Parks' winter opening could be delayed
WHITNEY ROYSTER Star-Tribune environmental reporter | Posted: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 12:00 am
JACKSON - The opening of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks for the winter season could be delayed at least a day, after the National Park Service missed its own deadline Monday for issuing a decision on the future of snowmobiles in the parks.
Monday represented 30 days before Dec. 19, the planned opening of both parks for snowmobile and snowcoach use for the winter. After a final decision by the agency, it must be published in the Federal Register for 30 days before the rule becomes law.
But even though the final regulations were not signed Monday, officials said they will do everything they can to open the parks as scheduled.
Al Nash, spokesman for Yellowstone National Park, said "in general," the rule must be published for 30 days prior to it becoming law, but that is a policy decision and not a regulatory one.
"Our staff is looking at ways that we could open as scheduled despite missing this deadline," he said Monday.
James Doyle, legislative affairs specialist for the National Park Service's Intermountain Region in Denver, said ongoing discussions among officials in both parks, the intermountain region and Washington, D.C., led to a delay in the signing of the "record of decision."
Doyle said he did not know the nature of the ongoing discussions. He said people in Washington were continuing to ask the Park Service questions about the final rule, and the agency was responding.
"I'm not sure when we will see a signed (decision)," Doyle said. "We will make every effort to open the parks on schedule. We are hoping that something happens quickly, but to date we have not received a (decision) to sign."
A sticking point between Wyoming's elected officials and the Park Service has involved a decision to close Sylvan Pass in winter.
Jack Welch with the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a group heavily involved in lobbying to keep the parks open to snowmobile use, said a delay of a few days is not a big deal.
"It's disappointing based on the fact that they have known for a long time the schedule that they had to meet," he said. "I hope it's a matter of days, because the closer we get to the Christmas holiday period, the more of an effect it will have."
The final plan calls for a limit of 540 snowmobiles per day allowed in Yellowstone and to close Sylvan Pass. That is a reduction from 720 sleds allowed in recent years through a temporary rule.
Numbers and rules under the temporary rule would continue this year regardless of when the final decision is signed. The new rules would take effect next winter.