Fire is a Fundamental Force

NPS / Mike Lewelling

Quick Facts

Location:

Mammoth to Tower road

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Fires are a natural part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and plants have adapted to fire and in some cases may be dependent on it.

Fire promotes habitat diversity by removing the forest overstory, allowing different plant communities to become established, and preventing trees from becoming established in grassland.

Fire increases the rate that nutrients become available to plants by rapidly releasing them from wood and forest litter and by hastening the weathering of soil minerals.