national park service issues yellowstone eis snowmobiles are out

This week, the National Park Service issued its long-awaited Environmental Impact Statement concerning Winter Use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the John D. Rockefeller Parkway.

The upshot of the EIS is that the Parks Service has recommended that Alternative G be pursued as the usage program for the parks, starting in the 2003-04 season. Alternative G mandates that snowmobile use be stopped completely, with snowcoaches to provide mechanized oversnow transport to specified destinations.

There is a public comment period until October 31, 2000. The NPS will accept written comments from the public until that date. Comments sent by facsimile machine will not be accepted.

PLEASE take a few minutes to stop by the National Park Service website to learn about this document and send your comments before the October 31, 2000 deadline.

To see the NPS Press release, click here.
To go to the full EIS download page, click here.
To send your written comments via email, click here.

To submit your written comments vial ground mail, send them to:

Clifford Hawkes
12795 West Alameda Parkway
Lakewood, CO 80228

The snowmobile community has backed Alternative C throughout the process. This plan. according to the EIS, "provides maximum winter visitor opportunities for a range of park experiences, with emphasis on motorized recreation, while mitigating some natural resource impacts and safety concerns. Key changes in recreational opportunities include: plowing the road from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful to allow access by wheeled vehicles, providing a widened highway corridor to accommodate the Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail (CDST), and providing additional groomed trails for both motorized and non-motorized uses."

The following is pulled directly from the text of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, concerinng Alternative C

Actions Common to All Three Park Units
· Beginning in winter 2002-2003 sell only 10% ethanol blend fuels for all vehicles and synthetic low-emission motor lubrication oils for 2-stroke engines in the parks to address air quality concerns.

· Strictly enforce current sound standards for snowmobiles (at or below 78 decibels on an A-weighted scale at 50 feet at full throttle) and in GTNP, for snowplanes (at or below 86 decibels on an A-weighted scale at 50 feet at full throttle) to address concerns about sound, and continue to support ongoing research to develop field-reliable methods of testing oversnow vehicle noise levels.

· Implement an information program on snow and trail conditions, points of interest, and available winter recreation activities. This information program would be implemented in part through partnerships that establish national park visitor contact opportunities in gateway communities and utilize state tourism program resources.

Actions for Yellowstone National Park
· To provide more opportunities for winter use activities, increase the number of groomed trails for both motorized and nonmotorized uses.

¨ To provide more opportunities for a motorized experience on narrower and less maintained trails (zone 6), groom the following additional areas for trail use:
v Utility road southeast of Norris
v Natural Bridge
v Gull Point Drive
v Lake Butte Drive

¨ To provide more opportunities for nonmotorized trail experiences, groom portions of the following additional areas (zone 8):
v Indian Creek
v Norris
v Fountain Flats Road
v Lower Geyser Basin (Old Faithful)
v Riverside Drive
v West Entrance (The Barns)

· Improve affordability by adding wheeled-vehicle access to the park's interior:

¨ Plow the road from West Yellowstone to Madison and Madison to Old Faithful throughout the winter season (zone 2). This road would remain open to the public throughout the fall but would close from mid-March to mid-April.

· Provide a greater range of winter recreation opportunities through the following actions:

¨ Provide winter campsites in the park interior (for example, Old Faithful).

¨ Maintain groomed motorized routes (zone 4) from mid-December to mid-March from the East Entrance to Fishing Bridge, Fishing Bridge to West Thumb, West Thumb to the South Entrance, and West Thumb to Old Faithful.

¨ Maintain all other routes (Mammoth to Norris, Norris to Canyon, Canyon to Fishing Bridge, and Norris to Madison) as groomed motorized routes (zone 4) from about mid-December to mid-February.

¨ From mid-February to mid-March, open the road from Norris to Canyon and Canyon to Fishing Bridge only for regularly scheduled mass transit snowcoaches (zone 3). This would provide opportunities to ski or snowshoe in a quiet environment.

¨ From mid-February to mid-March, plow the road from Mammoth to Norris and Norris to Madison (zone 2) to allow continued late season access from the North Entrance to Old Faithful.

¨ Allow a planning and implementation period of 2 years; for example, the plowing proposed for the interior sections of park road would not begin until 2002-2003.

¨ Extend the length of the winter use season from the South Entrance to West Thumb by two weeks from mid-March to the beginning of April.

