Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park Tuesday said it will try out a new reservation system for two campgrounds and part of a third.

Reservations for Mammoth and Slough Creek campgrounds, along with 60 percent of Pebble Creek, will go live on recreation.gov for the first time on Mar. 24 at 8 am.

People will be able to book campsites up to six months in advance and reservations are expected to fill quickly, according to Yellowstone officials.

Yellowstone National Park will start closing roads to oversnow travel Sunday to allow for spring plowing. Some park services have already been reduced.

Yellowstone will close the road connecting Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris Sunday. Next Tuesday, the roads connecting Norris to Madison and Canyon Village will close, followed by Canyon Village to Fishing Bridge on Mar. 14 and all remaining groomed roads on Mar. 15.

Weather permitting, some roads will reopen mid April.

Officials set a target Wednesday to reduce bison herds living in and around Yellowstone National Park by 500 to 700 animals this winter. The yearly cull is meant to keep the population in check and prevent bison from possibly transmitting a disease to domestic cattle.

Business owners in one of Yellowstone National Park’s most popular gateway communities say the peak summer season has been busier than ever with more visitors. At the same time, a shortage of workers is affecting how many tourism dollars they can rake in.

At Tumbleweed Books and Cafe in Gardiner, people line up to order smoothies and iced coffees. Owner Anna Holloway finishes wrapping an egg burrito and takes a quick break.

“This is hands down the busiest summer I’ve seen in the 15 years that I’ve lived here and the 12 years that I’ve owned the Tumbleweed,” Holloway said.

Montana’s Republican Sen. Steve Daines Aug. 11 met with conservation and public lands groups in Gardiner to celebrate the recent passage of the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act.

With the Roosevelt Arch at Yellowstone National Park in the background, Daines said it was public land that brought a divided Washington, D.C. together.

Two people who work at Yellowstone National Park and three visitors recently tested positive for COVID-19.

Yellowstone officials said on July 28 two concession employees have been in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. These are the first confirmed cases out of the nearly 2,000 people who have worked in the park over the past two months.