30 Facts About Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho.

Yellowstone was the first national park in the U S and is widely held to be the first national park in the world.

Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent.

Yellowstone Park is the largest, and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States.

Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing, and sightseeing.

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Arrowheads made of Yellowstone obsidian have been found as far away as the Mississippi Valley, indicating that a regular obsidian trade existed between local tribes and tribes farther east.

Yellowstone observed at least one geothermal area in the northeastern section of the park, near Tower Fall.

Yellowstone believed in "setting aside the area as a pleasure ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and warned that there were those who would come and "make merchandise of these beautiful specimens".

Yellowstone wished for others to see and experience it as well.

Yellowstone addressed the practical problems park administrators faced in the 1872 Report to the Secretary of the Interior and correctly predicted that Yellowstone would become a major international attraction deserving the continuing stewardship of the government.

In 1963, after several years of public controversy regarding the forced reduction of the elk population in Yellowstone, United States Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall appointed an advisory board to collect scientific data to inform future wildlife management of the national parks.

Yellowstone Lake is up to 400 feet deep and has 110 miles of shoreline.

Yellowstone is at the northeastern end of the Snake River Plain, a great U-shaped arc through the mountains that extends from Boise, Idaho some 400 miles to the west.

Volcanism of Yellowstone is believed to be linked to the somewhat older volcanism of Snake River plain.

Yellowstone is thus the active part of a hotspot that has moved northeast over time.

Yellowstone Caldera is the largest volcanic system in North America, and worldwide it is only rivaled by the Lake Toba Caldera on Sumatra.

The magma chamber that lies under Yellowstone is estimated to be a single connected chamber, about 37 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 3 to 7 miles deep.

The Yellowstone sand verbena is a rare flowering plant found only in Yellowstone.

Yellowstone is widely considered to be the finest megafauna wildlife habitat in the lower 48 states.

Yellowstone is one of the few places in the United States where black bears can be seen coexisting with grizzly bears.

Eighteen species of fish live in Yellowstone, including the core range of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout—a fish highly sought by anglers.

Since 2001, all native sport fish species caught in Yellowstone waterways are subject to a catch and release regulations.

Yellowstone is home to seven species of reptiles, including the painted turtle, rubber boa, and prairie rattlesnake, bullsnake, sagebrush lizard, valley garter snake and wandering garter snake and four species of amphibians, including the boreal chorus frog, tiger salamander, western toad and columbia spotted frog.

The National Park Service estimates that in natural conditions, grasslands in Yellowstone burned an average of every 20 to 25 years, while forests in the park would experience fire about every 300 years.

Yellowstone climate is greatly influenced by altitude, with lower elevations generally found to be warmer year-round.

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Precipitation in Yellowstone is highly variable and ranges from 15 inches annually near Mammoth Hot Springs, to 80 inches in the southwestern sections of the park.

The precipitation of Yellowstone is greatly influenced by the moisture channel formed by the Snake River Plain to the west that was, in turn, formed by Yellowstone itself.

Climate at Yellowstone Lake is classified as subarctic, according to Koppen-Geiger climate classification, while at the park headquarters the classification is humid continental .

Yellowstone is in the midst of a long term road reconstruction effort, which is hampered by a short repair season.

Yellowstone Lake has a marina at Bridge Bay while there is a boat ramp at the Lewis lake campground.