Snowmobile usage in Yellowstone N.P.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Greater Yellowstone Area Winter Use Plan (snowmobiles) is released. They are accepting comments on this plan up to October 31st.

URL: http://www.nps.gov/planning/yell/winterfinal/

You can email comments to: mailto:[log in to unmask]

The National Park Services prefered alternative (Alternative G) is the best overall alternative. I have gone over the final summary and believe that it is the best overall alternative. It has addressed many of the concerns that environmentalist were concerned about. Specifically....Snowmobiles! It bans them compleately from the park once the plan is fully implemented.

Below is the Newsrelease from the National Park Service and a correspondence from David Cowan of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and their sample letter at the very bottom.

Please send in your comments on this important Final Environmental Impact Statement.

News Release*******************

FINAL WINTER USE PLAN/ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT STATEMENT FOR YELLOWSTONE AND

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARKS RELEASED

The final Winter Use Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)) for the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway is now available to the public. The document contains a range of winter use management alternatives for the parks, including a revised preferred alternative that emphasizes cleaner, quieter, National Park Service (NPS)-managed mass-transit oversnow access to the parks using existing transportation technologies. The final decision on how winter use will be managed and how changes will be implemented in the three parks will be determined in the Record of Decision (ROD). Pursuant to a court-ordered deadline, the ROD is scheduled to be signed in November 2000.>

The revised preferred alternative (Alternative G in the draft EIS) addresses a full range of issues regarding safety, natural resource impacts, and visitor experience and access. Under this alternative, motorized visitor access to the parks will be via NPS-managed snowcoaches beginning the winter of 2003-2004. (The three-year implementation period allows existing snowcoach operators to increase their fleet size and encourages snowmobile and other new operators to purchase coaches and reduce snow- mobile numbers.) The alternative would implement strategies that provide a reasonable level of affordable access to winter park visitors. Snowcoaches would be required to meet the best available emission standards and established sound levels; and for safety reasons, oversnow travel would be prohibited from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Scientific and monitoring studies would continue to determine possible impacts on park resources.

The winter use planning process is the result of a May 1997 lawsuit filed by several conservation and animal rights organizations and individuals. If the plaintiffs had prevailed, all winter use of the parks could have been halted until an EIS was completed. The National Park Service opted instead to pursue a settlement agreement with the plaintiffs, which allowed activities to continue under the existing winter use plan while the EIS was prepared according to a prescribed schedule. During the public comment period on the draft EIS (August 15 to December 15, 1999) 46,500 public comments were received, including 6,300 unique letters. This final EIS addresses those comments and concerns.

After the final EIS is published, there will be a 30-day waiting period before the ROD is signed. The NPS will accept written comments on the document from the day the final EIS is released until October 31, 2000. The NPS encourages comments on the final EIS preferred alternative since it is different from the preferred alternative proposed in the draft EIS.

Written comments can be addressed to:

National Park Service

12795 West Alameda Parkway

or submitted through the Internet at the National Park Service website at [log in to unmask] Comments transmitted by facsimile machine will not be considered. Written comments must be postmarked on or before October 31, 2000.

The document will be available on the Internet at the National Park Service web site http://www.nps.gov/planning by Monday, October 10, 2000. Copies will also be available at local libraries. Written requests for full copies of the document (paper copy or CD ROM) should be directed to Clifford Hawkes at the address above.

From David at Greater Yellowstone Coalition,

GYC does support the Park Service's preferred alternative in the FEIS. Below

is an action alert being sent to our email activists. Please visit our web
site
http://www.greateryellowstone.org for latest news releases and updates on
the
FEIS and winter access to Yellowstone. Thanks for your inquiry and please
give
me a call (406.586.1593) if you have further questions.

Sincerely,

David Cowan

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Date: Thu, Oct 12, 2000, 4:03 PM

Dear Friend of Yellowstone,

Thanks to your input during the past year, the National Park Service is
poised to make a bold decision on behalf of Yellowstone National Park and
future generations.

YOU CAN HELP MAKE IT FINAL!

The Park Service announced this week that it plans to uphold laws and
restore the health and character of Yellowstone in winter. It provided one
last opportunity for the public to comment by
October 31. Your encouragement will help push this historic step to restore
Yellowstone across the finish line.

Please take a moment to send the letter at the bottom of this message, or to
write your own email. And please share this message with friends or
colleagues who care about Yellowstone's
future.

THE PROBLEM:

An annual flood of 75,000 snowmobiles into Yellowstone has resulted in
constant noise and polluted air, stressed wildlife and visitors saddened by
a beloved park in decline.

THE SOLUTION:

Citing laws, science and public opinion, the Park Service has announced it
will phase out snowmobile use in Yellowstone by the winter of 2003-2004 and
substitute a broader system of quieter and cleaner snowcoaches, which will
carry up to ten visitors at a time to their destinations within the park.

This change will not restrict the use of snowmobiles on private, state and
federal lands outside the park or on tens of thousands of miles of groomed
trails across the country. Only in Yellowstone.

PLEASE TAKE A FEW SECONDS TO THANK THE PARK SERVICE AND ENCOURAGE THIS
HISTORIC STEP TO RESTORE YELLOWSTONE!

Comments will be accepted until October 31 and snowmobile manufacturers are
attempting to weaken the final decision.

Please cut and paste the email below and send it today to:

[log in to unmask]
Or write your own message. BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS SO YOUR
COMMENT WILL BE COUNTED.

You can get more information about the Park Service plan at:
http://www.nps.gov/planning

This message was sent to you by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition,
[log in to unmask]

-------------------

Dear Park Service,

Thank you for taking steps to restore clean air and quiet and reduce stress
to wildlife in Yellowstone National Park.

I support your plan to phase out snowmobile use in the park and substitute
snowcoach access, which will carry visitors to their destinations in the
park with less impact on wildlife and other park resources.

We need places in this country where we can get a break from noise, stress
and air pollution. Thank you for upholding laws passed to keep Yellowstone
such a place for our kids and grandkids.

Sincerely,

[your name]
[your address]

--
Rex Bavousett
Sierra Club
Iowa City Area Group Chair
Iowa Chapter Webmaster
45 Juniper Ct. North Liberty, IA 52317
[log in to unmask]
319-626-7862 home
319-384-0053 work
319-384-0055 fax
http://www.iowa.sierraclub.org/