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Overview of Human Settlement in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Because of its spectacular beauty and unparalleled recreation opportunities, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) has been a popular vacation destination for over one hundred years. However, the remoteness and rough terrain of the region have limited the growth of urban areas. Historically, most residents of the GYE have been the hearty few ranchers and loggers who are able to eke out a living from the area’s extensive grasslands and forests.

Over the past thirty years, the GYE has begun to change as the pressures of modern urban society slowly encroach on its isolation. The construction of new highways opened the area to residential development, especially around resort towns like Jackson, Wyoming. These wealthy enclaves attracted a new type of resident to the region, and turned the area into a fashionable icon of rural paradise to privileged urbanites all over the United States. As America’s economy boomed, more and more people had the money to actually go live out their wilderness fantasies. Although initially many new residents were retired, the increasing sophistication of computer technology has meant that even working people can live in isolated areas and telecommute to their jobs elsewhere. This accessibility has led to rapid growth in many parts of the GYE, especially around existing towns like Livingston, Montana, in the relatively populated Upper Yellowstone River valley (coined the “Paradise Valley” by local boosters and developers). Although this wave of new development has brought economic growth to the region, the wildlife and natural resources of the area have begun to suffer under the pressures of human activities. The debate over how “natural” the GYE should remain still rages in the place most Americans view as the epitome of Western wilderness.

Human settlement affects many aspects of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The issues we explore in this website include;