dan wenk

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Yellowstone and Grand Teton heads focus on cutting costs, raising revenues

Federal budget cuts required under the Congressional sequester will result in relatively minor cuts in services this summer for visitors to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. But park managers say they are not optimistic about the financial outlook for next year and beyond. Continue Reading →

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Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk wins praise for outreach on winter use

Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk has accepted a temporary position as interim president of the National Park Foundation in Washington, D.C.

As another winter season in Yellowstone National Park begins, it might be understandable if some local residents are pessimistic about resolving long-standing disputes over snowmobiles in the park and other related winter-use issues. Local tourism workers and environmental advocates have had front-row seats to more than a decade of public debate and court challenges over the effects of snowmobiles in the park, as well as whether to maintain access over Sylvan Pass, at the park's East Entrance. But surprisingly, gateway community business leaders are expressing optimism—even satisfaction—with the direction park managers are taking on winter use. And not just because the most recent draft plan calls for continued snowmobile access and keeping Sylvan Pass open. Continue Reading →

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Gardiner Gateway launches Yellowstone North Gate project with fanfare

Bill Berg, president of the Greater Gardiner Community Council, speaks in front of the Roosevelt Arch during the Gardiner Gateway Project kickoff event Thursday. Joining him on stage were, from left, Daniel Bierschwale, President, Gardiner Chamber of Commerce; Clara Conner, Division Engineer, Western Federal Lands Highway Division; Marty Malone, Commissioner, Park County, Mont.; Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana; and Dan Wenk, Superintenden of Yellowstone National Park. (Ruffin Prevost/Yellowstone Gate - click to enlarge)

It was only smiles and fanfare for the Gardiner Gateway Project launch among an impressive lineup of local, state and federal officials who came together to sign and celebrate an agreement that will govern a sweeping reconfiguration of the park's North Gate and the historic downtown and business districts in Gardiner. Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk take a brief stagegoach ride to Arch Park on Thursday at the Gardiner Gateway Project kickoff event. (Ruffin Prevost/Yellowstone Gate - click to enlarge) The iconic Roosevelt Arch was the backdrop for solidarity and speeches, along with a little stagecraft that saw dignitaries "arrive" at Gardiner's Arch Park in a stagecoach and vintage yellow tour bus. Continue Reading →

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Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk outlines winter use, summer plans for Cody leaders

Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk addresses local business leaders during the Cody, Wyo. National Park Day lunceon, a six-decade tradition in the gateway community. (Ruffin Prevost/Yellowstone Gate - click to enlarge)

Though summer is just around the corner, Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk presented two vastly different possible scenarios for managing Sylvan Pass during a briefing Monday for local business owners. Wenk and Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott spoke to Cody Country Chamber of Commerce members as part of the town's National Parks Day, a six-decade tradition where park managers share insights on the coming summer tourist season with business leaders in the gateway community. Continue Reading →

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Planners discuss snowmobiles, ‘sound events’ at Yellowstone winter use meetings

Planners and managers from Yellowstone National Park, including Superintendent Dan Wenk, have been visiting gateway communities this week to host meetings about their ongoing efforts to develop a long-term winter-use plan for the park. The plan revision is a process that has repeated itself in recent years without yielding an enduring result, as interest groups and government entities have taken their objections to federal court. The numerous judicial battles have made it virtually impossible to craft a long-term plan that can survive litigation. Continue Reading →

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Cody business owners worried about slow fix for crumbling Yellowstone road

Traffic in 2012 moves along a single lane of the then-damaged road between Sylvan Pass and Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone National Park.

Repairs to a partially washed-out section of road between Sylvan Pass and Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone National Park will not begin until at least the middle of next year, leaving some Cody business owners worried that further damage could shut down the road entirely. Part of the eastbound lane along a section of road known as "Nine Mile," near Sedge Bay, was washed away in mid-May, just days after the park's East Entrance opened for the summer season. Continue Reading →

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