Yellowstone National Park elk calves on their first migration

On their first migration to their summer range in southeastern Yellowstone, three-week-old calves of the Cody elk herd follow their mothers up a 4,600-foot slope. A few hours earlier they swam the swollen South Fork of the Shoshone River

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Photographer Joe Riis on Yellowstone

A wildlife biologist turned photographer follows daunting animal migrations across Yellowstone's expansive landscapes.

5 min read
Joe Riis is one of six photographers who contributed to  National Geographic magazine's special issue on Yellowstone. Learn about the other five at  natgeo.com/yellowstone.

The first migration that Joe Riis studied in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem was of pronghorn. Next the wildlife biologist turned photographer followed a 150-mile mule deer migration. Then Riis and ecologist Arthur Middleton spent two years documenting elk migrations, for which they were named National Geographic’s 2016 Adventurers of the Year.

By photographing “all the animals that need the freedom to roam,” Riis says, “I wish to show what is at stake.” He hopes his work encourages “a new understanding and appreciation of our first national park.”

an elk at night
elk running through water
Images from the Elk Migration Project
a Yellowstone National Park herd of elk
Members of the Cody herd traverse Thorofare Plateau—the most remote area in the lower 48—just outside the southeast corner of Yellowstone. The elk bands graze there until early autumn, when snow pushes them out of the mountains. 
two men at a Yellowstone campfire with their dogs

Trapped by an advancing high-country snowstorm in late July, elk researcher Arthur Middleton and outfitter Wes Livingston huddle next to a campfire with their dogs. 

a bear walking through snow in Yellowstone National Park

A camera trap at Eagle Pass, on the southeast side of Yellowstone National Park

pronghorn crossing the Green River

Pronghorn headed to Grand Teton for the summer ford the Green River.

an eagle perched on top of a dead pronghorn

An image taken during the pronghorn migration

Grand Teton pronghorn walking under a fence
a Grand Teton pronghorn doe with its leg stuck in a fence
A fence stops migrating pronghorn—but since it’s wildlife friendly, with a smooth bottom wire 16 inches off the ground, they can crawl under it. Photographer Joe Riis met a doe that had leaped an unfriendly fence. “Luckily I was there to pull the fence apart,” he says. “A lot of pronghorn die this way.”
a migrating pronghorn herd in western Wyoming

Pronghorn antelope in western Wyoming 

See more from Joe Riis on Instagram and his website.