Snowmobile - NPS Announcement

NPS announcement spells end for snowmobiles
Winter use decision still preliminary, Yellowstone assistant superintendent says.
By Rachel Odell, Jackson Hole News 3-15-00

Critics of a National Park Service plan to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks blasted the agency this week for its "Draconian" approach.

U.S. Sens. Craig Thomas and Mike Enzi said the agency was bowing down to Washington bureaucrats by choosing an option they do not believe is required by law.

"Senator Thomas doesn't deny there should be changes but there are other options that should be looked at to meet the needs of the laws," Thomas spokesman Dan Kunsman said. "They are hiding behind the laws in a Draconian-type of approach."

Green approval

Countering that, environmentalists rallied behind the National Park Service.
"The Park Service appropriately has its eye on the law, its mandates and its policies," Greater Yellowstone Coalition spokesman Jon Catton said. "They candidly spelled out a series of laws that guide what they have to do."

Representatives of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance also supported the proposal.
"Long-lasting air and noise pollution in national parks is unacceptable," Alliance program director Pam Lichtman said. "We are finally moving in the right direction and we are making protection of the park resources a priority as we look toward the future of managing Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park in the winter."

Economic blues

The move will devastate winter economy in the greater Yellowstone area, Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Steve Duerr said. Snowmobile outfitting in Jackson Hole makes up a $1.3 million industry with 11 outfitters holding permits to guide tours in Yellowstone. Last year those companies took a total of 1,395 commercial snowmobile trips and 8,189 people through the south entrance.

As part of their concession contract with the park, all outfitters pay 4 percent of their gross revenue. Last year that 4 percent totalled $53,663 for the 11 south entrance operators.

"Snowmobiling in the National Parks is a critical segment of our winter economy an consequently the year-round viability of Jackson Hole businesses," Duerr said. "The opinion of the Interior official, if it becomes law, guts years of good faith effort, and makes a mockery of the process. We anticipate that such a decision will be vigorously challenged legally and politically at the local, state and federal levels. The call to action has been sounded, and a fair resolution of this issue will be relentlessly pursued."

Breaking the law?

The two senators said the agency has bucked the law and that its decision will limit access to the parks.

"The Park Service has been trusted with a specific mission to protect our natural resources and to facilitate access and a quality visit for the public that owns it," Thomas said. "In this case it appears they will ignore that charge and instead respond to Washington bureaucrats who would lock up our public resources from reasonable access."

Enzi added that the move could have consequences on summer access.
"Senator Enzi is concerned the next step will be to curtail summer use," Enzi spokesman Coy knoble said.

No snowmobiles allowed

Park Service officials shocked a group of local government representatives last Monday by saying a winter plan for Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks will call for no snowmobiles.
At a meeting in Jackson, high-ranking Grand Teton and Yellowstone officials said various laws and regulations force them to reassess their position and propose an outright ban snowmobile by the winter of 2002-2003. The only mechanized transport into the parks other than automobile would be snowcoaches. Snowplanes would also be banned from the parks, Grand Teton spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo said.

Law-abiding interior

Grand Teton assistant superintendent Steve Iobst told the group that at least six laws or regulations limit the options available to the Park Service and force it to exclude polluting snowmobiles. He made his comments to a group of representatives of local governments from around Yellowstone, a group known as "cooperating agencies."

The groups were working with the Park Service on the winter use plan and they had proposed an option that would allow snowmobiling to continue.

Changing position

The parks themselves had offered a plan that would phase in non-polluting snowmobiles over 10 years.

But neither plan has resolved the parks' legal obligations to maintain a clean environment. Those obligations begin with park organic acts and extend to the Clean Air Act.

"All of these state there can be no degradation of park values or resources," Iobst said. "There are a variety of constraints that we cannot ignore, regardless of when they are dated."
Iobst said the two parks' plans will be revised to reflect "Alternative G" as the agency's preferred action. That plan "emphasizes clean quiet over-snow access to the parks using the technologies available today," according to park documents.

"This seems to be the best alternative regarding the current direction we need to take," Iobst said. "It would allow snowcoach as the only mode of mechanized transport in the winter of 2002-2003."

Not set in stone

Federal officials said that Don Barry, an undersecretary in the Department of the Interior who oversees fish, wildlife and parks, will recommend the plan to Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. Marv Jensen, the assistant superintendent for Yellowstone, said the preferred alternative has yet to be implemented.

"This is not a decision, not anything definitive," Jensen said. "This is the analysis to date. This is the direction we are leaning."

Sense of betrayal

Local government representatives were shocked and furious. Teton County Commission Chairman Bill Paddleford said the announcement bypasses the work he has done over several years with federal officials.

Now, he said, the decision has been cast "because some undersecretary has made up his mind already."

Paddleford said he and his counterparts have been working on the issue for three years, at some expense. Now, they all feel cut out of the process.

"I have to re-evaluate if it's worth throwing any more money into this process," Paddleford said. "It's not 'we' anymore - it's the undersecretary."

Beginning of the end

The park review of winter use began several years ago when the Fund for Animals and other groups sued over the issue of migrating bison. Bison, they claimed, were using snowmobile trails to move out of the park and were subsequently shot.

The suit claimed that the Park Service allowed snowmobiles into Yellowstone and Grand Teton without ever analyzing whether they were appropriate.

Settlement agreement

Rather than battle the claim, the parks agreed to an environmental review of winter use and to propose a winter visitor plan. The review followed a process established by the National Environmental Policy Act that allows the public to comment at various points. Communities around Yellowstone lobbied to become "cooperating agencies" whose comments also would be included in the study. In doing so the groups hoped to play a greater role in the process.

Other options

The park's first plan would have phased in clean snowmobiles. The cooperating agencies sought a more open proposal known as "Revised Alternative E" that sought an "adaptive management" approach to solving the winter conflicts between wildlife, the environment and park visitors. Under that plan a committee, including representatives from local governments, would help implement restrictions to meet various standards.

Throughout the process snowmobilers and environmentalists have been at odds regarding what is appropriate in national parks. Environmentalists contend snowmobiles disrupt and harass wildlife and cause unacceptable pollution with their two-stroke engines. Snowmobilers have called for the use of clean fuels, new technology and visitor limits.

Content Error? let us know OR write for us!