Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 14, 2007



Shoshone National Forest spans nearly 2.5 million acres (10,000 km²) in the U.S. state of Wyoming and was the first federally protected forest in the United States. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest was created by an act of Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Benjamin Harrison in 1891. A total of four wilderness areas are located within the forest, protecting more than half of the managed land area from development. From sagebrush plains through dense spruce and fir forest to craggy mountain peaks, Shoshone National Forest has a rich biodiversity rarely matched in any protected area. Three major mountain ranges are partially located in the forest including the Absaroka, the Beartooth and the Wind River Range. Yellowstone National Park forms part of the forest boundary to the west; while south of Yellowstone, the Continental Divide separates the forest from its neighbor, the Bridger-Teton National Forest, to the west. All of the forest is a part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, an unbroken expanse of federally protected lands encompassing an estimated 20 million acres (81,000 km²). (more...)

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