USA, Wyoming - 360
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The new understanding of the eco-system at Yellowstone National Park - that life in the area can only be fully sustained through fire.
Yellowstone National Park is the first and oldest national park in the world. It includes Old Faithful Geyser and some 10,000 hot springs and geysers, the majority of the planet's total. These geothermal wonders are evidence of one of the world's largest active volcanoes; its last eruption created a crater or caldera that spans almost half of the park.
An outstanding mountain wildland with clean water and air, Yellowstone is home of the grizzly bear and wolf, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk. It is the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the largest intact temperate zone ecosystems remaining on the planet.