Yellowstone to reopen more of the park as bison incidents mount

Yellowstone National Park, which was closed because of historic flooding on June 13, will reopen the north loop Saturday. The south loop opened June 22.

Yellowstone National Park, which closed temporarily on June 13 because of historic flooding, will reopen the north loop Saturday. The south loop opened June 22.

After the reopening, Yellowstone visitors will enjoy access to 93% of park roadways.

The park also announced Thursday that a 71-year-old woman was gored a day earlier by a bison. The woman, who was hospitalized, became the third victim of a bison attack since May 30.

ALSO: Moose spotted on roof of Montana guest ranch; video

Park regulations require tourists to maintain a distance of at least 25 yards from bison and elk, and 100 yards from bears and wolves.

Images showing the Norris Geyser Basin (top) and bison are courtesy of the NPS

The park also announced that the Alternating License Plate System for entry will be suspended beginning Saturday. The ALPS might be reinstated later this summer if overcrowding becomes an issue.

North loop roads scheduled to reopen include Norris Junction to Mammoth Hot Springs, Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower-Roosevelt, and Tower-Roosevelt to Canyon (Dunraven Pass).

The North and Northeast entrances will remain closed to vehicle access, but hikers and anglers can walk into the park via both entrances.

For the time being, vehicle access is only possible via the East, West, and South entrances.

Said Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said: “We’re pleased to reopen the north loop of Yellowstone to the visiting public less than three weeks after this major flood event. We have attempted to balance major recovery efforts while reopening as much of the park as possible.

“We have greatly appreciated the tremendous support of the Department of the Interior; National Park Service; Federal Highway Administration; and our congressional, community, county and state partners.”

Watch: The Lions behind the scenes at the Senior Bowl

The Detroit Lions media department continues its “Road to the Draft” video series, with a new perspective, going behind the scenes at the Senior Bowl.

The Detroit Lions media department has put out a series of videos based on the Lions “Road to the Draft”, and so far, the videos we have seen — like being mic’d up at Senior Bowl practices, and coach Matt Patricia mic’s up during the Senior Bowl game — have been mostly from the coaches’ point of view. But this video is different.

In this video, the Lions’ media department shifted away from traditional mic’d up videos and presented a narrated video reminiscent of an NFL Films documentary.

The video opens by setting the table for the Lions offseason, showing clips from general manager’s Bob Quinn’s end of the year press conference and coach Matt Patricia’s opening day Senior Bowl press conference.

At the 4:55 mark, we get our first offseason interview with Kyle O’Brien the vice president of player personnel, who is one of Quinn’s top advisors. O’Brien overviews how the Lions scouts begin draft prep and how they’re able to extend their prospect research in the Senior Bowl setting.

Roman Phifer, a former NFL linebacker and current Lions’ area scout, and Lance Newmark, director of player personnel (another of Quinn’s top advisors), expand on O’Brien’s ideas, discussing the advantages of learning about players in this environment.

The next segment focuses on blending the new Lions coaches with the old, showing candid interactions between Patricia and new coordinators Cory Undlin (defense) and Brayden Coombs (special teams). The film room discussion between coaches was very fun to watch.

The video concludes with a look at the game. You can watch the entire 22 minutes video below: