Public Tells Park Service to Stick With Snowmobile Phaseout

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For Immediate Release

Public Tells Park Service to Stick With Snowmobile Phaseout

CANADA, ONTARIO, BOZEMAN, Oct. 16 -/E-Wire/-- Documents released today by the National Park Service reveal that the public has told the agency--again--that phasing out snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park is the right decision. It's the fourth time in two years that the public has delivered this message when asked to comment on future winter use in the country's oldest national park. Public response this time was more heavily weighted in favor of phasing out snowmobile use than in all previous rounds of public comment. Of the 8,483 comments sent to the Park Service, 6, 978 (82 percent) urged the Interior Department not to reopen the Park Service's November, 2000 decision. That decision ordered a gradual phaseout of snowmobile use within Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in order to protect and restore the parks' wildlife, clean air, and quiet.

"Consistently over the past two years, a majority of Americans have said they want snowmobile use phased out of Yellowstone and Grand Teton because it's causing too much harm to national parks they cherish" said Michael Scott, executive director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. "This latest round of public comment adds an exclamation mark."

Studies of snowmobile impacts and other winter use issues within Yellowstone and Grand Teton cost taxpayers millions of dollars during the 1990s. Ultimately, results of the studies led the Park Service to conclude that snowmobile use is impairing park resources, in violation of the 85-year-old law that requires strict protection of America's national parks.

A lawsuit filed by the snowmobile industry has forced the Park Service to reopen its decision on how to protect the parks. The Park Service estimates that the new process will cost taxpayers an additional $2.4 million.

"This latest round of public comment sends a clear message," said Betsy Buffington of The Wilderness Society. "An overwhelming majority of citizens do not want lawyers for the snowmobile industry getting in the way of park rangers. The public wants national parks protected."

Greater Yellowstone Coalition

http://www.greateryellowstone.org

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