Victims or victors: Yellowstone and the snowmobile capital of the world

Historical Geography

Volumn 34, Issue , 2006, Pages 159-184

  Yochim, Michael J ^a  

^a YELLOWSTONE CENTER FOR RESOURCES   (United States)

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EID: 38049109008     PISSN: 10916458     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (103)

1. Fund for Animals et al. v. Gale Norton et al., and Greater Yellowstone Coalition, et al. v. Gale Norton, et al., Dec. 23, 2003, Civil Action #02-2367, Memorandum Opinion, 294 F. Supp. 2d 92 (D.D.C. 2003).
2. ISMA et al. and State of Wyoming v. Gale Norton et al. and Greater Yellowstone Coalition et al, Feb. 10, 2004, Civil Action #00-CV-229-B, Order, 304 F Supp, 2d 1278, 1293 (D. Wyo. 2004), 21-29.
3. Effects of Sullivan's decision from Scott McMillìon, "Park snowmobile visits plunge," Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle (hereinafter BDC), Feb. 4, 2004;
4. and Steve Lipsher, '"The brink of beauty, the edge of ruin," Denver Post, Jan. 11, 2004.
5. Karl Jacoby, Crimes Against Nature: Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001);
6. Mark David Spence, Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999);
7. and Louis S. Warren, The Hunter's Game: Poachers and Conservationists in Twentieth-Century America (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997).
8. LaryM. Dilsaver and William C. Tweed, Challenge of the BigTrees: A Resource History of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (Three Rivers, CA Sequoia Natural History Association, Inc., 1990);
9. and C.W Buchholtz, Rocky Mountain National Park: A History (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1983).
10. Roger Koopman, "Snowmobile flap is the real air pollution in Yellowstone," BDC, Feb. 21, 2003, and Clyde Seely, "Park plan must include preservation, access, and economics," BDC, March 27, 2004.
11. Gary E. Machlis and Donald R. Field, eds, National Parks and Rural Development: Practice and Policy in the United States (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2000);
12. Dennis Click and Ben Alexander, "Development by Default, Not Design: Yellowstone National Park and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem," in Machlis and Field, 2000;
13. Paul EJ. Eagles and Stephen E McCool, Tourism in National Parks and Protected Areas: Planning and Management (Wallingford, Oxon, UK: CABI Publishing, 2002);
14. Thomas Michael Power, Lost Landscapes and Failed Economies: the Search for a Value of Place (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1996);
15. and Jim Howe, Ed McMahon, and Luther Propst, Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997).
16. Ross E. Mitchell, "Community Perspectives in Sustainable Tourism: Lessons from Peru," in Stephen E McCool and R Neil Moisey, eds., Tourism, Recreation and Sustainability: Linking Culture and the Environment (Wallingford, Oxon, UK: CABI Publishing, 2001) (quote p. 158).
17. Richard A. Bartlett, Yellowstone: A Wilderness Besieged (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1985), 63;
18. Janet Cronin and Dorothy Vick, Montana's Gallatin Canyon (Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 1992), 58-59;
19. Mary Shivers Culpin, "The History of the Construction of the Road System in Yellowstone National Park, 1872-1966," Historic Resource Study Vol. 1, Yellowstone National Park Library;
20. and Aubrey L. Haines, The Yellowstone Story: A History of Our First National Park, rev. ed., (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1996), 2:314. Note that a lengthier road connected the two towns via Ennis, Montana, early on.
21. In fact, Yellowstone's Riverside Ranger Station, about a mile inside the park from West, held the country's all-time recorded low temperature (outside of Alaska) for 21 years: -66° E (Frank H. Anderson to Superintendent, January 31, 1949, loose file in Box N-158, Yellowstone National Park Archives, Yellowstone National Park Heritage & Research Center, Old Yellowstone Trail S, Gardiner, MT 59030 (hereinafter YNPA)). The -66° record stood from 1933 to 1954, when it was displaced by a -72° reading at Rogers Pass, Montana.
22. David Warner, "West Yellowstone: Those Good, Bad Old-Time Winters," Montana Magazine, 57 (Jan.-Feb., 1983), 9-11.
23. Arno Cammerer to Senator Joseph O'Mahoney, Feb. 8, 1940, in File "868 Winter Sports," Box L-46, YNPA, and Michael J. Yochim, "Snowplanes, Snowcoaches and Snowmobiles: The Decision to Allow Snowmobiles into Yellowstone National Park," Wyoming Annals 70 (Summer 1998), 6-23.
