Which famous national park features a geyser that shoots water 185 feet into the air and thousands of American bison? Journey into the history of Yellowstone and its famous wildlife, canyons, rivers, forests, and more in this illustrated book for young readers! From the #1 Established in 1857 as the first national park in the United States, Yellowstone has been drawing visitors to its beautiful landscape for over 150 years. Before it became a national park, the region was home to Native Americans for over 11,000 years, including the;Shoshone, Lakota, Crow, Blackfoot, Flathead, Bannok, and Nez Perce tribes. Today, tourists come to the park from all over the world to camp and to visit; the famous Old Faithful geyser and;the;Yellowstone Caldera, the largest;super volcano;in North America. The many animals that live in Yellowstone include bison, black and grizzly bears, elk, wolves, and more than three hundred species of birds. Yellowstone is so large that it has land in three different states -- Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Learn the rich history of one of; America''s most beloved national parks in this book perfect for young explorers.

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Sarah Fabiny has written several Who HQ titles, including Who Was Ida B. Wells?, Was Was Frida Kahlo?, and What Is NASA?

Klappentext

"Established in 1857 as the first national park in the United States, Yellowstone has been drawing visitors to its beautiful landscape for over 150 years. Before it became a national park, the region was home to Native Americans for over 11,000 years, including the Shoshone, Lakota, Crow, Blackfoot, Flathead, Bannok, and Nez Perce tribes. Today, tourists come to the park from all over the world to camp and to visit the famous Old Faithful geyser and the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest super volcano in North America. The many animals that live in Yellowstone include bison, black and grizzly bears, elk, wolves, and more than three hundred species of birds. Yellowstone is so large that it has land in three different states--Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Learn the rich history of one of America's most beloved national parks in this book perfect for young explorers"--

Leseprobe
Where Is Yellowstone?
 
In 2022, Yellowstone National Park celebrated its 150th birthday. Most birthdays are celebrated on just one day of the year, marking the actual date that someone was born. But that’s not the case when you’re the first national park in the United States—and the world!

When you’re Yellowstone National Park, covering 3,472 square miles (that’s larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined), your birthday celebration lasts for six months. There’s a lot to celebrate!

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the party wasn’t able to be as big as originally planned. There were no large in-person events, but there were some small ones at the park and lots of online festivities. The celebrations, which lasted from March to September 2022, included educational programs, a brand-new Tribal Heritage Center, free Junior Ranger programs, and a conference about the park’s future.

Even though Yellowstone’s birthday is marked as 1872, its history actually begins far before that date. And this area of the country wasn’t as untouched as most people think. For thousands of years, native people lived in and traveled through the region. And park officials made sure these people were honored at the birthday celebrations.

Yellowstone National Park’s creation led to many more national parks opening in the United States. Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks opened in 1890, and Mount Rainier was added in 1899. Today, there are sixty-three national parks, with the newest being New River Gorge in West Virginia, which was added in December 2020.

Thanks to Yellowstone National Park, the United States is now full of exciting national parks for people of all ages to explore. That’s certainly something worth celebrating—even when the birthday party is over!
 
Chapter 1
Old and New
 
 
Yellowstone has been a national park for over 150 years, which might sound like a long time. But the amazing mountains, valleys, geysers, and waterfalls in the park were created by forces of nature millions of years ago.

The outer layer of the earth is made up of large areas called tectonic plates. These plates, which are miles and miles thick, are always moving—-but at a very slow pace. As the plates slowly shift, they come together, drift apart, or slide past each other. All this movement creates mountains and valleys and causes earthquakes and volcanic activity.

Most of the mountains, valleys, earthquakes, and volcanoes across the world occur where two plates meet. But Yellowstone is located right in the middle of one of the tectonic plates—-the North American Plate. Also in the middle of this plate is a huge mass of molten rock, or lava. Some of this lava has made (or oozed) its way to the earth’s surface over the past millions of years. As it has flowed across the landscape, it has created the natural wonders in Yellowstone.

The landscape of the Yellowstone region began forming about 150 million years ago. Many of the landforms in the park, mainly the mountains, were created around the beginning of the Cenozoic (say: see--nuh--ZOW--uhk) Era. (The Cenozoic Era, which means “recent life,” began 66 million years ago, and it is the period the earth is still in today.) Then about 30 million years ago, the area around Yellowstone began stretching. The canyons and basins seen in the park were formed during this time. (A basin is like a bowl in the earth’s surface. It is a depression, or dip, with raised sides.) And about 16.5 million years ago, a period of extreme volcanic activity took place.
 
 
Possible Prehistoric Park Residents
 
Even though no humans were around to watch the formation of the mountains, valleys, geysers, and waterfalls in the Yellowstone area, there may have been some park residents who witnessed this—-dinosaurs. Scientists recently announced that a fossil discovered in the park in 1966 is the tooth of a young Tyrannosaurus rex. Thanks to this discovery, T. rex can claim to be the first identifiable dinosaur fossil to have been found within Yellowstone National Park. Fossils from other dinosaur species, including Allosaurus and Diplodocus, have been found in the area outside the park. Just over three hours away from Yellowstone is the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. It is home to one of the largest and most unique dinosaur fossil collections in the world.
 
 
The first major eruption in Yellowstone took place about 2.1 million years ago. It is believed to be one of the largest volcanic eruptions ever to take place on our planet. The ash that was spewed out by the volcano covered a massive area. It dumped ash as far away as present-­day Missouri, which is over 1,000 miles away. Scientists have found that other major eruptions occurred 1.3 million and 640,000 years ago.

Each time there was a volcanic eruption, the amount of magma under the surface was reduced. (Magma is molten rock when it is underground, and lava is molten rock that breaks through the earth’s surface). When the amount of magma was reduced in the eruptions, it left a caldera. (A caldera is a large volcanic crater). The volcanic eruption that took place 640,000 years ago formed a caldera that is about fifty-­two by twenty-­eight miles wide. Even with all these volcanic eruptions, there is still magma underneath the surface in the Yellowstone region.

What’s really amazing is that Yellowstone National Park doesn’t just have volcanoes—­it is an active volcano. Not only is it an active volcan…