Winter Use Plan Discussed

Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk discussed with reporters yesterday some of the specifics of the revised winter use plan proposal for the park.  Wenk says the new proposal contains four alternatives with one that would permit winter use by “transportation event” rather than a specific number of vehicles.  He says officials believeit protects the park better than the system currently in place – providing for cleaner and quieter access.  He says it also provides for increases in visitation rewarding over snow vehicle innovation and technologies and provides flexibility to operators and visitors alike.  Wenk explains that the plan calls for 110 “transportation events” per day, each of which may be multiple vehicles based upon their impacts on air quality and noise. He says monitoring those two qualities will be based on the industry certifications for the vehicles. Wenk says it is a whole new way of thinking by having limits based upon standards rather than specific numbers of vehicles, and he says it also would reward evolving improved standards by permitting higher usage.  Under the alternative, the limits of vehicles into the park for the next two years would be what have been in place last year and the new system would be transitioned in after that. Open houses on the alternatives will be hosted in Jackson, West Yellowstone, Montana, Bozeman, Montana and Cody, Wyoming later this month.