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Possible delay in environmental impact statement By MICHAEL MILSTEIN Gazette Wyoming Bureau YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - An environmental impact statement on winter use in Yellowstone National Park may be delayed while officials expand it to include a proposed snowmobile ban among winter recreation options. Although the snowmobile ban, requested by an alliance of environmental groups, would cover all national parks, Yellowstone officials say it might be economical for them to consider the impacts of such a ban along with other winter use options examined in the EIS. "It would make some sense in terms of cost to examine the impacts of that while we're examining the impacts of the other alternatives, too," Yellowstone planner Sarah Creachbaum said. In January, the Bluewater Network and 60 other environmental groups petitioned the National Park Service to prohibit snowmobiles in the entire national park system because they cause pollution and disturb wildlife. About 30 parks, including Yellowstone, now permit snowmobile use within certain limits and an estimated 250,000 snowmobiles enter the national park system each year in the lower 48 states, many of them in Yellowstone. The groups especially cited carbon monoxide pollution at Yellowstone's west entrance as evidence that national parks are not suitable playgrounds for the machines. National Park Service officials in Washington, D.C., are reviewing the petition to determine how to handle it, said Chip Davis of the Park Service's ranger activities office. The Yellowstone winter use EIS, which is planned to evaluate the impact of various options for future winter recreation in the park, is also under review by Park Service brass in Washington, D.C. A judge ordered Yellowstone officials to complete the EIS in response to a lawsuit by environmental groups that alleged that the park had never examined the environmental impacts of growing winter recreation in Yellowstone. Under a court-ordered schedule, a draft version of the EIS must be released to the public by Aug. 1. The EIS must examine the impacts of current winter use in Yellowstone as well as other options for winter use. Park officials have already circulated a draft list of alternatives to county commissions in six adjacent counties that are considered cooperating agencies in the development of the EIS. Among the alternatives listed in the draft were the closure of Yellowstone's east entrance to all traffic during the winter and the plowing of park roads between West Yellowstone and Old Faithful during the winter. Another alternative was continuing current winter use in the park. The EIS should weigh the impacts of each alternative on the natural resources of the park and local economies. While the winter use EIS in Yellowstone and the Bluewater Network petition are different procedures, they have enough in common that as long as Yellowstone officials are considering the impacts of winter use, they could consider the potential impacts of prohibiting snowmobiles as the petition demands. "However the Park Service decides to respond to the petition, we would want to make sure we have that reflected in one of the alternatives," Creachbaum said. Park officials realize they will already be hard pressed to make the Aug. 1 deadline, but they realize they must to comply with the court order. Some county commissioners, however, have suggested that the agency may ask the court for an extension of the deadline because the lengthy review in Washington, D.C., has put the EIS effort behind schedule.
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