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Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 113

visitors in conditions that range from desert-like
in summer, to winter blizzards with ‘white-out’
visibility. In this respect Yellowstone’s isolation
from advanced medical facilities, as well as
technological advancement and liability issues
have increased the need to have highly trained
park staff and equipment on hand to perform
emergency extrication and life-support.
Tourism
Over three million visitors are attracted to
Yellowstone National Park every year (Table CS5.1).
When the park was first established in 1872 no
tourist services of any kind existed, but by 1910
five major hotels had been built and in the 21st
century overnight accommodation is provided at
six locations throughout the park. Tourism in the
park is outsourced to private concessionaires, as are
emergency medical services (though the park
rangers also provide emergency medical services
and rescue, and in the past handled nature walks,
field trips, etc., Figure CS5.2), retail outlets, fuel,
and food and beverage outlets. Concessionaires are Figure CS5.2 Poster for Yellowstone National Park,
required to maintain and improve the facilities that Wyoming/Montana, USA – 1938
they use and this has directly benefitted the park Source; Wikimedia Commons, 2009b
authorities.
Risk management recreation and protection of wildlife and scenery
in the late 1800s. A park cannot be isolated from
The recognition of areas like Yellowstone National the complicated political and environmental
Park as the core of a greater ecosystem is perhaps pressures that surround it but it can be managed
the most important shift in public perception within those pressures. The Yellowstone Park
since the first national parks were established for Master Plan consolidates visitor accommodation

Table CS5.1 Visitor statistics Yellowstone National Park
Year Total visitors Lodges & hotels Camping Total visitor days Total overnight stays

1980 1,986,870 577,171 642,775 4,820,547 1,219,946
1985 2,259,770 601,849 668,543 6,621,057 1,270,392
1990 2,870,621 604,603 704,541 8,199,885 1,345,144
1995 4,089,359 567,415 683,132 5,628,657 1,250,547

2000 3,804,467 572,069 619,292 5,232,452 1,191,361
2005 3,771,249 526,462 663,211 5,216,620 1,189,673
2008 3,979,371 570,673 623,564 5,456,995 1,194,187
Source: National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, 2009

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