The slope just got more slippery for Yellowstone snowmobilers Wednesday when the National Parks and Conservation Association -- the nation's foremost environmental advocacy group for national parks -- issued a report labeling Yellowstone one of America's most endangered parks.
And all because of snowmobiles."Snowmobile use is a theft of the right of other Americans to enjoy the natural beauty and sounds of the park," said Tony Jewett, director of the group's Northern Rockies Regional Office.
The report adds to a growing chorus of environmental voices calling for a snowmobile ban in Yellowstone. The National Park Service has proposed new regulations eliminating most snowmobiles in the park, but "until the Park Service takes such action, the din and pollution will continue."
The report raised the ire of snowmobile enthusiasts, who say environmentalists are refusing to compromise or negotiate on the issue.
"I am getting pretty fed up with the NPCA and their continual anti-snowmobile rhetoric," said Clark Collins, director of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, an Idaho-based group lobbying to preserve off-highway vehicle access on public lands. "They are unwilling to work with the snowmobile community and industry to address legitimate concerns like noise and emissions."
Snowmobile advocates say the National Park Service is ignoring the impact of a snowmobile ban on local communities. The Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce estimates a ban on snowmobiling will cost the 17-county region around the park about $130 million to $140 million annually, as well as 400 jobs.
But environmentalists say the 1,000 snowmobiles that roar into the park every day during winter months are destroying the natural solitude and pumping out air pollution greater than cars do during the summer months. Even though cars outnumber snowmobiles 16 to 1, snowmobile emissions produce 78 percent of the carbon monoxide and 94 percent of the hydrocarbons released annually, according to the NPCA.
"Truth can hurt, and the truth is that some of our national parks are becoming a national disgrace," said Thomas Kiernan, NPCA president. "But if we have the will, we can find the way to rescue even the most endangered park."
Snowmobile advocates say the National Park Service, NPCA and other environmental groups have refused to recognize technological advances being made by the snowmobile industry. A recent competition among college engineering students unveiled what may become a new generation of snowmobiles that produce almost 50 percent less carbon monoxide and 99 percent fewer hydrocarbons.
Students from the University of Buffalo, New York, even developed a snowmobile that was so quiet that judges mistakenly asked the students to fire it up when it already was turned on.
Snowmobilers say the Park Service is overreacting to "junk science and political forces" in its move to ban snowmobiles, rather than work with the industry to better regulate snowmobile use. Advocates say the Park Service should have considered requirements that allow only lower-emission snowmobiles into the park, limit the number of machines, require higher user fees and ban night riding.
In fact, the Park Service had been working with the snowmobile industry on compromises at the time the ban was announced. "This is why the ban in Yellowstone is such a shock. It seemed as if we were moving toward some workable agreements," said Ed Klim, president of the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association.
Instead, the National Park Service "is simply ignoring the advancements being made by the manufacturers," said Kim Raap, trails program manager for the Wyoming State Park Service. "We thought we had a good working relationship with the NPS and federal authorities in trying to address these issues, but this proposed ban is like throwing cold water in our faces."
Collins said the move to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone is just a starting point for environmentalists. "They will then want them out of all parks, and then out of the forests and so on and so on," he predicted.
The NPCA report of the nation's most endangered parks does not list any of Utah's national parks. Among the parks making the list this year included Denali in Alaska, Haleakal in Hawaii, Petrified Forest in Arizona, the Everglades in Florida, the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina, and Joshua Tree in California.
"Logic tells you that national park status protects America's priceless wild and scenic areas from human degradation, but that logic is wrong," Kiernan