Tower Falls, Yellowstone. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.
For several years, I have advocated for expanding Yellowstone National Park to create a Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem National Park.
There are many reasons to expand Yellowstone’s boundaries to include much of the surrounding national forest and other public lands that make up the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has global significance. Yellowstone is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, recognized for its ecological diversity, conservation efforts and significant geological features.
If Yellowstone and the surrounding lands are to survive as a functioning ecosystem, we must recognize that the entire region is under multiple stressors.
Climate change is the greatest long-term threat. Climate change may make it impossible for many of the ecosystem’s plant and animal species to continue inhabiting the area.
Growing recreational use can harm and disturb sensitive wildlife.
Mining, logging and livestock grazing all affect ecosystem function. Enlarging the National Park Service’s administration of the ecosystem would eliminate ongoing threats from mining, logging and livestock grazing, since all are prohibited in national parks.
Finally, growing population growth in the region brings its own challenges.
So why expand Yellowstone to create a Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem National Park?
First, consolidating the majority of public lands in the ecosystem under a single agency will improve efficiency and effectiveness.
In particular, the mission and general goal of the National Park Service management is to preserve ecosystem function by minimizing human impacts. Compared to other state and federal agencies, the Park Service has a natural tendency to protect biodiversity and ecological integrity.
Creation of a Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem National Park would provide greater protection for predators, as trapping and hunting are prohibited within park units.
Expansion would allow bison to expand their population into suitable habitat. Even if bison were hunted beyond the expanded boundaries, the larger bison population would suffer less from genetic and other harm resulting from hunting, trapping and slaughter.
In other areas, like the Upper Green River Allotment in Wyoming, where livestock grazing has led to the killing of dozens of grizzly bears, expansion would eliminate livestock and thus conflicts.
The NPS administration favors native wildlife and plants. For instance, restoring native fish to the degree possible is a goal of NPS management.
NPS management generally favors maintaining natural ecological processes. Processes like insect outbreaks, wildfires, drought, flooding, predation and harsh winter weather are allowed to operate without human interference.
We have an obligation and responsibility to preserve the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Creation of a Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem National Park would be a major step towards achieving that goal.
