The snow is mostly gone from Yellowstone National Park, but the fight over the park’s most contentious issue, snowmobiles, is revving up again.
Environmentalists and park-area tourism interests have been arguing for a decade over snowmobile use in the park. The machines unquestionably create noise and air pollution and disrupt wildlife, but winter tourism is important to gateway communities such as West Yellowstone, Mont., where businesses fear the loss of tourist dollars if park snowmobiling is banned.
Government policy has seesawed, with the Clinton administration banning snowmobiles and the Bush administration reversing that policy and pushing for greater access.
The issue has been a distraction for the National Park Service, consuming about $10 million in costs and producing nearly 100,000 pages of documents since the mid-1990s, according to a recent story in the Billings Gazette. In the past, public comments have strongly supported banning the machines.
In March, the Park Service proposed yet another winter-use plan for Yellowstone, suggesting 720 snowmobiles a day be allowed in the park during the season but also proposing closure of part of the park to snowmobiles, requiring riders to have guides and mandating use of machines with updated, less-polluting engines.
We appreciate the dilemma faced by parks officials as they try to balance environmental and recreational interests, but the 720-machine limit is too high. If snowmobiles are to be allowed, 250 machines a day (average use for the last three winters) would be better, although not as good as a total ban.
You have a last shot to make your voice heard on winter uses in Yellowstone. Public comment on the latest plan is being taken through June 5. Go to parkplanning.nps .gov for more information. Select “Yellowstone NP” from the “Choose a park” pulldown menu.
