It’s been a busy year so far for Yellowstone, with over 3.5 million recreational visits to the USA’s oldest national park up until the end of August. With all those visitors comes a whole lot of trash – some of which you’d expect to see, and some of it… well, not quite so much. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

In fact, over 13,000 pieces of trash have been collected by National Park Service geologists in Yellowstone's hydrothermal areas so far in 2025 – specifically, by those who are part of the Yellowstone Geology Program. Donning red safety vests, this team not only conducts scientific work, such as keeping an eye on the activity of the park’s many hydrothermal features , but also ensures those features are kept tr

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