During the week of February the National Park Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service moved 116 Yellowstone National Park bison to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Poplar, Montana. The Bison Conservation Transfer Program continues to make history, having relocated the largest number of live Yellowstone bison to American Indian Tribes in the world, according to the Park Service.

Unseasonably warm temperatures led to a halt in this winter's study of wolves and moose at Isle Royale National Park as weak ice conditions made it too dangerous to try to land planes there.

Political attacks and funding woes have at times hamstrung the Endangered Species Act over the past 50 years, and yet the key legislation for the conservation of species has endured and recorded remarkable successes.

As the Endangered Species Act turns 50, each of America’s national parks has their own stories to tell about the relevance of this landmark legislation for their own special ecosystems. Here is a story from the Smokies.