· Provide better visitor service by increasing the size and number of warming huts and other day-use facilities. Place warming huts and restrooms at popular ski trailheads (for example, Tower), as support for motorized travel and staging areas (for example, Norris), and where existing facility size is currently inadequate to handle the dual function of warming hut and interpretive program staging area (for example, Canyon). Provide four to five additional facilities.

Actions for Grand Teton and the Parkway
· Plow the Moose-Wilson Road and Antelope Flats Road to provide more opportunities for visitors who wish to drive through the park (zone 2).

· Provide opportunities for oversnow motorized use on groomed trails (zone 6):

¨ The CDST would be accommodated on a widened highway shoulder for much of the distance from Moran to Flagg Ranch. Periodically along this length, where resource conditions and grooming requirements can be met, the trail would depart from the edge of the highway to provide a scenic diversion especially between Colter Bay and Flagg Ranch.

¨ Grassy Lake Road.

¨ From the south boundary near Jackson to Moran along the eastern park boundary.

· To provide more opportunities for oversnow motorized use, develop ungroomed trails (zone 7, except that clean and quiet technologies would not be required) from Taggart Lake Trailhead to the summit of Signal Mountain and to Jackson Lake Junction.

· Provide opportunities for both snowmobile and snowplane use on the frozen surface of Jackson Lake (zone 7, except clean and quiet technologies would not be required).

· Provide opportunities for nonmotorized uses on groomed trails at Gros Ventre Campground and Two Ocean Lake (zone 8).

· Provide opportunities for nonmotorized uses on ungroomed trails from Taggart Lake Trailhead to Signal Mountain, and near Moose, Colter Bay, Death Canyon, Granite Canyon, and Flagg Ranch (zone 9).

· Continue the destination and support facilities at Moose, Triangle X, Flagg Ranch, and Colter Bay. Open campground facilities and overnight accommodations at Colter Bay. Add warming hut facilities at Jenny Lake, Signal Mountain area, and Two Ocean Lake to enhance visitor services and interpretive opportunities.

The Following is pulled directly from the Final Emvironmantal Impact Statement concerninv Alternative G, the Preferred Alternative:

Alternative G-Preferred Alternative
This alternative emphasizes clean, quiet access to the parks using the technologies available today. It would allow oversnow motorized access via NPS-managed snowcoach only. Other key changes in recreational opportunities include: eliminating winter plowing on the Colter Bay to Flagg Ranch route, making Flagg Ranch adestination via oversnow transport, elimination of the CDST through the park, and eliminating all winter motorized use on Jackson Lake.

This alternative addresses the full range of issues regarding safety, natural resource impacts, and visitor experience and access. It addresses the issues in a way that would make it necessary for local economies to adapt, and for snowmobile users to access the parks using a different mode of transport. See Figure 8. Alternative G for YNP, and Figure 14. Alternative G for GTNP and the Parkway.

Actions and Assumptions Common to all Three Park Units
· Permit only NPS-managed mass transit snowcoaches on designated oversnow roads.21

· Through the permitting process phase out all oversnow vehicles that do not meet the best available environmental standards for oversnow mass transit travel. Currently, the mass transit oversnow vehicle that produces the lowest emissions is the conversion van mat track.22

· Allow mass transit snowcoaches only when their sound levels are at or below 75 decibels as measured on the A-weighted scale at 50 feet at full throttle. Continue to work with snowcoach manufacturers and operators to meet a long-term goal to lower snowcoach sound levels to 70 decibels or lower.

· Require all new oversnow vehicles purchased by the parks to conform to the best environmental standards available, and that other vehicles are retrofitted whenever possible with new technologies designed to lower sound and emission levels.

· Prohibit late night oversnow travel from about 11 P.M. to 6 A.M.

· Implement an information program on snow and trail conditions, points of interest, and available recreational opportunities. Through partnerships, establish park visitor contact opportunities in gateway communities and utilize state tourism program resources.

· Allow a planning and implementation period of 3 (three) years.

¨ In the winters of 2001-2003, allow existing commercial snowcoach operators to increase

their fleet size and encourage snowmobile and other new operators to purchase

coaches and reduce snowmobile numbers.

¨ In 2002-2003 allow snowmobile use at a maximum of 50% of the current use level, at the South and West Entrances of YNP. Current snowmobile use levels would be maintained from the East and North Entrances of YNP.

