Yellowstone Park 's Biennual Report to the United Nations

Yellowstone National Park has asked its fundraising partners to come up with $1 million a year for six years to expand its lake trout eradication effort at Yellowstone Lake, and by 2022 the park may need to import grizzly bears from other regions to increase the animals’ genetic diversity. These are two of the revelations found in the park’s draft progress report to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Committee. The report is the sixth to the committee on the condition of the park since it was removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger sites in 2003. Public comments are being taken on the draft until Jan. 20 and will be submitted with the final report to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Dave Hallac, the new scientific chief for the park, said the report is an important way to tell the committee, as well as people of the world, how the park has been able to address the committee’s original concerns. Yellowstone was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978 because of its outstanding natural and cultural values. In 1995, the committee placed Yellowstone on its list of threatened sites. To address UNESCO’s concerns, the park has provided the group with its plans and actions to address the specific conservation challenges. The World Heritage Committee will review Yellowstone’s report at its 36th session in 2012...more