Yellowstone Spokeswoman Amy Bartlett Passes Away After Sudden Medical Emergency

Longtime Yellowstone spokeswoman and NPS employee Amy Bartlett passed away Sunday after a sudden medical emergency.

According to the Billings Gazette, Bartlett had recently given birth to a healthy daughter and returned to her Corwin Springs-area home; the emergency happened early Sunday morning, and necessitate calling an ambulance crew and advanced life support providers. The Gallatin County Coroner’s Office has not released a cause of death. From the Gazette:

“She was one of those people who touched so many people who protect and serve Yellowstone,” said Al Nash, her former colleague in the public affairs office. “She was truly an engaged and caring person.”

Bartlett, 41, had been employed in Yellowstone for 15 years, starting out as a location manager for a concessioner in Mammoth Hot Springs before signing on with the Park Service where she worked a variety of jobs ranging from biological science technician, park ranger, dispatcher and law enforcement ranger. She met her husband, Jerry — who is also employed by the Park Service — while working in the dispatch center.

In 2012 Bartlett was hired as a public affairs assistant where she often interacted with local, national and international reporters as they contacted her for more information on Yellowstone’s widespread topics — everything from tourists gored by bison to the always-circulating theories that the Yellowstone supervolcano was about to erupt.

Grief counselors are available to Park staff.

“I know you all join me in sending our sincerest condolences to Jerry and the entire Bartlett family,” park Superintendent Dan Wenk wrote in an email. “Over the coming days, weeks, and months, I have no doubt that this community will come together to offer support for Jerry and his children.”

According to the Gazette, a Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled Friday, May 20 at 6 p.m. MST in the Chapel at Mammoth Hot Springs. A Celebration of Life (as well as a potluck for the Bartlett family and community members) is arranged for Saturday, May 21 at 3 p.m. MST at the Gardiner High School Gymnasium. Arrangements have been made with Livingston-based Franzen-Davis Funeral Home and Crematory.

Further, a GoFundMe for the Bartlett family has been established, along with a family fund through the First Interstate Bank. Donations through the FIB can be sent here:

P.O. Box 810
Gardiner, MT 59030

If you’re in the area and wish to provide something besides money, you may also donate to the Bartlett family Meal Train.

For more information, please call Bethany Gassman at 307-344-2020.