Roads ready: Yellowstone Park set for winter opening
With new plan in place, snowmobiles will enter under temporary limits
By MIKE STARK Of The Gazette Staff
Yellowstone National Park is poised to open its winter season on Wednesday.
A final rule implementing a long-term plan for snowmobiling in the park - and allowing temporary rules to remain in place this winter - was published in the Federal Register on Thursday, the last major hurdle for the Dec. 19 opening.
"We will be ready to open to over-snow travel as scheduled next Wednesday unless Mother Nature throws us a left hook," said Al Nash, a Yellowstone spokesman.
Snowfall in recent weeks has packed onto roads throughout the park, and groomers have been busy getting roads ready.
In spots, there's up to 22 inches of snow and other places there's only a few inches, said Colin Campbell, Yellowstone's deputy superintendent.
Some of the thinnest spots are in Hayden Valley, Fountain Flats and Swan Lake Flats, Nash said, but that's typical for this time of year. The weather forecast indicates a chance of snow between today and next week.
Park Service crews on Wednesday conducted hazard mitigation operations on Sylvan Pass, successfully using the howitzer to trigger an avalanche. The pass is now in the process of being groomed.
Roads will be ready for over-snow traffic throughout the park except for northern portions of the park, including the Lamar Valley, where cars, trucks and other wheeled vehicles are allowed.
Park officials were facing a tight timeline for this year's opening.
A final long-term plan for snowmobiling and snowcoaches in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks had to be on the federal books before the planned opening Dec. 19.
The plan includes the extension of temporary rules for this winter, meaning that up to 720 snowmobiles a day will be allowed into Yellowstone as long as they meet noise and pollution guidelines. All riders will have to be with a commercial guide. Up to 78 snowcoaches will be allowed each day.
The long-term rules go into effect the winter of 2008-2009. That will allow up to 540 snowmobiles a day - all of them commercially guided and meeting "best available technology" requirements. Up to 83 snowcoaches a day will be allowed.
Published on Friday, December 14, 2007. Last modified on 12/14/2007 at 1:03 am
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Shouldn't there be similar restrictions on the number of vehicles allowed in the Park during the summer? Can the Park infrastructure handle the amount of vehicles now being used in the Park? Can the air exchange handle the amount of pollution coming from these vehicles? How about the number of people allowed in the park? Can the system handle the amount of trash and sewage generated by all these people?
If the Park Service is going to restrict one portion of useage, I think ALL useage needs to be looked at.
I would have to agree with Jpoe. The large bus sized motorcoaches, that generally have only 2 occupants, belch out a lot more noxious fumes, and a lot more noise than even a Yamaha Mountain Max sled. Even the large tour buses fall under the same, if not worse, category as the large motor coaches. As far as disturbing the wildlife, what do you think happens when 50 tourist with instimatic cameras jump out of a bus, and crowd around an animal. Especially since the closest these tourist have ever been to an animal like what you find in Yellowstone, is either in a Tokyo or New York petting zoo. At least MOST snowmobilers have outdoor and animal knowledge to better coexist in the winter environment.
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