Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Backpacking

In the previous blog about Utah’s canyon country, I discussed a number of the West’s remaining “wildland complex’s” or “wilderness ecosystems”. Aside from these geographic regions having great recreational opportunities, what is so special about them? Well, each complex has its own attractions, but as a generalization, it’s all about the wilderness! That’s because native vegetation communities and many wildlife species need large areas of undisturbed terrain, so these wildland complexes are the most ecologically intact regions of the country!

For example, let’s look at the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), which includes Yellowstone National Park plus roughly 15 million acres of surrounding mostly public wildlands. Big designated Wilderness areas abut most of the park’s boundaries, and at least 3 million acres of unprotected roadless areas also punctuate the wildness of the GYE. The Greater Yellowstone occupies northwest Wyoming, southern Montana and a bit along the eastern edge of Idaho. And although Yellowstone backpacking and backpacking in the surrounding Wilderness areas are my livelihood, efforts to protect wild country in the Greater Yellowstone are not and must not be primarily about recreation!

In fact, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is one of the greatest and most ecologically complete areas of wild country remaining in the Earth’s temperate latitudes! A full compliment of large carnivores persists, including grizzly and black bear, wolf, coyote, lynx, wolverine and mountain lion! Moreover, the GYE is the only remaining region in the lower 48 states where every vertebrate species known to have existed in pre-European times still survives, at least to some extent. Including wild bison that are genetically intact without cattle genes. Think about it. It’s 2018 and regions as wild and intact as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are rare gems indeed!

Of course, some two-legged hominids see the GYE primarily in terms of timber, oil, mining potential, livestock forage, or as playgrounds — outdoor gymnasiums, if you will — for lazy humans and their expensive wheeled or tracked toys. That’s unfortunate, and some of these folks are vitriolic in their efforts to thwart efforts toward additional land protections.  The clock is ticking. Around the globe, few wild places that aren’t legally protected will survive this century. We need more Wilderness designations, more national parks, more land protections in general, and we need protections for every square inch of remaining wild country. In 21st century America, there will always be enough roads, cities, strip malls, oil rigs and sacrifice zones where off-road machines have damaged or destroyed nature. There will never be enough wilderness. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is unique, and still gives us the chance to do something right. Let’s protect all that still remains wild — and then some — for at least some damaged areas can still be restored. And let’s never ever compromise away the essence of wild nature in the unique and unequaled Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

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