PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — America's oldest national park, Yellowstone, is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
Yellowstone was established as the world's first national park by an act of Congress and signed into law on March 1, 1872, by President Ulysses S. Grant.
The park is located at the convergence of the Great Plains, the Great Basin and the Columbia Plateau, and spans 2.2 million acres across Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
Yellowstone has the most active, diverse, and intact collections of combined geothermal features with over 10,000 hydrothermal sites, including the popular Old Faithful, Minerva Terrace, Morning Glory Pool, and Grand Prismatic Spring. Half of the world's active geysers are also located in the park.
Yellowstone is home to abundant wildlife with nearly 300 species of birds, 16 species of fish, five species of amphibians, six species of reptiles, and 67 species of mammals -- including seven native ungulate species and two bear species.
The park is also rich in cultural and historical resources with 25 sites, landmarks, and districts on the National Register of Historic Places.
The National Park Service said Yellowstone was set aside to preserve and protect the scenery, cultural heritage, wildlife, geologic and ecological systems and processes in their natural condition for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.
For over 10,000 years before Yellowstone became a national park, the land was home to dozens of Native American tribes whose people used the natural resources not only to survive but to thrive. Today, 27 tribes have active ties to the area and resources found within the park.
In the late 1700s, fur traders traveled the Yellowstone River in search of Native Americans with whom to trade. In the 1800s, prospectors and explorers were drawn to the land in search of striking it rich. Later that century, the land was officially "discovered" by a series of formal expeditions. It was during these early expeditions that the unique hydrothermal features and wildlife we associate with the park today were initially discovered.
The landscape was thought to be so beautiful and majestic that lawmakers decided it was worth protecting. To save Yellowstone from private development, Congress established the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act and world's first national park was born when the bill was signed into law.
Chuck Sams, director of the National Park System, said it was a moment that changed America. Since Yellowstone's inception in 1872, 63 national parks have been created across 52.2 million acres.
"The beginning of the national park idea -- an idea that spread through the country and around the world, inspiring governments to protect natural and cultural treasures for the benefit and enjoyment of the people," Sams said in a statement.
Today, Yellowstone is one of the largest nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems on Earth. It is home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states and is also the only place in the U.S. where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times.
In 2021, a record 4.86 million people visited Yellowstone. Visitation for May, June, July, August and September were the busiest on record, according to the NPS. July was also the most-visited month on record in Yellowstone's history and the first time visitation exceeded 1 million visits in a single month.
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