Snowmobilers want parks to loosen restrictions

JACKSON, Wyo. – Snowmobile groups are asking supporters to encourage looser restrictions on snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

Currently, all snowmobile trips into the parks must be led by a guide. The Blue Ribbon Coalition wants that cut to 70 percent, suggesting people who want to snowmobile without guides watch an educational video or take a short course beforehand.

The group also is proposing that as many as half of all snowmobile trips be unguided, provided that the leader of those trips has taken a certification course to lead as many as 10 people into the parks on snowmobiles.

The debate over snowmobiling in the parks began with a federal environmental study several years ago that said the best way to protect the parks’ natural resources was to shift from snowmobile to snowcoach travel. Snowmobile groups called that unrealistic and discriminatory and worked to retain snowmobile access to Yellowstone and Grand Teton.

Among the compromises made was a switch to sleds with the “best available technology,” meaning they were both cleaner and quieter. The parks also implemented the system of guided trips.

The Park Service has continued to study what type of snowmobiles to allow into the parks and how. In the meantime, temporary rules allow 720 snowmobiles a day to enter Yellowstone with guides, and 140 guided snowmobiles a day in Grand Teton.

All machines must meet air pollution and noise regulations. The plan is slated to be in place through next winter.

Jon Catton, a Bozeman conservationist, accused the Blue Ribbon Coalition of wanting to reverse progress made to clean up the parks. “This narrow-minded tactic by the Blue Ribbon Coalition – to browbeat the Park Service to reverse recent gains for visitor health and safety – is indifferent or contemptuous toward the health and enjoyment of national park visitors and those who work there,” he said.