Yellowstone National Park
Cody • Cooke City • Gardiner • West Yellowstone • Red Lodge • Livingston • Big Sky • Bozeman

Established on March 1, 1872, Yellowstone National Park is the first and oldest national park in the world. Preserved within Yellowstone are Old Faithful Geyser and some 10,000 hot springs and geysers, the majority of the planet's total. These geothermal wonders are evidence of one of the world's largest active volcanoes; its last eruption created a crater or caldera that spans almost half of the park.

An outstanding mountain wildland with clean water and air, Yellowstone is home of the grizzly bear and wolf, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk. It is the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the largest intact temperate zone ecosystems remaining on the planet.

The human history of the park dates back 12,000 years. The events of the last 130 years of park history are reflected in the historic structures and sites associated with various periods of park administration and visitor facilities development.

Grand Prismatic Pool Yellowstone National ParkGeothermal Features

With half of the earth’s geothermal features, Yellowstone holds the planet’s most diverse and intact collection of geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles. Its more than 300 geysers make up two thirds of all those found on earth. Combine this with more than 10,000 thermal features comprised of brilliantly colored hot springs, bubbling mudpots, and steaming fumaroles, and you have a place like no other. Geyserland, fairyland, wonderland--through the years, all have been used to describe the natural wonder and magic of this unique park that contains more geothermal features than any other place on earth.
Yellowstone’s vast collection of thermal features provides a constant reminder of the park’s recent volcanic past. Indeed, the caldera provides the setting that allows such features as Old Faithful to exist and to exist in such great concentrations.

Fly fishing Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National ParkFishing

Yellowstone National Park is managed to protect cultural and natural resources and outstanding scenery, and to provide for visitor use. Angling has been a major visitor activity for over a century. Present regulations reflect the park's primary purposes of resource protection and visitor use. The objectives of the fishing program are to:
1. Manage aquatic resources as an important part of the ecosystem.
2. Preserve and restore native fishes and their habitats.
3. Provide recreational fishing opportunities for the enjoyment of park visitors, consistent with the first two objectives.

Bison West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National ParkIn Yellowstone, bald eagles, ospreys, pelicans, otters, grizzly bears, and other wildlife take precedence over humans in utilizing fish as food. None of the fish in Yellowstone are stocked, and populations depend on sufficient number of spawning adults to maintain natural reproduction and genetic diversity. In Yellowstone National Park, we place less emphasis upon providing fishing for human consumption and put more emphasis upon the quality for recreational fishing. Anglers, in return, have the opportunity to fish for wild trout in a natural setting.
Yellowstone Park News

Howling wolfNorth Yellowstone’s Winter Road • By Daryl L. Hunter
Winter in Yellowstone is truly a wonderful thing to experience, its deep snows, bitter cold, abundant wildlife and stark beauty can imprint memories that can last a lifetime...........................Access to Yellowstone in winter is the problem, it has become illegal to take a private snowmobile into Yellowstone and very few of us have snow coaches of our own or are capable of marathon ski expeditions too access Yellowstone’s winter wonders, but it is not as inaccessible as many think.........................Mountain above Gardner MontanaThe snowmobiling destination resort of Cooke City and Silver Gate Montana need groceries regularly to keep its citizens alive so Yellowstone Park maintains winter access to these communities. US-212 can be accessed through Yellowstone’s north entrance in Gardner Montana, so Yellowstone visitors can access a smidgen of Yellowstone’s treasures in winter by car.--------------------------> more

Yellowstone Backcountry Boost
By Brodie Farquhar • Most visitors to Yellowstone National Park see just the tip of an immense, complicated iceberg.............................When you drive through the park’s 2.2 million acres, you can see a great deal: bears, wolves, elk, bison, geysers, mountains and forests. What the visitor doesn’t see from the road is about 98 percent of the park, a backcountry region that’s managed as wilderness and patrolled by 22 elite rangers on horseback, skis and on foot........................For the better part of a century, they have served the public as field guides, informal educators, medics, rescuers and law enforcement officers. They also have forecountry responsibilities, such as trying to prevent 600 vehicular accidents annually or the loss of 100 animals struck by vehicles........................In recognition of those responsibilities and that heritage, the Yellowstone Park Foundation has launched a Ranger Fund initiative, to raise $2 million in two years...............................More

