{"id":11798,"date":"2022-07-27T18:05:48","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T00:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=11798"},"modified":"2022-07-27T18:08:34","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T00:08:34","slug":"new-group-seeks-cooperation-for-winter-access-through-cooke-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=11798","title":{"rendered":"Group seeks cooperation for winter access through Cooke City"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The Northeast Entrance road in Yellowstone National Park is washed out after heavy rains and snowfall in June. (NPS photo\/Jacob Frank)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

CODY, WYO. \u2014 Montana business owners and residents in Gardiner, Cooke City and Red Lodge joined with Wyoming colleagues in Cody on Monday to discuss how to ensure winter access to each other\u2019s communities and to Yellowstone National Park after record rains last month washed out bridges and roads throughout the region. Floods left the park\u2019s north and northeast entrances closed to tourist traffic.<\/p>\n

Citing June\u2019s catastrophic floods and the the possibility of being cut off from automobile access to food, medical care and essential supplies this winter, members of the newly formed Park Access Recommendation Committee (PARC) said they plan to meet sometime in August with public officials in Montana and Wyoming to develop a plan to plow an 8-mile section of U.S. Highway 212 traditionally left unplowed for use by recreational snowmobilers.<\/p>\n

PARC members said during their online meeting that if repairs to heavily damaged sections of the Northeast Entrance Road between Cooke City and Gardiner are not completed by winter, U.S. Highway 212 would be the only option for residents to connect by auto to the outside world. They are also looking for additional winter tourism from auto visitors to help make up for an abysmal summer to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a matter of survival for us,\u201d said Terri Briggs, owner of the Big Moose Resort and president of the Cooke City Chamber of Commerce, which also serves the nearby Silver Gate and Colter Pass communities, all of which are unincorporated. Briggs said a Chamber survey found business was down 50-70 percent so far this summer for most local merchants.<\/p>\n

PARC member Michael Keller said winter access out of Cooke City \u201cis a critical life, safety and wellness issue,\u201d and that he wasn\u2019t certain that road repairs through the Lamar Valley could be completed in time. Keller is general manager of Yellowstone National Park Lodges, operated by Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the park\u2019s primary concessioner. He also is treasurer of the Gardiner Chamber of Commerce and a director on the Wyoming Tourism Board.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Park Service has been unable to give a solid timeline for repairs, and likely won\u2019t be able to until at least after Labor Day, Keller said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Few travelers were stopping in Cooke City on Dec. 28, 2021. Business owners are looking to boost winter tourism by plowing a section of U.S. Highway 212. (Ruffin Prevost\/Yellowstone Gate)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joint plowing efforts<\/b><\/p>\n

For decades, the National Park Service has plowed the Northeast Entrance Road through the Lamar Valley, connecting Gardiner and nearby park headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. to the remote mountain communities of Silver Gate and Cooke City, which lie just outside the park\u2019s Northeast Entrance.<\/p>\n

The Wyoming Department of Transportation and Park County, Wyo. have traditionally plowed the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway and a section of U.S. Highway 212 to Pilot Creek, a little more than 4 miles south of the Montana border and just over 8 miles southeast from Cooke City. That has allowed snowmobilers coming from Wyoming to use a parking area at Pilot Creek for parking trucks and trailers, and the 8-mile section of unplowed road to access a network of backcountry trails in the Beartooth Mountains around Cooke City.<\/p>\n

The idea of plowing Highway 212 all the way to Cooke City\u2014\u201cplowing the plug\u201d\u2014 has come up previously, often cited as a way to increase winter tourism in the region by allowing auto travel from Gardiner to Cody. Proponents say wolf watching, skiing, snowshoeing and ice climbing are Cooke City area activities unavailable to those arriving from the Wyoming side, except by snowmobile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the plug has remained unplowed, in part because of the actual or perceived financial, logistical and jurisdictional complications of clearing a remote section of alpine highway that runs through two counties, two national forests and two states.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Snowmobilers have been vocal and persistent in their opposition to plowing, arguing that it would limit some of their trail access and complicate parking, among other issues. Opponents of plowing the plug\u2014mainly snowmobilers and some businesses that rely on them\u2014have also claimed previously that most in the Cooke City area would prefer the highway to remain unplowed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Local consensus<\/b><\/p>\n

