This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Yellowstone Fires of 1988 that ravaged over a third of the world’s oldest national parks in the northern summer.

At the time the National Park Service was told to let the fires that were caused by lightning strikes to burn without encumbrance.

The summer of 1988, however, was the driest in Yellowstone’s recorded history. Drought conditions and decades of undergrowth fuelled the fires and strong winds whipped flames upward and onward, jumping Yellowstone roads and ripping through forests with ferocious speed.

The fires affected over 790,000 acres of Yellowstone’s 2.2 million acres including 200 year old trees.
 
Miraculously no human life was lost although park rangers reported a small number of wildlife casualties; 6 black bears and 9 bison along with 12 moose and 345 elk (of an estimated 50,000 population).

Additionally there was no reported structure damage with all major park facilities managing to stay intact. Although at one point Old Faithful Inn was within striking distance of flames.

Despite fire fighters coming to Yellowstone’s aid, the fires continued to rage throughout the summer.

25,000 participated in the effort to stop the fires destroying lives and property, with the damage bill soaring to over US $120 million.

After a gruelling fight the fires were eventually doused by the winter rain and snow.
The world believed that Yellowstone had been reduced to charred rubble but that was definitely not the case. Re-growth began almost immediately in many of the affected areas, Yellowstone had been badly burnt but all was not lost.

The misconception that Yellowstone had been destroyed left tourism promoters with a monumental task, to spread the message that Yellowstone had indeed survived.

As it turned out curiosity as to how the park would re-flourish was a powerful attraction. The next summer, and for several summers after that, visitation records were eclipsed in Yellowstone.

 Visitors to the park also saw for themselves the epic size of the park which made them realise that over half of the park had remained untouched by the fires.

“When we speak of recovery we’re talking about the rebuilding and restoration of visitor facilities such as trails, picnic areas, campground facilities and other structures destroyed by the fires. We are not speaking here of the natural setting. The natural setting is merely in a different state of its ongoing life processes,” said Robert Barbee who was superintendent in Yellowstone during the summer of 1988. 

The ecological impact created by seasonal forest fires – including the 1988 fires - is also part of Yellowstone’s future survival. Often caused by lightning strikes during the northern summer, fires have on many occasions stimulated the regeneration of Yellowstone’s forest canopy. However, fires of the magnitude of those in 1988 only occur every 200-400 years.

By the summer of 1989, the wildlife rebounded rapidly and funding was provided by U.S. Congress to study the long-term ecological, social and economic effects caused by the Yellowstone fires.

“What most visitors don’t realise when they view Yellowstone’s forests is that they’re looking at trees and vegetation that were mostly reproduced from earlier fires in previous centuries. Simply, the 1988 fires started a whole new sequence of events,” says Chuck Coon, Media Manager, Wyoming Travel & Tourism.

Large fires like those experienced at Yellowstone initiate a fresh cycle called ‘succession’, right from when the winds blow or birds drop in new seeds that take root in the exposed soil.

Bulbs and other underground roots often survive and germinate again after large fires because heat rises. 

Once a tree has fallen it takes 70 to 100 years for the log to decompose, during that time nutrients discharge back into the dirt to feed future generations of plants and animals.

This is the reason why Park Rangers at Yellowstone usually leave fires alone so that nature can take its own course.

The once-charred forests in the Upper Geyser Basin have begun to regenerate over the past 20 years, with a new cycle of impenetrable woodlands and wildflower taking place.