The National Park Service on Tuesday released for public comment a proposed rule outlining the use of snowmobiles and snow coaches in Yellowstone National Park.
The rule will eventually become the basis for how winter use is managed in Yellowstone. Similar rules proposed over the past decade have been subject to legal challenges from environmental organizations, tourism industry groups and state and local government agencies.
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.
Yellowstone National Park kicks off its winter season as scheduled Saturday, operating under the same management plan as last year.
Beginning at 7 a.m. Dec. 15, visitors can travel the park’s interior roads on commercially guided snowmobiles or snow coaches from the North, West and South Entrances.
Travel through the park’s East Entrance over Sylvan Pass is scheduled to begin Dec. 22, according to a statement released Wednesday by the park’s public affairs office.
Gateway communities around Yellowstone National Park have been weighing in this week on the latest draft winter-use plan for managing snowmobiles and snow coaches in the park, with generally favorable reactions from snowmobile enthusiasts.
The plan calls for managing traffic by “transportation events” and grouping snowmobile riders in clusters of 7-10 sleds per event. It allows for a total of 110 daily transportation events, with a cap of 50 events for snowmobile riders. One event each day from each gate is reserved for unpaid guides.
Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk said Thursday that he believes the park’s newly released draft winter-use plan is “complicated,” but also “incredibly defensible,” and that it will lead to a quieter, cleaner winter experience for visitors.
If the plan survives expected court challenges — the last decade has seen constant legal wrangling over snowmobiles in the park — it will take effect in 2014, after a two-year transition period that follows current rules. Wenk and park planners will be discussing the plan later this month during public meetings in gateway communities around the park.
A notice published in the Federal Register contains some details on how the National Park Service plans to manage winter use in Yellowstone National Park, including a preference for using “transportation events” for allowing snowmobiles and snow coaches into the park and a plan to keep Sylvan Pass open.
Though the Park Service has not yet released its draft supplemental environmental impact statement for the Yellowstone winter use plan, a Federal Register noticed dated June 29 lists background information on the plan as it will appear when released.
While the ongoing public debate over the role of snowmobiles in Yellowstone Park may seem like a relatively recent development, winter use has been a contentious topic going back more than half a century. It’s that legacy of past decisions and longstanding public expectations that has helped define the debate — and the options for moving forward — on how to manage winter use in Yellowstone.
As planners move forward with crafting a new winter-use plan for Yellowstone National Park, they’ll be gauging public response to the idea of so-called “sound events,” one of the few new ideas in a decade of debate and court challenges over managing winter vehicle traffic in the park. Under two of the potential winter-use alternatives proposed by the Park Service in February, snowmobile and snow coach travel through Yellowstone would be managed by sound events — the total number of noise-producing trips made each day.
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.
Terry Dolan’s snowmobile tour covers more than 150 miles and takes in the major sights along the lower section of the park’s Grand Loop Road, including Yellowstone Lake, Old Faithful, Fountain Paint Pot and the Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. For adventurous travelers, the trip offers an exhilarating and often thrilling way to tour the park, with a small group of good riders able to quickly stop and hop off their sleds for photos or sightseeing before pushing on to the next landmark.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Loading ...
