<html> MA and Scott: Great pictures. There is historical evidence of scattered trees in the parking area but not as dense as we see now.  See the attached scan from half of an old Haynes stereoview of the first Old Faithful shack hotel circa 1895. As MA's photos show, there was obviously some landscaping and tree planting done in the parking lot.  I've often wondered though, if the trees on the hillside directly in front of the Inn aren't due to natural propagation that was enabled by improved growing conditions due to changes made in the hillside for construction of the Inn.  My argument here is a little nebulous.  I believe that I'm on stronger ground in the Lower Geyser Basin, though.  Without the earth that was moved for the Great Fountain parking lot, I believe that the trees between Great Fountain and the parking lot would not exist.  Looking through the old pictures there are many places that new growth can be identified.  This is part of nature.  Sometimes, though it doesn't appear natural as in the case of the OF Inn parking lot or GF parking lot.  In these cases, I wonder if we're better off leaving the trees or removing them. Dave At 09:38 AM 1/12/07 -0500, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite cite>In a message dated 1/12/2007 3:45:04 AM Mountain Standard Time, mabdepot@msn.com writes:<blockquote> <dl> <dd>Enroute to researching something else, I ran across these.  Most shots don't <dd>show the parking area which gives a better idea of the pool location, but <dd>these shots were all about the new improved parking area!  Sorry for the <dd>glare, the skylights in the HRC are the culprits. <dd>YNP Archives, Box D-183.</blockquote></blockquote> </dl>MA,   Were those shots also from 1937?   What always intrigues me about such photos is the size (small) of the parking lot trees. Back then, one could even stand at ground level yet alone on the balcony, and clearly see Geyser Hill and on down basin without having to try to peer around trees. As part of the OF Inn centennial, I proposed to the NPS (via Superintendent Lewis) that it remove some of the existing trees under the policy of "Vista Enhancement," but I never received any reply of any sort.   Scott Bryan _______________________________________________ Geysers mailing list Geysers@wwc.edu <a href="https://mailman.wwc.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers" eudora="autourl">https://mailman.wwc.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers</a> </blockquote></html>