Enterprise photo by Angela Schneider
	Bozeman resident Ken Bruwelheide’s dogs take a break from exercising during the French Brittany field trials being held in the Shields Valley. For more, see the story below.

Following are the week's top stories. This digest is updated once a week, by early Friday evening.

Published 9.3.2010

French Brittanys gather in Shields Valley
By Camden Easterling, Enterprise Staff Writer

Paws flying. Tails wagging. Tongues flapping.

To the untrained eye, the two French Brittanys zipping through a field north of Clyde Park Thursday afternoon look like they’re simply having a good romp.

“Well, they are — but they’re also working,” said the dogs’ owner, Ken Bruwelheide, of Bozeman.

Bruwelheide hunts birds with his two French Brittanys. And in the field, they’re always on the lookout.

But this weekend, Bruwelheide and the dogs will hunt for wins as they participate in field trials for at the annual meeting of the Club de l’ Epagneul Breton of the United States, or the French Brittany Gun Dog Association of America Inc.

Shields Valley residents and French Brittany enthusiasts Peter and Margaret Ward are hosting the event, which began Wednesday and concludes Saturday.

Meeting in Montana

Each year members of the national club gather somewhere in the United States to host field trials, said club member and breeder Lynda Kieres, of Stevensville. The event celebrates the breed, which is not to be confused with the American Brittany, club members said.

This year’s event is “at the base of the Crazies,” Peter Ward said. He declined to be specific, citing concerns that too many spectators might show up.

“The community has just been outstanding,” Ward said of area residents pitching in.

People have offered land to use for field trials and homes or cabins for club members to stay in, Ward said. Park County’s GIT and IT Coordinator Erica Hoffman made maps of event locations.

Ward estimated about 100 people are in attendance. Entries in events total about 150 dogs, although many dogs are in multiple events.

On Thursday, conversation pointed almost entirely toward French Brittanys. Club members asked who bred their dogs, how canines performed in earlier trials, what events animals excelled in, and of course, there were frequent anecdotes about puppy antics and favorite dog moments.

For the love of the breed

Annual meetings mean a chance to see familiar faces, whether human or canine.

“Those are grandpuppies,” Kieres grinned, pointing to a set of pups wrestling nearby.

A French Brittany, or Epagneul Breton in French, is a pointing dog used to hunt a variety of birds. French Brittanys range in color and average 35 to 40 pounds and 21.5 inches tall, Kieres said.

And they love people, said Janis Bruwelheide, wife of Ken Bruwelheide.

“These dogs want to live with you,” she said.

Their dogs are thrilled to work, but they also relish snuggling with her while she’s having her morning coffee, Bruwelheide said.

“The love of the dog,” is what Ken Bruwelheide said brings club members together from across the country.

Bruwelheide admits when he first became interested in hunting dogs, his thinking was pretty simplistic.

“I thought having dogs meant you got to get more birds,” he said.

And it does. But more important, he said he now realizes, is the bond between owner and animal.

“It’s all about the relationship with the dog,” he said.

In the field

Field trials give owners a chance to see their dogs perform relative to others with similar skills and experience levels, club members said. Trials also show enthusiasts which dogs are best for breeding, club members said.

The meeting this year includes a conformation component, in which dogs will be judged on how well their physical attributes match breed standards, said Kieres, who has dogs registered in that event.

But a pretty-looking dog that doesn’t perform well presents an incomplete picture, and that’s where field trials come in, she said.

“You want to maintain the total dog,” she said.

Field trials let judges, breeders and dog owners see which French Brittanys work well with hunters. Dogs that have good conformation and exemplary field skills are the ones right for breeding, Kieres said.

“That’s how we preserve the breed and not digress,” she said.

Two of the judges at the annual meeting are from France, which means plenty of expertise but a bit of a language challenge, club members said. Luckily for club members, one of the Wards’ neighbors speaks French.

Sarah Pilgrim is serving as the French judges’ interpreter. Pilgrim said she is fluent in French but admits she’s a bit of a novice with some of the dog terms.

“I have a cat,” she smiled.

Wolf, bear suspected in livestock deaths
By Wes Venteicher, Enterprise Staff Writer

Wandering predators are thought to be responsible for killing three sheep in two separate attacks in Paradise Valley within the last week.

