1. Speak out to keep snowmobiles out of Yellowstone National Park
Bowing to the pressure from the snowmobile industry and the Bush administration, the National Park Service has proposed a new rule that would allow snowmobile use to continue in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
In doing so, the Park Service is abandoning its original proposal to ban snowmobiles in the parks, as well as ignoring the wishes of hundreds of thousands of people who wrote in support of the original plan (including almost 70,000 NRDC online activists).
Although the new proposal includes a few new restrictions on snowmobile use, the end result would not reduce pollution or noise, or protect the parks and their wildlife and visitors. In fact, a two-year Park Service study showed that
continued use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone would cause haze at Old Faithful; present a continuing risk to visitors and employees, especially those
who suffer from asthma and other respiratory conditions; generate engine noise across many of the park's most visited attractions; cause more stress and harm to Yellowstone's wildlife; and emit twice as much carbon monoxide as compared
to switching to snowcoaches.
The Park Service has identified banning snowmobiles and implementing the use of
snowcoaches as the best way to protect the park, its wildlife and its visitors, but is nevertheless moving ahead with the new, ill-advised plan. The Park Service is accepting public comments on the proposed rule through
October 14.
== What to do ==
Send a message, before the October 14 comment deadline, urging the Park Service to protect Yellowstone and Grand Teton by banning snowmobiles in the parks.
== Contact information ==
You can send a message to the Park Service directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at
http://www.nrdc.org/action/. Or use the contact information and sample letter below to send your own message.
Park Service Planning Office
Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Ban snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton
Dear Park Service staff,
I urge you to adopt the National Park Service's original plan to ban noisy, polluting and disruptive snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and replace them with a public transportation system of multi-passenger
snowcoaches. Adopting such a plan is the best way to protect the parks for ourinspiration and enjoyment now and for future generations.
Your agency's own two-year study, costing $2.5 million, showed that allowing snowmobiles to remain in Yellowstone would cause haze at Old Faithful; present a continuing risk to visitors and employees; generate engine noise across many of the park's most visited attractions; stress and harm Yellowstone's wildlife; and emit twice as much carbon monoxide as switching to snowcoaches.
This option would also cost taxpayers $1.3 million more each year while providing less
protection for the health of visitors, employees and Yellowstone itself. Less protection at a higher cost simply makes no sense.
The new draft plan is not the kind of farsighted directive called for here. The law, science and overwhelming public opinion all support a phase-out of snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I again urge you to adopt the Park Service's original decision to ban snowmobiles in these historic national parks.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
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