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StumbleSUN EDITORIAL:
Preserving national parks
Federal judge makes proper ruling against snowmobile use in two national parks
Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.
Yellowstone National Park is one of nature’s glorious wonders, a place where elk, wolves, bison and grizzly bears roam. Established in 1872, the country’s first national park is also home to the Old Faithful geyser, hot springs and picturesque streams.
You don’t take a crown jewel like Yellowstone and rough it up, but that is what the Bush administration has attempted to do from the time the president took office in 2001. The administration worked hard to overturn a graduated phase-out of snowmobiles in Yellowstone and the nearby Grand Teton National Park that had been initiated by the Clinton administration. The snowmobile lobby and its congressional water carriers from Wyoming, where the parks are located, obviously have had more influence on Bush than have environmentalists.
But U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington delivered a much-needed victory Monday for those of us who appreciate the solitude of those parks. He rejected a National Park Service plan to allow as many as 540 snowmobiles per day into the parks on grounds the vehicles would have increased air pollution and noise levels and would have disturbed the wildlife.
The New York Times reported that environmentalists prefer snowmobiles be limited at the two parks to 260 a day — the daily average over the past five years — and eventually phased out. The park service will be required to submit a new plan, but our preference is to initiate a ban immediately.
There was a time years ago when snowmobiling at Yellowstone got so out of hand that park service employees were issued respirators to deal with the increased pollution. There was also photographic evidence of deep ruts and tree damage caused by reckless snowmobile users.
There are plenty of areas outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton in that part of the country where snowmobile enthusiasts can have a great time. If they wish to enjoy the natural beauty and serenity of these national parks, they should leave their toys at home.
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The new snowmobile plan called for 540 snowmobiles per day which is a REDUCTION from the 720 sleds per day that had been in effect. There is no way you can max out the number of snowmobiles daily for an entire season as people don't go on vacation to be placed on waiting lists and the weather doesn't always cooperate and there are certain times when people don't want to travel to Yellowstone to see the park. In actuality a 260 sled cap would probably result in a 100 sled daily average for the season.
Also you fail to mention that the snowmobiles that Clinton phased out continue to be banned from Yellowstone. Only snowmobiles with automotive type engines are allowed in the park. They all meet emissions and noise requirements that the snowcoaches don't even meet yet.
You miss the point of the purpose of snowmobiles in Yellowstone. They are used as transportation to see the beauty of the park. It is 30 miles one way from West Yellowstone just to get to Old Faithful and over 100 miles to make the loop in the park. Not many people can walk or ski 60 miles in a day in the dead of winter just to see Old Faithful.
The snowmobiles are only allowed to travel over a portion of the same roads that the automobiles are allowed to travel. The roads are paved so I don't see how the snowmobiles could make any ruts. Millions of dollars of studies don't mention any ruts. Ruts in snow melt if that is what your are referring to. When cars run off the road in the park and hit trees they leave marks also but are you going to ban them too? They are far heavier than a snowmobile. No matter what the season though, only trees along the road are ever going to get hit and most of the trees aren't along the road so there is little impact on most of the park no matter what is driving through the park.
It is amazing you say to enjoy the serenity of the park to leave the snowmobile at home and use the gas guzzling snowcoach that has a fleet average of 2 miles per gallon and doesn't even meet the noise standards that the snowmobiles meet. For that matter in the summer time tens of thousands of unregulated vehicles everyday travel through the park on the same roads the snowmobiles use and you have problems with 540? It is obvious serenity means nothing to you.
Sure there are areas outside of Yellowstone to ride snowmobiles but that doesn't get you in to see the beauty of Yellowstone. The same can be said in the summer that there are enough roads across the rest of the country that the tens of thousands of vehicles driving through Yellowstone daily could be driving on some road outside the park. How would they see the park then?
Another example of environmentalists not wanting to PAY for a clean environment.
We need to eliminate the national park service and privatize the park land.
Let the environmentalists buy up the land they want to preserve and let the hunters, vacationers, snowmobiles etc buy up the land they want to play on.
hatley,
Go stand 100 yards off the road in a national park and see if you can hear a car passing. Now go stand 2 miles away and see if you can hear a snowmobile, dirt bike, or ATV passing.
Editors,
I am in complete agreement.
KDR81,
Environmentalists (like the Nature Conservancy), gun clubs, and hunter's groups are already doing as you suggest. The national parks, because of their unique character are, and should be, sacrosanct. I think you'll find that very few of your countrymen agree that they should be done away with.
JohnF,
I have an Arctic Cat snowmobile that is Yellowstone compliant with a Suzuki 660 cc 4 stroke engine in it. I also have a little Suzuki car with the exact same Suzuki 660 cc 4 stroke engine in it. Why do you think the sound is worse in the snowmobile than the car when I don't think you could pass the blindfold test as to which one is even running. They sound the same as it is the exact same engine.
You won't hear the dirt bike or the ATV in Yellowstone as they aren't allowed and neither are the two stroke snowmobiles. The snowcoaches are louder than the snowmobiles that are allowed in the park. If sound is your issue then why get rid of the quieter vehicle and keep the noisier vehicle? There is a lot more sound in the summer than in the winter. If you want quiet then be sure and go see Yellowstone in the winter.
Hatley-
Ever been to Yellowstone? You might be surprised to see that there are a number of busses, autos, motorcycles and the like that make a whole lot more noise than any of today's snowmobiles.
The entire Yellowstone argument has become a microcausim of what is driving our once proud and unified nation toward a bitterly divided place. We pick a side and refuse to look at anything but that which supports our artificial platforms.
Sorry Hatley, my comment was meant to have been directed to JohnF.