Kelster
Feb 10 2004, 10:30 PM
I lived in this town for nearly four years. The majority of the town's economic livelihood is based upon tourists snowmobiling into Yellowstone during the winter. It really is a blast. I definitely recommend it if you get a chance.
(If they don't place a permanent ban
)
-Kind of strange reading this...I went to school with the kids of the Howells, Costellos, Robinsons, and Steeles in this story. I lived across the street from Gushers (pizza and pool...
) and the Food Roundup was my grocery store.
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Snowmobile town copes with changes
Tuesday, February 3, 2004 Posted: 9:06 AM EST (1406 GMT)
Snowmobiles still ride along the white streets of West Yellowstone, but they're less common this season.
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Montana (AP) -- Getting a table at Bullwinkle's Saloon & Restaurant is easy this winter. So is finding a room at any local motel -- if they're still open.
This town just outside Yellowstone National Park and largely dependent on park visitors is much quieter than normal, and for many residents, the mood is bleaker.
While snowmobiles still cruise the powdery streets of the self-proclaimed "snowmobile capital of the world," the numbers are far below those in previous years.
Residents blame it on a federal judge's ruling that reversed Yellowstone's snowmobile rules just hours before the start of the season in December and on the confusion and uncertainty that have surrounded the issue for months.
"Just tell them: Yellowstone is open and West Yellowstone is open," said Jackie LaFever, from behind the bar at Bullwinkle's Saloon & Restaurant.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan put a cloud over the town's economic outlook when he ruled that the National Park Service had to revive a Clinton-era plan that banned snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
The rules, originally scrapped by the Bush administration in favor of cleaner machines, favor mass-transit snow coaches, which would reduce pollution in the parks. Although a limited number of snowmobiles will be allowed to enter this winter, all will have to be part of commercially guided trips.
Perhaps none of the towns around the park are feeling the economic pinch as much as West Yellowstone, which historically has been the most popular gate for entering Yellowstone in winter.
Town officials are trying to figure out what happens to West Yellowstone and its businesses if Sullivan's ruling withstands an appeal.
"We have many questions we need answers to before we can start out on a plan," said Marysue Costello, executive director of the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce.
The not-knowing is the worst part, said Bill Howell, whose business includes snowmobile rentals, a hotel and restaurant. "I haven't really thought about next year," he said. "How can you?"
Howell, whose total fleet numbers 137 machines, was among those who invested in cleaner snowmobiles that could meet the Bush plan standards. His limit in the park is now 35 a day, but there haven't been many takers so far.
"I haven't been able to fill those all days because people aren't coming," said Howell, who also rents machines to people who want to ride snowmobiles outside Yellowstone. "You can't survive with what they're proposing."
Snowmobile businessman Kent Swanson agrees. He said he may have to file for bankruptcy if he can't generate more revenue and attract more riders.
On average, Swanson said only about half his 46-snowmobile fleet is rented each day. Swanson, too, said he got back in the snowmobile rental business specifically because he anticipated a profit before the change.
Conservationists cheered the federal changes and say they offer all visitors a chance to see Yellowstone without the buzz of so many snowmobiles.
"I think once things settle down, it will be good for the economy," said Betsy Robinson, a guide based in Bozeman who takes trips into the park. "I think people are resistant to change but I think this will be more in keeping with what the park was created for."
Local snowcoach operator Greg Awe was optimistic about the future of his business after a profitable season.
Scott Carsley, a snowcoach operator, said his business has been good this year and believes it will improve under the current rules. "But we're a small segment of the winter economy here," he said.
In town, many business owners paint a different picture.
Some restaurants like The Gusher have scaled back hours. A few motels are closed. And the Food Roundup, a local grocery, recently laid off three part-time workers and a full-time worker.
Linda Heyes, coordinator of job and social services, said job openings have been down "dramatically."
Vernetta Steele is drafting a new marketing plan in between minding the front desk at her Big Western Pine Motel. Steele, who also has a restaurant, has also had to lay off workers.
She is thinking about remodeling the motel and making a few other changes, too, as she looks to cater to other groups of visitors. Her backup plan: to sell.
