Yellowstone National Park is celebrating its 150th anniversary as it faces its biggest challenge in decades.
FILE - The entrance to Yellowstone National Park, a major tourist attraction, sits closed due to the historic floodwaters on June 15, 2022, in Gardiner, Mont. Created in 1872 as the United States was recovering from the Civil War, Yellowstone was the first of the national parks that have been referred to as America's best idea. Now, the home to soaring geysers and some of the country's most plentiful and diverse wildlife is facing its biggest challenge in decades.
“This is not going to be an easy rebuild,” Superintendent Cam Sholly said early in the week as he highlighted photos of massive gaps of roadway in the steep canyon. “I don’t think it’s going to be smart to invest potentially, you know, tens of millions of dollars, or however much it is, into repairing a road that may be subject to seeing a similar flooding event in the future."
Yosemite Valley in California's Yosemite National Park has flooded several times, but suffered its worst damage 25 years ago when heavy downpours on top of a large snowpack — a scenario similar to the Yellowstone flood — submerged campgrounds, flooded hotel rooms, washed out bridges and sections of road, and knocked out power and sewer lines. The park was closed for more than two months.
It’s created by a unique natural formation of underground tubes and vents that push the hot water to the surface, and would be just one of many natural wonders crews would have to be careful not to disturb, said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Some facilities were relocated outside the flood plain and some campgrounds that had been submerged in the flood were never restored. At Yosemite Lodge, cabins that had been slated for removal in the 1980s were swamped and had to be removed.
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Yellowstone flooding rebuild could take years, cost billionsFloodwaters this week wiped out numerous bridges, washed out miles of roads and closed the park as it approached peak tourist season during its 150th anniversary celebration.
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Yellowstone Flooding Rebuild Could Take Years, Cost BillionsCreated in 1872 as the United States was recovering from the Civil War, Yellowstone was the first of the national parks that came to be referred to as America’s best idea. Now, the home to gushing geysers, thundering waterfalls and some of the country’s most plentiful and diverse wildlife is facing its biggest challenge in decades. Floodwaters this week wiped…
Read more »
Yellowstone flooding rebuild could take years, cost billionsFloodwaters this week wiped out numerous bridges, washed out miles of roads and closed the park as it approached peak tourist season during its 150th anniversary celebration.
Read more »
Yellowstone flooding rebuild could take years, cost billionsYellowstone National Park is celebrating its 150th anniversary as it faces its biggest challenge in decades. Floodwaters that tore through the park this week destroyed potentially hundreds of bridges, washed out miles of roads and drove out more than 10,000 visitors. The scope of the damage is still being tallied by Yellowstone officials, but based on other national park disasters, it could take years and cost upwards of $1 billion to rebuild in an environmentally sensitive landscape. Park officials hope to reopen the southern half of the park next week but the northern half likely won’t reopen this year.
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Yellowstone flooding rebuild could take years, cost billionsFloodwaters this week wiped out numerous bridges, washed out miles of roads and closed the park as it approached peak tourist season during its 150th anniversary celebration
Read more »
Yellowstone flooding rebuild could take years, cost billionsYellowstone National Park is celebrating its 150th anniversary as it faces its biggest challenge in decades.
Read more »