On the night of Aug. 29, a wolf killed two ewe sheep on the ranch of Robert Weber, about 12 miles southwest of Livingston in Paradise Valley, confirmed Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Statewide Wolf Coordinator Carolyn Sime.

On the morning of Sept. 2, Lorna Marchington found one ewe dead and devoured on her ranch in Pray. A United States Department of Agriculture wildlife services officer investigated, determining a wolf had not been responsible for the kill, Sime said.

The officer suspected a bear of the attack and placed a culvert trap Thursday, but the trap remained empty Friday morning, Marchington said.

The predation on the Weber ranch brought the total number of sheep killed there to 49, Weber said. The attack was the sixth in four years, he said.

“This wolf crawled under a hole in a wolf-proof fence and killed two ewes,” he said. “It ate part of one and left.”

Weber said he found tracks indicating the wolf returned the following night, but he had blocked the hole — a dry irrigation ditch — and the wolf could not enter the holding pen.

A wildlife services officer was dispatched to conduct an investigation, Sime said.

The officer placed traps but suspected a lone wolf killed the ewes and moved on, Sime said.

If caught, the wolf would be collared and released on site, Sime said. Wildlife services officers would monitor the wolf to make sure it would leave.

Weber said wolves were attacking his sheep all the time a couple years ago. Defenders of Wildlife came to his ranch, erected fences and conducted wolf hazing activities including banging pans, lighting firecrackers, playing loud music and striking gongs, he said.

Weber estimated the value of the ewes to be about $300 to $350 apiece. He said they each raised triplet lambs, which recently netted $133 each at auction.

Wolves were recently re-listed as endangered species across the northern half of Montana, Sime said. The southern part of the state is considered an experimental area regarding wolves, she said. Private citizens in the southern part of the state still have the right to haze, harass or kill wolves they see chasing, molesting or attacking livestock, but are required to report killing a wolf within 24 hours.

Through state and federal programs, livestock owners can still seek financial compensation for animals killed by wolves, Sime said.

Montana FWP is aggressively pursuing options to reinstate a wolf hunting season in the state as soon as possible, Sime said.

Judge denies defense request to suppress evidence
By Camden Easterling, Enterprise Staff Writer

With just three weeks left until a Livingston casino robbery case goes to trial, a judge on Tuesday denied requests to suppress evidence gathered in South Dakota and Tennessee.

Joel Kent Kenans, 31, is slated to go to trial Sept. 21 in Sixth Judicial District Court on allegations he and a partner robbed Yellowstone Charlie’s Gaming Parlor on West Park Street in October 2009.

On Monday, District Court Judge Nels Swandal listened to arguments from Kenans’ attorney, Stephen Potenberg, and Park County Attorney Brett Linneweber. He wrote in his Tuesday order that he wanted to deliver a speedy decision since the trial is nearing, so he issued the order that day but would wait until a later date to file an explanation of his decision.

Prosecutors say last fall Kenans carried a gun while forcing a female casino employee to let him into the business. Once inside, he allegedly bound the woman’s hands and barricaded her in an office while he stole money and removed surveillance equipment.

Local law enforcement officers worked with agents in other states to track down and arrest Kenans and his alleged accomplice, Joel Stephen Boyce, 29, in Tennessee just days after the robbery.

While headed from Livingston to Tennessee, the two were stopped by a trooper with the South Dakota Highway Patrol for following too closely. The trooper testified at the Monday hearing that during the stop, he became suspicious the men were involved in criminal activity.

The men consented to a vehicle search, during which he found a firearm and bundled money, the trooper said. He ultimately determined he didn’t have enough information and probable cause to detain the men further and let them continue on their way, the trooper said.

Potenberg asked the court to prohibit prosecutors from using that information. The trooper, Potenberg wrote in his motion, either lacked probable cause to initially stop the men or his actions during the interaction exceeded the proper scope of a traffic stop.

Potenberg also asked the court to suppress some evidence found when law enforcement agents arrested Kenans in Tennessee.

Court records indicate agents in Tennessee found evidence such as cash, a rifle and clothing consistent with that of the man who robbed the casino. Potenberg’s motion states he and his client object to the admission of evidence gathered from Kenans’ vehicle. However the motion does not refer to specific items.

