May 2002
Park Service issues decision to phase out snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks
In November 2000, after a three-year public process that included 22 public hearings and over 65,000 public comments, the National Park Service issued a decision to phase out snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks over a four-year period. The decision -- based on a decade of scientific studies by university researchers and government agencies -- found that snowmobiles are damaging the parks' wildlife, clean air, natural sounds and quiet, as well as the unique experiences that Americans expect to find in their national parks.
What You Can Do ?Please comment by May 29 Please write the Park Service in your own words. Just two or three sentences will make a big impression if they are uniquely yours. If you want snowmobiles removed from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, express your support for "Alternative 1a" in the supplemental winter use study. Be sure to include your name and return address, and send your letter to the National Park Service by May 29. Send your comments via:
You can read the supplemental winter use study by visiting: http://www.nps.gov/grte/winteruse/intro.htm Now is the time to write the Park Service and say that Yellowstone National Park deserves and needs a better form of winter access. |
However, at the urging of snowmobile industry, Interior Secretary Gale Norton directed the Park Service to reconsider its decision, claiming that science and technology had not been adequately studied in the original decision. The resulting Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement [SEIS] contains no new scientific or technological information. In fact, the SEIS itself points out that the snowmobile industry failed to provide the Park Service with any significant evidence that was not already part of the original decision to phase out snowmobile use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency reasserted its statement of three years ago by contending that phasing out snowmobiles "would provide the best available protection to human health, wildlife, air quality, water quality, soundscapes, visitor experiences and visibility."
To millions of Americans Yellowstone National Park is a place of continuing inspiration. No matter how changed the rest of the world becomes, Congress intended Yellowstone to be that place where your kids and grandkids would always experience pure air and natural wonder.
Four times in three years, Americans have urged the National Park Service to remove snowmobile use from Yellowstone in favor of people-friendly, park-friendly snowcoaches. This national call for protecting the park is now reaching its most important moment. A snowmobile industry lawsuit forced yet another study at taxpayer expense. This study showed that even the newest snowmobiles would produce more pollution, noise, and risk to Yellowstone's wildlife than snowcoaches.
Those responsible for deciding the park's future must not ignore the wishes of the American public in deference to an industry's desire to keep its machines in Yellowstone. In your hands is the key. Now is the time to write the Park Service and say that our first national park deserves and needs a better form of winter access.