This day in history: Yellowstone established as first national park
(CBS DETROIT) - Happy Birthday, Yellowstone! On March 1, 1872, Yellowstone was established as the first national park.
It became the first national park 151 years ago today when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law.
Yellowstone National Park is located in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
According to the National Park Service, people have spent time in Yellowstone National Park for more than 11,000 years.
Native Americans from at least 27 tribes have ties to the area and are formally associated with the park.
"Yellowstone's location at the convergence of the Great Plains, Great Basin, and Columbia Plateau Indian cultures means that many Native American tribes have traditional connections to the land and its resources," said the National Park Service. "For thousands of years before the park was established, this area was a place where Native Americans hunted, fished, gathered plants, quarried obsidian, and used the thermal waters for religious and medicinal purposes."
The park consists of 2.2 million acres of land, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in nature, explore the geothermal areas that include half of the world's geysers and visit the Grand Canyon and the Yellowstone River.
Yellowstone National Park, at 28,000 square miles, is one of the world's largest, nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems, preserving a diverse ecosystem of terrestrial, aquatic and microbial life.
For more information on the park, visit here.