Yellowstone is reopening after historic flooding, but full recovery is a long way off

On June 13, a combination of higher-than-usual snowmelt and rainfall caused the Yellowstone river to rise nearly two-and-a-half feet (0.7 meters) above the previously highest recorded levels. America’s first national park was evacuated, and has remained closed ever since. Nearby towns scrambled to build barriers with sandbags and evacuate to higher ground to protect against once-in-a-thousand-year flooding that’s in line with climate scientists’ understanding of how rising temperatures are impacting the region.

Currently, environmental surveys are underway to understand the full scope of the damage and ensure that recovery projects won’t adversely impact the local environment, but at this point the park expects the river and surrounding ecosystems to make a full recovery.

It’s a different story for the human-made infrastructure in the area. Floodwaters destroyed bridges, carried away entire houses, and left towns near the northern entrances of the park—Gardiner and Cooke City—entirely cut off. In Yellowstone National Park, entire portions of northern roads, bridges, and water systems are destroyed or compromised.

Completely restoring the park’s infrastructure and that of its gateway towns will be a long process. But with the help of $50 million in emergency federal aid, the southern loop of the park is set to reopen for the public today, just 10 days after the Yellowstone river overflowed its banks. Some flood damage and related delays can be expected, but visitors will once again be able to go to iconic sites like Old Faithful and Yellowstone Lake.

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Hiking trails will be limited to day use only at first, with backcountry access from trailheads on the south loop restored by July 1 following a survey for flood-related damage and hazards. An announcement from the park the day after the flooding cautioned that the northern entrances probably wouldn’t be reopened during the 2022 season, but they’re hoping to allow a limited number of guided tours to popular sites like Mammoth Hot Springs within two weeks of the park reopening.

To avoid overwhelming the local gateway towns and the reduced park area by funneling all the guests into a fraction of the area—last year, the National Park saw nearly 5 million visitors— Yellowstone will also be restricting the number of people allowed in daily with an alternating license plate system.

Anyone with a campsite reservation will be allowed in as usual on the day of their reservation; otherwise, cars with license plates ending in an odd number will only be able to get in on odd days, and license plates ending in an even number will only be allowed entrance on even days (more details about the license plate system can be found here). According to the park, this is a provisional system that’s subject to change, and could be replaced with a reservation system.

But a full reopening is far from total recovery, and it will be a long time before the region and park have returned to what they once were.

In addition to repairing park infrastructure, part of the $50 million in recovery money is going to be used to reopen temporary routes to the northern gateway towns of Gardiner and Cooke City, a project that’s particularly important if the park wants to be able to resupply its HQ in Mammoth via Gardiner once again. But those routes would likely only be open to a very small number of tourists at the most, and the park doesn’t expect permanent routes to be reestablished this year.

Without the usual stream of Yellowstone summer tourists bringing $642 million cumulatively into the region’s gateway towns, small businesses in Gardiner are already bracing for a lean season.

“Just that one road has cut us off from our lifeline,” Shawna Darr, who rents out cabins to tourists, told Billings’ KQVT. “We are looking at probable loss of most revenue for the entire year, for everyone in town.”

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While visiting the park will continue to support the towns to the south of the park, that won’t help the worst-hit communities to the north. Yellowstone is encouraging potential guests to consider recreation opportunities in the surrounding area, some of which might need the tourist dollars more than the park itself.

For anyone with their heart set on visiting one of America’s most iconic National Parks this summer (which happens to be its 150th anniversary, ironically), the Park’s non-profit arm and Montana media outlets are raising relief money for affected communities.

This season will be different in Yellowstone than in years past, and visitors should plan accordingly. The park’s measures to limit daily entrants will hopefully keep crowds under control, but entrance lines could still be long with fewer spots to go around. Exactly which areas are open, and how they’re accessible, is changing week to week, so the flood recovery page and announcements will be important references when trip planning.

Yellowstone reopening so soon is doubtless cause for celebration. And even though the floods may have been unprecedented for the area, the ongoing recovery project could end up being a model for others in coming years as increasingly extreme weather driven by climate change becomes the norm.