"This is beyond belief," said Steele, whose reservation book is filled with nearly empty pages. "I can't grasp it myself but I believe it's true because I'm running out of money." |
SailAway
Feb 11 2004, 07:31 AM
woooooooo hooooooo I just got this great news!
Federal judge overturns ban on snowmobiling in Yellowstone
Associated Press
CHEYENNE - A federal district judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday setting aside a pending ban on snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer ruled that without the order, companies that rely on snowmobiling in the parks would suffer irreparable harm due to lost business.
He also ordered the National Park Service to develop temporary rules for the remainder of the 2004 season that would be fair to snowmobile owners and users, businesses and the environmental community, including use of cleaner, quieter snowmobiles.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal welcomed the news.
"The people that are suffering under the move toward banning snowmobiles are the small-business owners in and around the parks," he said in a statement. "They relied upon one rule only to find out the day before this season opened that they would be forced to operate under a much stricter rule, which has already cost the state dearly in terms of impacts on its tourism industry."
Michael Scott, executive director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a conservation group, called the ruling "terribly unfortunate."
"Yellowstone was clearly on a path to a better future, to cleaner air, to healthier wildlife … and I think this ruling potentially puts that in jeopardy. And that's a sad day for the future of Yellowstone," he said.
David McCray, a snowmobile-business operator in West Yellowstone, Mont., said his concern now is the potential confusion the ruling may cause, particularly approaching the President's Day holiday weekend.
"To once again change the rules for this year - if there's any advantage for West Yellowstone businessmen, it's going to be negligible," he said.
Bill Dart, executive director of the BlueRibbon Coalition, a Pocatello, Idaho-based recreation group, said he had not yet seen the order.
"We support the use of cleaner, quieter machines in the park, in reasonable numbers, and that sounds like a wise decision," he said.
Messages left for a spokeswoman at Yellowstone National Park Tuesday evening were not immediately returned.
Brimmer's ruling seems to conflict with a Dec. 16 order by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., but Brimmer said otherwise in his own order.
Sullivan reinstated a 2001 Clinton-era phase-out of snowmobiles the day before the 2003-04 season was to start. A complete ban would be imposed by next winter. The opinion disrupted plans by rangers, tourists and businesses that rely on the motorized sleds.
Sullivan's ruling allows only mass-transit snowcoaches in the parks by next winter.
Following issuance of that order, the state of Wyoming and snowmobile manufacturers asked Brimmer to revive a case filed in 2000 that challenged the Clinton administration ban.
That case led to a settlement in 2001 between the Bush administration, and the state and snowmobile groups. The settlement reduced the number of snowmobiles allowed in the parks and the Rockefeller Memorial Parkway connecting them and required cleaner-burning machines but did not ban the sleds outright.
"Effects from the 2001 Snowcoach Rule are felt by a large portion of the population, from local businesses and concessionaires, to citizens all over the country who visit the Parks throughout the winter," Brimmer wrote.
He said the matter should be left to the National Park Service, not the courts.
"A single Eastern district judge shouldn't have the unlimited power to impose the old 2001 rule on the public and the business community, any more than a single Western district judge should have the power to opt for a different rule," he said.
"Rather, these issues should be left in the care of the (Park Service), the administrative agency into whose hands the public has entrusted this matter."
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition had argued that the Wyoming court does not have jurisdiction to grant an injunction because it would directly conflict with the order of the D.C. court.
"This Court wants to make clear that the issue in this case is not the validity or the wisdom of the D.C. District Court's December 16, 2003, Judgment and Memorandum Opinion," Brimmer wrote. "The issue in this case is the validity of the 2001 Snowcoach Rule, a matter over which this Court has had jurisdiction since December 6, 2000. These two issues are separate and distinct and there are no issues of judicial comity presented by this Court deciding the validity of the 2001 Snowcoach Rule."
"Comity" is defined as the informal and voluntary recognition by courts in one jurisdiction of the decisions of another.
Brimmer said that the doctrine of judicial comity has no application unless an identical complaint is filed in two different federal courts, "which no one contends is the case here."
The Cheyenne-based judge also said the D.C. court was aware of the pending litigation in Wyoming over the validity of the 2001 snowcoach rule, "but still asserted jurisdiction over the issue of the 2003 Rule."
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