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Yellowstone National Park

Linking protected areas from Yellowstone to the Yukon shows the value of conserving large landscapes, not just isolated parks and preserves

As human development spreads ever farther around the world, very few large ecosystems remain relatively intact and uninterrupted by highways, cities or other human-constructed obstacles. One of the largest exceptions is the Yellowstone to Yukon region, or Y2Y, which stretches more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) northwest from Wyoming into Canada’s Yukon territory.

Watching Old Faithful Erupt At Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

Two people standing together, watching Old Faithful Geyser erupt on a blue-sky winter day in Yellowstone National Park

"Watching Old Faithful Geyser erupt is a Yellowstone National Park tradition. People from all over the world have journeyed here to watch this famous geyser. The park’s wildlife and scenery might be as well-known today, but it was the unique thermal features like Old Faithful Geyser that inspired the establishment of Yellowstone as the world’s first national park in 1872."

Rebecca Latson

Hoof And Paw Prints On The Shallow Terraces Of Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

white paw and hoof prints on the shallow terraces of Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park

If you take a winter snowcoach or snowmobile tour to Midway Basin and walk on the boardwalk around the edges of Grand Prismatic Spring, you'll notice paw and hoof prints on the shallow terraces of the hot spring. That white you see is not snow, but silica. The hot thermal waters hold silica in solution, and when the water cools, the silica precipitates out.

Rebecca Latson

INN Member

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