24. Snowcoaches were known until the mid-1960s as snowmobiles, and as "big snowmobiles" until the mid-1980s, when the "snowcoach" label was coined.
25. Yochim, "Snowplanes, Snowcoaches and Snowmobiles," 13, and George Remington, "West Yellowstone Plans Projects To Make Area Big Winter Resort," Livingston (Mont.) Enterprise, Feb. 3, 1966. The Northern Pacific's nearest terminal was in Bozeman, MT. Snowplanes were banned from the park in the early 1970s due to concerns over their unshielded propellers.
26. Yochim, "Snowplanes, Snowcoaches and Snowmobiles," 7-16, and Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, on Winter Operation of Roads in Yellowstone National Park, Ninetieth Congress, Second Session, 1968.
27. Ibid, pp. 59-60.
28. Yochim, "Snowplanes, Snowcoaches and Snowmobiles," 17-22; and Dick Ludewig, former Director of Marketing and Sales for the Yellowstone Park Company, personal interview by author, Mammoth Hot Springs, July 2, 2005.
29. John S. McLaughlin to Director, July 6, 1967, in File "D3O: Roads & Trails 1967 - Winter Travel in Yellowstone," Box D-166, and "Disadvantages to Winter Road Opening - Yellowstone;" in File "D3O: Roads & Trails 1968 - Winter Travel in Yell. Snow Removal," Box D-164, both at YNPA.
30. Town council minutes of council meetings for dates Nov. 16, 1966; Nov. 14, 1967; Jan. 4, 1968; Oct. 8, 1968; and Dec. 20, 1973; and Town of West Yellowstone Resolutions 38 (December 1968) and 62 (Dec. 20, 1973), all at the Yellowstone Historic Center archives, West Yellowstone, MT; Paul Shea, archivist, Yellowstone Historic Center, personal communication with author, e-mail, July 15, 2005.
31. Darcy L. Fawcett, "Colonial Status: The Search for Independence in West Yellowstone, Montana," (professional paper, Montana State University, 1993), 21, 27 (source of quote), and Calvin W. Dunbar, "Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and National Parks," [May 1983], "Winter Use Plan EA" Box, Loose, Management Assistant's Office Files, National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park (hereinafter MAOF).
32. Phyllis Smith, Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley: A History (Helena, MT:Two Dot Press, 1996), 290-292
33. and Margaret Littlejohn, Yellowstone National Park Visitor Study, 1996 (University of Idaho Visitor Services Project Report 75, Cooperative Park Studies Unit, Moscow, ID), 9, MAOF. Note that the Jackson Hole, WY, ski resort opened at about the same time, further boosting Yellowstone's winter tourism.
34. Jean Arthur Sellegren, "Blue Haze: Multi-Use Issues Come to a Head in the Land of the Buffalo," Backcountry (January 1996), 52-54.
35. Advertising and package tour from Fawcett, 21-27; other snowmobile ads or pictures featured in these BDC articles: Nov. 20, 1997; Jan. 11, 1998; March 11, 1998; and March 18, 2000. Camaraderie also mentioned in McMillion, "West Yellowstone packs 'em in for the ... Snowmobile Expo," BDC, March 18, 2000. Bar information from John Miller, "West Yellowstone: Montana's biggest little town," BDC, February 28, 1999. "Having fun" from James T Sylvester and Marlene Nesary, "Snowmobiling in Montana: An Update," Montana Business Quarterly (Winter 1994), 3-8 (quote from p. 7). Male statistic in U.S. Dept. of the Interior/National Park Service, Winter Use Plan Environmental Impact Statement, 2000, 1:91. Youth statistic in Littlejohn, Yellowstone National Park Visitor Study, 1996, A-1.
36. Dunbar, "Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and National Parks," [May 1983], and Darryl Harris, "Winter Season Extension Needed At Yellowstone," Snowmobile West (September 1985), 63-64.
37. James A. Jurale, "History of Winter Use in Yellowstone National Park," (master's thesis, University of Wyoming, 1986), 135.
38. See also Randy Roberson, "Data supports continued use of snowmobiles in park," BDC, Nov. 5, 1999.
39. Scott McMillion, "Snowmobiles 'Extremely Dirty,'" BDC, January 9, 1994; U.S. Department of the Interior-National Park Service, "Air Quality Concerns Related to Snowmobile Usage in National Parks," (unpublished report), February 2000, 1-2, MAOF; and "Ambient Air Quality Study Results, West Entrance Station, Yellowstone National Park, Winter 1995," (unpublished report), MAOF.
