The National Park Service has scheduled four open-house meetings for mid-February in gateway communities around Yellowstone National Park to answer questions about ongoing efforts to develop a long-term winter-use plan for the park. The Park Service is operating this winter in Yellowstone under a "one-year rule," designating winter from Dec. 15, 2011 to mid-March 2012 as a "transition year." That means use levels and restrictions on snowmobiles and snow coaches, for instance, are the same as the interim rule that has governed use over the past two seasons. Efforts to nail down a long-term winter-use plan have been complicated by public debate, including court challenges, over issues like snowmobile traffic and avalanche management on Sylvan Pass, between Cody, Wyo. and Fishing Bridge. Continue Reading →