Fun Facts

• Yellowstone National Park is the world's first and oldest national park, established by Act of Congress in 1872.

• California has the most National Park units at 23, while Delaware has the fewest at 0.

• There were no wolves in Yellowstone in 1994. The wolves that were reintroduced in 1995 and 1996 thrived and there are now over 300 of their descendents living in the Greater Yellowstone Area.

• The most recent volcanic eruption within the Yellowstone National Park was 600,000 years ago - nearly 240 cubic miles of debris was spewed and a 28 by 47-mile caldera was formed.

• In 1988, wildfires changed the Yellowstone landscape when nearly 1/3 of the park was burned.
  
• Prior to the establishment of the National Park Service, the U.S. Army protected Yellowstone between 1886 and 1918. Fort Yellowstone was established at Mammoth Hot Springs for that purpose.

Sources: Sources: www.usparks.about.com, www.funtrivia.com, www.nps.gov