40. Greater Yellowstone Coalition, "Yellowstone National Park Sound Survey," President's Day Weekend, 2000, File "Greater Yellowstone Coalition," MAOF; and Michael J. Yochim, "The Development of Snowmobile Policy in Yellowstone National Park," (master's thesis, University of Montana, 1998), 140.
41. Greater Yellowstone Winter Visitor Use Management Working Group (G. Yell. WVUM Group), Winter Visitor Use Management: A Multi-Agency Assessment, March 1999, 9-12;
42. Hope Sieck, "West Yellowstone Business Owners Go to Washington, D.C.," Greater Yellowstone Report 47 (Summer, 2000), 22 (the quarterly journal of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, P.O. Box 1874, Bozeman, MT 59771);
43. David Cowan, "Yellowstone Park: Speedway or Sanctuary?" Greater Yellowstone Report 14 (Fall, 1997), 1;
44. and Robin Heyer, "When snowmobiles are aaaaaaaaaaaabanned, more skiers will come," BDC, Dec. 31, 2000.
45. See Mary Meagher, "Winter-re creation induced changes in bison numbers and distribution in Yellowstone National Park," 1993, Unpublished Report, MAOF; Daniel D. Bjornlie and Robert A. Garrott, "Effects of Winter Road Grooming on Bison in Yellowstone National Park," journal of'Wildlife Management 65 (2001), 560-572; and C. Cormack Gates, Brad Stelfox, Tyler Muhly, Tom Chowns, and Robert J. Hudson, "The Ecology of Bison Movements and Distribution in and Beyond Yellowstone National Park: A Critical Review with Implications for Winter Use and Transboundary Population Management," April 2005, available at http://www.nps.gov/yell/technical/planning/gates/index.htm (accessed on June 16, 2005).
46. When these concerns first surfaced in the 1970s, Superintendent Anderson attempted to address them. In short, remedies to noise and air pollution were out of his control, and his research biologist Glen Cole found that snowmobiles and their noise did not displace wildlife. See Yochim, "The Development of Snowmobile Policy," 67-75.
47. UDSI/NPS, Winter Use Plan Environmental Assessment, December 1990; Yochim, "The Development of Snowmobile Policy," thesis, p. 144; and Chris Turk, personal interview by author, Denver, Colo., June 4, 2003. Second planning effort in G. Yell, ̀WVUM Group, Winter Visitor Use Management, 9-12.
48. "Marketing gasohol in "West Y. a savvy move," BDC, December 11, 1997; Scott McMillion, "Clean Machine," BDC, March 1, 1996; McMillion, "Lean, Mean, and Green Machine," BDC, March 20, 1996; "In search of a clean ... machine," BDC, February 25, 2000 (abbreviation, emphasis, and ellipses in originals as quoted).
49. Doug Peacock, "The Yellowstone Massacre," Audubon 99 (May/June 1997), 42.
50. See Paul Schullery, Yellowstone} Ski Pioneers (Worland, WY, High Plains Publishing Company, 1995)
51. for a heartening account of these early conservation efforts. The ideas on their symbolic values and the guilt idea are from Dave Price and Paul Schullery, "The Bison of Yellowstone: The Challenge of Conservation," Bison World (Nov/Dec. 1993), 18-23.
52. Fund for Animals et al. v, Bruce Babbitt et al, May 20, 1997
53. and Settlement Agreement, The Fund for Animals, et al, v. Bruce Babbitt et al, Civil No. 97-1126 (EGS), Sept. 23, 1997, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, MAOF.
54. Michael V. Finley, telephone interview by author, June 24, 2003; Ron Tschida, "Envìros offer plan to limit Yellowstone snowmobiles," BDC, Oct. 13, 1999 (Under National Environmental Policy Act regulations, citizens are allowed to develop their own management alternatives for federal agencies to consider);
55. Scott McMillion, "Winter use plan: EPA gives cold shoulder to all options but snowmobile ban," BDC, Feb. 24, 2000;
56. and McMillion, "Snowmobiles in Yellowstone may well become ... A vanishing breed" (ellipses in original), BDC, Mar. 14, 2000. Public comment summary and release of final decision from National Park Service, "Executive Summary" [of public comments], undated, MAOF; and USDI/NPS (lntermountain Regional Director Karen Wade), "Record of Decision: Winter Use Plans for the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and John D. Rockefeller Jr., Memorial Parkway," Nov. 22, 2000, 11-15, MAOF.
