Yellowstone Park
The theme of this song was taken from Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear” which had a couple of pages devoted to Alston Chase’s “Playing God in Yellowstone Park”.
They called it a wilderness and did not understand
That for years Indians had managed the land
So they put out the fires that burnt in the forest
And that’s when their troubles began
They discovered the fires were part of a cycle
That renewed and replenished the land
They lit them again, but the heat was so intense
That the sterilised soil turned into sand
Chorus
Don’t fight against nature because nature bites back
The Balance of Nature will win
They tried playing God in Yellowstone Park
They were hurt by the pendulum’s swing
They were hurt by the pendulum’s swing
The well meaning rangers with their traps and their guns
Could see that things were going wrong
The numbers of elk were decreasing each year
They thought something had to be done
They prevented the Indians from hunting the elk
But that was just part of their plan
They shot and they poisoned the packs of grey wolves
That roamed all over the land
chorus
So the elk grew in numbers and ate all the trees
That the beavers had used to build dams
When the beavers left the meadows dried up
And the death of the otters began
They protected the grizzlies then killed them off
Brought back the wolves once again
But it was too late, the elks reigned supreme
Until the next culling began
chorus