Stretching across more than 2.2 million acres of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho is one of the greatest expanses of unspoiled nature and wildlife anywhere on Earth — Yellowstone National Park. Designated America’s first national park in 1872, Yellowstone now receives almost three million visitors each year. Yet only a small fraction of those who glimpse the park’s stunning vistas, geological wonders, and animal residents do so during the winter months, a time when nature’s inhospitality is matched only by its serenity.

NATURE follows in the snowy footprints of Yellowstone’s red foxes, spies on the predatory warfare of wolves and elk, and climbs into the den of a grizzly bear that gives birth to two cubs while deep in hibernation. In addition to mesmerizing footage of landscapes and wildlife, trail alongside author and photographer Tom Murphy, who has been coming to Yellowstone for the past 26 winters, camping and photographing amid the silence and solitude of the park. And go behind the scenes with filmmaker Shane Moore to find out how he kept up with Murphy during an at times harrowing trek, reminiscent of the legendary John Colter’s first journey into the park nearly two hundred years ago.

To order a copy of Christmas in Yellowstone, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Christmas in Yellowstone was originally posted November 2006.

Photo © Tom Murphy

Wyoming Game and Fish Department Web site
http://gf.state.wy.us/wildlife/wildlife_management/grizzly/conservationdev.asp
Update on Yellowstone grizzly bear’s population delisting process.

Windows Into Wonderland
http://www.windowsintowonderland.org/bears/index.htm
Go on an electronic field trip to discover the grizzly bears of Yellowstone. Take a look at the bear’s habits and habitat, and then learn about the history and challenges of bear management.

The Grizzly Bear
http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/grizzlybear
This site provides facts and figures from the National Wildlife Federation. Select from an extensive list of articles about grizzly behavior and human and bear interactions.

Yellowstone: Bear Country!
http://www.yellowstoneparknet.com/wildlife/bears.php
This site offers a list of dos and don’ts from Yellowstone Park Travel Guide. Learn how to avoid running into grizzlies and find out what to do if you spot a bear.

Yellowstone’s Bears
http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/bears.htm
Browse through reports on grizzly sightings and read articles on the bear’s seasonal food habits and hibernation behaviors.

Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee
http://www.igbconline.org/
Learn about the federal government’s grizzly bear conservation strategy.

NPR: Grizzly Bears to Come Off Endangered List
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyid=5013084
NPR covers the delisting issue.

Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/willcox.asp
Find out more about Louisa Willcox’s work to protect grizzly bears. For more on the delisting controversy, go to http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/bears.asp.

The Endangered Species Program
http://endangered.fws.gov/
Access the entire text of the Endangered Species Act, view the list of threatened and endangered species, and find out about recovery programs.

Bear Identification Test
http://gf.state.wy.us/bearid/
Could you ID a grizzly in the wild? Take this test from Wyoming Game and Fish and find out.

Bears.org
http://www.bears.org/
Learn about other bear species such as the polar bear and the giant panda.

Related Episodes:

NATURE: Showdown at Grizzly River
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/grizzlies/
Visit a river teeming with salmon — and grizzlies! Then learn about bear cubs’ growing pains.

Books:

Craighead, Frank. For Everything There Is a Season: The Sequence of Natural Events in the Grand Teton-Yellowstone Area. New York: Falcon, 2001.

Craighead, Frank. Track of the Grizzly. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1982.

Craighead, John et al. The Grizzly Bears of Yellowstone: Their Ecology in the Yellowstone Ecosystem, 1959-1992. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1995.

Olsen, Lance. Field Guide to the Grizzly Bear. Bozeman MT: Sasquatch Books, 1992.

Schneider, Bill. Where the Grizzly Walks: The Future of the Great Bear. New York: Falcon, 2003.