Bringing Sustainability to the Ground Level

CHAPTER 1

Sustainability and the Yellowstone River Valley

Figure 1.1 The Yellowstone River in October, Paradise Valley

Introduction

Local tribes called it the Elk River, and when Sacajawea helped William Clark explore the Yellowstone River Valley in 1806, his journal notes regularly mention the abundant wildlife and the “handsome” islands covered with cottonwood trees. Today, one can still recognize the valley in Clark’s descriptions. Wildlife, islands, and cottonwood forests are still, easily, found. Yet, the valley is not as it once was, and as we demand more from its resources, we begin to wonder if the river we know will be recognizable to ...