Geo Facts

Yellowstone National Park :

Land of diversity and beauty

National parks have fascinated people all over the world for centuries. We have our own national parks in Sri Lanka which are highly popular among both locals and foreigners. There are national parks in other countries which are many times bigger than what we have here. The Yellowstone National Park of America is one.

This park, established by the US Congress in 1872, was the first national park in America. It was used as a human habitat almost 11,000 years ago by Native Americans and is now managed by the US National Park Service. Between 1886 and 1918, the park was managed by the US Army. Organised explorations into the park began in the early 1800s.

Yellowstone National Park is spread across the States of Wyoming (96 per cent of the park is actually in this area), Montana (three per cent) and Idaho (one per cent) and is 3,468 square miles (8,983 square kilometers) in size.

Many types of ecosystems prevail in this area dominated by sub-alpine forest (the main features are crooked wood, stunted and twisted trees). In fact, the park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which is the largest remaining, nearly intact ecosystem in the northern temperate zone of Earth.

It is home to a wide variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison and elk.

Besides the wildlife, one of the main reasons which draws people to this park is the wide variety of geological and geographical features seen in the area including some of the most spectacular geysers and hot springs, the biggest canyons, lakes, rivers and mountain ranges.

Half of the world's hydrothermal features - over 10,000 hydrothermal features and over 300 geysers including the most famous and extraordinary geyser in the world, the Old Faithful- are found within the confines of this park.

Five per cent of the park's land area is consumed by rivers and lakes, the largest being the Yellowstone Lake which is 136 square miles in size, 400 feet deep and has 110 miles of shoreline. It is situated 7,733 feet above sea level and is the largest high altitude lake in North America.

Eighty per cent of the park land is forest while most of the remainder is grassland. The park is believed to have been thus named as it is located beside the Yellowstone River; the name of the river may have originated due to the yellow hued rocks of the Grand Canyon, which is the biggest canyon in the world and which is found within the park.

In this article, we are able to give you only a very brief introduction to the Yellowstone National Park. We will feature more attractions of this vast and diverse park in future issues.