URGENT: Write NOW. Snowmobiles vs. skiers, Yellowstone, deadline May29!

[wolffie]

Skiers: do this NOW. If you want snowmobiles banned from Yellowstone, send email to the following, deadline midnight May 29:

 

<grte_winter_use_seis@nps.gov>

 

Tell the Park Service pros that you support Alternative 1a, which reinstates the Clinton ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone.

 

This is a really high-profile issue that has gotten a LOT of national press and it is well worth your time because the Republicrats are watching this closely. The snowmobile ban was one of the last things Clinton did, probably because he knew Frat Boy would repeal it and get dragged through the mud by the environmentalists. If that's you, start dragging. The policy wonks are watching, too, and the noise you make now will affect future decisions about jetskis and other baneful machines (a you read this, someone somewhere is inventing something even worse).

 

For details, go to: www.nps.gov/yell/ and follow the "current issues" and "Winter Use" links.

 

You can even send snail mail to:

 

Winter Use Draft SEIS Comments

Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks

PO Box 352

Moose, WY 83012

 

Don't wait to clean up your weekend gear, do it NOW, or you'll never be able to complain about The Curse again and you'll have to wait 'til somebody invents a shoulder-fired sound-homing missile.

[Fairweather]

Thanks Wolfie,

 

I'll use the link you provided to let the "Republicrats" know I SUPPORT continued use of snowmachines in National Parks with reasonable restrictions.

 

...Why is it you guys think the whole F-ing world sees things through your glasses? (!)

[freeclimb9]

I support use of snowmachines in Yellowstone. It's a critical component of the local economies for the communities surrounding the park to provide for visiting 'bilers. They spend a lot more money than any other user group.

[Son_of_Caveman]

I also support controlled use of snowmachines in Yellowstone. It's good for the local economy.

[Norman_Clyde]

Fairweather, I usually find that your opinions are well founded and your arguments well thought out, even though they are often more conservative than my own. Although I feel a visceral sense of disgust for snow machines, jet skis, and the general mentality they seem to encourage, I do feel that snowmobilers have rights equal to the rest of us. But come on, don't you think there is something relatively unique about the Yellowstone environment, which does not exist anywhere nearby-- namely, the closest approximation to the large mammal wildlife that existed pre-European Conquest-- and that there may be something about snowmobiles that dramatically disrupts the unique environment of this park, which has been so painstakingly protected? Though libertarian/Republican types do not tend to promote non-human interests (wildlife, environment, etc.) as having any intrinsic value, some of us feel that it does, and that some human impacts are more grossly destructive than others-- even if we're just talking smoke and noise. Snowmobilers have other places to go. Those of us seeking the few pathetic remnants of wilderness in the lower 48-- animals and people alike-- have fewer choices. Is it the Federal government's primary responsibility to make Yellowstone safe for snowmobilers? I agree that the economy of West Yellowstone has come to depend on snowmobiling. The agricultural economies of Virginia and North Carolina depend on tobacco, too, and they have plenty of patriotic arguments for why they're different from opium or coca growers in other countries. If snowmobiles don't belong in Yellowstone-- and I believe that they don't-- then they should be banned, and the policy making this ban official should do its best to soften the blow to West Yellowstone.

[freeclimb9]

Clyde,

as I understand it, the snowmachine-packed trails have been of benefit to the large mammals of Yellowstone. They expend less energy walking them, and winter-survival rates are higher. Whether this is good, or bad, is subject to debate.

Snowmachine use in Yellowstone has occurred for five decades. Is this historical use?

[cj001f]

quote:

---

Originally posted by freeclimb9:

as I understand it, the snowmachine-packed trails have been of benefit to the large mammals of Yellowstone. They expend less energy walking them, and winter-survival rates are higher.

---

Yes the well packed trails have benefited the large mammals - they have not benefitted the wolves however - who rely on the advantage of their larger feet. The wolves(and the grizzzlies who scavenge the winter kill carrion) are a much more unique population than the large mammals, who exist in a majority of the "wild" West, and whose numbers have been growing/stable over the past decade.

 

I fail to see the difference in allowing a 4-stroke(i.e. low pollution), muffled snowmobile to use paved tracks - and the hordes of cars in the park between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Christ the snowmobile makers could make a fortune selling these beasts!

 

Carl

[SEF]

The question is decidedly not what we should do to preserve the economic business interests of the town of West Yellowstone or the snowmobile industry. The question to me is what must be done to preserve and protect Yellowstone NP the way the founders of the park intended. I hope my descendents will be able to experience the park in the spirit that it was conceived. That is what guides my vote.

 

For those interested, here is one journalist’s look at the snowmobile issue:

http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=11107

 

In Yellowstone during winter, you cannot easily escape the noise and smell of snowmobiles. In the view of many, it has become a winter theme park for snow machines. Do you really think we are caring for it as our forefathers intended?

 

[Norman_Clyde]

Is there any proposal on the table to require snow machines in the park to be 4 stroke and muffled? If so, it has not been publicized very well. A kinder, gentler snowmobile might have only about as much impact as a car, but I suspect it could still be higher impact (because I bet there are more miles of trail than miles of road within the park, allowing snowmobiles to disturb a greater overall area than cars). I agree that the hordes of summer yahoos in Yellowstone make it seem more like a glorified theme park than wilderness. But two wrongs don't make a right. I don't want winter to catch up to, or surpass, summer in terms of human impact.

[Fairweather]

Many people assume that 100% of National Parks are designated Wilderness. This is not the case. I oppose snowmachine use in existing Wilderness Areas. However, use of these beasts in non-wilderness areas of our national parks is, and should be allowed to continue. Yellowstone is a HUGE park. May I suggest that the skiers are the user group with vastly more sruare miles at their disposal. Ditto, MRNP. Why the hell can't snowmachines use hyw 410 when it is closed in the winter?

 

I've never driven, used, been a proponent of snowmobiles.....but we're not talking "new intrusion" here by these folks. We're talking about taking away something from a well established user group. We're talking sour grapes. We're talking elitism.

 

Norman, I can sincerely appreciate your position on this matter. Indeed, I sympathize to a large degree. But re the photo posted above (skier and snowmachines)... what's to keep the skier from being the one kicked out of that scene? After all, he will likely be entering designated wilderness when he leaves the road, and his skis could be considered "mechanical" devices by some fringe/purist user group who could go on to petition the NP to ban these "machines" as well. Ditto snowshoes.

I just think we need to live within existing rules and stop trying to torpedo the "other group". As for the impacts on wildlife....I am not well-read on the Yelowstone science, but I suspect that studies could be cited that support both sides of the issue.

 

[ 05-25-2002, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: Fairweather ]