Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 26, 2013

Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park in northwestern Wyoming, established on February 26, 1929. Approximately 310,000 acres (130,000 ha), it includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range and most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Human history dates back 11,000 years, when the first nomadic Paleo-Indians migrated into the region. The area was explored by mountain man John Colter in 1807, but permanent white settlers did not inhabit it until the 1880s. Efforts to preserve the area as a national park began in the late 19th century and the eventual expansion of the park in 1950 was a watershed in the land conservation movement. Though the Teton Range is the youngest mountain chain in the Rocky Mountains, some of the rocks in the park are the oldest found in any U.S. National Park, at nearly 2.7 billion years. More than 1,000 species of vascular plants, dozens of species of mammals, 300 species of birds, more than a dozen fish species and a few species of reptiles and amphibians exist. The park is a popular destination for mountaineering, camping and fishing, and has over 200 miles (320 km) of hiking trails. (Full article...)

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