Friday

March 1st was the 140th birthday of Yellowstone National Park, a celebration of the world's first National Park. Yellowstone National Park was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. It is located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, but it also extends into Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2), and is made up of many lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges.

Yellowstone is known for it's plentiful wildlife and also it's many geothermal features, specifically Old Faithful Geyser which is one of the most popular features in the park. It consists of many types of ecosystems, but the sub-alpine forest is the dominant ecosytem. The most well known wildlife in the park are grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk. The Yellowstone Park Bison Herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. The wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 and have also thrived there and helped to balance the ecosystem back again to a healthy state. There are also hundreds of other species of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles that have been documented there.

Another interesting and controversial fact is that of Yellowstone Lake. It is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super-volcano on the continent. The caldera is considered an active volcano. Over the last 2 million years it has erupted several times with such a tremendous force that half of the world's geothermal features that are in Yellowstone were fueled by this ongoing volcanism.

The Native Americans had also lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years. Aside from visits from the occasional mountain man, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. Since then researchers have examined more than 1,000 archaeological sites.

Yellowstone offers numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing and sightseeing. During the summer there is access through the park via the paved roads but in winter, visitors often access the park by way of guided tours that use either snow coaches or snowmobile. It is a magnificent National park and definitely worthy of celebrating it's birthday!


VIDEO: Yellowstone National Park

Responses to "Happy 140th Birthday Yellowstone National Park! (Video)"

  1. Anonymous says:

    Happy birthday!!

  2. Anonymous says:

    Happy 140th birthday Yellowstone Park! xxx

  3. Anonymous says:

    Happy Birthday to you. How proud to be an American. Continuous success.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Happy 104th Birthday! WOW!!! What spectacular views that God has Given us to see and enjoy! Thank you very much for those of us that will never get to see these beautiful sights! Thank you for sharing!

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