part of the Wisconsin glaciation, which carried away all soil from Jackson Hole and surrounding basins, mass wasting events such as the 1925 Gros Ventre landslide, along with slower forms of erosion, have continued to modify the area. On the floor of the Jackson Hole valley rise several landforms, one of the most conspicuous being Blacktail Butte [31, Pp. 172-187].

     Biology and Ecology. Grand Teton National Park is located in the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the largest intact temperate zone ecosystems remaining on the planet. This means that many of the animals in the Teton area travel between the two parks and the numerous adjacent National Forests. There are a lot of different animals, which you can find in the Grand Teton National Park: 5 species of amphibians: spotted frog, boreal chorus frog, boreal toad, tiger salamander, northern leopard frog (believed to be locally extinct), and bullfrog (introduced just outside the park) and 6 species of bats. More than 300 species of birds, including bald eagle, calliope hummingbird, golden eagle, osprey, sage grouse, trumpeter swan, western tanager live there. 17 species of carnivores, including grizzly and black bear, mountain lion, wolf and coyote and 16 species of fishes, including Yellowstone cutthroat trout, snake river fine-spotted cutthroat trout, mountain sucker, Utah chub, and mountain whitefish. 6 species of hoofed mammals, including American bison, moose, pronghorn, elk, and mule deer; numerous invertebrates (no poisonous spiders) and 3 species of rabbits (hares). Also, there you can find 4 species of reptiles (none poisonous): wandering garter snake, valley garter snake, rubber boa, and northern sagebrush lizard and, of course, 22 species of rodents, including yellow-bellied marmot, least Chipmunk, muskrat, red squirrel, and Uinta round squirrel.

     Some animals, such as the red squirrel, pine marten, and black bear spend a majority of their life in forests. Other animal species, such as moose, elk (or wapiti), and wolves, use the forest for shade and shelter in the day and move to sagebrush dominated areas or meadows to feed in the early mornings and evenings (APPENDIX C, Ill.49 – Ill.53).

     Biologists divide the plants of Grand Teton National Park into several communities: forests, sagebrush flats, riparian corridors and wetlands, and alpine areas. Grand Teton National Park and areas adjacent to it host over 1000 species of vascular plants. Whitebark Pine, Limber Pine, Subalpine fir, and Engelmann Spruce survive in Tetons’ alpine zone. Lodgepole Pine, Douglas Fir, and Blue Spruce are found on the valley floor, while the aspens, cottonwoods, alders, and willows commonly inhabit the moist soils along rivers and lakeshores. Forests in the Teton area generally consist of two to three different tree species that grow together in a specific habitat. Evergreen forests in the area are composed of seven species of coniferous tree while over 900 flowering plant species dominate the Teton Range below the tree line down to the top of Jackson Hole’s moraines. Outwash plain areas are covered in a loose soil that doesn’t hold moisture well and is therefore only able to support sparse vegetation such as sagebrush and coarse grasses. Numerous aspens, cottonwoods, and willows grow along in riparian zones outside of the outwash plain. Grasses, sedges, and wildflowers dominate in wet meadows (APPENDIX C, Ill.54) [32, Pp.17-18].

     Some information for visitors. There are many hiking trails inside the park, and several campgrounds. Unlicensed fishing is allowed without any limitation of size, species, or number only in some places. The lake is believed to have no indigenous fish, but several species of fish were introduced beginning in 1888 until all fish stocking ended in 1941. Kokanee Salmon and Rainbow Trout now thrive and reproduce here naturally. Swimming is not allowed in the lake, and the boat tours operate daily during the summer. All of the boats in the lake were delivered by helicopter. Numerous observation points along the caldera rim for the lake are readily accessible by automobile via the «Rim Drive». The scenery of Grand Teton Park is fully accessible during the summer months. Heavy snowfalls in this park during the fall, winter, and spring months force many road and trail closures, including the popular «Rim Drive», which is generally completely open from July to October, and partially open in some other months, such as May, June, and November [33, Pp. 766-777]. 
 

