Yellowstone National Park - Example GIS projects in Yellowstone Park (U.S. National Park Service)

A Study of Remote Areas:

Jessica L. Baker

This map displays the most remote areas of Yellowstone.It measures the furthest distance at any point in the park toa paved road.

This map displays the most remote areas of Yellowstone. It measures the furthest distance from any point in the park to a paved road. These areas have most likely endured the least amount of human impact over time, and may represent havens for animal species that are sensitive to human impact. The furthest distance from a road is 37.32 kilometers and is located in the southeast part of the park in an area called the Thorofare. It is one of the most remote areas in the lower 48 states.

Extent of Exotic Plant Infestations:

Eric D. Compas

Map shows the extent of the exotic species infestation within the park.

Some exotic plants, or weeds, have made their way into Yellowstone National Park. To better understand the growing impact of weeds on the park, an important management tool is mapping their extent. The map shows the locations at which exotic species were found in the summer of 1995.

Yellowstone Lake Bathymetry:

Skip X. Repetto

Map showing various depths of Yellowstone Lake.

Recently, much attention has been focused on Yellowstone Lake, the largest high elevation (7739 ft, 2359 m) freshwater lake in the country. The source of the attention was the discovery of an exotic fish - lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in Yellowstone Lake in 1994. There is a great deal of concern that lake trout will displace native Yellowstone cutthroat trout, which will in turn impact other species such as grizzly bear that depend upon the seasonal spawning runs of the cuttthroat as an important food source. Since the discovery of lake trout, management requires all lake trout caught to be removed and turned over to fishery managers.

This map used a contour map of the lake bottom created by Kaplinski and Morgan (1987) as source data. This vector data was used as input to an interpolation program in ARC/INFO that creates a gridded model of the lake bottom.

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