Thursday, May 28, 2015

GRC Workshop/Field-trip to Yellowstone National Park:

Yellowstone Trips, Slip and Falls Outpace Bear Mauling (ClaimsJournal.com)

Getting hurt at Yellowstone National Park isn’t quite as dramatic as you might think. Although the park is full of hazards like bears, bison, scalding water and canyons, visitors are most likely to be injured from mundane accidents like trips, slips and falls, reports the Casper Star-Tribune.

Bear attacks are dramatic but exceedingly rare. National Park Service statistics put the likelihood being injured by a bear during a visit to Yellowstone at 1 in 2.1 million. Still, the park works to keep visitors educated about bear safety.

“We see people taking risks that are absolutely unnecessary,” said Yellowstone Public Affairs Officer Traci Weaver. The “Be Bear Aware” campaign teaches visitors how to properly store food, carry bear spray and keep a distance from the animals.

Other wildlife can also be dangerous. The park didn’t have statistics on bison gorings, but Weaver said they happen once or twice a year. Most recently, a 16-year-old Taiwanese girl was gored last week as she posed for a picture in front of the creature.

The GRC will look after it's participants on a Workshop/Fieldtrip to Yellowstone National Park, June 22-26. The workshop will include a tour of the major geologic features of the Park, the site of the greatest concentration of geothermal features in the world, and discussions of its volcanic history, geochemistry, and hydrology.
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