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YELLOWSTONE WEATHER Highs 10s, Lows -20s Snow More Weather Road Conditions		Yellowstone Net Home Page Vacation Reservations	IN THE NEWS TODAY: Protecting Yellowstone -- by Bruce Gourley Bison Update -- News Brief Billings Gazette Yellowstone Special -- News Brief Preservation Grants -- National Park Service NEW! Daily Environmental News -- from ISyndicate
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ROAD REPORT North entrance open only. For more road info, click here. COMMUNITY CENTER THE DAILY CARTOON ONLINE GREETING CARDS PUBLISHER Yellowstone Net Company EDITOR-IN- CHIEF Bruce Gourley MORE LINKS Vacation Discussion Newspaper Archives Send us your comments		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) -- In recent months, Yellowstone's sewer treatment facility problems have been pushed to the backburner in the wake of the attention focused upon Winter Use issues within the Park (specifically, in regards to the future of snowmachines in Yellowstone). Nonetheless, Yellowstone officials on Friday made a little-noticed statement regarding the Old Faithful Wastewater Treatment Plant. According to Park officials, improvements to the Old Faithful facility will not harm the environment. The old (current) facility has spilled some one million gallons of wastewater in the Park over the past several years, primarily because the system is simply outdated and overworked. Officials want to make certain that in the process of building and upgrading, the Yellowstone environment is not further damaged. In past years, Old Faithful geyser itself has been considered in harm's way when sewage overflows occurred in the Old Faithful area. The Old Faithful Wastewater Treatment Plant is a victim of several decades of inadequate funding of Yellowstone by Congress. The plant should have been upgraded or rebuilt years ago, but there were no funds available. Finally, last year, funds were released specifically to build new wastewater treatment facilities and to upgrade wastewater treatment process, along with other improvements. Yellowstone officials have announced that the project will be offered for bid this spring, with construction beginning June 1. Thus, this summer will see the first actual steps in solving a serious problem that has been plaguing Yellowstone for sometime. And yet, the Old Faithful facility is not the only sewage problem in Yellowstone. Other sewage facilities need repairing or replacing as well, including in the Lake area. Hopefully, all of these problems will be resolved before any further sewage mishaps occur. And looking at the longer term, perhaps these improvements signal a period in which Congress will be more responsive to Yellowstone's infrastructure needs. (Yellowstone Net provides you opportunity to voice your opinion regarding the various Yellowstone issues to your congresspersons and to editorial sections of magazines and newspapers by clicking here.) BACK TO TOP
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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		BISON UPDATE News Brief HELENA, Mont. -- Montana Governor Racicot is upbeat about the prospect of the Montana Department of Livestock and federal agencies reaching an agreement on management of Yellowstone's bison. Currently, the DOL has a policy of killing disease-infected bison which leave Yellowstone's boundaries during the winter months. Fortunately, there have been no killings yet this winter. The DOL's hard-line stance against the bison led the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to cut off talks with the DOL last year. The three federal agencies and the Montana DOL recently decided to again try to reach a mutual solution through the services of a mediator. BACK TO TOP
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		BILLINGS GAZETTE RUNS YELLOWSTONE SPECIAL News Brief BILLINGS, Mont. -- The Billings Gazette newspaper, the only major regional print newspaper sold inside Yellowstone Park, is running a five-day special series of articles focusing on the Yellowstone Winter Use Controversy. The five-day series of articles started Sunday with an overview of the controversy. The National Park Service is seeking to make Yellowstone's winters quieter, less polluting and more affordable for visitors. Snowmachine use it at the center of their efforts to reach these goals. The Gazette will be examining various aspects of this conflict through Thursday. BACK TO TOP
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		PRESERVATION GRANTS by National Park Service WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has announced the apportionment of $28,081,186 for historic preservation grants to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Territories, the Federal States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. Grants may be used for a broad range of activities including historic property inventories, resource protection planning, and nominations to the National Register of Historic Places. They may also be used for monitoring compliance with Federal historic preservation requirements, technical assistance to private interests that seek to preserve and protect historic resources, assisting local government preservation programs, and the acquisition or development of historic properties. The National Park Service will administer these grants as part of the Historic Preservation Fund. BACK TO TOP