NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

Yellowstone Resources and Issues Guide

The National Park Service produced and published the 2006 Yellowstone Resources and Issues guide to train their year-round interpreters in YNP. The NAI Ames team specifically created the content for the astrobiology/microbiology chapter 4 titled, “Life in Extreme Heat”, and collaborated to contribute towards the initial publication being produced in color. Lockheed Martin Space Operations, Montana State Thermal Biology Institute, and Agouron Institute also contributed financially to the color production, which will continue in subsequent yearly editions. We coordinated within our team, and the Yellowstone National Park staff, to provide the images necessary to illustrate the content developed to tell the astrobiology story in the Park. Interpreters can use the content to develop specific hikes and tours for the public. NPS publishes the manual on its web site, where it reaches millions of “remote visitors”. The guide is also available to the general public in the bookstores and gift shops in Yellowstone National Park. The park distributes 200 copies of these guides to the Interpreters during the YNP professional interpretive trainings. The general public purchased 1,500 guides in 2004, and sales of the 2005 publication are currently at 2,000 copies. The 2006 copies were sold at 2500, and 2007 summer issues at 3,000 copies to visitors at YNP.
Yellowstone Resources and Issues on the web: The Yellowstone web site: www.windowsintowonderland.com receives the highest number of hits of any National Park site. Over 54 additional national park interpreters have accessed the guide for use in their parks. University professors have contacted the park to purchase these guides for use in their courses or as guides for field expeditions to Yellowstone National Park. The 2007 Yellowstone Resources and Issues Guide can be found at: http://www.nps.gov/yell/publications/pdfs/handbook/2007/index.htm.