The search warrant was “defective on its face and doesn’t accurately describe the property to be searched,” Potenberg’s motion states.

The warrant, issued by Tennessee authorities, had the vehicle’s model incorrect and listed a vehicle identification number that was one digit off from the accurate identifier, according to Potenberg’s request to the court.

Plus, the warrant references searching Kenans’ hotel room rather than his vehicle, the motion states.

Linneweber asked the court to deny the suppression motion and cited numerous points of law in his a written response. His arguments included that the vehicle search was lawful because it falls under a Tennessee provision that permits such warrantless searches, particularly when they accompany an arrest, he wrote.

Kenans faces numerous charges, including robbery, aggravated burglary and theft. The trial is expected to run three days.

He has been in the Park County Detention Center since October 2009. His bond is set at $250,000.

This spring Boyce pleaded guilty to felony counts of obstructing justice and conspiracy or accountability to commit theft. He told Swandal during his change of plea hearing that he was asleep in a car near the casino and didn’t know what was happening inside the building until Kenens returned to the vehicle.

Owners surrender dogs thought to have killed birds
By Camden Easterling, Enterprise Staff Writer

Two men have surrendered two dogs thought to have killed 29 turkeys — and now chickens — in an incident the Park County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

On Thursday afternoon, Mark Rehder, who farms property on Tana Lane outside city limits on Livingston’s northeast side, called the Sheriff’s Office to notify deputies of two dogs at his farm. Last week Rehder reported to the department that a pair of canines got into his turkey building and killed all 29 of his birds.

“Same dogs,” Rehder said Friday of the dogs he saw at the farm Thursday. “They got into the chickens this time and killed three of them.”

Rehder said he saw the dogs come onto the farm and “in less than a minute” one of them broke into the chicken’s enclosure and got the birds.

On Thursday afternoon, two men surrendered both dogs to the Stafford Animal Shelter, Development Coordinator Kris King said. Both dogs look to be black Labrador retriever mixes and are very friendly with people, she said.

King said there seems to be some confusion about whether one of the two surrendered dogs was involved in both incidents or in just Thursday’s situation.

One of the dogs has been brought in multiple times to the shelter in the past couple of years for being at large, she said.

In situations where an owner picks up his or her dog from the shelter time and again, Stafford does not have legal authority to keep the animal and instead can only suggest the owner be more responsible or surrender the dog, King said.

Undersheriff Scott Hamilton said Thursday’s incident, along with last week’s turkey kill, is under investigation. Park County Attorney Brett Linneweber said he is reviewing information in the case to determine how to handle the matter.

If the dogs are adopted in the future, they must go to owners prepared to properly contain them, King said.

Rehder said he and one of the men have reached an agreement for repayment of at least part of the cost of the lost birds.

“We’re working outside of the court system,” he said.

Rehder and King both said the recent kills bring to light the larger issue of animal control in Park County. Local regulations do little to require pet owners to control their dogs and leave people with resulting property damage or other issues without much recourse besides filing civil lawsuits, they said.

Paradise Valley man walks from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail
By Wes Venteicher, Enterprise Staff Writer

To hike more than 2,000 miles on the Appalachian Trail this year, Paradise Valley resident Dave Greenwood depended on more than his walking sticks for support.

Greenwood, 59, a runner for 28 years and an avid hiker, was prepared for the physical challenge of walking from Georgia to Maine. But to combat the mental strain of hiking alone for five months, Greenwood called his wife every night.

“My most important piece of equipment was my cell phone,” he said last week.

Greenwood’s wife, Patricia, also shipped him food and the five pairs of boots he destroyed hiking the trail from February to July.

For Greenwood, a retired civil engineer, hiking the trail was a dream of 45 years. He said he chose this year because he finally had “the money, the time and the health.”

Greenwood said he was hiker number 36 to finish the trail in 2010. He said an average 450 to 500 people hike the trail each year.

A month after finishing the hike, Greenwood remarked he was glad he did it but would not hike the AT again.

The trail seemed designed to torture hikers, he said. Switchbacks were nonexistent. Instead, white trail blazes directed hikers straight up mountains. Greenwood said the lowest figure he had seen for total vertical climb on the trail estimated 450,000 feet. Other estimates ranged up to 1 million feet.

