The Grand Teton National Park

By: Leora Bernard

Establishing The Grand Teton National park

In 1929 and in1950 the Grand Teton, which by the way was named by French trappers, became Grand Teton National Park. In Febuarey1929 congress and President Calvin Coolidge started the park, which was much smaller, then it is today. At that time the park was 96,000 acres that only had the Teton Range and six lakes at the bottom of the mountain. On September 14th, 1950, congress and President Harry S. Truman started a “new” Grand Teton National Park. The new National Park included the national mountain, creating the 310,000-acre park we have today. It was established for people to see the beautiful wild life and scenery. 

Mount Moran 

Maps of Grand Teton National Park

In The beginning The Grand Teton started forming 100 million years ago through

the collision of tectonic plates. 10 million years ago the movement of the Teton faults caused many large earthquakes up to 7.5 in magnitude. The earthquakes made the west side land of the fault rise forming mountains and the eastside of the land formed a valley. The measurement from the top of the mountain to the Valley is approximately 30,000 feet. 2 million years ago glaciers as large as 3,500 feet thick filled the valley causing erosion of the mountains. The glaciers made the landscape of the peaks of the canyons. At the bottom of the canyons the ice created basins that are lakes today.

  The Grand Tetons

Rocks

 

The Grand Teton National Park has had many different kinds of rock that, are all different. 2.5 billion years ago the national park had crystalline rock, to be exact MT Moran Gneiss and MT Owen granite. 550 million years ago all the way to 2.5 million years ago, the national park was filled with an ancient sea that had sand Stone, Lime Stone, Shale, Marine and non- Maine, and Sediments. 70 million years ago volcanoes were ware the Grand Teton National Park that had volcanic rocks at that time. 9 million years ago glaciers made lake sediment rocks in the Grand Teton National Park. Those are some of the beautiful and extremely interesting rocks at the Grand Teton National Park.

Environmental Changes In The ParkAlthough the mountains and the land are healthy, the wild

life in it is still in danger. Climate change is a major environmental issue that is affecting the park. For Example, Pine Bark Beetles are killing trees because the heat is destroying their homes. The Pica, the smallest bunny in the rabbit family, do not survive in weather over 80 degrees. They are being forced to move up the

mountain, which has cooler temperatures, to survive.

The Land Inside The ParkThe land inside the park is currently changing because of glaciers

and fires. There are 10 glaciers but because of the temperature they are getting smaller. Although the glaciers are getting smaller the Grand Teton range of mountains is still growing because of the forces that created it. The harsh wind, water and ice continues to wear down the mountain. The Grand Teton National Park has many wild fires. Although you might think it is bad for the environment, it is actually helpful to the land in some ways. The land has too many trees. The fire eliminates some of them.

Forest of trees near Jackson Lake

Technology In The Grand Teton National ParkThere are a variety of technologies used to preserve and maintain

The Grand Teton National park. The park used cement to make sidewalks and tractors to make trails so people will walk on the trails and not harm plants and animals. Recycling centers throughout the park encourage visitors to recycle. The centers usually collect 170 tons of material a year. Technology allows this material to be recycled. By picking up the garbage the park maintains and preserves the environment. Finally, to help assist the air quality of the park, signs and park rangers request that when driving in traffic jam car engines should be turned off.

Staying on theTrail to Preserve the park.

Special LandformsThe Grand Teton National Park has many beautiful landforms. Jackson Lake, one of the many lakes in the park is the biggest lake. Jenny Lake was made when the glaciers of the Tetons melted. The Grand Teton Mountains and Mount Moran both formed from an earthquake fault. The landforms on the eastside of a fault moved down which made the valley of Jackson Hole. Then, land on the west side of the fault was pushed up which made the Teton Mountains. Snake River is another beautiful landform that gets its source from Yellowstone Park. The Sagebrush Flats cover most of the valley of Jackson Hole. Some other beautiful landforms that people often hike are Hidden Falls, Cascade Canyon and Berry Creek.

More, Special Landforms

  

HiddenFalls 

Bibliography Grand Teton National Park Foundation. Web. 25 May 2010.

<http://gtnpf.org/wildlife.php>. "Grand Teton National Park." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 25

May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Teton_National_Park>. "Grand Teton National Park's Snake River." Yellowstone Park, Grand

Teton, Jackson WY, Camping, Fishing, Lodging. Web. 25 May 2010. <http://greater-yellowstone.com/Grand-Teton-Park/Snake-River.html>.

Lorbiecki, Marybeth. "The Gift of a Park." Welcome to Grand Teton National Park. Chanhassen, Minn.: Child's World, 2007. 27-30. Print.

Petersen, David. "A Beautiful Place4." Grand Teton National Park. Chicago: Childrens, 1992. 4-9. Print.

Thelin, Darrah. "11,000 Years of Use." Discover Grand Teton [Moose]: 1-4. Print.

"Travels with Geology - Grand Teton National Park." Welcome to Winona State University - Winona State University. Web. 25 May 2010. <http://WINONA.EDU/GEOLOGY/TRAVELS/TETONS/TRAVEL.HTML>.

Earth Scientist, you won’t be disappointed if you come to the Grand Teton National Park. Le Grand Parc National Teton

LA FIN