Current Human Impact

Yellowstone birthed the concept of natural preservation and wildlife protection. The park is home to a multitude of breathtaking, beautiful sites that amaze visitors. Yellowstone National Park serves as a dream to hikers, outdoorsmen, campers, bikers, photographers, and tourists alike. Furthermore, the endless landscape the region offers provides new, never ending adventures. By establishing Yellowstone as a national park in 1872, laws and regulations designate all 3,468 square miles of the park as a highly protected area. For examples, policies restrict the hunting, logging, and the exploitation of natural resources. Additional laws regarding motor vehicle use, firearms, pets, and fishing have also recently been introduced. Furthermore, because of these various policies that aim to preserve the conservation of Yellowstone National Park, the human impact of the ecosystem remains fairly minimal. However, there are still various incidents where human activity has caused many negative effects. For example, animals have recently become more vulnerable to diseases specifically transmitted by humans. This has consequently lead to adverse effects on population of multiple species such as grizzly bears. An additional problem related to park contamination is littering. Trash is commonly left behind by humans and can be ingested by wildlife and also pollute the park. Finally, the use of vehicles also effects air quality, which creates smog and harms wildlife.

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Although many may believe that human intervention always helps preserve a natural ecosystem, incidences in where goodhearted involvement actually creates negative outcomes, revolves around the controversy of wildfires. Although Smokey the Bear has advocated for wildfire prevention for years, doing so disrupts a natural process, which can consequently have adverse effects such as the ones exhibited in 1988. During this year, Yellowstone experienced the greatest ecological event in the history of all national parks. A rage of various crown fires burned a total of 793,880 acres inside the park. After the fire, researches examined the trunks of trees and the evidence they gathered indicated that fires had been natural occurring throughout the past 10,000 years. Naturalist and biologists further concluded that the series of the 1988 fires was inevitable, part of a grand design to recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem. This information fostered a change in wildfire policy--advocating for small, controlled brush fires--which has been beneficial for multiple forest ecosystems, including Yellowstone. 

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