There used to be three things you could always count on at Yellowstone National Park:
鈥� Old Faithful.
鈥� Seeing tourists .
鈥� Mediocre, pre-fab park food.
But that third point may be changing soon. , the company that provides concession services for Yellowstone and several other 鈥渃rown jewel鈥� parks, has committed to sourcing 50 percent of its food from either local or sustainable vendors by the year 2016.
鈥淲e鈥檝e come a really long way in just the past five years,鈥� says Lu Harlow, Yellowstone鈥檚 food and beverage manager. Last year, 34.1 percent of the park鈥檚 food purchases were sustainable or local. That鈥檚 a big improvement over a decade ago when almost everything in the park came from a Sysco truck.
Take dairy: In 2003, Yellowstone purchased just $225 worth of local goat cheese. Last year it bought $29,000 of the creamy goodness.
鈥淟ocal food is the right thing to do for our park and for our neighbors,鈥� says Harlow. 鈥淲ildlife in the park depends on the land around Yellowstone for their winter range, and supporting local ranchers preserves these lands from overgrazing and development.鈥澛�
But she worries about filling in the last 15.9 percent before 2016鈥攖he date stipulated in Xanterra鈥檚 contract with the National Park Service. Offering locally sourced items is a constant balancing act for Harlow.
On one side she has the Park Service鈥檚 mandate that Xanterra鈥檚 prices be inline with those of other area restaurants. Squeezing her from the other side are Xanterra鈥檚 corporate profit goals. If she buys racks of local lamb that cost significantly more than their factory-farmed counterparts, she can only push up the menu prices so far before the Park Service starts yelping.聽
And if she doesn鈥檛 raise menu prices, it won鈥檛 be long before one of her bosses notices that Xanterra is eating the cost. So she has to choose her local and sustainable products carefully.
鈥淭here are things I have to constantly weigh鈥攍ike availability and cost,鈥� says Harlow. 鈥淚 do still have to use some commodity beef every now and then and I hate it. And there have been battles over cost.鈥�
While Xanterra鈥檚 green initiatives are commendable, the company is, at its core, a profit-driven entity. George Helfrich, Yellowstone National Park鈥檚 chief of concessions, says that last year, Xanterra鈥檚 gross receipts for both beverage and lodging sales totaled $94.5 million鈥攖hat鈥檚 big business. And Xanterra is owned by Philip Anschutz, a multi-billionaire oil man.聽
No matter the reasons behind the switch, the local-first policies have helped buoy small farms in the area鈥攁nd they鈥檝e improved the quality of the food in the park. Sue Brown, who owns Montana-based with her family and supplies the park with ch猫vre, whole-milk ricotta, and feta, says Xanterra鈥檚 support has made her small operation thrive.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been faithful to us for many years鈥攖hey really treat us wonderfully,鈥� she says, adding, 鈥淚 know it鈥檚 a big corporation and maybe it鈥檚 a marketing strategy, but they really support us.鈥�
Going local in Montana and Wyoming isn鈥檛 without its challenges. In the winter, it鈥檚 hard to get much of anything from nearby farmers. And there are certain products American tourists want (say, bananas) that are never going to be sourced in the mountains.
But whether Harlow and her team hit their 2016 goal or not, there鈥檚 already been one unintended consequence from the park鈥檚 shift. Many of the ranchers Harlow calls 鈥渃onventional鈥� ranchers (the ones who refer to organic certifications as 鈥渉ippy-dippy, bunny hugger nonsense鈥�) are getting involved. 鈥淲ord has gotten out that if you get [organic] certified, we鈥檒l support you,鈥� Harlow says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been a real ripple effect of people getting certified.鈥�
And that鈥檚 good news for small family ranches, the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and any outdoor gourmands who plan to visit the park system. So while the national parks may have been America鈥檚 best idea, going local may just be Xanterra鈥檚.