The Ongoing Yellowstone Snowmobile Debate
At the end of October, 2007, 86 members of Congress signed a letter asking the National Park Service to phase out snowmobile use in Yellowstone during the winter altogether. Read the story in the Seattle Times.
So, what’s the history of snowmobile usage in the Park? Or, in National Parks in general? Andreas Viklund has done the research and published an excerpt of Michael Yochim’s excellent article in his blog entry: History of Snowmobiles in Yellowstone. Over the years, the debate has resulted in lots of things being fired at snowmobiles–including shots–while parks contemplated the issue of providing access for the public v.s. conservation of the national and historic objects, including the wildlife.
Glacier Park, a near neighbor of Yellowstone, banned snowmobile usage way back in 1975, at the first wave of issues involved with the growing snowmobile industry. Glacier’s snowmobile ban became final with the publication of the closure notice in the May 3, 1976, Federal Register. Their main goal was to preserve the silence and serenity of snow covered mountains as they have existed for millennia before man appeared on the scene at all.
Yellowstone, on the other hand, wooed winter tourism in a variety of ways. Snowplanes and snowcoaches were important to the winter economy long before personal snowmobiles were ever mass produced, back in the 1940s and 1950s. Hotels were opened and winter roads were groomed. Then, in 1963, snowmobiles were first used in the park. Superintendent Anderson designated all of Yellowstone’s roads south of Mammoth Hot Springs as official snowmobile routes on May 7, 1974.
That the open invitation to snowmobile Yellowstone was successful is evident in the numbers, since around seventy thousand machines carrying eighty-five thousand visitors entered the park each winter by the 1990s.
Then the plan changed. In 2000, Yellowstone’s winter use plan mandated the banning of snowmobiles from the park. West Yellowstone, situated at the West entrance of Yellowstone National Park, long hailed as the snowmobile capital of the world, along with various snowmobile organizations, started the long process of gathering information and trying to come up with a winter use plan that would satisfy everyone’s needs.
Those mandating snowmobile use in the park raise such issues as: 1) around 1.8 million vehicles enter the park over the year, many of them buses and RVs, and other types of vehicles that cause more pollution than snowmobiles, and nobody is suggesting limits on how many of them can enter the park or having them banned; 2) 4-cycle snowmobiles allowed into the park have reduced pollution, in both emissions and noise; 3) All access in the park must be guided with current regulations, whether by snowmobile or snowcoach.
ISMA (International Snowmobile Manufacturer’s Association) released information about a recently conducted research in July, 2007.
Their stand is that there can be continued usage in National Parks without any adverse impacts on: air quality, wildlife, or soundscapes.
But, in the end, it all comes down to what snowmobilers are willing to do in order to keep visiting the hotsprings, geysers, mud pots, and other thermal features of Yellowstone National Park during the winter months. The temporary daily limit of snowmobile permits has been for 720 snowmobiles. Yellowstone Park service is recommending a 540 snowmobile cap for the coming year. But the interesting thing is how many snowmobilers actually jumped through the hoops and regulations last year to visit? A mere 290 per day, according to figures provided by Yellowstone.
Yes, for decades Yellowstone was the #1 “must ride” snowmobile destination for snowmobilers across North America. But the funny thing we discovered when we finally made it to Yellowstone was that it wasn’t sledding in the park everybody was raving about. Instead, it was West Yellowstone’s trails that everybody recalled in their post-Yellowstone “it was the time of my life” stories.
It’s human nature that as soon as we’re told we have to give up something we’ve always had–that we’re going to fight to keep it. However, all studies seem to show that the restrictions in place are providing the environmental protection. In fact, it seems to me that the situation is taking care of itself. Snowmobiling is supposed to be about fun, not creating a paper trail of permissions, so naturally, sledder interest in Yellowstone will decline.
The numbers show that more and more winter enthusiasts are quite willing to take the snowcoach in to marvel at the wonders of nature that made Yellowstone the first National Park, way back in 1872, and that sledders are enjoying the trails everyone’s been raving about for decades out of West Yellowstone.
Take a virtual ride with us as we hit West Yellowstone’s trails.
by Linda Aksomitis,
Managing Editor for SnowRider Online Magazine
and www.guide2travel.ca
