Making Yellowstone a modern-day masterpiece

"How can a person adequately explain the scale of Yellowstone National Park? Just giving the size doesn’t do it justice, even though it covers a sprawling 2.2 million acres. It’s home to nearly seventy different types of mammals – but can you imagine what that looks like in reality? One thing is certain: saying it is vast isn’t enough. Especially, as people even disagree about how long it takes to drive through. Some say five hours, others say nearly eight."

So, yes, one of the biggest challenges for Yellowstone is in expressing its sheer size, complexity, beauty and grandeur – because how do you even begin to contextualise somewhere that’s the size of a small country without showing people? Indeed, it was paintings by Thomas Moran that played a crucial role in the very founding of Yellowstone as America’s first national park in 1872. And, over 150 years later, incredible images still play a huge role in Yellowstone life, drawing in millions of visitors each year.

And while painters continue to be inspired by the park, today it is film, photography and print that shows it to the world via television, social media and the press. But there is also a quiet power in the park’s research facilities, heritage centre and archives, which too are responsible for taking the name Yellowstone global through the knowledge it shares and inspiration it brings. Sitting behind this mass of activity is Yellowstone Forever, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to protecting, preserving, and enhancing Yellowstone National Park and for the best part of thirty years, Canon USA has been proudly supporting their work as their largest corporate donor to wildlife research and conservation in Yellowstone.

The partnership began when the Yellowstone Park Foundation, as it was originally called, launched an initiative to fund the reintroduction of wolves into its ecosystem. The Wolf Project continues to this day, still with Canon USA’s support. “It’s a match made in heaven,” says Sam Barkley, the Chief Development Officer of Yellowstone Forever. “How can you share the scale and the grandeur of Yellowstone? You really can't, but you get pretty close using a Canon camera. And that has also translated into the work and the science that we do here.”

Thanks to Canon USA’s donations, including specialist imaging equipment, their in-house biologists and researchers can study incredible creatures, such as wolves, bears and bison, at a safe distance. “These animals are hard to get close to,” explains Sam. “The terrain is rugged, and they can be really elusive, but now our researchers can even photograph them from the sky, in fixed wing aircrafts.” And, of course, these images, while vital to the park’s research and conservation efforts, are important works of art in their own right. Many can be found in books and prints in their educational park store as well as stunning wallpaper downloads, and, obviously, across many media.

This, and several other projects, fall under the banner of ‘Eyes on Yellowstone’, all offering an exciting glimpse into the world of the park. One of the best loved of these is the Old Faithful Webcam. “The big Old Faithful Geyser is an iconic symbol of Yellowstone,” says Sam. “It erupts every 90 minutes, and I’d say everybody in America has heard of it, but not everybody is going to be able to visit.” Indeed, the 24/7 webcam has a passionate and engaged fanbase, explains Christina White, the Chief of External Affairs & Partnerships, Office of the Superintendent at Yellowstone. “If the webcam goes down, we immediately hear about it from all over the world,” she laughs. “It's astounding how many people watch it throughout the day.” However, technology glitches are likely to be a rarer occurrence since the cam and connection was recently upgraded, again with the support of Canon USA. Now Yellowstone volunteers can move and zoom the camera, which was a real benefit when a pack of wolves decided to make an extremely rare outing to the geyser.

Together with the many other images that they share, this not only captures the imaginations of potential visitors, but keeps Yellowstone in the wider consciousness in other operationally essential ways. “We can't do what we need to do or get the resources that we need without being able to communicate the reality on the ground to people who can't be here,” explains Christina. For example, when massive flooding hit the park, it caused devastation, washing out entire roadways and even employee homes. The work of the official park photographer is more important than ever during such times, Christina explains; “we used the images to communicate with our government about funding needs. It was critical for emergency disaster relief.”

And while the environment and its wildlife are front and centre for anyone who enjoys Yellowstone, in-person or online, the importance of the people who work here cannot be overstated. Because the operation required to manage this land, while educating, fundraising and conserving its precious history is huge. There are dozens of active projects being undertaken to protect the ecosystem, preserve its heritage, history and trails, and enhance the visitor experience. And this doesn’t even account for the many educational programmes that Yellowstone undertakes.

Many rely on philanthropy to deliver, which is why the partnership with Canon USA matters and this support is felt across the operation – printers in the back office, cameras, lenses, binoculars and webcams for research and communications. Even the scanners that are helping to digitise the Yellowstone archives are courtesy of Canon USA. This decades-long relationship simply could not be more in line with our corporate philosophy of Kyosei – living and working together for the common good – and it is one that is helping to paint new pictures of Yellowstone every day, capturing the enormity of the land without overlooking the most extraordinary details.