Pathways Research

A trail camera captures the image of a red fox using the pathway underpass to cross below the highway in winter.

Science is an important part of the National Park Service's mission, and national parks are fertile ground for a variety of scientific research. In Grand Teton National Park, research has focused on many aspects of the park - wildlife and plant ecology, climate change, effects of fire on the ecosystem, hydrology, glaciology, geology, visitor experience, cultural resources, and how these disciplines interact with one another.

This park's location at the heart of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem - one of the largest intact temperate ecosystems in the world, its huge elevation range, abrupt change of seasons, diversity of native flora and fauna, and recent history of human occupation and development - provides a natural laboratory drawing top scientists from institutions near and far. Human changes to the ecosystem, such as the addition of the paved multi-use pathway, provide opportunities to study the effects of these changes on wildlife and guide management of the human activities in these areas.

 

Multi-use Pathway Impacts on Wildlife

Effects of pathways within Grand Teton National Park on avain diversity, abundance, distribution, nesting productivity, and breeding behaviors; Principal Investigator: Dr. Anna Chalfoun, 2011

Impacts of a multi-use pathway on American Black Bears in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming; Authors: C.M. Costello, S.L. Cain, R.M. Nielson, C. Shervheen, C.C. Schwartz, 2011

Ungulate responses to multi-use pathway construction and use in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming; Authors: A.R. Hardy, K.R. Crooks, 2011

Grand Teton National Park Pathway Elk Study; Authors: H. Sawyer, R. Nielson, F. Hornsby, L. McManus, 2011