They came, they saw, they heard. And not a lot of it was a surprise.Yellowstone National Park officials held the third of six of public informational meetings in West Yellowstone Tuesday evening to discuss their proposed preferred alternative for winter use management of the park.
The park just finished the last of a two-season interim plan that allowed a limited number of guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches into the park during its winter season — 318 snowmobiles and 78 snowcoaches per day. A draft Environmental Impact Statement published last summer outlines six different alternatives for winter use of the park. But YNP officials used pieces of many of those alternatives to come up with a seventh "preferred alternative" that it is seeking comment on.
The park is recommending that over-snow-vehicle (OSV) use continue with snowmobiles and snowcoaches, similar to previous years but with some key changes.
First, the park is proposing allowing similar numbers of OSVs into the park, but at a variable rate to be determined by the park.
Snowmobile use would range from 110 to 330 vehicles per day and snowcoach use from 30 to 80 vehicles per day.
Snowmobile use levels (caps) would be based on a pre-determined seasonal schedule, which would be announced one year in advance. The National Park Service would release this information by Dec. 1 of the preceding year. The schedule would vary by year and be determined by low and high use opportunities during both the holiday season and other times throughout the winter season.
Varying the number of vehicles would allow "for a variety of motorized and non-motorized visitor experiences throughout the winter. Varying levels would also allow the (National Park Service) to observe how park resources react to different levels of use, learning through management," according to a NPS description of the preferred alternative.
