Shoshone National Forest, the nation’s first national forest, was originally known as the Yellowstone Park Timberland Reserve. The reserve was created after the passage of the act of March 3, 1891, authorizing the establishment of forest reserves. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt greatly enlarged the original Timberland Reserve and divided it into four divisions. The Shoshone National Forest, named for the Shoshone Indians who used the area as a hunting ground, is one of these divisions and contains approximately two and a half million acres. It is one of the largest of the 13 national forests in the Rocky Mountain region.
West of Cody, about halfway to Yellowstone National Park, is the boundary to Shoshone National Forest. Wapiti Ranger Station, located along the highway leading from Cody to Yellowstone Park, is the oldest and the first ranger station built in the United States. The station derives its name from the Indian word for elk. A newly completed visitor center offers complete forest information along with insight about the largest concentration of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states. Also, the re-introduction of wolves in Yellowstone has led to their migration into the national forest.
The U.S. Forest Service, as we know it today, was created some four years after the Yellowstone Park Timberland Reserve was established. After a name change in 1945, Shoshone National Forest remains one of the country’s largest national forests.
Wildlife
The Shoshone National Forest is known for its abundance and variety of wildlife. It is one of the only national forests in Wyoming where big game animals such as elk, moose, mule deer, whitetail deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, antelope, black bear and grizzly bear can be found. Other wildlife species include bald eagles, golden eagles, coyotes, waterfowl and songbirds.
The Fitzpatrick Wilderness (198,525 acres) is Wyoming’s true “high country.” Along the backbone of the Continental Divide, clustered near Gannett Peak (the highest point in Wyoming at 13,804 feet), are the seven largest glaciers in the United States outside of Alaska. These moving bodies of ice grind the rock into dust and erode away the great cirques, which are locked in perpetual snow.
Deep in the Teton Wilderness, I have one foot in the Atlantic Ocean. The other is in the Pacific. I turn 180 degrees. The foot that had been in the Atlantic is now in the Pacific and the Pacific one in the Atlantic. I lift my one foot out of the Pacific and, springing off the one in the Atlantic, land with both in the Pacific. Another standing broad jump has both feet in the Atlantic. read more
The pioneers of the 1840s entered “Oregon Country” when they crossed the Continental Divide at South Pass along the Oregon Trail. read more
