Editing Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (section)

==History==

[[File:Grizzly bear range expansion in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem 1990–2018 – animated map.gif|thumb|Grizzly bear range expansion in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem 1990–2018]]
Yellowstone National Park boundaries were drawn in 1872 with the intent to include all the known [[Geothermal areas of Yellowstone|geothermal basins in the region]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 21, 2020 |title=Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem |url=https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/greater-yellowstone-ecosystem.htm |access-date=2024-01-31 |website=U.S. National Park Service |language=en}}</ref> As landscape ecology considerations were not incorporated into original boundary, revisions were suggested to conform more closely to natural topographic features, such as the ridgeline of the Absaroka Range along the east boundary. In 1929, President Hoover signed the first bill changing the park's boundaries: The northwest corner now included a significant area of petrified trees; the northeast corner was defined by the watershed of Pebble Creek; the eastern boundary included the headwaters of the Lamar River and part of the watershed of the Yellowstone River. In 1932, President Hoover issued an executive order that added more than {{convert|7,000|acres}} between the north boundary and the Yellowstone River, west of Gardiner. These lands provided winter range for elk and other ungulates.<ref>{{NPS |title=Yellowstone National Park - Birth of a National Park - Boundary Adjustments |url=https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/historyculture/yellowstoneestablishment.htm |access-date=2022-06-24 |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |language=en}}</ref> By the 1970s, the [[grizzly bear]]'s (''Ursus arctos'') range in and near the park became the first informal minimum boundary of a theoretical "Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem" that included at least {{convert|16000|km2|acre|order=flip}}. Since then, definitions of the greater ecosystem's size have steadily grown larger. A 1994 study listed the size as {{convert|76890|km2|acre|order=flip}}, while a 1994 speech by a Greater Yellowstone Coalition leader enlarged that to {{convert|80000|km2|acre|order=flip}}.

In 1985 the [[United States House of Representatives]] Subcommittees on Public Lands and National Parks and Recreation held a joint subcommittee hearing on Greater Yellowstone, resulting in a 1986 report by the [[Congressional Research Service]] outlining shortcomings in inter-agency coordination and concluding that the area's essential values were at risk.{{cn|date=January 2024}}