Cell Tower Eyed For Yellowstone

The National Park Service is reviewing a proposal by Verizon Wireless to construct a cell phone tower to serve the Lake and Fishing Bridge areas of Yellowstone National Park.  The Lake/Fishing Bridge area is the only location in the park where construction of a new cell tower was permitted under the park’s Wireless Communications Services Plan Environmental Assessment.  The proposed 100 foot tall gray steel lattice tower and accompanying ground facilities would be erected at an existing utility site, next to existing telephone and electric lines.  A crane and weather balloons were used to simulate the height of the proposed tower in order to ensure that it would not be visible from the nearby Lake Hotel, Fishing Bridge and Lake Lodge historic districts.  This particular site was also selected in order to minimize the cell signal’s reach into the park’s backcountry.  If the right-of-way permit is approved, construction would begin later this fall or in early 2013.