Yellowstone National Park - Nature and Science

Yellowstone National Park forms the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE)—one of the largest intact temperate zone ecosystems on the earth today. This 28,000-square-mile region of mainly federal lands preserves and nurtures a variety of wildlife species and the natural processes that sustain them.

Each of Yellowstone National Park’s separate parts—the hydrothermal features, the wildlife, the lakes, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, and the petrified trees—could easily stand alone as a principle element of a national park. That they are all at one place is testimony to Greater Yellowstone’s diversity and natural wealth.