Natural and unnatural; wild and cultural

Abstract

Yellowstone's mission is clarified by analysis of the "natural" and the "unnatural." "Wild nature" denotes, outside culture, evolutionary and ecological natural history present on the landscape, jeopardized by numerous human influences, including exotic species. Natural processes can be preserved because of, rather than in spite of, park management. Yellowstone provides an opportunity to encounter and to conserve nature as an end in itself, past, present, and future.