Yellowstone plan seeks snowmobile limit per day
By JIM ROBBINS - New York Times News Service - 02/05/07
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — The latest installment in the long-running debate over the use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park is a proposal to allow as many as 720 to enter each day, nearly three times as many as permitted in the last several years.
The plan, which could be adopted by the end of the year, has drawn fire from environmentalists and praise from snowmobile advocates and some businesses in the communities around the park.
The plan is described in a preliminary draft environmental impact statement that was released to agencies and governments near the park for comment in December. The Park Service could change the plan before releasing a final version to the public next month for comment, but so far it is favoring greatly expanded winter use. About 250 snowmobiles a day use the park now. The historical average in the 1990s was 795 a day, before access was curtailed by the Clinton administration.
Critics say that snowmobiles will be detrimental to the park’s pristine air, wildlife and quiet. Michael Finley, who was superintendent of Yellowstone for more than six years, and who oversaw the plan that banned snowmobiles, said the Park Service was skirting its responsibilities under the new plan.
“The facts and science gave them a direction to take, then they softened, twisted and contorted the science,” Finley said. “The plan deserves to be challenged. It deserves burial in deep snow.”
John Sacklin, a management assistant at Yellowstone who has worked on the issue since the 1990s, said that the park had not abdicated its responsibilities and that the new plan still protected the park’s natural assets. “We can achieve those goals,” Sacklin said.
, “with a managed program that allows limited snowmobile and snow-coach use.”
Sacklin said snowmobile technology had gotten much cleaner and quieter. And all snowmobiles must travel with a guide, who enforces strict rules.
Critics say the latest preliminary draft is faulty in three major areas, including its effects on air quality and on wildlife. Perhaps the most evident is the noise levels it would allow.
“People go to Yellowstone one time in their lives with a few hours at Old Faithful,” said Jon Catton, an independent environmentalist who has worked on the issue for eight years. “You can hear the hiss and splash of Old Faithful, the howl of a wolf, or the persistent buzz, whine and roar of snowmobiles.”
The plan, which could be adopted by the end of the year, has drawn fire from environmentalists and praise from snowmobile advocates and some businesses in the communities around the park.
The plan is described in a preliminary draft environmental impact statement that was released to agencies and governments near the park for comment in December. The Park Service could change the plan before releasing a final version to the public next month for comment, but so far it is favoring greatly expanded winter use. About 250 snowmobiles a day use the park now. The historical average in the 1990s was 795 a day, before access was curtailed by the Clinton administration.
Critics say that snowmobiles will be detrimental to the park’s pristine air, wildlife and quiet. Michael Finley, who was superintendent of Yellowstone for more than six years, and who oversaw the plan that banned snowmobiles, said the Park Service was skirting its responsibilities under the new plan.
“The facts and science gave them a direction to take, then they softened, twisted and contorted the science,” Finley said. “The plan deserves to be challenged. It deserves burial in deep snow.”
John Sacklin, a management assistant at Yellowstone who has worked on the issue since the 1990s, said that the park had not abdicated its responsibilities and that the new plan still protected the park’s natural assets. “We can achieve those goals,” Sacklin said.
, “with a managed program that allows limited snowmobile and snow-coach use.”
Sacklin said snowmobile technology had gotten much cleaner and quieter. And all snowmobiles must travel with a guide, who enforces strict rules.
Critics say the latest preliminary draft is faulty in three major areas, including its effects on air quality and on wildlife. Perhaps the most evident is the noise levels it would allow.
“People go to Yellowstone one time in their lives with a few hours at Old Faithful,” said Jon Catton, an independent environmentalist who has worked on the issue for eight years. “You can hear the hiss and splash of Old Faithful, the howl of a wolf, or the persistent buzz, whine and roar of snowmobiles.”
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