YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) -- Crews are cutting a swath through a small stand of old lodgepole pine in Lake Village to make room for 80 recreational vehicle sites for employees of the park's main concessionaire.
The project may have been approved in 1993. But the idea of scores of new summer-season residents, many senior citizens, in the small residential neighborhood caught locals by surprise."Several people are up in arms over it," said Art Truman, a National Park Service maintenance worker who lives near the project.
The first Truman heard of it, he said, was when workers asked him to move his lawn furniture so they could cut some trees.
Until now, many seasonal workers have been parking their motor homes or trailers in the lot near the Lake Hotel, Yellowstone planner John Sacklin said. Moving them will allow concessionaire Amfac to build new dormitories near the hotel, which would ease a little the problems of deteriorating employee housing throughout the park.
The $1 million, six-acre project is scheduled for completion in 2001.
Michael Scott of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said the environmental group was unaware of the project.
"I'm not real comfortable with the idea of cutting down trees," Scott said. "On the other hand, you can't really fault them for finding places for people to live."