Yellowstone -Lava Land
In America's heartland lies one of the world's largest 'super volcanoes.' Its last eruption was 1000 times more powerful than that of Mt. St. Helens, and it's capable of covering half the continent in volcanic ash. Now, this super volcano is rising up from the ground.............................No, that's not the plot of a holiday blockbuster. It's the findings of University of Utah seismologists. Yellowstone National Park hosts one of the world's largest volcano fields. Its many geysers and hot springs suggest that the park lies above a 'hot spot,' an area of the earth's crust that has experienced volcanic activity for an incredibly long period of time – in this case about four million years. ...................................More

Yellowstone National Park Lodges announces winter activities, transportation rates and dates
Yellowstone National Park Lodges, operated by Xanterra Parks & Resorts and the manager of lodging, restaurants and activities in Yellowstone National Park, is offering an array of winter activities including cross-country skiing, snow shoeing and ice skating as well as many over-the-snow transportation options................................More

Mineriva Hot Springs Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone by RV - by Mark Solomons • We drove from Denver to the nearby Rocky Mountains and then a long, 450 mile drive to Yellowstone Park, through to the neighbouring - and even more spectacular - Grand Teton National Park and then back to Denver................................More

Visiting Yellowstone National Park - By Bonnie Sitter • From the road you'd never guess what paced across the river, but you'd know it was something special because traffic was backed up for miles. Was it a buffalo sitting at the water's edge or perhaps a mule deer or an elk? Usually those were the subjects of traffic jams - only in Yellowstone National Park could a lazy bison hold up traffic as it stood in the middle of the road and watched the tourists, making you wonder who were really on display - the animals or the people........................more

Yellowstone Geyser Erupts First Time In 8 Years • YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK A large geyser in Yellowstone National Park that hadn't erupted since 1998 roared to life over the weekend.

Study finds plume extends far under Yellowstone Park • The fiery engine that drives the spectacular geysers and other features at Yellowstone National Park extends at least 240 miles beneath the Earth's surface, according to a new study. The findings lend weight to the argument that a plume of hot rock rising from deep within the Earth fuels Yellowstone's churning geothermal features.

cutthroat trout Yellowstone National ParkSubtle signs of hope in Yellowstone Park cutthroat populations • YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - Predatory lake trout, drought and whirling disease continue to take a toll on Yellowstone National Park's resident population of Yellowstone cutthroat, but biologists say they are beginning to see subtle signs of hope improvement.

Tourist Taking Picture at Yellowstone National Park Dies in 500-Foot Fall • YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo.  — A woman lost her footing after stepping over a retaining wall to take a photograph and went over a cliff, falling 500 feet to her death in a canyon, park officials said.

cross country skiing bison encounter Yellowstone National ParkIrresponsible behavior in Yellowstone • After recently visiting Yellowstone National Park, I've decided it's no wonder so many fatal accidents occur there every year. I observed people cross over railings, step off boardwalks and approach wildlife dangerously close.

Historic inn opens again at Yellowstone Park after repairs • YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WY. • The historic Old Faithful Inn, which has been undergoing major renovations that delayed its opening this summer tourist season, was to open its doors today.

horseback riding Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone-area employers tight on workers • YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK • As the summer tourist season heats up in Cody and other gateway communities around Yellowstone National Park, some employers are reporting unprecedented difficulties in filling seasonal jobs.

Nature In The Balance • by Brian A. Connolly • We saw a golden eagle, a bald eagle, several ravens, a black bear, a small herd of bison, a few elk and pronghorn antelope. Even several coyotes. But no sign of a wolf.

Wolf Yellowstone National ParkEndangered predators thrive in West • By Tom Kenworthy • federal biologist Ed Bangs began reintroducing gray wolves into the northern Rockies, the wolf may be taken off the federal endangered species list within a year.Within two years, if all goes according to plan, the grizzly bear population that lives in and near Yellowstone National Park also will be taken off the list. And far to the south, National Park Service biologists Elaine Leslie and Chad Olson are eagerly awaiting a critical step in the effort to bring California condors back to the Grand Canyon area. Sometime in October, the first chick hatched in the wild in northern Arizona since the condors were reintroduced in 1996 is expected to take to the air.