Three days after his Feb. 27 start from Mount Springer, Ga., Greenwood woke up to find 6 inches of snow outside his tent. Several hikers he met on the trail quit because of the snow, which local Southerners said was the worst they had seen in years. Greenwood continued for several days in the snow before taking two weeks off, staying with his parents in North Carolina while the snow melted.

More dispiriting than the Southern snow, however, was the rough trail further north.

Beginning in Virginia, the trail often degenerated into a ribbon of sharp rock passing through tunnels of green vegetation, Greenwood said. This section earned the Appalachian Trail the nickname “the knee breaker,” he said.

Greenwood averaged 20 miles per day for the 109 days he hiked. On “zero days” he covered no ground and instead rested in towns or waited for snow to melt. In total he traveled for 144 days along the 2,187-mile trail, he said. On his best day, he hiked 31 miles.

The biggest challenge of the hike was the sheer distance, Greenwood said.

“It was not a good idea to entertain thoughts of the entire distance,” he said.

He instead focused on short-term goals such as a hostel bed or a hot meal.

Greenwood’s ramen noodle dinners were sometimes complemented by treats sent by Patricia or broken up by meals in towns along the trail. Greenwood said he burned about 6,000 calories a day and sometimes consumed startling amounts of food to refuel.

Once, he entered a town and ate steadily for two hours at a Chinese buffet. After a short rest he found a Pizza Hut and ate a 16-inch, five-topping pizza, followed by a quart of ice cream.

At other times, gourmet surprises appeared along the trail. Hikers called such surprises “trail magic,” Greenwood said. Some people living along the trail offered hikers places to stay or even ice cream sundaes. Greenwood one day encountered a sign saying, “free burgers and massage.” In disbelief, he followed the sign and found a woman and her son delivering on the offer.

Everyone on the Appalachian Trail answers to a nickname, Greenwood said. Some hikers are given names by other trekkers, while some name themselves. Greenwood chose “Big Sky” for himself, to represent Montana.

Greenwood also drew on his faith throughout the trek. He calls himself a “good Christian man,” and said he felt like Christ was walking with him on the trail. He read the Bible each night and felt blessed to have been able to complete the hike, he said.

“I hope I have been faithful and was able to do what I was supposed to on the trip,” he said.

Greenwood finished the hike at Mt. Katahdin in Maine on July 20. A friend from Ohio joined him for the final day of hiking and then drove him to Ohio, where his wife met him and drove him home.

“I’m glad to be back in my daily rut — but I’m still eating as if I were on the trail,” he admitted.

Ditch group set to fix M Street leak
By Camden Easterling, Enterprise Staff Writer

A local ditch association says it plans to turn its water off early to address a leak that’s been sending water down Livingston’s North M Street for weeks.

The Livingston Ditch Water Users Association expects it will shut off water to the ditch in the next two to three weeks, ditch President Dave Haug said Tuesday.

The association originally planned to close the ditch for the season in October and address the leak at a later point. But a few board members recently decided to move up the timeline, Haug said. Board members felt working this fall gives them a better window of weather than trying to complete a project in iffy spring conditions, he said.

The ditch runs through the city and provides water to the more than 100 people who own its water rights.

The association will spend about $6,000 to $8,000 to install a 40-foot galvanized steel culvert where the ditch runs along a hillside at the end of North M Street. The culvert will be about twice the length of the leak, Haug said.

City of Livingston officials in recent weeks have monitored the ditch after complaints from property owners in the M Street area that the ditch was leaking more than normal and that the water was causing problems with the unpaved section of road there. City leaders worried residents might start seeing water on their properties or in their homes and were concerned about overall safety in the area, City Manager Ed Meece said last month.

Around mid-August an engineer who contracts with the city told officials the system didn’t look like it was at risk for failure but that the city should continue to monitor the situation. The city sent the ditch association letters requesting it address the problem, but the city has no enforcement authority over the ditch and is not responsible for its upkeep, Meece said.

Meece last week said the ditch association recently notified the city it would address the leak earlier than anticipated and that it planned to pipe the area rather than try other repair measures. Meece said he was happy with the resolution.

