Yellowstone National Park: History
Although Native Americans had long hunted in what is now Yellowstone National Park , they were decimated by disease (and, in their absence, the wildlife thrived) by the time the first white man arrived in 1807 - John Colter , a veteran of the Lewis and Clark expedition. His account of the exploding geysers and seething cauldrons of "Colter's Hell" was widely ridiculed. However, as ever more trappers, scouts and prospectors hit upon Yellowstone, the government eventually sent out survey teams in 1870. Just two years later, Yellowstone was set aside as the first national park , in part to ensure that its assets were not entirely stripped by hunters, miners and lumber companies.At first, management of the park was beset by problems; Congress devoted enthusiasm but little funding towards its protection. Irresponsible tourists stuck soap down the geysers, ruining the intricate plumbing; bandits preyed on stagecoaches carrying rich excursionists; and the Nez Percé even killed two tourists as they raced through the park. Congress took the park out of civilian hands in 1886, and put the army in charge. By the time they handed it over to the newly created National Park Service in 1917, the ascendancy of the automobile in Yellowstone had begun.
The conflict between tourism and wilderness preservation has raged ever since. The elimination of predators such as mountain lions and wolves allowed the elk herd to grow unsupportably large; the former policy of permitting bears to feed from tourist scraps resulted in maulings. Most of these issues have since been addressed, but ecologists now warn that the park cannot stand alone as some pristine paradise, and must be seen as part of a much larger "Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem"; this notional ecosystem encompasses Yellowstone, the Tetons, the Snake River Valley south of Jackson to just over the Idaho border, and the northern Wind River Mountains. In 1995, amid vociferous complaints from local ranchers fearing a subsequent loss of livestock, several packs of wolves were reintroduced to the park. They've since made an emphatic comeback, and from the original fourteen animals released, there are now more than 150 wolves comprising fifteen packs roaming the Greater Yellowstone area.
The fires that razed 36 percent of the park in 1988 also brought Yellowstone's environmental policies into focus. Despite President Reagan's dismay, park authori-ties insisted that the burn was a natural part of the forest's ecocycle, clearing out 200-year-old trees to make way for new growth. The scarred mountainsides are slowly but surely recovering, as evidenced by forests of young saplings.
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