What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to visit Yellowstone this
weekend?
A variety of public events are scheduled in West Yellowstone and Gardiner,
Montana, to bring attention to the role each individual can play in
protecting our environment.
This is also the first weekend of the season visitors can enter the park’s
north and west entrances and take private vehicles into Old Faithful,
Canyon, and Norris.
To top it all off, Saturday is also the start of National Park Week, with
the National Park Service offering free entry to Yellowstone and all other
national parks.
On Saturday, the community of West Yellowstone will host a day packed with
Earth Day events including demonstrations by the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery
Center and U.S. Forest Service, craft tables and face painting, and Earth
Day snacks and drinks. The events will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00
p.m. at the Holiday Inn.
The celebration shifts to Gardiner on Sunday, with a free community
electronics collection event from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00p.m.at the Yellowstone
Association’s offices near the Roosevelt Arch. This event is an
opportunity for any community members to bring in their outdated
electronics (TVs, computers, cell phones, etc.) for recycling.
At the same time, visitors and residents will also have an opportunity to
drop off used or expired bear spray canisters and see the new bear spray
canister recycling machine.
After the recycling event, there will also be a showing of the documentary
“Tapped” which explores the environmental, social, and economic impacts of
the proliferation of single-use disposable plastic water bottles.
Participants at both events will have a chance to win a variety of Earth
Day prizes.
This weekend’s Earth Day events are sponsored by the Yellowstone
Environmental Coordinating Committee (YECC). The group includes all those
who are involved in protecting the park and serving park visitors and
residents: the National Park Service, Xanterra Parks & Resorts, Delaware
North, Medcor, Yellowstone Park Service Stations, Yellowstone Association,
and Yellowstone Park Foundation.
Through the efforts of the YECC, Yellowstone has been able to make numerous
strides towards environmental sustainability in recent years. For
instance, through the work of the YECC partners, Yellowstone was able to
divert nearly 73% of its solid waste from entering the landfill last year.
This amounts to over 3,300 tons of material in 2011.