57. West Yellowstone Chamber, "Sleep," available at http://westyellowstonechamber.com/lodging/index.htm, accessed on June 16, 2005; National Park Service, Winter Use Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement Volumes 1 & 2, ("Winter Use Plan Draft EIS"), July, 1999, 1:198, and Sellegren, 54.
58. Meteor quote from McMillion, "Snowmobiles in Yellowstone may well become ... A vanishing breed," BDC, Mar. 14, 2000; Will Rizzo, "Counties agree on Yellowstone winter use plan," Livingston Enterprise, Sept. 17, 1999;
59. Todd Wilkinson, "Politicians play fast and loose with the law," BDC, Mar. 28, 2000
60. and Michael Milstein, "Winter debate over park use turns political," Billings (Mont) Gazette, March 25, 2000.
61. Matthews quote in Ron Tschida, "Enviros offer plan to limit Yellowstone snowmobiles," BDC, Oct. 13, 1999;
62. Doug Edgerton, "Snowplowing plan could actually benefit West Y," letter to the editor, BDC, Sept. 14, 1999; and petition information in Sieck, "West Yellowstone Business Owners Go to Washington, D.C.," Greater Yellowstone Report 17 (Summer, 2000), 22.
63. Ray Ring, "Move Over!" High Country News, April 1, 2002, 11-14, and Finley interview, June 24, 2003.
64. Ring, "Move Over!" 10; and from the menu at the Three Bear Restaurant in West, owned by Seely, June 12, 2005.
65. Ring, "Move Over!" 14.
66. James Brooke, "A Move to Rid Parks of Snowmobiles," New York Times, Feb. 7, 1999, and Douglas Jehl, "National Parks Will Ban Recreation Snowmobiling," New York Times, April 27, 2000.
67. Mike Stark, "Agency refuses to ban snowmobiles," Billings Gazette, Feb. 19, 2004.
68. Federal Register 7260-7268, January 22, 2001. Effort to publish them quickly from Yellowstone Management Assistant John Sacklin, personal interview with author, Feb. 13, 2003. Bush administration delay in 66 Federal Register 8366-8367, January 31, 2001. DOJ's failure to consult with Finley from his "Remarks, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, June 9, 2001," remarks at GYC's annual meeting, MAOF. Note that the winter use planning efforts by this time included Grand Teton National Park, so that snowmobiles were to be banned there as well.
69. Bob Furu, "West Yellowstone weighs snowmobile suit," BDC, Dec. 5, 2000.
70. The following BlueRibbon Magazine (the group's periodical) articles all articulate the fear that banning from Yellowstone will mean banning from other federal lands: "BlueRibbon Supporters in 1998" (January 1999) 8-11; "Help Save Snowmobiling on our Public Lands" (July 1998), 14;
71. Jack Welch, Fund for Animals Sets Snowmobiling in National Forests as their NextTarget" (November 1998),3.
72. Clark Collins, "Green Advocacy Groups Unmasked at Last" (March 1999), 2;
73. Viki Eggers (who was Executive Director of the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce at the time), "Recreationists Draw a Line in the Snow" (November 1999), 8; and "Park Service Announces Snowmobile Ban" (June 2000), 6. The group continues to articulate this same concern.
74. Mike Stark, "Parks reverse snowmobile decision," Billings Gazette, June 26, 2002.
75. Public comment summary from North Wind Environmental, Inc., "Public Comment Database Summary," Oct. 2, 2002, MAOF;
76. and Steve Iobst, personal interview by author, Mammoth Hot Springs, April 4, 2003.
77. Fund for Animals et al. v. Gale Norton et al., and Greater Yellowstone Coalition, et al. v. Gale Norton, et al., Dec. 16, 2003, Civil Action #02-2367, Memorandum Opinion, 294 E Supp. 2d 92 (D.D.C. 2003);
78. and ISMA et al. and State of Wyoming v. Gale Norton et al. and Greater Yellowstone Coalition et al, Feb. 10, 2004, Civil Action #00-CV-229-B, Order, 304 R Supp. 2d 1278, 1293 (D. Wyo. 2004), 21-29;
79. and "Federal judge strikes down snowmobile ban," BDC, Oct. 16, 2004.
80. NPS-USDI, "Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks Temporary Winter Use Plans Draft Environmental Assessment, August 2004," MAOF; Scott McMillion, "Park gates open to snowmobiles, for now," BDC, Nov. 21, 2004; "Snowmobile plan draws 2 more challenges," Billings Gazette, Nov. 13, 2004;
81. and Carole Cloudwalker, "New lawsuit challenges sled rules," Cody (Wyo.) Enterprise, Nov. 3, 2004.
