Plow Yellowstone movement grows
 Wildlife watchers on the plowed road between Gardiner and Cooke City. ISLAND PARK NEWS photo View Results 
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Plow proponents say plowing will let more people enjoy the park
By ELIZABETH LADEN
WEST YELLOWSTONE — It’s time to think a whole new way about winter access to Yellowstone National Park, says Doug Edgerton, a long time West Yellowstone business owner. Edgerton is part of a grassroots movement, Plow Yellowstone Park, to convince National Park Service (NPS) planners to support plowing roads on Yellowstone’s west side.
David Robinson of West Yellowstone designed the Web site that has started a national conversation about plowing the park and the address is www.plowyellowstone.org .
Plowing west side roads would allow personal and public transportation by wheeled vehicles between West Yellowstone and Gardiner and Cooke City, Montana, and West Yellowstone and Old Faithful.
Edgerton has answers to the main points opponents to plowing make, which are that plowing could harm wildlife, is too expensive, and impacts the snowmobile industry.
Winter access to Yellowstone by oversnow vehicles caters to the elite,” he notes, because it is so expensive to rent the NPS-mandated green snowmobiles and guides, or to purchase a snowcoach ticket. A family of four can spend between $400 and $1,000 on a West Yellowstone to Old Faithful round trip by snowcoach, depending on the model snowcoach, plus lodging and meals. Snowmobiles with a guide are around $100 to $120 per person. This hardly fits the NPS mandate that Yellowstone be accessible to the general public.
And since the NPS restricted snowmobile numbers and initiated the guided “green machine” rule, snowmobile visits to Yellowstone have plummeted, and West Yellowstone’s economy has suffered.
Edgerton said plowing is must less expensive that trail grooming, and he should know. Edgerton manufactures snow-grooming equipment and has worked for years grooming area snowmobile trails and the renowned Rendezvous Ski.
He also noted that when the park closes to wheeled vehicles at the start of November, administrative and construction vehicles still have park access until the heavy snows arrive. When the park closes to oversnow travel in March, administrative and construction vehicles are allowed in as soon as the roads are plowed. Therefore, it’s not accurate to say the park is shut down completely all winter long so wildlife can have a “rest.” That’s an argument offered by people who oppose plowing.
Edgerton says most snowmobile trail groomers cost around $300,000 and cost $100 a mile to operate. They travel at a speed of 8 mph. A snowplow costs around $100,000, costs around $2 a mile to operate, and travels at a speed of 30 mph. Snowmobile trails, including the snow-covered roads in Yellowstone, have to be groomed daily. Roads only need plowing when it snows.
Edgerton said park visitation statistics show the economic benefit of plowed roads. Visitor numbers at the northwest gate, which is open to wheeled vehicles from Mammoth to Cooke City, are much higher than at the west gate during the time the park is closed to wheeled vehicles.
He emphasized that although plowing the west side of Yellowstone would boost the local economy, the better argument, “is all about access, about allowing more than just the very wealthy to enjoy the park year round.”
Edgerton noted that more people entered Yellowstone on the cold, windy weekend that marked the end of the fall season last November than entered the park on the busiest day of the Christmas holidays.
The road between Gardiner and Cooke City that is open to wheeled vehicles year round passes through prime habitat, including breeding and hunting grounds and migration routes for dozens of animal species, Edgerton noted. This alone should indicate that the year-round open road is not a deterrent to wildlife health. Species seen form this road include bison, elk, moose, deer, grizzly and back bears, bighorn sheep, wolves, coyotes, fox, mountain lion, lynx, eagles, owls, trumpeter swans and other waterfowl, and all kinds of songbirds. It is the road most wildlife photographers take to find the best images. It also accesses some fantastic fly-fishing.
The Gardiner to Cooke City road has always been plowed so that children from Cooke can get to school in Gardiner, and to a lesser extent so that workers from Cooke City can reach the mining operations north of Gardiner in Jardine.
Plowing is not a new idea, just one that the snowmobile industry has discarded with vigor. In his book, “Yellowstone and the Snowmobile, Locking Horns Over National Park Use,” writer and former NPS ranger, Michael Yochim, writes that in 1931 community leaders in Cody asked the NPS to plow Yellowstone's roads.
There have always been a few people in West Yellowstone who advocated plowing and in the early 1980’s, one of them, the late Cal Fuller, made a comprehensive study of the costs of plowing vs. trail grooming that has similar conclusions to Edgerton’s arguments for plowing. Fuller also noted that thousands of gallons of gas would be saved when people could drive through the park rather than around it.
Fuller’s ideas were not embraced. He paid dearly for opposing snowmobiling, and was the only West Yellowstone mayor to ever be impeached because he enforced the state of Montana’s statute that forbade snowmobiling on the town’s main street, which is a state highway.
Edgerton said nowadays more and more people are supporting plowing, and they think more businesses in town would benefit if there were year round wheeled access to the park, not just the handful of snowmobile and snowcoach businesses.
The National Environmental Policy Act that requires Yellowstone to have a winter use plan that is environmentally sound also requires that a “range” of alternatives be studied, and preferred alternatives be listed. The final plan is almost always close to one of the preferred alternatives.
On January 29, NPS planners announced that they have once again started public scoping for a long-term winter use plan and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for America’s first national park.
This plan is supposed to manage winter visitation so that park visitors have a range of “appropriate winter opportunities in a suitable setting that they do not impair or irreparably harm park resources or values.”
Scoping is an opportunity early in the planning and EIS process for the public, organizations, and other agencies to suggest issues and alternatives that NPS planners could consider.
“We begin this process with a clear goal: a winter use plan for Yellowstone National Park consistent with the NPS mission, best available sound science, accurate fidelity to the law, and the long-term public interest," said NPS Director Jon Jarvis in January.
He said the EIS would consider a variety of alternatives for managing winter use in the park, including the use of snowmobiles, snowcoaches, and wheeled vehicles. The EIS will evaluate the environmental effects of winter use on air quality and visibility, wildlife, natural soundscapes, employee and visitor health and safety, visitor experience, and socioeconomics.
Plowing has also been offered as a winter use alternative in NPS winter plan proposals and the NPS says it will be considered now, when planners are creating what they hope will be a permanent winter plan.
“We want plowing included as an alternative,” said Edgerton, and “I hope it is listed as a preferred alternative.”
A draft EIS and proposed rule are expected to be released in the spring of 2011 for public review. The NPS intends to complete the EIS process and issue any new regulations prior to the start of the 2011-2012 winter season.
Currently the park is operating under an interim winter use plan in effect through the winter of 2010-2011 while the NPS prepares this long-term plan. This temporary plan allows a maximum of 318 snowmobiles in Yellowstone each day and up to 78 snowcoaches.
Public scoping comments will be accepted until midnight Eastern Time, March 30, 2010. Comments should be substantive, pertinent, and provide new information not available in earlier winter use planning processes.
Submit comments online at: parkplanning.nps.gov/yell. Select "Yellowstone National Park" from the drop down box and then follow the link for the winter use plan.
Comments may be mailed to Winter Use Scoping, Yellowstone National Park, P. O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190.
Comments may be hand-delivered to Yellowstone National Park headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming. Comments will not be accepted by fax, e-mail, or in any other way than those specified above.
This is part of the online edition of Henry's Fork Country.
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