     2.5 Redwood National and State Parks 

     The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are located in the United States, along the coast of northern California. The parks consist of a combined area of 131,983 acres (534.12 km²) located entirely within Del Norte and Humboldt Counties and they protect 45 percent of all remaining Coastal Redwood old-growth forests, totaling at least 38,982 acres (157.75 km²). These trees are the tallest and one of the most massive tree species on Earth. In addition to the redwood forests, the parks preserve other indigenous flora, fauna, grassland prairie, cultural resources, portions of rivers and other streams, and 37 miles (60 km) of pristine coastline. The National Park Service (NPS) and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (CDPR) administratively combined Redwood National Park with the three abutting Redwood State Parks in 1994 for the purpose of cooperative forest management and stabilization of forests and watersheds as a single unit. The ecosystem of the RNSP preserves a number of threatened animal species such as the Brown Pelican, Tidewater Goby, Bald Eagle, Chinook Salmon, Northern Spotted Owl, and Steller's Sea Lion. In recognition of the rare ecosystem and cultural history found in the parks, the United Nations designated them a World Heritage Site on September 5, 1980 and an International Biosphere Reserve on June 30, 1983 (APPENDIX C, Ill.55) [34].

     History. As early as 3,000 years ago, Native Americans lived in the park area. Such groups as the Yurok, Tolowa, Karok, Chilula, and Wiyot all have historical ties to the region. They used the abundant redwood, which with its linear grain was easily split into planks, as a building material for boats, houses, and small villages.

     The discovery of gold along the Trinity River in 1850 led to a minor secondary gold rush in California. This brought miners into the area and many stayed on at the coast after failing to strike it rich. The miners logged redwoods for building; when this minor gold rush ended, some of them turned again to logging, cutting down the giant redwood trees. In 1911, US Representative John E. Raker, of California, became the first politician to introduce legislation for the creation of a redwood national park, but no further action was taken by Congress at this time.

     Early conservationists John C.Merriam, Madison Grant, and Henry Fairfield Osborn visited the region in 1917. Using matching funds provided initially by the County of Humboldt and later by the State of California, the Save-the-Redwoods League managed to protect areas of concentrated or multiple redwood groves and a few entire forests in the 1920s. As California created a state park system, beginning in 1927, three of the preserved redwood areas became Prairie Creek Redwoods, Del Norte Coast Redwoods, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Parks. A fourth became Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Because of the high demand for lumber during World War II and the construction boom that followed in the 1950s, the creation of a national park was delayed. Efforts by the Save-the-Redwoods League to create a national park began in the early 1960s. After intense lobbying of Congress, the bill creating Redwood National Park was signed by President Lyndon Johnson on October 2, 1968.

     The United Nations designated Redwood National and State Parks a World Heritage Site on September 5, 1980. The park is part of a much larger region designated the California Coast Ranges International Biosphere Reserve on June 30, 1983 [35].

     Geography and Geology. The northern coastal region of California, which includes RNSP and the adjacent offshore area, is the most seismically active in the US. Frequent minor earthquakes in the park and offshore under the Pacific Ocean have resulted in shifting river channels, landslides, and erosion of seaside cliffs. The North American, Pacific, and Gorda Plates are tectonic plates that all meet at the Mendocino triple junction. During the 1990s, more than nine magnitude 6.0 earthquakes occurred along this fault zone. The park ensures that visitors are aware of the potential for a major earthquake through the use of pamphlets and information posted throughout the parks. The threat of a tsunami is of particular concern, and visitors to the seacoast are told to seek higher ground immediately after any significant earthquake.

     Both coastline and the Coast Ranges can be found within park boundaries. The majority of the rocks in the parks are part of the Franciscan Assemblage. These sedimentary rocks are primarily sandstone, siltstone, and shale, with lesser amounts of metamorphic rocks such as chert and greenstone. In some areas, river systems have created fluvial deposits of sandstone, mudstone, and conglomerate, which are transported into the park from upstream [36, Pp. 22-24].