¨ In 2002-2003 for GTNP eliminate snowmobile use on the Teton Park Road and all motorized use on Jackson Lake.

¨ In 2003-2004, all oversnow motorized visitor travel in the parks would be by snowcoach. Close the CDST through GTNP.

· This alternative includes an affirmative commitment to implement strategies designed to provide a reasonable level of affordable access to winter park visitors.

· Continue scientific studies and monitoring regarding winter visitor use and park resources. Close selected areas of the park, including sections of roads, to visitor use if scientific studies indicate that human presence or activities have a detrimental effect on wildlife or other park resources that could not otherwise be mitigated. The appropriate level of environmental assessment under NEPA will be completed for all actions as required by CEQ regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508).

¨ Give a 1-year notice before any closure is implemented unless immediate closure is deemed necessary to avoid impairment of park resources.

Actions for Yellowstone National Park
· Continue all existing groomed motorized routes (zone 3). Evaluate snowcoach service on the East Entrance Road if safety goals can be met. Management of avalanche danger on the East Entrance Road may mean unscheduled closures of the road to all travel.

· Provide nonmotorized opportunities (e.g., skiing and snowshoeing) (zones 8 and 9). Examples of existing roads or trails that would be groomed include Fountain Flats Road and portions of the East Entrance road.

· Where feasible, set parallel tracks on one or both sides of the snow roads to facilitate nonmotorized access.

· Increase interpretive opportunities related to the unique aspects of the winter environment by providing interpretive programs at destination areas and warming huts. Provide guided interpretive programs for organized groups on snowcoaches. Provide interpretive ski and snowshoe tours and programs such as near Tower, Canyon, Mammoth, Old Faithful, West Thumb, Madison, and West Entrance.

· Restrict nonmotorized uses in wildlife winter ranges and thermal areas to travel on designated routes or trails (zones 8 and 9).

· Implement the winter use season during the period from late November to mid-March.

· Reduce administrative snowmobile use from the 106 currently used and supplement with administrative snowcoaches, subject to available funding. Phase a limited number of administrative snowmobiles to a type that meet the best available emission and sound limits.

· Continue allowing personal non-recreation use of snowmobiles by employees and their families living in the interior of Yellowstone; however, subject to available funding, provide administrative snowcoaches for their use and encourage them to replace their current snowmobiles with clean and quiet machines.

· Allow limited use of snowmobiles by concessionaires. Require clean and quiet technologies as they are developed (through permit and contracts) and encourage the use of snowcoaches.

Actions for Grand Teton and the Parkway
· Provide opportunities for oversnow motorized trail use (zone 3) by snowcoaches only on the unplowed, groomed surface of the highway from Colter Bay to Flagg Ranch, and north into Yellowstone and the Grassy Lake Road

· The park would continue to provide access to inholdings and adjacent public and private lands using motorized means. This access would be a combination of plowed roads for wheeled-vehicle access, and staging areas for snowmachines traveling to immediately adjacent lands.

· Provide opportunities for nonmotorized ungroomed winter trail use (zone 9):
¨ On the Teton Park Road from Taggert Lake Trailhead to Signal Mountain.
¨ On Antelope Flats.
¨ Near Colter Bay and Two Ocean Lake.
¨ On the unplowed portion of the Moose-Wilson road.

· Continue destination and support facilities at Moose, Triangle X, Colter Bay, and Flagg Ranch, and add warming hut facilities along the Teton Park Road to provide visitor services and interpretive opportunities that focus on nonmotorized uses (zone 1).

· Limit backcountry nonmotorized use to designated routes to address wildlife issues in certain wildlife winter ranges, or close certain areas to all use.· Winterize facilities at Colter Bay to provide a suitable staging area for snowcoach access.

· Discontinue the motorized use of Jackson Lake's frozen surface (no snowplanes or snowmobiles).

· Increase interpretive opportunities related to the unique aspects of the winter environment by providing interpretive programs at destination areas and warming huts. Provide guided interpretive programs for organized groups on snowcoaches. Provide interpretive ski and snowshoe tours and programs at locations such as Moose, Colter Bay, and Flagg Ranch visitor services.

· Phase in administrative snowmobile types that meet the best available emission and sound limits. Administrative use of snowmobiles in Grand Teton is limited to law enforcement, utility and maintenance access, and search and rescue or other use as approved by the superintendent. Converting this use to snowcoaches would limit the ability of park employees to respond effectively to emergencies in these areas.