Kristina Schenck's Interactive Media

Over the course of the last 30 years, snowmobiles have become a popular sight–and sound–in Yellowstone National Park, perhaps the last place one would expect to see crowds like the one on the picture below.

Wilderness or highway? Photo by Craig Moore / Associated Press

The legal and political battle surrounding the issue of banning snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park is a prime example of the challenges government agencies face when managing land for multiple use. On the one hand, snowmobiling is the foundation of the local economy in West Yellowstone, Montana, a small town of about 1000 people and a gateway to Yellowstone. There are multiple companies that rent out snowmobiles, give snowmobile tours, and service snowmobiles. However, supporters of the ban cite air and noise pollution as well as wildlife disturbance as reasons for regulating snowmobile use in the park.

Allowing hundreds of snowmobiles to drive freely through a national gem is contradictory to the National Park Service’s mission to preserve land for future generations. However, banning snowmobiles all together is inconsistent with the idea of managing for different users and would hurt the local economy.

Carbon monoxide levels began to decrease in the 2000 at the West Entrance, where many snowmobilers enter the park from nearby West Yellowstone, Montana. Credit: John D. Ray Atmospheric Chemist

Overtime, air quality has improved as two-stroke engines were phased out and replaced with four-stroke engines, which are more fuel efficient and emit less pollutants into the environment. And the government has slowly begun to limit the number of snowmobiles per day in the park–from about 20 years of no regulation, to about 700 per day, to the current limit of 318 per day. Air quality is improving, they claim.

This summer, the National Park Service opened up the issue to public comments. The NPS favors a plan that includes further limiting the number of snowmobiles to 110 per day, and to allow only guided snowmobile tours in the park. The comment period is currently closed, but will open back up again some time…presumably soon.

I support the NPS favored option (1 of 4 proposals) though I think they should also institute a permit system that differs from the current proposal because people would have to apply for permission to snowmobile in the park, rather than just simply showing up on a snowmobile. Yosemite requires hikers to apply for a permit to hike up Half Dome in order to limit the number of people who travel to the famed um, rock, so it’s not something that’s new to National Parks, or public land use in general. Furthermore, a permit system could generate revenue that the government could invest in the local economy in order to offset money lost by limiting snowmobile use.

All in all, it’s a contentious issue for which a solution is long overdue. Hopefully the government can finally come to a decision that is some sort of a compromise for both opponents and supporters of the ban.