we are kind of in a high desert environment—it is everywhere. So, rivers,

lakes, hundreds of waterfalls, and then the big things that people really come

to see: geysers and hot springs.

It could be solid or gas. It can flow very quietly and slowly. It can be loud

and roaring and raging and fast.

And then you have Yellowstone Lake, which is like an ocean in the middle of our continent.

The variety of water we have here, I think it really makes Yellowstone pretty special.

Fishing is obviously a really, really popular thing in Yellowstone, and people

come and fish these rivers—both because they're beautiful rivers to fish, but

they're cold waters fed by mountain snows and they contain native trout that

depend on cold oxygen-rich water. Yellowstone is a stronghold for native

Yellowstone cutthroat trout, but Yellowstone is a stronghold for lots of

aquatic organisms. Not just trout, but four species of native amphibians that

are widespread throughout this place. Water is important for loons that are

uncommon in this region. We know that beaver and moose, we know that grizzly

bears, we know that elk, we know that bison all use shallow surface water

habitats on a regular basis. I was drawn to work with water because I come from

the desert where it's sparse and it's very little of it, and so you really

notice just the magnetic nature of water how dependent life is to it and how much

it's drawn to being toward water.

Yesterday we were working on a special project that was related to a mine clean-up

outside of Yellowstone National Park, so I was helping to collect water

samples and do water chemistry measurements to see how the cleanup was

affecting water quality running into the park. Yesterday, we're working on Soda

Butte Creek, which is a really interesting tributary that comes into

the park at its northeast boundary. Soda Butte Creek was at one time one of the

most contaminated rivers entering a national park in the US, and an

interesting reclamation project spearheaded by collaboration between the

Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the National Park Service

led to a clean-up effort that removed toxins that had the potential to enter

Yellowstone National Park. That clean-up was successful and we've been working on

a water quality project that demonstrates that conditions in Soda

Butte Creek that flows into Lamar River and ultimately the Yellowstone River

have been cleaned.

Water's life, and water really drives the system. That's definitely something of

interest for our scientists because with climate change, water patterns may change.

Snow and rain patterns may change. In the Rockies we store most of our water as

snow. It's delivered all winter-long, and then released slowly through the early

summer. So, changes in snowpack will lead to changes in water storage, and

therefore, changes in river flows.

Freshwater habitats—and in particular shallow wetlands and ponds—are things

that are the most vulnerable to a change in climate. And so, we should do

everything we can to both understand, but protect, remaining habitats.

Those healthy rivers that are flowing out of the park are also providing a

great resource downstream for everything from farmers and ranches, cities, towns.

You know, we need water, and so having these healthy waterways in a national

park is actually providing a lot for the folks downstream.

It's kind of fun when you're by a river in Yellowstone to think about the

journey that that water will take: where it has been, where it has come from, and

where it will go.