the Billings Gazette | Posted: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 12:00 am
The dangerous business of controlling avalanches on Yellowstone's Sylvan Pass may soon come to an end.
The National Park Service is proposing to close the pass in the winter as part of its overall winter management strategy.
The idea is part of a draft proposal released Monday that mostly deals with the use of snowmobiles and snowcoaches in the park.
Questions over how best to handle Sylvan Pass - and the hazardous buildup of snow on the steep slopes above it - have come to the fore in recent years.
About 3 percent of Yellowstone's winter visitors come through the East Entrance, west of Cody, and over the mile-long pass on the way to Fishing Bridge and the rest of the park.
The Park Service has used a 105-mm howitzer gun to shoot explosive shells into the hills above the pass to trigger avalanches and lessen the risk of avalanches when people are using the road.
But the practice is dangerous, especially for crews that have to pass through an avalanche-prone area to get to the howitzer. Also, an estimated 300 shells that did not explode remain on the hill and pose a hazard to people and wildlife, according to park officials.
Over the past two years, the Park Service has contracted with a helicopter company in Bozeman, Mont., to drop explosives from the air in the hope of reducing the need for the howitzer. The program is scheduled to continue this winter.
Use of the howitzer costs around $107,000 a year. The helicopter program runs about $120,000 a year. A combination of the two totals around $127,000.
But it's the safety issues, not the cost, that have the Park Service reconsidering. A ranger died in 1994 while going to check road conditions on the pass.
"We believe the prudent way of operating is to close the pass," said John Sacklin, a Yellowstone planner.
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