Ted Turner's offer to house 74 bison from Yellowstone National Park for five years is under criticism from activists, who say the billionaire is profiting unfairly from the proposal by keeping offspring from the herd.

Visitation to Yellowstone National Park this winter season is off to a strong start, with the December numbers up more than 10 percent over 2008 -- but snowmobile usage continues to be on a downward trend and doesn't come close to reaching daily limits.

Whether it was the bad economy, an increased appreciation of America's national resources or some savvy promoting by the National Park Service, it was a record-setting year for Yellowstone National Park, with almost 3.3 million visitors tallied for the year.

Researchers at the University of Utah say the most detailed seismic images yet published of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone National Park supervolcano is much different than previously thought, showing a plume of hot and molten rock rising at an angle from the northwest at a depth of at least 410 miles, contradicting claims that there is no deep plume, only shallow hot rock moving like slowly boiling soup.