Preserving 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.