Economic interests in Cody will not be denied continued access across Sylvan Pass in the winter, where Park Service employees risk their lives and waste your tax money for the benefit of a few who cross the pass in snowmobles. The cost per snowmobile is huge — many times the entrance fee.
They are getting well organized and will probably win. It’s almost an axiom in politics that well organized small interest groups with narrow objective defeat the unorganized public interest. Read Mancur Olson’s book. “The politics of collective action” for an explanation of this phenomenon.
Here is the story. 500 attend Cody forum on Sylvan Pass proposals. By Ruffin Prevost. Billings Gazette Wyoming Bureau.
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is President of the Western Watersheds Project.
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