Located chiefly in Wyoming, stretching into Idaho and Montana, in 1872 President Ulysses Grant made Yellowstone National Park the world’s first ever national park. It contains most of the planet’s geysers (hot springs that boil water until it is sent up into the air as a powerful, steaming gush), but the Old Faithful Geyser remains its most famous. Yellowstone shelters a variety of species, including elk, gray wolves, bison, big horn sheep, mountain lions, and grizzly bears—for a total of 67 mammal species. In the summer of 1988 Yellowstone experienced 248 fires, 50 of which affected Yellowstone National Park and burned 36% (2,221,800) of its acres. Since then though, the park has experience secondary succession and returned to being a major tourist site. In 2013 alone it welcomed over 3 million visitors.
Yellowstone is chiefly found in the Taiga, or Northern Coniferous Forest biome, which is characterized by forests of spruces, lichens, pine cones, etc. and cold temperatures (typically around -5 degrees Celsius to 5 degrees Celsius). Its annual precipitation varies from 30 to 70 cm. Winters in the Taiga biome are often below freezing, and can last for around 6 months.
Yellowstone National Park is viewed as a large, carefully protected ecosystem in and of itself, but Hayden Valley, of the sage-steppe grasslands, functions as its own smaller ecosystem, sheltering chiefly bison and shrubs/vegetation that can survive the low moisture and temperature rates. The sage-steppe grasslands are characterized by extreme temperatures and low annual precipitation levels.
Below: Hayden Valley
Yellowstone National Park is viewed as a large, carefully protected ecosystem in and of itself, but Hayden Valley, of the sage-steppe grasslands, functions as its own smaller ecosystem, sheltering chiefly bison and shrubs/vegetation that can survive the low moisture and temperature rates. The sage-steppe grasslands are characterized by extreme temperatures and low annual precipitation levels.
Below: Hayden Valley