Fallout from the victory over snowmobiles-
Groups: Snowmobile use plan still possible. Yellowstone officials say they have no authority to allow machines this year. By Corey Hatch. Jackson Holes News and Guide.
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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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The NPS has dim-witted but dedicated bureaucrats. Dedicated to snowmobiling, that is. For years, the public, science, and the courts have said loud and clear: no snowmobiles in Yellowstone. So NPS bureaucrats respond to the latest “no snowmobile” legal ruling by writing yet another “plan” that will maintain the size of Yellowstone’s bureaucratic empire by allowing snowmobiles in the park this winter.
Ban snowmobiles. Let’s experiment and do some wildlife research. Plow the road from West Yellowstone to Madison Junction. People have talked about it for years. Try it. See what happens.
Close the road from Lake to Canyon for 2 years to snowmobiles and snowcoaches–including administrative use. But send out folks on x-c skis to monitor buffalo. After 2 years, open the road to snowmobiles and see how the buffalo react. This would blow the “buffalo don’t care about snowmobiles” theory all to pieces. The buffalo would go into a total panic when the bubbleheads on snowmobiles reappeared after a two year absence.