Fire

Fire, historically more frequent and widespread, has been a key factor in shaping the ecology of the Greater Yellowstone Area. Native plant species evolved in tune with periodic fires and evolved adaptations to fires that occur at a particular frequency, season, and extent. Fire influences ecosystem processes and patterns, such as nutrient cycling and plant community composition and structure. Fire regimes in the western United States changed dramatically with the arrival of European and American settlers, whose livestock removed grassy fuels that carried fires and whose roads fragmented the continuity of fire-carrying fuels. Fires that did break out were suppressed. Systematic fire suppression continued in more recent years and further curtailed natural fire regimes. As a result, large-scale catastrophic fires, like the fires of 1988, now play a larger role in ecosystem functioning. A goal of the NPS is to restore fire’s role as a dynamic and necessary natural process.