Haug said piping that section seems like the best solution because attempts to repair the leak in past years have been unsuccessful.

“We’ve tried a number of other little fixes in there,” he said.

The association has ordered the pipe and plans to begin installation once it arrives, he said.

Not guilty plea made for sixth DUI charge
By Enterprise Staff

A Boulder, Mont., man has pleaded not guilty to his sixth charge of driving under the influence and his eighth count of driving while his license was suspended or revoked.

Joseph Michael Long, 55, appeared in Sixth Judicial District Court Monday to enter not guilty pleas to the counts against him. He is charged with felony DUI and driving per se (having a blood alcohol content of .08 or greater). State law permits prosecutors to file a DUI charge as well as a per se charge. However, a defendant ultimately can be convicted of or plead guilty to only one of the two charges.

Long also faces a felony charge of criminal endangerment and misdemeanor counts of driving while the privilege to do so is suspended or revoked, eighth offense; and driving without liability insurance, second offense.

A Livingston Police Department officer arrested Long on June 29 in the area of the intersection of East Gallatin Street and Garnier Avenue, according to court records. Long provided a breath sample that showed his blood alcohol level to be .201, court documents state. Montana law recognizes a BAC of .08 as being too high to drive.

On Monday, District Court Judge Nels Swandal set Long’s bond at $15,000.

Bozeman man denies eighth DUI charge
By Enterprise Staff

A Bozeman man has pleaded not guilty to his eighth charge of driving under the influence.

Michael Paul Holje, 47, was arraigned in Sixth Judicial District Court Monday. He is charged with felony driving under the influence and the alternative charge of felony driving per se (having a blood alcohol content of .08 or greater).

State law permits prosecutors to file a DUI charge as well as a per se charge. However, a defendant ultimately can be convicted of or plead guilty to only one of the two charges.

A Park County Sheriff’s Office deputy pulled Holje over on Interstate 90 on Aug. 5 after seeing him driving erratically, according to court documents. Once he was detained at the Park County Detention Center, Holje gave a breath sample that showed his blood alcohol content was .281, according to legal records. Montana law recognizes a BAC of .08 or higher as being too high to drive.

Park County Attorney Brett Linneweber has filed with the court his intent to prosecute Holje as a persistent felony offender. If Holje were classified as a persistent felony offender and was convicted or changed his plea, he would be eligible for stiffer penalties than those outlined for defendants convicted of fifth or subsequent DUI.

A persistent felony offender convicted of fifth or subsequent DUI could face a range of five to 100 years with the state Department of Corrections.

District Court Judge Nels Swandal on Monday set Holje’s bond at $15,000.

Music festival helps raise money for two Paradise Valley schools
By Wes Venteicher, Enterprise Staff Writer

Music students at Pine Creek School, now restricted to blowing through recorders or plunking, shaking and pounding on assorted percussion instruments, will soon have greater opportunities to produce music together.

Funds from the Paradise Valley Music Festival, held in Luccock Park near Pine Creek on Sunday, will be used to furnish new xylophones at Pine Creek School.

“This will allow the kids to have an ensemble experience,” said Leticia Iniguez, music teacher at Pine Creek.

Pine Creek and Arrowhead schools will receive $5,000 each, festival organizer Mike Long said.

At Arrowhead, the funds will go toward the ski program.

The money will be used to pay for downhill and cross-country skiing at Bridger Bowl and Bohart Ranch for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

“Those funds should cover the cost of the ski program,” said Arrowhead Superintendent and Principal Debra House.

Organizers of the festival pledged all ticket proceeds to Park County rural schools. More than 900 general admission festival tickets and more than 100 VIP tickets were sold, Long said.

Because of the great cost of starting up a festival of this magnitude, the event did not actually draw any profits in 2010, Long said. Nonetheless, organizers are giving money to the schools collected through private fundraising for the festival that began about five months ago.

Funds came from several foundations as well as some corporate entities, Long said. His own company, a Livingston-based ranch restoration firm called MTL contributed more than $25,000 for the event, he said.

Though it wasn’t profitable this year, Long called the event a success.

“We wanted to raise the bar on any festival we’ve seen in the Montana area,” he said. “That’s what we set out to do, and I think we’ve done that.”

