citizens respond to the debate over snowmobiling in yellowstone
Amsnow
Most snowmobilers are aware that the Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Wyoming District Judge Brimmer's decision to overturn the Clinton era ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park. But there are still questions about what is in the future for snowmobiling in the national park.
On March 13, 2004, Keith Fellbaum of Little Falls, Minnesota, wrote a letter to the Star Tribune in response to an editorial about snowmobiles that appeared in the paper on March 7. Fellbaum, an environmental engineer at Yellowstone when snowmobiles were first admitted into the park, pointed out that in 30 years, snowmobiles have not had a great impact on park resources.
"The roadsides are not covered with dead wildlife and dying vegetation," he said in the letter. "The program has been proved a success, not a failure."
Fellbaum mentioned that the National Park Service legislation requires preservation of the park, but it is also needs to provide for the public enjoyment of those resources. Enjoyment should not be subordinate to preservation, he said.
The House Committee on Resources provided some other interesting facts about snowmobiles and Yellowstone Park:
1. Scientists who conducted studies on behalf of the Park Service agree that snowcoaches pollute as much or more than the new four-stroke snowmobiles.
2. In West Yellowstone, Montana, business has dropped by half because of the reduced number of snowmobilers coming to the state.
3. The arch over the North entrance to Yellowstone has a quote from President Roosevelt saying, "This Park was created and is now administered for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. It is the property of Uncle Sam and therefore of us all."