This was one of my favorite moments of my college career……BY FAR!!!
The Cormier Honors College has a lot of requirements that keep their students busy, sometimes feeling like busy work, but this was a requirement that I will remember for the rest of my life. In order to graduate college with honors, the honors students are required to study abroad in order to broaden our understanding on topics that we choose to study. These topics and countries all vary depending on Longwood partnerships and students have the ability to select their study abroad experience regardless of academic major. I chose to study environmental conservation by visiting Yellowstone National Park.
For my study abroad, I had the amazing opportunity to travel out west to Cody, Wyoming, Gardiner, Montana, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming! The overarching theme of this course was studying environmental conservation. To do so, we focused on different subtopics that all influence the national park. We split into groups and were tasked with studying the influences of elk, bison, wolves, trout, fire management, government policies, and human impact on the conservation of Yellowstone’s environment. Before we left on our journey, we studied the history of Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone became a national park on March 1st, 1872. Shortly after its establishment, residents of the area began raising cattle and farming to earn income. These large herds of farm animals began drawing out one of Yellowstone’s greatest predators out into the open; the Gray Wolf. Shortly after its establishment, the gray wolf began traveling further and further outside of park boundaries and into the local farmlands, raiding the farmers of their cattle. Farmers began losing thousands upon thousands of dollars due to the boldness of these natural predators. This caused the local government to approve of hunting gray wolves during hunting seasons. Farmers were instilled with a deep-seeded rage from losing so much money, that the local farmers jumped at the chance to hunt down the animals. The government failed to create any legislation regarding the hunting requirements or population caps. This open season, in lack of better words, caused the complete extinction of gray wolf from the ecosystem.
Because of the gray wolf absence in the Yellowstone ecosystem, animals like elk, bison, moose, and other smaller mammals began to thrive. These animals began reproducing exponentially. This eventually caused competition between these animals for food sources. Grassland, water supplies, and even competing territories began to be fought for. This heavy strain on the ecosystem depleted its natural resources, and thus killing more animals. Interestingly, the animals began adapting and changing their migration patterns, thus leaving park boundaries and entering local areas. This caused animals to cross roads, enter towns, and even draw other predators like birds of prey and mountain lions closer to human civilization.
Our job during this course was to interview local stakeholders, the general public, and collect data from research answering to what extent the wolf population benefits the ecosystem, but also how well our other topics influence the ecosystem.
This was such a phenomenal experience. Not only did we learn about environmental conservation, but we also learned more about American history that has been covered up. We had the opportunity of learning about the mistreatment and abuse of the Native American and Japanese American populations. During westward expansion, hundreds of thousands Native Americans were brutally forced out of their homes, their practices were stolen and copied, hunting and fishing routes were cut off and ruined with territory establishment, and Native Americans were ripped away from their land. The Japanese American population received nothing but mistreatment after Pearl Harbor. The American government passed a bill that states they will round up every last Japanese American citizen and send them to internment camps in order to monitor all Japanese movement. The American government was wary of any and all Japanese citizens due to fear that our own citizens were enemy spies responsible for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. From 1942 – 1945, these citizens were ripped away from their homes, jobs, families, and their previous lives in order to be held captive due to something out of their control. They were forced to educate themselves, grow their own food, and obtain their own water, all while be monitored under the scope of armed gunmen.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q8yKSc6tqVq9_E8ygs5_IUo7-RIsKAjO3VqZaGRXWN8/edit?usp=sharing
Above is my artifact for this class. This served as my final project. This paper was the culmination of everything I learned on my trip to Yellowstone relating to my subtopic of Elk Management.
Although this experience was only 10 days, I intend on going back every year. I want to relive these moments for the rest of my life. I am so thankful for my time on this experience, because I became a much wiser person who learned much about America’s covered up history.