Long on Wednesday said organizers had received more than 150 e-mails and phone calls from festival-goers who commented what a great time they had at the festival and said they were looking forward to next year’s event.

Several donors gave money expecting the funds to also support a 2011 festival, he said. Next year, the festival could expand to a two-day event.

Long expects organization of the 2011 festival to take nine or 10 months. Proceeds will continue to go to Park County rural education.

Comments, questions and any sponsorship inquiries for 2011 can be sent to info@paradisevalleyfestival. com.

Park machine recycles bear spray cans
By Wes Venteicher, Enterprise Staff Writer

Thanks to a new machine, hundreds, if not thousands, of bear spray canisters discarded in Yellowstone National Park will no longer end up in landfills.

Yellowstone received what park officials say is the world’s first machine to recycle bear spray canisters — plus the spray inside — and the park is already diverting the aluminum containers from the waste stream.

The park, now in the first phase of a plan to recycle all canisters discarded in the greater Yellowstone area, is collecting bear spray canisters from employees, said park Environmental Protection Specialist Jim Evanoff Tuesday.

Canisters are often discarded once they’re empty or their contents have expired. Park visitors also often leave their unused canisters behind at the end of their visits to Yellowstone because they can’t be taken on airplanes, Evanoff said.

But bear spray technically is a hazardous material and not meant for regular garbage collection.

After two years in development, Evanoff’s idea to build the machine came to fruition with the help of Montana State University engineering students, Gallatin National Forest grant money and technical and financial assistance from several other organizations, Evanoff said.

A nozzle on the machine collects bear spray from canisters and separates pepper oil from the refrigerant that is used as a propellant, said machine developer and builder Wayne Wilson of Billings-based WWW Industries. The machine also punctures and crushes the aluminum canisters.

The park sells the oil to a refining company in Montana and pays a contractor to remove refrigerant from the park as hazardous waste. A broker in Bozeman buys the aluminum, Evanoff said.

The machine cost $27,000 to develop and build, Evanoff said. Most of the funds were donated by private corporations through the Yellowstone Fund in Bozeman.

An official collection bin at Mammoth Hot Springs and several other boxes around the park now collect employee bear spray canisters. The park will begin processing them in early 2011.

The park plans to begin collecting and processing canisters from the general public in spring 2011.

The bear spray recycler was created in a similar manner to a machine Evanoff developed to process propane bottles, which are also often discarded in the park. The idea for the propane recycling machine came after employees at a sorting and composting facility in West Yellowstone noticed many propane bottles in the trash.

Machine operators at the facility sometimes ran over bear spray canisters and the facility would have to be evacuated for several hours because the spray irritated workers’ eyes and noses, Evanoff said.

MSU engineering students Ashley Olsen, Seth Mott and Kyle Hertenstein developed a prototype last year, drawing on information and plans provided by Wilson, and unveiled the machine in February.

Wilson’s WWW Industries, in collaboration with Mountain States Environmental Services, built the machine and delivered it to the park.

Counter Assault, a bear spray manufacturer in Kalispell, donated $10,000 for the project. Outdoor gear retailer REI as well as Montana Yellowstone Expeditions, which has a camp in Tom Miner Basin in Paradise Valley, also contributed, Evanoff said.

New Old Faithful Visitor’s Center opens
By Liz Kearney, Enterprise Staff Writer

OLD FAITHFUL, Wyo. — It was 10 years in the planning and four years under construction, but the new Old Faithful Visitor Education Center is now open for learning.

The key feature in the new facility, which opened last week, is the 4,500 square feet of displays and exhibits to help visitors understand geysers and hot springs, explained Katy Duffy, the head interpretive ranger at Old Faithful.

“We hope through the exhibits people will understand the significance of Old Faithful and all the geysers. The geysers are a window into the earth,” Duffy said.

And the new structure provides a window — literally — to the geysers. The wall facing Old Faithful is mostly glass and extends two stories, framing the famous geyser’s eruptions.

The old visitor center, which the new facility replaced on the same site, was built in 1972. It barely had room for exhibits, Duffy said. In fact, it had only one: a seismograph, a device that records and displays earthquake activity. But it wasn’t very accurate.