While that may have been true in decades past, a number of separate surveys over the last few years conducted by the Cooke City Chamber of Commerce and others, have consistently shown a 60-70 percent majority of local residents who want the plug plowed. Winter tourism business from snowmobilers has also been slowly but steadily dwindling in recent years, some PARC members said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one wants snowmobilers up here more than us,\u201d said PARC member Timmy Weamer, owner of Cooke City Exxon. Weamer said his group will work to ensure continued snowmobile access to trails using the right of way at the outside borders of the plowed section of Highway 212, as is routinely done near places like Island Park, Idaho; Togwotee Pass, Wyo.; and Big Sky, Mont.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t about just access for snowmobiles to Cooke City. It\u2019s about our access out and other visitors being able to get through to Cody and Red Lodge,\u201d Weamer said. \u201cRight now, in winter, you have to tell cars to turn around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weamer\u2019s father, Tim Weamer, lives in Red Lodge, where he said summer business\u00a0 <\/span>has been down about 40 percent so far. He handles marketing for the Red Lodge Chamber of Commerce and serves as a board member for the Yellowstone Country region of Visit Montana, the state tourism agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the Red Lodge standpoint, we agree with (plowing the plug)\u201d he said during Monday\u2019s meeting. Additional auto traffic coming from Gardiner and points north through Cooke City and on to Cody and Red Lodge would add to the winter economies in all of those communities, he said.<\/p>\n

Bruce Sauers, director of revenue for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, said during Monday\u2019s meeting that museum numbers are down about 20 percent so far this summer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are faring better than most, but it\u2019s still a significant impact for us,\u201d Sauers said. \u201cThere are vacancy signs up everywhere, lodging rates are down and I think everyone on this call has felt an impact.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PARC members said they want the plug plowed to ensure short-term critical access this winter, but also with an eye toward long-term regional tourism development in the years ahead. But they said they share the same goal as snowmobilers in working now to ensure the best access to trails this winter if the plug is plowed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a July 20 letter from the Wyoming State Snowmobile Association to Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, group president Brenda Miller wrote that if repairs aren\u2019t completed in time, \u201cwe fully understand that [the plug] will have to be plowed this winter to provide highway access into Cooke City.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller said that if the plug is plowed, \u201cwe request that your office help ensure every available effort is made to establish an alternate off-highway route for the existing snowmobile trail which would be displaced from that section of Highway 212.\u201d Her letter opposed plowing the plug if repairs are completed.<\/p>\n

Keller, the PARC member and Yellowstone general manager for Xanterra, said it was important to start work now to sort out how any changes would work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not sure yet who would be responsible for maintaining that road for cars and ensuring access for snowmobiles, or what all that would look like,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we need to start now. The clock\u2019s ticking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Ruffin Prevost is a board member for the Park County Travel Council. The group does not have a position on this issue. Contact him at 307-213-9818 or ruffinprevost@gmail.com.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  CODY, WYO. \u2014 Montana business owners and residents in Gardiner, Cooke City and Red Lodge joined with Wyoming colleagues in Cody on Monday to discuss how to ensure winter access to each other\u2019s communities and to Yellowstone National Park after record rains last month washed out bridges and roads throughout the region. Floods left […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,312],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nGroup seeks cooperation for winter access through Cooke City - Yellowstone Gate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yellowstonegate.com\/?p=11798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Group seeks cooperation for winter access through Cooke City - Yellowstone Gate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  CODY, WYO. \u2014 Montana business owners and residents in Gardiner, Cooke City and Red Lodge joined with Wyoming colleagues in Cody on Monday to discuss how to ensure winter access to each other\u2019s communities and to Yellowstone National Park after record rains last month washed out bridges and roads throughout the region. 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