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Yellowstone's Northern Range - Greater Yellowstone Science ...

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ELK<br />

POPULATION<br />

ISSUES<br />

IS YELLOWSTONE A COMPLETE ECOSYSTEM FOR ELK?<br />

In 1872, when the U.S. Congress defined the park's boundaries, little thought<br />

was given to the interconnectedness of the extensive wildlands in the park<br />

area, or to the migratory habits of the diverse assemblage of wild creatures<br />

that live there. As a result, <strong>Yellowstone</strong> National Park is not a complete ecosystem for<br />

wildlife species that need great space or room to roam or migrate. This incompleteness<br />

was recognized from the park's first years, when conservationists attempted to enlarge<br />

the park to the north, east, and west in order to encompass more winter ranges (Haines<br />

1977). It is one of the oddest features of local folklore about natural regulation management<br />

that many people believe that National Park Service policy somehow depends<br />

upon, or even promotes, the idea that <strong>Yellowstone</strong> National Park is a complete, selfcontained<br />

ecosystem, when National Park Service researchers have often led the<br />

investigation of ways in which the park is incomplete. As National Park Service researcher<br />

Douglas Houston wrote in 1975, "the objective of maintaining pristine ecosystems,<br />

with modern man restricted to nonconsumptive uses, can only be partially met for<br />

the northern elk because the park does not contain the complete ecological unit for one<br />

segment of the population" (Houston 1975).

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