The seismometer, the probe in the ground that “talks” to the seismograph, was located near the National Park Service heavy equipment garage, Duffy said. Every day around 7 a.m., the seismograph would record earthquake activity. The big trucks that rolled out every morning were heavy enough to trip the seismometer into picking up the ground vibration, Duffy said.

Now, visitors can explore many interactive displays. Duffy thought the size and number of exhibits was appropriate.

“There are enough to be captivating but not so many it’s overwhelming,” she said.

Duffy demonstrated one of her favorite exhibits, on how geysers work. The exhibit looks like a video game, showing cartoon-like cars moving from several lanes to one. The narrowing of the lanes illustrates how pressure builds up behind a constriction in a geyser’s underground plumbing system, Duffy said.

On a recent day, children gathered at the display, looking intent. They seemed to understand it right away. One youth was Miles Kendall, 12, from Seattle.

“I’ve learned the most from that (geyser display). The cars make sense,” he said.

Asked how the interpretive information would be most useful — viewed before exploring the Old Faithful area, or after — Duffy suggested a “sandwich” approach might be best.

Go out and explore the geyser basin first, come in and view the exhibits, then go out again, hopefully with a new knowledge and appreciation, Duffy said.

What’s inside

In addition to the exhibits, the building has classrooms, a research library and a state-of-the-art theater with seating for 215, plus room for four wheelchairs, Duffy said. The theater is used to show interpretive films during the day and for the rangers’ interpretive programs in the summer and winter.

The theater’s capacity is double the space of the old visitor center. Duffy said on summer nights people who came to evening programs often had to stand.

The center is 26,000 square feet, a little more than twice the size of the old one, according to the park’s Public Affairs Office. The total project came to $27 million, $15 million of which was raised by a nonprofit partner, the Bozeman-based Yellowstone Park Foundation. The NPS anticipates 2.6 million visitors per year will visit the building, or 25,000 during a peak day in July, Duffy said.

The building is rated at Gold Level LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — indicating that many of its components make it a “green” building, according to an NPS fact sheet about the new visitor center. LEED status indicates, for example, that a building contains recycled materials and is energy-efficient. The facility will use one-third less energy than a non-LEED building of the same size. It has a shallow foundation, to help prevent damage to underground hydrothermal systems. Concrete from the old building was crushed on-site and used as backfill.

Asked if working in a LEED building is different than non-LEED, Duffy pointed out a shower in the staff area. If there’s a shower at work, Duffy said, the idea is that employees will be more inclined to ride their bikes to work rather than drive.

What people say

Duffy said the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Remarks from visitors at the center on a recent day included “awesome” and “fabulous.”

The windows framing Old Faithful geyser draw people toward them even when the geyser is not erupting — especially when chillier weather makes staying inside preferable.

Plus, the building aesthetically fits the geyser basin’s natural surroundings and nearby architecture, Duffy said.

“It blends in with the Old Faithful Inn, but it’s its own building,” she said.

Back to Top

OBITUARIES
The following obituaries appeared in The Enterprise the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 3, 2010:

• Arlyn Ray Creek, 29, of Gardiner, died Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010, in Ogden, Utah.

• Tressa S. Brekke, 93, of Livingston, died at Livingaston Memorial Hospital, Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010.

• Carlene (Pursley) Ford, 71, of Livingston, died Aug. 26, 2010, at the Livingston Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation Center.

• Naomi Knight Stephenson, 81, formerly of Livingston, died Aug. 26, 2010, in Mesquite, Nev.

• Juanita Montana Huppert Putzker, 91, formerly of Livingston, died Aug. 24, 2010, in Plains.

• Charles W. "Chuck" Hardesty, 69, of Livingston, died Aug. 30, 2010, in Livingston.

• John "Jack" Walker Swainson Jr., 71, of Livingston, died Sunday, Aug. 29, in Spokane, Wash.

• Jean J. Carusoe, 84, of Livingston, died Aug. 31, 2010, in Livingston.

• Billy J. Redmond, 78, of Kalispell, died Aug. 26, 2010, in Kalispell.

• Patricia M. Milord, 80, of Livingston, died Tuesday Aug. 31, 2010.

• Kevin L. Brown, 38, formerly of Livingston, died Aug. 15, 2010, in Florence, Mont.