Plan keeps snowmobile caps

Tue., Nov. 21, 2006

Mary Clare Jalonick Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service is proposing to maintain current snowmobile regulations that would allow 720 snowmobiles per day to enter Yellowstone National Park.

A draft statement issued by the agency Monday mirrors a temporary plan that is currently in place and has been in use for the past two winters. It would also allow 140 snowmobiles a day to enter Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Parkway, which connects the two parks.

The snowmobiles must use what the Park Service calls “best available technology” to reduce noise and pollution levels.

Park officials stressed that the report is only a draft and the plan is the agency’s preferred alternative out of several proposals. A final plan is expected to be issued in time for the 2007-2008 winter season.

The agency has been looking at a wide range of options, from an all-out ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone in favor of snowcoaches – which run on tracks and can carry several people – to allowing more snowmobiles, which generally carry one to two.

The plan would also limit snowcoaches in Yellowstone to 78 per day and require those vehicles to meet sound and emissions requirements.

For years, snowmobile access to the park was largely unrestricted. But that ended before the 2003-04 winter, when the Park Service moved from a Clinton-era plan that called for phasing out snowmobiles in favor of snowcoaches and decided instead to limit the numbers and types of snowmobiles allowed in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Court challenges have also delayed a final decision.

Jon Catton, a Bozeman-based conservationist, said the new proposal is ignoring Park Service policies that require the agency to act in the best interest of the environment. A new management policy implemented this year emphasizes conservation as the parks’ first responsibility.

“This proposal represents an unfortunate U-turn by the administration only months after it pledged to emphasize conservation in our national parks,” Catton said.

Catton said noise pollution has continued to be a problem in recent years. That remains so even though far fewer than 720 snowmobiles have entered the park each day, he said.

Jack Welch, president of the Blue Ribbon Coalition that advocates for snowmobiles, said 720 vehicles a day is appropriate.

“I don’t think there is a problem with the numbers,” he said.

The plan was issued Monday to involved state, local and federal agencies. The public will be able to comment on a separate draft expected in March.

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