Recreation and Aesthetics

For generations, people and their families have gone to Yellowstone National Park for the enjoyment of fly-fishing. There are countless companies that offer fishing trips through the park and the surrounding areas simply to go fishing. Yellowstone Lake and its outlet to the Upper Yellowstone Falls are the most heavily used fisheries in the park. More than 264,000 cutthroat trout are caught annually and nearly 50% of the total parkwide fishing occurs here (Varley and Schullery 1995). Fishing is so popular because it is so easy to catch a fish in Yellowstone. In 1994, more than two-thirds of all anglers in the park caught fish averaging 15 inches in length. (Varley and Schullery 1995)

There is also a numerous amount of fly-fishing supply stores around Yellowstone National Park. Fly-fishing is major contributor to the economy of the Park and its surrounding areas.

Many people go to Yellowstone National Park simply to marvel at the natural beauty of the park. Paintings of the wildlife have become increasingly popular in recent years. Due to the beauty of the park, many families feel the need to post pictures of their family vacations at Yellowstone.

 

Fishing Bridge

 

Fish viewing has become as popular as fishing itself. When Fishing Bridge was closed to fishing in 1973, visitors simply changed from fishing to viewing. Between 1978 and 1990 an average of 199,000 people visited these sites per year. Each visitor spent an average of 11 minutes viewing fish in these locations totaling around 35,000 hours. This amount of time is comparable to the average of 36,000 hours per year that anglers spent in the park in the years between 1965 and 1972. (Greswell and Liss 1994) In 1988, 298,928 visitors stopped to view the fish at Fishing Bridge. (S. Consolo 1999) In recent years, more than a third of a million visitors stopped at Fishing Bridge and LeHardys Rapids which was closed to fishing in 1949 to view the fish. In fact, the non-consumptive fish-viewing public exceeds the total number of anglers in these two areas. (Varley and Schullery 1995)