This winter, the National Park Service will institute what will be the tightest daily cap to date on the number of snowmobiles allowed into Yellowstone National Park. The two-year interim plan, a direct result of legal action by Winter Wildlands Alliance and four coalition partners, will allow up to 318 commercially guided, Best Available Technology snowmobiles per day in the park. That’s less than half the number allowed in recent years and is certainly a step in the right direction, though only a step. The National Park Service will use the two years the interim plan is in place to prepare a new Environmental Impact Statement and a new long term plan for winter use in Yellowstone National Park.
As encouraging as this forward motion from the National Park Service is, even more encouraging is a resurgence happening on the ground in our nation’s first national park. Part of this resurgence is due to more stringent noise and exhaust requirements for all vehicles in the Park and to commercial guiding requirements for snowmobiles. The biggest difference, however, is the simple fact that there are fewer vehicles in the Park in winter now. More and more, visitors are opting to enter Yellowstone under their own power on skis and snowshoes or on snowcoaches, fewer on snowmobiles.
This means that skiers who visit Yellowstone this winter will breathe cleaner air, see wildlife in healthier and more natural conditions, encounter less snowmobile noise (albeit, what remains continues to exceed park standards) and will have more opportunities to enjoy Yellowstone under their own power on skis and snowshoes. In short, Yellowstone is well on its way to being, again, the quiet, healthy and natural sanctuary it is meant to be forever.
