Yellowstone National Park 1988 to 2003: A re-evaluation of the multiple impacts of the 1988 firestorms, a human and physical geography - the case for managed forests (Wyoming, Idaho, Montana)

The extreme fires of 1988 in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) were catastrophic in dimension and could largely have been prevented by human intervention in managing the forests of this national park and the adjacent national forest lands through consistent forest thinning and fuel load reduction. The fires resulted in complex disturbances throughout the park. This thesis will provide a single, comprehensive analysis of the multiple impacts of the 1988 firestorms in YNP and the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA). The combination of the right climatic conditions together with extensive fuel load buildup resulted in long-term damages to both the human and physical landscapes. Because of the presence of the human landscape, this national park must be intensely managed and not allowed to fall into the cycle of natural burn that may result in an extreme fire event requiring hundreds of years for regeneration and recovery.