And here we go again................
Park snowmobiling up in the air
published on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:12 PM MDT
By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday’s decision by a federal judge to throw out a winter-use plan for Yellowstone National Park divided locals down old fault lines, but one piece of common ground is the uncertainty about how the decision will shape the look of the park this winter and beyond.
CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO A bison cuts through a line of snowmobile and snowcoach traffic in Yellowstone National Park in this file photo. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan Monday threw out the National Park Service’s winter-use plan, ruling that allowing 540 snowmobiles in Yellowstone every day starting this winter would increase air and noise pollution and disturb wildlife beyond acceptable levels. He ordered the Park Service to redo the plan.
“The Park Service now has to come up with a plan that is in keeping with his decision,” said Amy McNamara, Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s national parks program director. “What that will look like, we don’t know yet.”
But she knows what she would like to see, she said.
“Over the last five years, we’ve had an average of 250 snowmobiles. It would be appropriate to continue that level this year, but begin to phase down,” she said.
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Kerry White, a board member with Citizens for Balanced Use, had a different take on the ruling, which he said violated the spirit of the national park system and “removed all the certainty for winter use in the park this season by throwing out the plan that was 10 years in the making.”
“We think that 540 snowmobiles a day was a real good effort by the Park Service to uphold the mission of the park, which is there for the enjoyment of the people, and we supported that plan,” he said.
Asked whether the decision could be a foreshadowing of the end of snowmobiles in the park, he said no.
“I see it as: The fight continues,” he said.
Yellowstone officials, meanwhile, are trying to anticipate their next steps. This year’s winter season starts Dec. 15.
“It will take some time to analyze the opinion, to review options and to formulate a strategy,” park spokesman Al Nash said. “It is too early to speculate what this winter might look like.”
Park officials’ ability to digest Sullivan’s ruling was slowed by the fact that many of its employees who worked on the winter-use plan were in Wyoming for **** arguments before U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer, who is hearing another lawsuit concerning the park’s winter-use plan.
All this uncertainty all over again as to the fate of snowmobiling in the park is bad for West Yellowstone business, the town’s mayor said Tuesday.
The judge’s decision “goes out to national media and we have to spend an immense amount of time to go out and say, ‘Yes, we will be open,” Drew Barney said. “It’s basically two judges making decisions and we sit in the middle. We’re the ones who get hurt.”
In Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., said the ruling was like “a referee choosing a winner after the game clock has expired” and had been issued by a judge who “probably doesn’t know the difference between a cow and a Kawasaki.”
“This is a slap in the face,” Rehberg said. “It hurts small businesses in Montana. It completely ignores public access, and it undermines a cornerstone of our way of life.”
And U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said: “We have to do a better job at finding an effective balance between allowing snowmobile access and preserving the outdoor heritage of the park.”
Daniel Person can be reached at dperson@dailychronicle.com or 582-2665.
Park snowmobiling up in the air
published on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:12 PM MDT
By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday’s decision by a federal judge to throw out a winter-use plan for Yellowstone National Park divided locals down old fault lines, but one piece of common ground is the uncertainty about how the decision will shape the look of the park this winter and beyond.
CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO A bison cuts through a line of snowmobile and snowcoach traffic in Yellowstone National Park in this file photo. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan Monday threw out the National Park Service’s winter-use plan, ruling that allowing 540 snowmobiles in Yellowstone every day starting this winter would increase air and noise pollution and disturb wildlife beyond acceptable levels. He ordered the Park Service to redo the plan.
“The Park Service now has to come up with a plan that is in keeping with his decision,” said Amy McNamara, Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s national parks program director. “What that will look like, we don’t know yet.”
But she knows what she would like to see, she said.
“Over the last five years, we’ve had an average of 250 snowmobiles. It would be appropriate to continue that level this year, but begin to phase down,” she said.
Advertisement
Kerry White, a board member with Citizens for Balanced Use, had a different take on the ruling, which he said violated the spirit of the national park system and “removed all the certainty for winter use in the park this season by throwing out the plan that was 10 years in the making.”
“We think that 540 snowmobiles a day was a real good effort by the Park Service to uphold the mission of the park, which is there for the enjoyment of the people, and we supported that plan,” he said.
Asked whether the decision could be a foreshadowing of the end of snowmobiles in the park, he said no.
“I see it as: The fight continues,” he said.
Yellowstone officials, meanwhile, are trying to anticipate their next steps. This year’s winter season starts Dec. 15.
“It will take some time to analyze the opinion, to review options and to formulate a strategy,” park spokesman Al Nash said. “It is too early to speculate what this winter might look like.”
Park officials’ ability to digest Sullivan’s ruling was slowed by the fact that many of its employees who worked on the winter-use plan were in Wyoming for **** arguments before U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer, who is hearing another lawsuit concerning the park’s winter-use plan.
All this uncertainty all over again as to the fate of snowmobiling in the park is bad for West Yellowstone business, the town’s mayor said Tuesday.
The judge’s decision “goes out to national media and we have to spend an immense amount of time to go out and say, ‘Yes, we will be open,” Drew Barney said. “It’s basically two judges making decisions and we sit in the middle. We’re the ones who get hurt.”
In Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., said the ruling was like “a referee choosing a winner after the game clock has expired” and had been issued by a judge who “probably doesn’t know the difference between a cow and a Kawasaki.”
“This is a slap in the face,” Rehberg said. “It hurts small businesses in Montana. It completely ignores public access, and it undermines a cornerstone of our way of life.”
And U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said: “We have to do a better job at finding an effective balance between allowing snowmobile access and preserving the outdoor heritage of the park.”
Daniel Person can be reached at dperson@dailychronicle.com or 582-2665.
