Vol 3, # 55

   Monday, May 24, 1999

YELLOWSTONE
WEATHER
Highs 60s, Lows 30s
Mostly Sunny
 

Yellowstone Net Home Page
Vacation Reservations

ROAD REPORT
All entrances
except the NE
entrance are
now open.

 

PROTECTING YELLOWSTONE
by Bruce Gourley

Yellowstone is a national treasure which is owned by the American public.  Protecting Yellowstone is the responsibility of the American public.   This weekly feature will help identify and explore the issues which are crucial to the ongoing, healthy existence of the "Crown Jewel" of America's National Park system.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- Every month or so, I receive an email which reads something like this:  "I've heard that Yellowstone is going to close after the year 2000.   Will it ever open again?"

These false rumors began when Yellowstone was designated as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in the 1970s.  Although the designation was merely a recognition of Yellowstone as one of the most important environmental areas on earth, some anti-government extremists latched onto the U.N. designation as evidence that the U.N. was out to take over the American West.  Thus, those occasional questions I receive in the email about Yellowstone closing in the year 2000.

Last week, the U.N.-as-bad-guy rumors made it all the way to the House of Representatives.  Led by alarmist-Republicans, the House voted to give Congress the authority to veto U.N. land designations.  Supporters of the bill claimed that U.N. land designations (such as the World Heritage Site designation) threaten the rights of American citizens, a claim to which there is no basis of truth.

Too often within political circles, fiction and fact get so entangled that those who present themselves as the staunchest defenders of truth are, in reality, living in a fictional fantasy world.  Let the truth be known:   Yellowstone is not going to be closed to the public, and the United Nations is not taking over the American West. 

Fortunately, the "phantom" bill that the House passed last week has virtually no chance of passing the Senate and the President's desk.

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS

Ralph Maughan
Kim Steinbacher
Kevin Sanders
Steve Brashear
Clint Wilkes
Tim Gourley
Hon. Bob Gammage
Ruth Colter-Frick
Lee Whittlesey
Tom Mazzarisi
Russ Finley
David Monteith
Denise Elmer
Dr. Bob Bara

Yellowstone National Park officials say the first year of a five-year plan to improve employee safety has been a big success. Park officials signed an agreement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration last May to improve safety conditions for park employees. The agreement runs until the year 2003, but park officials say it has already paid-off. David DiTommasso of OSHA says a survey conducted by his agency identified 600 items that needed attention, and all of them have already been addressed.

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Memorial Day weekend, this coming weekend, will mark the official start of the summer season in Yellowstone.  There will be a noticeable increase in the number of visitors in the Park over the weekend, and visitation numbers will continue to grow until they reach a peak in July and August.  Some three million plus visitors are expected in Yellowstone this summer.

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This week marks the beginning of another season of Christian ministries in Yellowstone, including the Christian Innovator ministry.  Twenty college students who will work for Amfac this summer will also serve as missionaries under the supervision of Resort Minister Brad Lartigue and the Gardiner Baptist Church of Gardiner, Montana.

The Yellowstone Christian Innovator ministry has been in existence for over twenty years, with several hundred students having served through the ministry over the years.  Brad Lartigue, who also serves as Ski Chaplain at Big Sky Resort and who is known to be an excellent snowboarder, has coordinated the summer Innovator ministry for the past seven years.  Gardiner Baptist Church has been the sponsoring church for the ministry since it's inception, while attracting many summer Park visitors to its Sunday worship services.

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