EXPAND THE BORDERS OF YELLOWSTONE
Yellowstone, National Parks, Bison, Hunting, Grizzly Bear
Yellowstone National Park is a 2.2-million-acre park established by Congress as the first national park in 1872. It measures 63 miles from north to south and 54 miles east to west. Its lowest elevation is at Gardiner at its north entrance to its highest point of 11,372 ft., Eagle Peak, six miles east of the southeast arm of Yellowstone Lake. The Park hosts 4.5 million visitors (2023) annually who travel its roughly 300miles of roads
Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened.[11] The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States. Grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States and ranges in size from 4.000 to 5,00 animals whose genetic characteristics have not been contaminated by genes from other bovines.
In late Fall, bison tend of seek lower elevations on the west side of the Park, north of West Yellowstone around Hebgen Lake, and outside of the northern entrance, north of Gardiner. In both locations and in recent years, bison have been indiscriminately killed and butchered on public land by tribal members who travel great distances to “hunt” bison. Over the past hunting season, more than a thousand bison were killed in Beattie Gulch, just north of Yellowstone, with gut piles scattered everywhere and left to be cleaned upby others.
In addition, other animals who originate in the Park travel more widely outside beyond its borders include Grizzly Bear, Gray Wolves, Mountain Lion and Elk. These are also hunted by those who have obtained hunting licenses from the state of Montana. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission approved a quota of 334 wolves to be killed by hunting or trapping in the 2024-2025 season, which starts this fall. It’s an increase from last year’s quota of 313 wolves. Thirty-four wolves have already been shot during this year’s hunting season.
In order to provide some protection for Yellowstone’s wildlife, the borders of the Park should be extended into the southern part of the Madison Range and north into the Gallatin, Absaroka and Beartooth Ranges, all of which are currently National Forest lands. In the lower 48, this Rocky Mountain area harbors the greatest diversity of wildlife and should be designated for wildlife conservation, devoid of any hunting activity. It is too precious a resource to be squandered. The best way to preserve this area and to conserve its wildlife is to designate it as national park where hunting is not permitted but remains available for other recreational purposes: hiking, camping, horseback riding, photography, fishing, climbing and exploring.
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is our nation’s great heritage that should be preserved for all future time so that, in generations to come, people will be able to see the land and its plant and animal inhabitants that dwelled here for eons before humans arrived to despoil it. So, expand the borders of Yellowstone. It’s important.