The National Park Service recently issued a prospectus seeking proposals for a 15-year contract providing retail plus food and beverage service in Yellowstone National Park. The anticipated starting date is January 1, 2024. The prospectus covers seven Yellowstone locations and is distinct from the park’s nine lodges and lodge dining facilities currently managed by Xanterra Travel Collection, a major NPS concessionaire currently in the 10th year of a 20-year Yellowstone contract. Facilities under the new prospectus were operated by Hamilton Stores for nearly 90 years prior to the Bozeman-based firm being outbid in 2002 by current operator Delaware Parks and Resorts.

Does Yellowstone National Park really have glaciers today, and are there not national parks in the Great Plains? Those questions came up in recent news reports, one from 60 Minutes and the other from various media that picked up a UNESCO report.

Yellowstone National Park’s North Entrance in Gardiner, Montana, and road between the North Entrance and Mammoth Hot Springs (Old Gardiner Road) will open to regular visitor traffic Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 8 a.m.

Barring unforeseen events, Yellowstone National Park’s Northeast Entrance Road linking Tower Junction to Cooke City/Silver Gate in Montana will open to regular visitor vehicle traffic Saturday at 8 a.m. local time.