Dear Winter Wildlands Alliance Supporters,
 It's been a long haul (the
word interminable comes to mind) but the finish line for a cleaner, quieter,
healthier Yellowstone truly is in sight. After
12 years, $10 million in taxpayer money and nearly a million public comments,
the Yellowstone winter use plan certainly
qualifies as an ultra endurance ultra long-distance event.
With a two-year interim
plan in place, the National Park Service is now soliciting public input for the
long-term management of winter use in our first national park. Over the next
two years, the Park Service will consider how best to provide public access in
winter while protecting Yellowstone's
wildlife, air quality, and natural soundscapes. Finally, after more than a
decade of struggle, this environmental study will set in place a permanent plan
for winter use.
With your help, we've made
enormous progress in providing the best possible protection for Yellowstone over the past decade. We've eliminated the
noisiest and most-polluting forms of winter access and moderated the disruption
to wintering wildlife. Thanks to your involvement and support, we're getting
somewhere! Every living former director of the National Park Service has agreed
with you that snowmobiles should be phased out of Yellowstone; the EPA and a
Federal Court have agreed with you that the Park Service has not applied its
best available, sound science and adopted visitation that best protects Yellowstone. The Park has indeed become healthier as
snowmobile numbers have been reduced and visitors have turned increasingly to entering
the Park under their own power or on more environmentally-friendly snowcoaches.
Now, we have a final
opportunity to urge Yellowstone to adopt a
permanent plan for winter access that protects the Park and at the same time
improves the visitor experience. Please help us complete the transition to a
healthier, cleaner, and quieter Yellowstone.
You can take two steps
right now to further improve the winter experience in Yellowstone:
1) Submit written comments.
2) Attend a National Park
Service openhouse (6:30 - 8:30 pm):
Feb. 16 in Idaho Falls (Hilton Garden Inn, 700 Lindsay Blvd.)
Feb. 18 in Billings (Hilton Garden
Inn, 2465 Grant Road)
March 15 in Cheyenne (Little
America, 2800 West Lincolnway)
March 17 in Washington, D.C. (Old
Post Office Pavilion, 1100 Pennsylvania
Ave NW)
Deadline for comments is
March 30, 2010.
Click [here] for a
sample letter and talking points.
To submit comments click http://parkplanning.nps.gov/yell, select Yellowstone National Park,
and follow the link for the winter use plan.
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