82. Burns's riders: McMillion, "Burns' rider ensures snowmobiling in park," BDC, Nov. 23, 2004;
83. and Dan Berman, "House appropriators give green light to snowmobiles in Yellowstone," E&E Daily May 11, 2005, accessed on same day at http://www.eenews.net. Rehberg's efforts from McMillion, "U.S. House defeats halt to killing bison, snowmobile ban," BDC, June 18, 2004.
84. Norton's visit from Felicity Barringer, "A 3-Day YellowstoneTour in Support of Snowmobiles," New York Times, Feb. 17, 2005. Visitation statistics in T.R. Reid, "for Norton, Yellowstone Close-Up: Interior Chief Takes A Snowmobile Ride," Washington Post, Feb. 17, 2005.
85. See also Norton, "Gale Norton: parks exist for people to enjoy, even on snowmobiles," Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Sept. 26, 2004.
86. "Summary, First NPS Team meeting with Cadence," April 27, 2005, MAOF.
87. Norton's quote has often been repeated in the press; see http://www.doi.gov/news/021205.htm for an example (accessed July 14, 2005). Scholars promoting collaborative conservation include Daniel Kemmis, This Sovereign Land: A New Vision for Governing the West (Washington, DC; Island Press, 2001);
88. Philip Brick, Donald Snow, and Sarah Van de Wetering, eds., Across the Great Divide: Explorations in Collaborative Conservation and the American West (Washington, DC; Island Press, 2001);
89. and Matthew McKinney and William Harmon, The Western Confluence: A Guide to Governing Natural Resources (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004), as well as most of the gateway community scholars cited herein.
90. In developing a one-industry town, West committed the mistake that many scholars caution gateway communities against doing (Howe, McMahon, and Propst, Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities, 1997;
91. Power Lost Landscapes, Failed Economies,1996;
92. Machlis & Field National Parks,Rural Development.2000
93. Alston Chase, Playing God in Yellowstone (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1986), 295-370. Ideas by ex-NPS directors include George B. Hartzog, Jr., Battling for the National Parks (Mt. Kisco, NY: Moyer Bell Limited, 1988), 113-138; 249-276;
94. James M. Ridenour, The National Parks Compromised: Pork Barrel Politics and Americas Treasures (Merrillville, IN: ICS Books, Inc., 1994), 77-96;
95. and William C. Everhart, The National Park Service (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1983).
96. Scholar William R. Lowry asserts the NPS is increasingly politicized in The Capacity for Wonder: Preserving National Parks (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1994), 51-64, 193-201;
97. Daniel L. Dustin and Ingrid E. Schneider also argue that NPS is highly politicized, compromising its ability to conduct impartial science ("The Science of Politics/The Politics of Science," Environmental Management 34 (2005): 761-767). While environmentalists have indeed filed lawsuits to compel the NPS to ban snowmobiles, and have thereby influenced the issue's history and the town of West Yellowstone, their suits largely wish to compel the agency to do what it had planned to do originally - ban snowmobiles. Industry, by contrast, originally sued in opposition to the agency and would profit financially from continued snowmobile use.
98. Howe, McMahon, and Propst, 1997; Glick and Alexander, "Development by Default, Not Design," in Machlis and Field, 2000;
99. Eagles & McCool, Tourism in National Parks and Protected Areas, 2002;
100. McCool and Moisey Tourism, Recreation and Sustaìnabìlity, 2001;
101. and Mitchell, "Community Perspectives in Sustainable Tourism," in McCool and Moisey, 2001. Note that Meyer argues that snowmobiles are inappropriate in Yellowstone because they conflict with the quiet sense of place the park possesses, but this article illustrates that some form of motorized winter use has been around for a long time and can therefore be seen as part of its winter sense of place (Judith L. Meyer, "Nature Preservation, Sense of Place and Sustainable Tourism: Can the 'Yellowstone Experience' Survive?" in McCool and Moisey 2001, pp. 91-104).
102. Joseph L. Sax discusses Olmsted's national park thinking, as well as his own ideas, in Mountains Without Handrails: Reflections on the National Parks (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1980), 18-37.
103. Figure is developed from data in Summary Record of Snowmobile Use, Yellowstone National Park, 1966 through April 1978, File "Winter Activities," Box K-57, YNPA, and "Seasonal Visitation Statistics," flyer available from the Visitor Services Office, National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park, WY Data for 1998 and 1999 is downloaded from the official Yellowstone National Park website, http://www.nps.gov/yell/ stats/index.htm, accessed on July 14, 2005.