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Parks will open for season thanks to Wyo. decision
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JOYCE EDLEFSEN -- jedlefsen@uvsj.com
In a move that complies with conflicting federal court orders, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks will be open Dec. 15 for the season for snowmobiles and snowcoaches -- weather permitting.
Compliance with a federal judge in Wyoming will eliminate the uncertainty about snowmobile and snowcoach access in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks this winter.
The U.S. District Court in Wyoming has ordered the National Park Service to reinstate a 2004 winter rule, which will allow snowmobile and snowcoach access in Yellowstone and Grand Teton this winter at the same levels as last.
The opening of the parks by Dec. 15 had been threatened in September when a federal judge in Washington, D.C., rejected the parks' latest winter-use plan, thereby prohibiting snowmobile and snowcoach access without a new regulation.
In response to that ruling, the National Park Service quickly began working on a new temporary plan to try to get the parks open by the usual opening date, Dec. 15.
The preferred alternative in the temporary plan called for limited, managed snowmobile and snowcoach access in the parks at a level lower than what the Wyoming ruling will now allow.
Given the newer, Wyoming ruling, the Park Service will publish a rule in the Federal Register to reinstate the 2004 rule in accordance with the Wyoming court's order.
"We're actually following both court orders," Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said. Both judges called for the Park Service to return to the work tables to develop a better winter use plan.
The news is a mixed bag for industry around the parks.
The manager of one Island Park snowmobile rental company said what happens with Yellowstone affects his business, but not directly.
"It does, but it doesn't," said Ryan Funke at Highmountain Adventures in Island Park.
He said the threat of the parks being closed affects the whole snowmobiling industry in the area, even those companies like his that don't guide snowmobiles into the park.
"The park is the draw, particularly for people who have never visited there in the winter." Funke said.
Typically he will have customers that plan to spend a week in the area, snowmobiling four days outside the park, for example, and three days inside it.
If the park is closed, the draw is gone for those customers and he loses their business.
Uncertainty also affects the industry because snowmobile fleets must be ordered almost a year in advance.
Since about 2000, when the first attempts to reduce access to the park by unguided two-cylinder snowmobiles began, the industry has faced uncertainty.
"It's scary," said Funke, who was working in West Yellowstone, Mont., the mecca of Yellowstone rental companies, in 2000. "I wish they would give us a year's notice."
According to the Park Service, the parks will operate under this reinstated rule for this winter season, which will also allow the Park Service time to analyze public comments received on the temporary plan and its supporting proposed rule to guide a long-term planning process for winter use in the parks as directed in the orders issued by both federal courts.
Public comment on the temporary plan ended Monday, and the comment deadline on the supporting rules will end at midnight Thursday.
What the reinstatement of the 2004 rule means is up to 720 commercially
guided, best-available-technology snowmobiles and up to 78 snowcoaches will be allowed per day in Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone's East Entrance and Sylvan Pass will be open for motorized and non-motorized oversnow travel, subject to weather and safety constraints.
The 2004 rule also addresses snowmobile access in Grand Teton and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, including access along Grassy Lake Road, and on Jackson Lake for licensed anglers.
According to the Park Service, an average of about 296 snowmobiles a day
entered Yellowstone in the past two winters. The park's peak day was during last December, when 557 snowmobiles entered the park. Given the uncertainty caused by lawsuits on winter use, park managers forecast use levels for this winter to remain near these levels.
Funke said bookings for snowmobile rentals at his Island Park business were slow in coming this fall, but with the decrease in fuel prices in the past couple of weeks, bookings have picked up for the Christmas, New Years and President's Day holidays and now are on pace to match the past few years.
In a move that complies with conflicting federal court orders, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks will be open Dec. 15 for the season for snowmobiles and snowcoaches -- weather permitting.
Compliance with a federal judge in Wyoming will eliminate the uncertainty about snowmobile and snowcoach access in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks this winter.
The U.S. District Court in Wyoming has ordered the National Park Service to reinstate a 2004 winter rule, which will allow snowmobile and snowcoach access in Yellowstone and Grand Teton this winter at the same levels as last.
The opening of the parks by Dec. 15 had been threatened in September when a federal judge in Washington, D.C., rejected the parks' latest winter-use plan, thereby prohibiting snowmobile and snowcoach access without a new regulation.
In response to that ruling, the National Park Service quickly began working on a new temporary plan to try to get the parks open by the usual opening date, Dec. 15.
The preferred alternative in the temporary plan called for limited, managed snowmobile and snowcoach access in the parks at a level lower than what the Wyoming ruling will now allow.
Given the newer, Wyoming ruling, the Park Service will publish a rule in the Federal Register to reinstate the 2004 rule in accordance with the Wyoming court's order.
"We're actually following both court orders," Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said. Both judges called for the Park Service to return to the work tables to develop a better winter use plan.
The news is a mixed bag for industry around the parks.
The manager of one Island Park snowmobile rental company said what happens with Yellowstone affects his business, but not directly.
"It does, but it doesn't," said Ryan Funke at Highmountain Adventures in Island Park.
He said the threat of the parks being closed affects the whole snowmobiling industry in the area, even those companies like his that don't guide snowmobiles into the park.
"The park is the draw, particularly for people who have never visited there in the winter." Funke said.
Typically he will have customers that plan to spend a week in the area, snowmobiling four days outside the park, for example, and three days inside it.
If the park is closed, the draw is gone for those customers and he loses their business.
Uncertainty also affects the industry because snowmobile fleets must be ordered almost a year in advance.
Since about 2000, when the first attempts to reduce access to the park by unguided two-cylinder snowmobiles began, the industry has faced uncertainty.
"It's scary," said Funke, who was working in West Yellowstone, Mont., the mecca of Yellowstone rental companies, in 2000. "I wish they would give us a year's notice."
According to the Park Service, the parks will operate under this reinstated rule for this winter season, which will also allow the Park Service time to analyze public comments received on the temporary plan and its supporting proposed rule to guide a long-term planning process for winter use in the parks as directed in the orders issued by both federal courts.
Public comment on the temporary plan ended Monday, and the comment deadline on the supporting rules will end at midnight Thursday.
What the reinstatement of the 2004 rule means is up to 720 commercially
guided, best-available-technology snowmobiles and up to 78 snowcoaches will be allowed per day in Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone's East Entrance and Sylvan Pass will be open for motorized and non-motorized oversnow travel, subject to weather and safety constraints.
The 2004 rule also addresses snowmobile access in Grand Teton and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, including access along Grassy Lake Road, and on Jackson Lake for licensed anglers.
According to the Park Service, an average of about 296 snowmobiles a day
entered Yellowstone in the past two winters. The park's peak day was during last December, when 557 snowmobiles entered the park. Given the uncertainty caused by lawsuits on winter use, park managers forecast use levels for this winter to remain near these levels.
Funke said bookings for snowmobile rentals at his Island Park business were slow in coming this fall, but with the decrease in fuel prices in the past couple of weeks, bookings have picked up for the Christmas, New Years and President's Day holidays and now are on pace to match the past few years.
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