Yellowstone National Park is the United State’s first national park. In 1872 members of the Washburn and Hayden expeditions that explored this area, railroad companies, and several other groups promoted legislation in Congress to protect approximately two million acres of land around the Yellowstone River. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the law declaring that this area would forever be preserved, "dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."Army troops enforced park regulations, patrolling on horseback during the summer and on skis during the winter, but their biggest problem was controlling poachers who killed and exterminated many of the herds in Yellowstone. Finally in 1894 Congress passed the National Park Protection Act (also known as the Lacey Act) to "protect the birds and animals in Yellowstone National Park, and to punish crimes in the park, and for other purposes." From that point on, the army was able to prosecute poachers and others who harmed the park's wildlife.
Later in 1916, the National Park Service Act was passed to create the National Park Service and held this new agency responsible for "conserving the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."
Hopefully experiencing this virtual field trip will help you enjoy and develop an appreciation for Yellowstone National Park by understanding more about it. By the end of the trip you will:
1. Understand that Yellowstone is an active volcano because of the hot spot in the mantle below the bedrock and because of the faulting within and around the park.
2. Know why the hot spot causes volcanism and how it contributes to the formation of the park’s geothermal features (hot springs, geysers, fumeroles, and mud pots).
3. Be able to identify what the similarities and differences are between hot springs, geysers, fumeroles, and mud pots.
4. Understand how hot springs, geysers, fumeroles, and mud pots work.
5. Know what mineral deposits are, how they form, and why they occur around geothermal features.
Watch this National Geographic video below, and you will see the beautiful scenery, awesome geothermal features, and majestic wildlife that inspired Americans to be so passionate about making it a national park to protect this spectacular area.
