Greening of Yellowstone Initiative

The economy of south central Montana is largely influenced by Yellowstone National Park and its visitors. About 50 million people visited Yellowstone during its first 100 years as a national park. Another 50 million visited the park during the 25 years between the parks’ 100th and 125th Anniversaries. Annual visitation continues to grow, and the pressures of so many visitors are beginning to show without respect of legal boundaries. To reduce the negative impacts of increasing visitation, DEQ partnered with Yellowstone area communities, government agencies, economic development interests, energy and environmental specialists, private industry to develop the Greening of Yellowstone Initiative. This Initiative brings together national and regional experts, and park managers to develop and foster environmentally friendly practices in the Greater Yellowstone Region as a model to other natural area managers. Topics included energy, transportation, waste management, building materials and design, and use of cleaner products and practices. More than 22 projects have made progress since the October 1996 kick-off workshop. A follow-up workshop in May 1998 reviewed progress on projects, built new partnerships, and prioritized more projects for the future.

Projects Resulting from the October 1996 Greening of Yellowstone Workshop

The transportation alternate fuels work group was able to get several communities in the area to voluntarily use ethanol blend fuel to reduce pollution in the Park and region, especially in winter. Under this Initiative, DE and DEQ was instrumental in getting gasohol used in Yellowstone National Park. Plans are being made for other events as listed in the newsletters. One local community requested our help in conducting self audits and plans on implementing use of pollution prevention products and practices such as gasohol, bio-based lubes, solvents, and cleaners, and possibly retrofitting their sewage facilities for energy recovery. Focus is on public and private sector restaurant, hospitality, auto and small engine service and repair, and transportation industries.

Projects started by the May 1998 Workshop

For more information, please see the Greening of Yellowstone Proceedings and other publications in the program reports and publications section.