Growing up near Yellowstone National Park I have always been aware of visitors and guests to the place where I live. I admit that the seven years that we lived in Hettinger, North Dakota didn’t have big tourist seasons, but people do come to that area on their way to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, the Black Hills and other nearby destinations. They also come to the area to hunt and to look at the land where the last wild Buffalo herds grazed. Most of my life, however, I have lived in places where tourists come. Here in the Black Hills, just a short distance from Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse and not that far from Sturgis, we are used to having lots of guests and tourists in our midst, especially during the summer. The campgrounds and hotels are filled, the parking lots at the businesses catering to tourists are full and there are plenty of summer jobs for those who want to serve our guests.

We have been warned to brace ourselves for an estimated 1 million visitors during the height of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally during the first week of August. Of course none of us know what a million visitors looks like, let alone a million visitors intent on riding motorcycles. We have definitely noticed that there are more people arriving early for the event. The hills are already full of motorcycles and there are a lot of vendors who have set up tents and shelters and are already doing business in various parking lots and next to established businesses.

Some of us have established lots of little habits to help us deal with the influx of visitors. I plan driving routes to avoid left hand turns, especially at intersections that don’t have protected left hand turns. I make it a practice to visit the grocery store first thing in the morning if I need to shop, though we also make it a practice to stock up in the weeks before the rally to minimize the need to go to the store. When we need to purchase gas, we practice extra patience and try to be as friendly and polite as possible. If someone cuts us off, we try to concentrate on the positive impact of the tourists. They really are important to our local economy and rally-related jobs are important to a lot of people.

I’m not sure we were so kind to tourists when I was growing up. Although I never wore the t-shirts making fun of all of the tourists, I admit that I did laugh at them: “Welcome to Yellowstone. So far this year the score is Grizzlies 4, tourists 0.” “If we aren’t allowed to shoot them, why do they call it tourist SEASON?”

I guess this year in Yellowstone, the score is buffalo 5, tourists 0. There have been an unusual number of incidents of tourists injured by getting too close to the buffalo this year.

OK, I know that they aren’t really buffalo, they’re American Bison, but we’ve been calling them buffalo for as long as I can remember. I don’t pronounce coyote the Spanish way with the accent on the e, either. I’m from South Dakota, where the mascot of USD is pronounced the way we pronounced the name of the animal where I grew up. So much for that rant.

Tourists and buffalo, however, is a serious matter. The animals look a bit like oversize cattle, and people don’t understand how powerful they are. They also don’t appreciate how fast they can run. I’ve witnessed the buffalo roundup. I’ve seen a buffalo run full bore in 5 feet of snow. I know how quick the animals can be. And there are lots of warnings given. There are signs posted along the roads. There are articles in the park paper given to each car that enters. There are ranger talks. In Yellowstone National Park people are prohibited from coming within 25 yards of buffalo. That’s 75 feet - about a quarter of a city block.

Tuesday another tourist was tossed into the air by a charging buffalo. She turned her back on it at a distance of about 6 yards to take a selfie with the animal. The report from the Associated Press that I read didn’t mention what happened to her camera or cell phone or whatever device she was using to take the picture. Who knows? Maybe she got a shot of herself being tossed through the air. Maybe the buffalo stepped on the phone.

I hope she is a lot smarter and a lot more cautious the next time she sees a wild animal.

I was raised with a healthy respect for wild animals. We knew how to hike in bear country and what to do if we were to sight a bear in the wild. We hoisted our bear bags into the trees at night and made sure not to have any food smells in our tents when we went to sleep. We carried tin cups on our backpacks so that their rattle would alert bears to our presence as we walked. We also knew that we were assuming a certain amount of risk when we headed to the high country.

Yellowstone National Park isn’t an amusement park. These days you won’t see many bears in the park and if you do they will be a long way from the roads. They had to manage the bears to keep the tourists from getting too close. I’ve seen tourists trying to take pictures of their children with the bears. Now they may have to put up fences to keep the tourists away from the buffalo.

I guess all I am saying is that I wish people would use a little bit of common sense. It isn’t just the buffalo and bears that are dangerous. Riding a motorcycle on the roads of the hills involves quite a bit of risk. Add in 999,999 other tourists and perhaps a summer thundershower and it can be downright dangerous. The hospital is already experiencing an increase in accident traffic. We don’t want more people to get hurt.

Be careful out there. We’re glad you’ve come to visit. And we’d prefer to have you get back home without injury if possible.

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