As expected, National Park Service officials Thursday approved a winter-use plan for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks that reduces snowmobile numbers in Yellowstone from past years. The intent is that this plan remain in effect for two winters while Park Service teams develop yet another environmental impact statement on winter recreation in Yellowstone.
A federal judge in Wyoming who in the past has supported higher numbers of snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park ruled Thursday that he could not overturn the National Park Service's decision to cap daily snowmobile numbers at 318 this coming winter.
While there are many, many more cars, trucks, and motorcycles traveling through Yellowstone National Park in summer than snowmobiles in winter, the summer traffic is not quite as polluting, according to park studies. Indeed, a greater problem with air quality in summer stems from forest fires.
What are we to think when a U.S. senator brands Jon Jarvis, a highly respected regional director of the National Park Service, as representing "the extreme policies of the Obama administration"?
Jon Jarvis found himself navigating a tricky path Tuesday during his confirmation hearing as the next director of the National Park Service when questioned about recreational snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park.
Wyoming officials, clearly unhappy with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's take on snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park, have gone back to court to bump up the numbers all the way to 740 per day.
With a new administration in Washington the pendulum on snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park is swinging back towards fewer machines. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday directed the National Park Service to follow a course that could limit recreational snowmobile use in Yellowstone to 318 machines per day for each of the next two winters.
National Park Service officials have finalized winter-use rules for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and quickly drew condemnation for ignoring what's best for the parks' natural resources.
Yellowstone National Park officials, having had their initially preferred winter-use plan shot down by a federal judge, are back with another proposal. This one would allow up to 318 commercially guided snowmobiles, and up to 78 commercially guided snowcoaches, into the park each day.
Officials for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks announced Wednesday that they would prepare yet another environmental study to clear the way for recreational snowmobiling and snowcoach traffic in the parks this winter.
Officials at Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, concerned about a judge's ruling that blocks recreational snowmobiling and snow coach use in the parks, are searching for a way to get around that ruling.
A federal judge, ruling that Yellowstone National Park's decision to continue recreational snowmobile use in the park runs counter to science and the National Park Service's conservation mission, has tossed out the park's winter-use plan.
Preliminary numbers show rising interest in snowcoach tours of Yellowstone National Park in winter and slightly declining interest in snowmobile tours.
There's a section of Yellowstone National Park not too far south of the park's West Entrance where access is tricky no matter what the season. But in winter, when the snow is deep, rogue snowmobilers find their way into the park to play.
Yellowstone National Park officials met earlier this week with several representatives from Wyoming to discuss the options at their disposal for bombing snow-covered mountain slopes in our nation’s first national park. Why? To keep it clear of avalanche danger for the handful of snowmobiles and snowcoaches that enter the park through Sylvan Pass on the park’s east side each day during the winter season.
For longer than the National Park Service has been in business, capitalists have pulled at national parks, looking for a way to get their financial cut of natural resources. Should we be surprised at this behavior? Of course not. Disappointed? I'd like to think so.
Former National Park Service Director Fran Mainella says her bosses in the Interior Department in effect tied her hands on the question of recreational snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park. And now she says science should have the final say in whether snowmobiling continues to be allowed in the park.
Six conservation groups are condemning the National Park Service's decision regarding snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, saying it goes against the core values of the national park system. To right that wrong, the groups said they would seek judicial relief.
A National Park Service script of "Frequently Asked Questions" on the decision to continue snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park is revealing on several fronts.
A day later than planned, National Park Service officials today signed off on their record of decision to continue snowmobile use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. The ROD was called a "shocking stewardship decision" by the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees.
Despite months and months of work and planning, National Park Service officials have failed to get a Record of Decision on snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks signed off on on schedule. But that doesn't mean the upcoming winter season is in limbo. Indeed, a greater threat at this point is lack of snow.
Perplexing. That's my initial reaction to the Environmental Protection Agency's response to the snowmobile decision out of Yellowstone National Park. In five short paragraphs the EPA officials went from seemingly complimenting the decision to saying park planners failed to fully address their concerns.
As the latest decision on permitting snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park draws to conclusion, the question of the impact that decision will have comes up. To those closely following the issue, the National Park Service's stance could have devastating effects across not just the park system, but over all public lands.
The pledge by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar to let science prevail in national park management decisions is nearing its defining test. If science is not supported in Yellowstone, where else in the park system will it have the final say?
Run a breathtaking, and alarming, video of brown bears about to be slaughtered and there's an outpouring of emotion, angst, and vitriol against the National Park Service for allowing such a hunt. Mention that the National Park Service is fully behind snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, where science has demonstrated they're a blight on the landscape, and there's a collective shrug of the shoulders. Has apathy settled in on this issue?
The decision by Yellowstone National Park officials that up to 540 snowmobiles a day should be allowed in the park come winter is supported by the National Park Service's Washington headquarters, which more than likely means another round of court battles is in the offing.
Yellowstone National Park planners seem to have shunted aside science, the public, even their own management guidelines, in their desire to see more snowmobiles in the park by backing a final Environmental Impact Statement on snowmobile use that favors more of the machines in the park than have been in use in recent years. Yet to be seen is whether Park Service Director Mary Bomar will override Yellowstone officials.
What do the National Park Service hierarchy and members of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee know about snowmobiles and their impacts that Yellowstone's scientists, the Environmental Protection Agency, and seven former NPS directors don't know?
The EPA in its formal comments to the Yellowstone snomobile DEIS says the parks' preference to allow as many as 720 snowmobiles in Yellowstone on a daily basis in winter "may not ensure adequate resource protection" and would result in much more pollution than the snowcoach-only alternative.
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