Vol 3, # 104

   Wednesday, December 15, 1999

YELLOWSTONE
WEATHER
Highs 30s, Lows 0s
Partly Cloudy
 

Yellowstone Net Home Page
 

ROAD REPORT
North entrance
open only.
 

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) -- Superintendent Michael Finley has announced that Yellowstone National Park roads are scheduled to open to oversnow vehicles for the winter season at 8:00 a.m. today, December 15, 1999, but cautioned that current snow accumulations, minimal in most areas of the park (recent snow precipitation data for the Upper Yellowstone-Madison area shows 60 percent of average), could delay the scheduled opening dates. Superintendent Finley reminds park visitors that road openings are dependent upon adequate snow accumulations and safe driving conditions.

Conditions permitting, all entrances will be opened for oversnow vehicle use as scheduled and will remain so until the scheduled closing date unless snow conditions deteriorate, in which case restrictions or possible closures may be necessary in some areas. The road from the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, to the Northeast Entrance at Cooke City, Montana, is the only road open for year-round automobile travel. The road is subject to temporary closures and chains or snow tires may be required at any time due to hazardous winter driving conditions.

Snowmobile operators are subject to all park regulations. All snowmobile operators in Yellowstone National Park must possess a valid motor vehicle operator's license. In addition, persons possessing a learner's permit may operate a snowmobile in the park only when supervised within line of sight (but no further than 100 yards) by a licensed person 21 years of age or older. Snowmobilers are reminded to always be prepared for emergencies and be alert for snowdrifts in some areas or sections of bare pavement, especially in thermally-influenced areas.

The Old Faithful Snow Lodge, dining room, and cabins are scheduled to be open from December 17 to March 12; Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel will operate from December 21 to March 5. The Old Faithful Snow Lodge Geyser Grill will open December 15 to March 12.

Yellowstone Park Service Stations (YPSS) provides snowmobile fuel and other basic snowmobile services at stations located throughout the park. Service stations will be open at Old Faithful, Canyon Junction and Fishing Bridge from December 15 to March 12, and at Mammoth Hot Springs from December 15 to March 5.

Old Faithful Visitor Center will be open from December 15 through March 12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Albright Visitor Center and Museum in Mammoth Hot Springs is open daily, year-round with winter hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Naturalist-led activities and evening programs are provided on a limited basis in the Mammoth area beginning December 23 through March 4 and the Old Faithful area beginning December 15 through March 11. For information on available programs and times, call the Albright Visitor Center at (307) 344-2263 or Old Faithful Visitor Center at (307) 545-2750.

Warming huts will be open at Mammoth (12/21-3/5), Old Faithful (12/15-3/12), Madison (12/15-3/12), Indian Creek (12/15-3/5), Canyon (12/15-3/12), Fishing Bridge (12/15-3/12), and West Thumb (12/15-3/12). All warming huts, except Mammoth and Old Faithful, are open 24 hours a day; the Mammoth Warming Hut is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Old Faithful Warming Hut is open during daytime hours only. Madison and Canyon warming huts have light snacks and hot drinks during the day; vending machine snacks are available anytime at all warming huts except Indian Creek and West Thumb.

Mammoth Campground is open year-round. The Mammoth Clinic is open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.; it is closed Wednesday afternoons. Also, the Hamilton General Store in Mammoth Hot Springs is open Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., providing groceries, gifts, souvenirs, and fast-food service. Starting January 2, Hamilton Stores will remain open on Sundays, too.

Park visitors are welcome to call park headquarters at (307) 344-7381 for the latest road and snowmobile conditions and weather information.

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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. Robert Bara

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) -- On December 19, 1999, Yellowstone National Park will host its 26th annual Christmas Bird Count. Christmas Bird Count participants are among a cadre of 50,000 volunteers from a broad geographic area including all 50 states, every Canadian province, parts of Central and South America, Bermuda, the West Indies, and many of the Pacific Islands.

