WWA Action Alert: Protecting Winter in Yellowstone

Over the wires from Karhu backcountry partner Winter Wildlands Alliance, a new Action Alert on public comment for winter use in Yellowstone National Park. WWA recently won a victory in the US District Court that struck down the dramatic increase in the number of snowmobiles allowed each day in the Park. The National Park Service is now working on a temporary plan for winter use, and the public comment period ends on Monday, November 17. Take a few minutes and help WWA in its support for a quiet backcountry in our most pristine settings:

Next Step for Protecting Yellowstone

We are making significant strides in restoring clean air and quiet in Yellowstone National Park and we need your help to make sure these healthier conditions for visitors and wildlife continue.

For nearly eight years, the Bush Administration has refused to follow laws that would best protect our country's first national park. After more than ten years of scientific study, the administration decided last year to propose a plan that actually would have grown back a larger number of noisy, polluting snowmobiles than Yellowstone has seen on average during the past five winters. We took the Administration to court and won. In his ruling, Judge Emmet Sullivan found the Interior Department negligent in its duty to be good stewards by allowing increased air pollution, impacts to wildlife, too much noise, and most importantly, not abiding by its mandate to conserve the park unimpaired for future generations. That plan was ruled illegal.

Now, the Park Service must develop a temporary plan for this winter to make sure the public can visit Yellowstone and it is still proposing more snowmobiles each day than the daily average of the past five winters. You have a chance to comment on it, but the window to do so is short. The deadline for comments is November 17, 2008.

This should be and can be another step towards phasing-out snowmobile use in favor of snowcoaches, which offer a more environmentally-friendly way to access the park for skiing, snowshoeing and other winter adventures. Your voice can make a difference.

Please, take a few minutes right now to urge the Park Service to heed its own science and protect Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Read the full Action Alert here, and below is the procedue to make your comments known to the National Park Service:

Go to http://parkplanning.nps.gov/, then select Yellowstone NP in the "Choose a park" menu, then click on "New Temporary Winter Use Plan and EA," then click "Open for Public Comment" from the menu on the left, then click the "2008 Winter Use Plans Environmental Assessment" link, and finally click the "comment on document" link. How's that for a streamlined government process?