Yellowstone Snowmobile OpEd

Yellowstone's Visitor-Led Recovery; by Robert Arnberger

This week brings the anniversary of a landmark decision by Congress famously hailed as "the best idea America ever had."

A plateau in the Rocky Mountains holding geysers and mud pots, bears and bison, colorful canyons and mammoth waterfalls, became the first national park in the world on March 1, 1872 when Congress voted to protect the natural wonders of Yellowstone for all time

You may ask: why take note of Yellowstone National Park's 133rd birthday?

Because this winter, the American public is writing an enormously hopeful chapter in the proud history of our stewardship of national parks. Where politicians made a mess in recent years, visitors are clearing things up.

Four years ago, from 2,000 miles away, Washington decided that despite scientific findings, advice from park professionals, and the tide of public opinion, snowmobiling must continue in Yellowstone.

Yet today visitors are voting differently with their pocketbooks. More are choosing to enjoy Yellowstone on snowcoach tours and on skis and snowshoes.

The number opting for snowmobile tours is declining for the second winter in a row.

This change in the Park has produced dramatic improvements. The mountain air is clearer. Yellowstone's bison and elk face less interference from machines. And the Park is profoundly quieter--bubbling hot springs and rippling rivers are audible once again where for two decades a din of snowmobile engines overwhelmed the sounds of nature.

Instead of embracing this visitor-led recovery, Interior Secretary Gale Norton recently visited our flagship national park and reiterated the Administration's overriding allegiance to the snowmobile industry. Ms. Norton even suggested lifting controls on snowmobiling that she once touted as essential for Yellowstone.

Three separate Park Service studies, costing taxpayers millions of dollars, produced the same conclusion: moving Yellowstone's winter access in precisely the direction it is headed this winter (toward snowcoaches, away from snowmobiles) is best for the health of visitors and the Park¹s wildlife and environment. These studies also demonstrated that moving away from snowmobiling will save tax dollars urgently required in Yellowstone for a growing list of needs. Snowmobiling demands more law enforcement, maintenance of road surfaces, and monitoring of environmental impacts, and thus has become a disproportionate drain on the Park's budget.

But the Administration chose a different course--the one favored by the snowmobile industry. The Administration opted to allow 720 snowmobiles per day in Yellowstone despite knowing that the option more affordable to visitors and least harmful to the park and its wildlife is access on snowcoaches.
Despite that decision, interest in snowmobiling in the Park is fading, and snowcoach tours are enjoying considerable growth. Visitors choosing snowcoaches are praising the heated interiors, picture windows, and guides versed in Yellowstone's history, wildlife, and geology. The guides are able to convey their knowledge to vacationing families without having to shout over snowmobile engine noise. Topping it off, snowcoach tours are roughly half the price of snowmobile tours.

I took off my ranger hat a couple of years ago. But for 34 years it was my privilege to serve as a steward in your national parks including as Superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park. Now I'm speaking up as a fellow citizen because I learned on the inside that ultimately it's the passionate insistence of the public that ensures preservation of our national parks. And what's happening in Yellowstone needs our vocal support

On her recent visit to Yellowstone, Interior Secretary Gale Norton could have acknowledged all these positive changes. Even if she wanted to speak only about free market solutions, she could have noted that demand for snowcoach tours is creating new business opportunities and a profit-producing marriage of visitor enjoyment and better protection of the wonders that visitors are coming to enjoy.
The fact that she didn't, and instead touted snowmobiling at every turn, is the clearest sign yet that the Administration's agenda in Yellowstone is to aid the snowmobile industry even at the expense of our first national park. If this is Ms. Norton's intention, it is entirely at odds with the generous instinct that led to Yellowstone¹s preservation 133 years ago, and it¹s up to us, the citizens to whom the national parks belong, to ensure that Yellowstone's recovery continues.

Robert Arnberger is a 34-year veteran of the National Park Service. He served in ten different national park areas and retired in 2003 as Regional Director for the Park Service in Alaska. He currently serves on the Executive Council of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees.