Yellowstone River

The headwaters of the Yellowstone River is the farthest one can get from a road in the lower 48 states. Yellowstone Lake, through which the Yellowstone River flows, is North America’s largest high mountain lake and home to the largest population of genetically-pure interior cutthroat trout on earth. The lush cottonwood forest that lines much of the Yellowstone downstream from Livingston is one of the largest of its kind in the West and serves a haven for hundreds of bald eagles and countless other bird and mammal species.

The biggest threats to the Yellowstone are booming riverside housing developments in Paradise Valley – which have resulted in 25 percent of the river between Gardiner and Livingston being lined with riprap to prevent erosion – and six low-head diversion dams downstream from Billings, which impede passage for pallid sturgeon, paddlefish, and other fish species of special concern.