Nature’s resiliency is on full display here at Yellowstone National Park, where new growth has emerged among the trees charred by the massive 1988 wildfires. More than 1 million acres in the greater Yellowstone area were affected by the blazes that summer, scarring 36 percent of the park. Today marks the 30-year anniversary of Black Saturday, a day when the park saw some of the worst damage, with smoke and ash blackening the skies. But when cool, moist weather brought an end to the devastating fires in late autumn, the ecosystem immediately began to recover. Fire has long been part of the complex ecosystem at Yellowstone and many species have even adapted to rely on fire to open up the canopy, spread seeds, and diversify the habitat.
Looking back at Yellowstone, 30 years after the fires
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Wind horses carry wishes for a new year
-
National Trails Day
-
A ‘city’ within Valencia
-
Black History Month
-
No, it s not a leaf. Happy Look-alike Day
-
National Park Service Founders Day
-
To the 155th on the 155th
-
Happy Easter!
-
World Environment Day
-
An uncommon look at an American icon
-
World Meerkat Day
-
Channel Country, Australia
-
Sedona, Arizona
-
Welcome to my neck of the woods
-
World Penguin Day
-
The birthplace of Cinco de Mayo
-
You won’t see this on Mulberry Street
-
Great Backyard Bird Count
-
What, no escalator?
-
Lupine fields, Snæfellsnes, Iceland
-
Toledo, Spain
-
Winter in Old Nuuk
-
National Take a Hike Day
-
Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany
-
A wassailing we go
-
Make your list and check it twice
-
Red-leaf hunting in Japan
-
International Whale Shark Day
-
Where is this gorgeous peak?
-
National Mountain Climbing Day