A final winter use plan for Yellowstone and Grand
Teton national parks takes a hard line on snowmobiles. If approved,
the plan will allow van-like snowcoaches on park roads, but will
ban snowmobiles completely by the winter of 2003-2004. It’s a
marked change from the draft plan, released last winter, that would
have allowed snowmobiles on some park roads (HCN, 3/27/00: Parks
rev up to ban snowmobiles).
Snowmobile
advocates reacted immediately, calling the ban a “predetermined”
decision of the National Park Service that will wreck the region’s
winter economy. “There will be extremely limited access,” says
Teton County commissioner Bill Paddleford.
Environmentalists celebrated the decision. “A Yellowstone winter
without clean air and quiet is like a Vermont autumn without
colorful leaves,” says Jon Catton of the Greater Yellowstone
Coalition.
The plan will phase out snowmobiles
by cutting traffic in half in the winter of 2002-2003, says
Yellowstone spokeswoman Marsha Karle.
Copyright © 2000 HCN and Rachel Odell
To comment on the plan before
Oct. 31, write to Clifford Hawkes, NPS, 12795 West Alameda Parkway,
Lakewood, CO 80228, or find the report on the Internet at
www.nps.gov/planning.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline ‘biles get the boot.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
