Students watch grizzlies from the front of the field research station.

Don Streubel picks his way through the dense fir forest leading his class of eight students to a wolverine trap. It is the last day of their class on Mammals Great and Small in Yellowstone National Park.

Today in the land of giant bears, they are in search of smaller quarry — red squirrels.

Streubel teaches one of the Yellowstone Association Institute’s numerous field classes out of the Lamar Valley Buffalo Ranch Field Station in Yellowstone National Park. Students come for classes ranging from wolves and bears to folklore and mythology of animals or to identify wildflowers. Student’s ages and reasons for taking classes vary, but they all come with the desire to learn about Yellowstone.

This year Streubel’s students consist of a retired doctor, two housewives, a park service employee, research student, computer programmer and several teachers.

Their quest this morning is to find red squirrels winter food caches and visit a wolverine trap used to capture wolveriners last winter for implanting radio transmitters.

Picking their way over downed trees and rain soaked wildflowers Streubel’s students watch for wildlife. At the end of the group is Jane Streubel, Don’s wife, making sure everyone keeps close together. This is bear country and wandering off from the rest of the group can be dangerous.

“Don and I have enjoyed teaching in Yellowstone for over 20 years with the Institute,” Jane said. “You cannot beat Yellowstone for a place to learn.”

The Streubels reside in the Teton Valley, but Yellowstone is where their heart is. Jane is a retired school teacher and Don is a retired professor from Idaho State University. This afternoon, Jane teaches a segment on how to observe ground squirrel behavior and take accurate field notes.

The Streubels have helped broaden the class offerings and improving facility at the Buffalo Ranch Field Station over the past two decades.

He took over the directorship of the Institute from 1989-91. With the help of the board of directors, the old and dilapidated cabins at the ranch were replaced and a new central bathroom complex built.

This changed the rustic ranch to a facility with sturdy cabins, a bathroom and shower complex and adequate classroom space while keeping the ranch feel.

It is a historic site that hosted the round up of Yellowstone’s wild buffalo or bison herds, their protection and propagation from near extinction to herds of plenty over nearly a half century. Few visitors to Yellowstone know the role it played in Yellowstone’s history.

The ranch was the focal point of wolf research in the Lamar Valley when Gray wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone. Today it serves as a ranger station, research facility and home to Institute field studies courses.

The location is almost too ideal. Streubel reminds students to watch out for bison grazing among the cabins. Using spotting scopes at the ranch his students watched grizzle bears feeding across the valley.

Lamar Valley is known as the Serengeti of North America. Here massive herds of bison, elk and pronghorn antelope roam. They are hunted by grizzle and black bears, wolves and mountain lions. The Buffalo Ranch sits in the middle of one of the greatest densities of big game anywhere offering one of the great educational opportunities in North America.

Streubel says, “Teaching in Yellowstone is wonderful. Just being here is inspiring. Jane and I have met some wonderful people teaching.”

He started teaching at the Buffalo Ranch for the Institute in 1983, shortly after accepting a biology professorship at ISU. His natural history interests lead him to Yellowstone and the Institute. The first class he taught was Mammals Great and Small.

“At one time, Don drove the old donated bus we took the students around in and I helped clean the bathrooms. Now we have a great volunteer program and thankfully things have changed,” Jane said.

Today classes are advertised on the internet, student lists are computerized and volunteers play an important role in keeping the facility and classes running and spotless. Students come from all over.

Lois Downing of Boulder, Colo., was enthralled by the class.

“The Streubels were great. The location is breathtaking. In one day we saw beavers, bison, bears and wolves,” Downing said. “Where else can you see something like this and have someone right there to give you insights on each animal?”

Students such as Downing and the park are reasons the Streubels continue teaching at the institute and donate time and money.

“Yellowstone is magical, it is one of a kind and the institute helps develop lifelong constituents for the park and its preservation,” Don Streubel says.

If you go

For more information on classes at the Yellowstone Association Institute go to ya@yellowstoneassociation

.org or call (307) 344-2293. The Institute has fun educational field courses for different age groups and some specifically designed for families and children. It is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting visitor education and preserving Yellowstone.