BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Sunday, October 19, 2003 12:00 am
Snowmobile outfitters, state tourism offices and snowmobile groups are all struggling to convince the public that, yes, Yellowstone National Park is indeed open to snowmobilers this upcoming winter season.
"I had a booth at the Utah State Fair," said Glenn Loomis, who runs a snowmobile rental shop in West Yellowstone, Mont. "I'd estimate that six of 10 visitors all thought that banning snowmobiles in Yellowstone was a done deal."
In the closing days of the Clinton administration, the National Park Service decided to phase out snowmobiles from Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. Under pressure of a lawsuit, the ban was soon reversed by the Bush administration. National Park Service officials decided to allow cleaner, quieter and fewer snowmobiles into the parks. Apparently, not everyone has clearly followed all the twists and turns of the story.
"There's a lot of bad information out there," said Stacey Chapman, office manager for Best Adventures in Jackson, which provides guides and rents cleaner, quieter snowmobiles through the south gateway. She and other outfitters field a stream of calls from customers who are often unaware of changes due to the new Winter Use Plan for the national parks in Wyoming. "Many people don't realize they need a reservation," Chapman said.
New regulations
Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park has been restructured by a Winter Use Plan, but both commercially guided snowmobile trips and individual snowmobilers will have access. Daily Yellowstone limits for snowmobiles are: North Entrance (Mammoth) 50; West Entrance 550; East Entrance 100; and South Entrance 250. The Winter Use Plan for the winter of 2003-2004 sets daily limits for a total of 1,140 snowmachines for the three parks (950 in Yellowstone). Daily limits will be apportioned, with 80 percent allocated to commercial guides and 20 percent allocated to individual operators.
Commercial guides will handle all entrance requirements for their clients, but private snowmobile operators must make their own entrance permit reservations with Xanterra Parks & Resorts at (307) 344-7311 or via e-mail at: (reserve-ynp@xanterra.com). For further information about snowmobile use and the reservation process in Yellowstone this winter, call the National Park Service at 307-344-7381 or visit (www.nps.gov/yell). Wyoming Tourism and Travel also has useful information at (www.wyomingtourism.org).
Marketing
"There is a lot of confusion out there," said Dave Troyanek, media communications officer for Wyoming Travel and Tourism. That's why Wyoming, Montana and Idaho have banded together to craft a special, $85,000 marketing blitz to get the word out that snowmobiling in Yellowstone is still allowed, with a few limitations. Most of the money is keyed toward Midwestern markets and the Minneapolis-area Winter Sports Show, Nov. 21-24.
"The key is to make your reservations early and be flexible," Troyanek said.
Some popular dates between Christmas and New Year's are already booked solid in specific gateway communities by snowmobilers who don't want a commercial guide, Troyanek said. There are, however, open reservations for those dates in other communities or generally from the commercial outfitters, he explained. "Maybe you can't get a specific date reserved at one gateway, but you can at another," he said.
Chapman, who also books Jackson Hole Snowmobile Tours, said she's fielding more early reservation calls - about double of what is normal by this time of year. She and other long-established outfitters already have their allocated number of snowmobiles that can enter Yellowstone on any given day. "It is about half of what we used to run," she said.
Jackson outfitters haven't organized a formal pool of open reservations. "We just call around among ourselves until we find some open reservations," she said.
Outfitters in West Yellowstone have discussed creating a system whereby outfitters can make it easier for customers to figure out who has a guided snowmobile slot for a given day. Outfitters will be under the gun to set up an efficient system, or risk frustrating and possibly losing customers, Loomis said.
"What the town needs is for every snowmobile to be rented, every day," Loomis said.
Michigan response
Bill Manson, executive director for the Michigan Snowmobile Association, said in a telephone interview that while his membership is well informed about Yellowstone, other snowmobilers are not.
"We had 20,000 people attend a (winter sports) show last weekend, and there's some confusion out there," Manson said. A Yellowstone booth fielded a lot of questions and provided information about the Winter Use Plan and how to make reservations, he said.
"I'm telling people who've traditionally trailered in their own snowmobiles, to work with the rental people," Manson said. That way, there's no risk of showing up at a Yellowstone gate, only to be turned away, he said.