The park's northern and northeastern entrances are now closed, likely for years, and the damage has been described as devastating, catastrophic, unprecedented, extreme - pick your apocalyptic adjective. The flood was caused by a very warm and wet rainstorm on top of an above-average late May snowpack, and the rain on snow event caused creeks and rivers to flood at levels not seen in over 90 years.
Major access roads and bridges were washed away, and rebuilding roads in some of these narrow canyons is difficult. The Park Service is unwilling to estimate the cost of such a project, and access will not be restored for years.
Some of the words used to describe the flooding are similar to those used to describe wildfires during fire season each year. In 1988, the year of the Yellowstone Fires, national evening newscasts frequently began with a glum-faced news anchor describing the day's devastation of one of our national treasures.
During the first week of September 1988, NBC News' Roger O'Neil led the newscast with, "This is what's left of Yellowstone tonight," while CBS' Dan Rather and NBC's Tom Brokaw told the nation that "part of our national heritage is under threat and on fire" and "our oldest national park is under siege."
The networks eventually changed their storyline to focus on nature's incredible resilience and the regrowth and recovery of Yellowstone as summer gave way to winter and black landscapes turned white, then green. Old Faithful continued to erupt on schedule, and anyone who visits the park now is unlikely to see any evidence of the 1988 fires.
Throughout my career as a fire manager, ecologist, and fire analyst, I tried to be careful with my words when describing wildfire effects and advised others to do the same. Despite popular belief, wildfires do not consume or destroy acres of land; the land remains after the fire has passed, albeit with significantly altered vegetation. The word catastrophic evokes strong emotions while adding little to the description of fire effects and should probably be reserved for true tragedies such as the loss of homes or lives.
We must remember that nature is doing what nature does in both floods and fires. We should expect access roads built in canyon bottoms next to rivers to be washed away on occasion as rivers naturally flood and change course. We should expect some of the homes, lodges, and park visitor centers we build in the forest to burn every year. Summers in the west are hot and dry, with lightning on occasion, so fires are unavoidable.
This is understood by fire managers, insurance companies, road engineers, and astute land use planners. In 1988, Bob Barbee, superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, told the nation that the fires were simply a force of nature, and that fighting them that summer was about as useful as fighting a hurricane or tornado. We could only hope to protect what we care about, such as park buildings and other infrastructure, and wait for the weather to change.
Listen for the words used to describe fire on the landscape as we enter the (thankfully) delayed fire season in the Blues in 2022. For most fires, the words devastation or catastrophic are so loaded with meaning that they are meaningless. Although the landscape may look quite different without the same vegetation, no single acre of land has ever been lost to or consumed by a wildfire. This is what nature does and has always done, and streams, forests, and wildlife recover quite well from fires (and floods).
Keeping that perspective allows us to see natural events in a new light.