Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park Photo courtesy of Larry Mayer Greater Yellowstone is home to the largest concentration of elk in the world. Photo courtesy of Tom Warren

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Wyoming, U.S.A. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is considered to be one of the world's last large, mostly intact ecosystem in the northern temperate zone. Yellowstone was founded as the nation's first national park in 1872, yet its boundaries were arbitrarily drawn in an attempt to include most of the area's 10,000 geothermal geysers and basins. It is now known that the park itself is only a part of the regional ecosystem that supports the area's biodiversity. In fact, the GYE covers approximately 18 million acres of public and private lands in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, including 20 different counties, two national parks, three wildlife refuges, and seven national forests. Responsible management of this expansive region requires that government agencies, commercial interests, and residents develop an integrated, ecologically informed plan to monitor human impacts and protect the area. 1 of 3