Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming was the first federally protected national forest in the United States and remains one of the oldest and most intact mountain landscapes in the American West. Established from the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve in 1891, expanded in 1902, and administered as a national forest after 1905, it covers nearly 2.5 million acres within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Its history reaches far deeper, with Native peoples living here for at least 10,000 years and the Shoshone, Lakota, Crow, and Northern Cheyenne closely tied to the region. From Paleoindian remains at Mummy Cave to later explorers, the area preserves both deep human history and exceptional wild country.