Conservationists: Americans and Yellowstone National Park DeserveBetter

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/1121-06.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOVEMBER 21, 2007

3:10 PM

CONTACT: National Parks Conservation Association

Amy McNamara, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, (406) 586-1593

Chris Mehl, The Wilderness Society, (406) 581-4992

Tim Stevens, National Parks Conservation Association, (406) 223-3137

or (406) 222-1567

Conservationists: Americans and Yellowstone National Park Deserve

Better

Regional and National Conservation Organizations Confident that Law,

Science, and the Public's Desire for Access that Preserves the

National Parks Will Prevail

BOZEMAN, MONTANA - November 21 - Regional and national conservation

organizations today agreed that the fast-approaching winter season at

Yellowstone National Park should go forward under the same rules that

governed management of snowmobile and snowcoach access during the past

three winters. That portion of the "Record of Decision" announced

Tuesday by the National Park Service makes sense, they said, given

that the Agency has once again made its decision on the eve of the

winter season.

But conservationists expressed deep disappointment over the National

Park Service's decision to swing the gates of Yellowstone National

Park open--beyond this winter season--to more, not fewer snowmobiles,

despite the Agency's own scientific conclusions that an increase in

snowmobile use above the levels of the past three winters will lead to

more noise, dirtier air and frequent disturbance of wildlife. That

choice ignores the National Park Service's overarching mandate to give

highest priority to conservation of national park resources, the

organizations said.

However, conservationists said they are confident that if Congress

exercises its oversight function and/or the Courts review evidence

that the National Park Service has circumvented its obligations to

emphasize and ensure protection of national park resources, the

decision will not stand beyond 2008. Today, the organizations

announced they would seek a court review.

The conservation organizations are based in Bozeman, Livingston,

Helena, Sheridan, Boise and Washington, D.C. and collectively have

more than two million members. They are: Greater Yellowstone

Coalition, National Parks Conservation Association, The Wilderness

Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Winter Wildlands Alliance,

and Sierra Club.

"The past four seasons have shown that Yellowstone's winter visitors

are increasingly embracing modern snowcoaches and the health of the

Park has improved because of it," said Amy McNamara of the Greater

Yellowstone Coalition. "The National Park Service's decision makes a U-

turn on that progress and will lead to unacceptable impacts in our

first national park."

The National Park Service disclosed in a study accompanying its

decision that allowing 540 snowmobiles to enter Yellowstone each day

will dramatically expand--to 63 square miles--the portion of the Park

where visitors are expected to hear snowmobile noise during more than

half of the visiting day. That would be a three-fold increase from the

current portion of the Park--21 square miles--where noise intrudes on

the visitor's experience during at least half the day.

In that Final Environmental Impact Study accompanying its decision,

the National Park Service notes that Congress established the National

Park Service in 1916 in part due to a recognition that the American

people "wanted places to go that were undisturbed and natural and

which offered a retreat from the rigors and stresses of everyday

life." The study also acknowledges that the noise resulting from

snowmobiles is "concentrated to a large degree around travel corridors

and park attractions and affect the areas most accessible by the vast

majority of park visitors."

The decision announced by the Park Service Tuesday is also at odds

with the top recommendation made by the Agency's own scientists

concerning protection of Yellowstone's wildlife:

"After a three-year study, the Park's own scientists recommended

capping traffic at its-much reduced level to protect winter-stressed

animals from being disturbed and harassed by too many vehicles.

Instead of heeding its scientists, the Park Service has elected to

double snowmobile use from those levels," said Chris Mehl of The

Wilderness Society.

The National Park Service's study, accompanying its decision, also

discloses that the choice of 540 snowmobiles per day will increase

carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate pollution beyond levels

monitored during the past several winters. The study found that all of

these unhealthy gasses in oversnow vehicle exhaust could be

dramatically reduced from recent levels if the National Park Service

chose instead to emphasize snowcoach access and further reduce

snowmobile use or phase it out completely.

"National Parks are supposed to receive the highest level of resource

protection for the benefit of wildlife and future generations of

visitors. The Park Service's plan undermines this conservation

commitment to the American public in its National Park System. This

decision would set a dangerous and unacceptable precedent for the

entire National Park System and that is why we will continue to work

for a better decision," said Tim Stevens of the National Parks

Conservation Association.

Read a letter from former Yellowstone National Park superintendents to

Secretary Kempthorne on this issue

Read a letter from regional and national conservation organizations to

Director Bomar on this issue