On a temporary basis, the Park Service is proposing to allow 318 snowmobiles per day in Yellowstone and 50 snowmobiles per day in Grand Teton. Through years of scientific monitoring paid for with your tax dollars, the Park Service has verified that declining snowmobile use has improved air quality, solitude, and protection for the health of visitors, employees, and wildlife. It makes no sense to go in the other direction and begin allowing more snowmobiles in Yellowstone.  It is crystal clear from this monitoring data that the Park Service can do better and has a viable and readily available alternative to snowmobile use.

Snowcoaches provide a unique, safari-like experience through Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Visitors in snowcoaches have an expert guide taking them to ski trails, geysers, wildlife watching, and Old Faithful. It is critical that we push the Park Service to begin phasing-out snowmobile use starting this winter.

The Background

This year, a federal court ruled that the Bush Administration's decision authorizing snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park violated the fundamental legal responsibility of the National Park Service to protect the clean air, wildlife, and natural quiet of national parks, including Yellowstone, for the benefit of all visitors. The court found that the Administration authorized snowmobile use despite scientific conclusions by the National Park Service that its decision would result in significant increases in noise and unhealthy exhaust, which disrupt the experiences of visitors, and traffic that harms Yellowstone's wildlife, including bison.
 
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia invalidated the Bush decision and directed that the National Park Service's substitute plan ensures all visitors can safely experience the park, and uphold laws that require stronger protection of Yellowstone's air quality, wildlife, and natural sounds.
 
In a 63-page ruling, Judge Emmett Sullivan stated:
 
"The Organic Act clearly states...that the fundamental purpose of the national park system is to conserve park resources and values."

• "NPS fails to explain how increasing snowmobile usage over current conditions, where adaptive management thresholds are already being exceeded, complies with the conservation mandate of the Organic Act."
• "...the Court finds that NPS has failed to articulate why a plan that will admittedly worsen air quality complies with the conservation mandate."
• "...the Plan clearly elevates use over conservation of park resources and values and fails to articulate why the Plan's 'major adverse impacts' are 'necessary and appropriate to fulfill the purposes of the park.'"
• "According to NPS's own data, the WUP [Winter Use Plan] will increase air pollution, exceed the use levels recommended by NPS biologists to protect wildlife, and cause major adverse impacts to the natural soundscapes in Yellowstone."

Now, the Park Service needs a plan that recognizes these laws and principles. The proposal to allow 318 snowmobiles per day for the next three years will not protect America's first national park. Please urge the Park Service to begin phasing-out snowmobile use over the next three winters.

Additional points to make with the Park Service:

• Please heed your own science. Four prior studies at a cost of $10 million have demonstrated conclusively that Yellowstone's air quality, peace and quiet, wildlife, and visitor experience are best protected by providing winter access on modern snowcoaches and phasing out the use of snowmobiles in the park. Those studies verified that a continuation of snowmobile use would result in greater levels of air and noise pollution and disturbance of Yellowstone's wildlife.
• Snowcoaches give all individuals the same opportunity to see Yellowstone in winter and offer an environmentally friendly way to access the park for skiing, snowshoeing and other winter adventures. The public is increasingly demanding the opportunity to enjoy Yellowstone via snowcoach. Snowcoach use has grown 89 percent since 2002 due to increasing visitor demand for comfortable and educational park tours. Businesses have responded with significant investments in modern coaches that feature guides knowledgeable about Yellowstone's geology, wildlife and history.
• Noise - already a problem with the current daily average of snowmobiles. Even with an average of 263 snowmobiles per day during the past five winters, snowmobile impacts have exceeded Yellowstone's noise thresholds. Increasing the number of snowmobiles in the park makes NO sense. In contrast, the snowcoach alternative analyzed in prior studies would allow visitors to enjoy natural sounds and quiet far more consistently at the park's major attractions.
• Yellowstone's own scientists have recommended, in order to avoid adverse impacts on the park's wildlife, that winter traffic remain "at or below" the levels they studied in previous winters. The proposal to increase snowmobile use above that level is at odds with the recommendation of scientists.
• A bipartisan group of every  former director of the National Park Service for the last forty years joined in a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne urging him to ensure a continued transition away from snowmobile use in the park. Spanning every Democratic and Republican presidential administration from Lyndon Johnson to Bill Clinton, the eight former NPS directors wrote that, "The study also provides clear evidence that reducing snowmobile numbers still further - from 250 per day to zero - while expanding public access on modern snowcoaches, would further improve the park's health." View the full letter.
• Overwhelming public support for protecting Yellowstone. During the past ten years, over half a million Americans sent comments to the National Park Service concerning Yellowstone's winter management, making it the most publicly-commented-on issue in the history of the national parks. A consistent 4-to-1 majority has favored accessing the park by snowcoach instead of snowmobile.

If you prefer to submit written comments, you may mail them to this address by November 17, 2008:

Superintendent Suzanne Lewis
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190