A year-round route into Yellowstone National Park, Gardiner (pop. 851, elev. 5,314 feet) has become known for its Church Universal and Triumphant neighbors (who are not your run-of-the-mill Western neighbors, even in the “New West”) and has gained additional notoriety as the site of the slaughter of Yellowstone National Park buffalo.

Buffalo frequently carry brucellosis, a bacterial infection that causes newly infected cattle to miscarry their pregnancies, causing a great deal of concern among ranchers. In the winter of 2007–2008, about 1,600 Yellowstone buffalo were rounded up and shipped to slaughterhouses when they migrated north from the park seeking lower elevations with winter forage. Other buffalo have been driven back into the park.

In 2008 an agreement among the State of Montana, the National Park Service, and the Church Universal and Triumphant provided a corridor for a limited number brucellosis-negative bison to cross the church’s ranch north of the park to winter grazing grounds south of Yankee Jim Canyon. Although this is a step forward, this issue will probably persist for some time.

The Gardiner entrance to Yellowstone is marked by the Roosevelt Arch, dedicated in 1903 by Theodore Roosevelt. It’s the only park entrance open to cars year-round. The road between Gardiner and Cooke City is plowed during the winter.