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count. The Christmas Bird Count originated in New York as a protest to the traditional holiday "side hunt" in which teams competed to see who could shoot the most birds and mammals in one day. A group of twenty-seven concerned birdwatchers decided to protest the traditional bird shoot by counting birds, rather than shooting them. The Christmas Bird Count, no longer a protest event, is now a social birding event scheduled around the Christmas holiday season and can occur on any day from December 16 through January 3.

The Yellowstone Christmas Bird Count is scheduled for December 19, 1999, and tallies birds found in the Mammoth, Wyoming/Gardiner, Montana area. People not familiar with the Christmas Bird Count should realize it is an international method of counting birds, learning something about birds from other people, and having fun with birders during the Christmas holiday season. Whether you are a beginning birdwatcher, a moderately experienced birder, or an advanced observer, the Christmas Bird Count is still a lot of fun.

If you have never participated, you should give it a try! For those that have participated before, we hope to see you again! Please meet on December 19th at the Best Western in Gardiner, Montana, at 7:15 a.m. The weather can be unforgiving, so bring warm layered clothing, snacks, and drinks for the day. Please contact staff ornithologist Terry McEneaney at (307) 344-2222 (office) or (406) 848-7942 (home) if you are planning on coming, so logistical plans can be made for that day.

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Two wolves were recently killed in the Tom Miner Basin just north of Yellowstone National Park in an effort to halt further livestock kills in the area.  The two nine-month old male pups from the Chief Joseph pack were shot by Fish and Wildlife Service agents last Wednesday from a helicopter.  The two were members of a pack which killed six domestic sheep in the area last month.  Under Yellowstone's Wolf Reintroduction Plan, wolves which kill domestic livestock may be killed.

Meanwhile, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is seeking the help of Montana Governor Marc Racicot in forming a citizen's committee to assist in developing a state management plan which will be needed once wolf management is handed from the federal government to Montana.  A state wolf management plan would need to address such issues as the monitoring of wolves, whether or not hunting or trapping will be allowed, control measures for wolves which destroy livestock, and effects on big game population, among others.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (NPCA) -- Acting on a recent promise to recommend the creation of a dozen new national monuments across the nation, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today called on President Clinton to create three monuments in Arizona and California and enlarge a fourth in California.  "This is an excellent step on the part of the Clinton Administration and a promise that we would like to see within the next year," said Tom Kiernan, President of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).

"The time is ripe for completing a number of park areas across the U.S. and protecting other threatened lands," Kiernan said. "President Clinton should take the lead in preserving these treasures, preferably by seeking congressional approval if he can get it, or by using his Presidential authority should the need arise."

Secretary Babbitt called on President Clinton to create three monuments:

-- the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, a 1 million-acre tract of land northwest of the Grand Canyon in Arizona;

-- the Agua Fria National Monument, 40,000 acres north of Phoenix that contain hundreds of archeological sites; and

-- the California Coastal National Monument, thousands of small islands threatened by mining.  Babbitt also wants Clinton to nearly double the size of the existing Pinnacles National Monument, a region now threatened by the sprawl of California's Bay Area.

In November, Babbitt announced his intention to recommend the designation of 12 monuments across the country.  President Clinton could bypass congressional approval by invoking the Antiquities Act of 1906 and issuing an executive order to designate the monuments because they already lie on federal lands.

President Clinton's last use of the act to declare the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument in 1996 led to several legislative attempts to overturn or weaken the statute.   "NPCA has helped to fight off these moves to emasculate the Antiquities Act, which is one of the strongest sources of protection for our most treasured landscapes," Kiernan said.  However, Kiernan notes, Congress recently has demonstrated a new interest in creating and expanding national parks lands.

"Congress recently approved more funding for land acquisition and preservation, so clearly it now favors moving forward with preservation efforts," Kiernan said.   "On some proposals, such as at Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, there is support from the administration, from Republican representatives, and from the local community.   We hope both Congress and the President will keep politics from stifling the protection of our most cherished landscapes and will continue their efforts in a spirit of cooperation."

The National Parks Conservation Association is America's only private nonprofit organization dedicated solely to protecting, preserving, and enhancing the National Park System. NPCA was founded in 1919 and today has more than 400,000 members.

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