Snowmobiles to Stay in Yellowstone

Park Service decision disregards heavy public support for a ban

YELLOWSTONE N.P., WYO. (Published September/October 2002)—Though the people don't want them and science has proven their harm, snowmobiles will continue to roam Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

The National Park Service in June announced that the noisy, polluting machines would remain at the parks with "very strict limitations." Park advocates immediately decried the decision, citing, among other issues, the fact that about 80 percent of the more than 350,000 public comment letters favored a ban. The Park Service received the letters in response to its supplemental environmental impact statement.

"We are very disappointed that the Park Service dismissed the overwhelming public support in favor of the bans," said Steve Bosak, NPCA's director of motorized use. "People believe in protecting the parks, and they understand that is more important than giving a small group of people who want to use snowmobiles the right to pollute and disrupt the park experience for everyone else."

Though the Park Service has yet to provide specifics of the plan, the agency has indicated that it will require snowmobiles with reduced emissions through new technology and may require that those who ride snowmobiles do so on a guided tour or after specialized training. The plan, which may not be released until this winter, would go into effect by winter 2003-2004.

Meanwhile, legislation introduced in the House and Senate, the bipartisan Yellowstone Protection Act, would uphold the snowmobile ban issued in November 2000. NPCA strongly supports the legislation and is working to add co-sponsors.

"The administration has said it will allow snowmobile use in the parks and will work out the details later," NPCA President Tom Kiernan said at a press conference announcing the Yellowstone Protection Act. "This is not the right process."

Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), who introduced the House bill along with Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) said Congress must protect Yellowstone.

"We must do this, not as Republicans or Democrats but as Americans who believe we have a moral obligation to safeguard the world's oldest national park," Holt said.

Following the decision by the Clinton administration in November 2000 to phase the snowmobiles out of the parks by 2001-2002, the snowmobile industry filed a lawsuit. Settling that suit, the Bush administration then ordered further study of snowmobiles in the parks and invited public comment. That invitation drew more than 350,000 comments. In April, the Environmental Protection Agency called a snowmobile ban "the best available protection for the parks."

The snowmobile issue has been hot at Yellowstone since 1997, when an animal rights group, Fund for Animals, sued to force Yellowstone to examine the impact that snowmobile use had on the park's wildlife. Snowmobile advocates contend that a ban would be unfair to riders and also to businesses that rely on snowmobile sales. The issue attracted heavy media attention last winter when rangers at the park began wearing gas masks because of the choking fumes emitted by snowmobiles.

Editor's Note: This piece was published in the September/October 2002 issue. To this day snowmobiles remain a hot issue for our national parks.