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YELLOWSTONE |
IN THE NEWS TODAY: Public Restrooms EA Announced -- by NPS Winter Use Plan Slammed by EPA -- News Brief Bison Update -- News Brief National Parks Rivers and Trails Program -- by NPS Daily Environmental News -- from ISyndicate |
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ROAD REPORT PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN- |
PUBLIC RESTROOMS
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT ANNOUNCED by National Park Service YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) -- Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Michael V. Finley announced today that the park is soliciting comments on the issues and alternatives to be considered in an environmental assessment (EA) for construction of a public restroom in the Mammoth Hot Springs developed area. The proposed restroom would be located southwest of the Yellowstone Park Service Station and in close proximity to the station, tour bus parking areas, and Hamilton General Store. The restroom would accommodate pedestrian traffic between the Albright Visitor Center and the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. In July 1999, there were 74,473 visitors to the Albright Visitor Center--an average of nearly 2400 visitors per day. Public restrooms provided by the National Park Service at the visitor center, the Mammoth Campground, and the Upper Terrace parking area (one vault toilet) do not accommodate the large number of park visitors to the area. Additionally, the visitor center restrooms are not accessible to park visitors with disabilities. There are other restrooms located within concession facilities in Mammoth, but overall numbers remain inadequate. The proposed public restroom would be located within the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District at a site that was once the location of the Cottage Hotel, a three and one-half story log structure built in 1885 and demolished in 1964. The NPS would ensure the restroom design would be compatible with buildings within the historic district. Construction of the proposed public restroom may not alleviate the need for additional restroom facilities in the future. To assist the National Park Service with the Mammoth Public Restroom project, you are invited to comment on the issues and identify alternatives or other concerns that need to be considered in this process. Please send your comments by March 31, 2000, to: Planning Office, Mammoth Public Restroom Project, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190. The EA should be available for public review in the spring of 2000, with construction planned for October 2000. |
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS Ralph Maughan
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YELLOWSTONE
WINTER USE PLAN SLAMMED BY EPA News Brief YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has turned thumbs down to the National Park Service's draft environmental impact statement on winter use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. The 350-page document, which features seven alternative plans for managing winter use in Yellowstone, including the Park Service's preferred alternative, has been given a failing grade by the EPA. The EPS notes that all seven alternatives fail to protect the environment, do not adhere to federal air quality standards and violate an executive order on snowmobile use in national parks. The EPA faulted the Park Service for not taking immediate steps to limit snowmobiles, which produce enough carbon monoxide and other fumes to threaten human health. According to the EPA, snowmobiles are classified as off-highway vehicles, or OHVs, because of their engine type - even though they operate on established roads in the national parks. The EPA findings question the very existence of snowmobiles within Yellowstone. The Winter Use Proposal plans as they stood were largely decried by business interests near the Park. The mandate by the EPA to stiffen the proposals will certainly lead to more outcry. Environmentalists, however, will likely rally behind the EPA findings. (Be sure to read Monday's "Protecting Yellowstone" column for more analysis of this important story.) |
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| BISON UPDATE News Brief Yellowstone's bison
continue to make national news. Last night, the Arts & Entertainment television
channel aired an investigative report on the slaughter of Yellowstone's bison. In
the winter of 1996-97, some 1100 of Yellowstone's bison were slaughtered by the Montana
Department of Livestock because of fears that the bison might spread disease to domestic
cattle near Yellowstone. |
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| NATIONAL PARKS
RIVERS AND TRAILS PROGRAMS by National Park Service WASHINGTON, D.C. (NPS) -- National Park Service (NPS) Director Robert Stanton announced that this year the Service's Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (Rivers & Trails) will expand its technical assistance program and open four new field offices to assist 25 additional local conservation efforts in communities around the country. Rivers & Trails is the community resource of the NPS that works with local citizens groups to preserve valuable open spaces, revitalize nearby rivers, and develop trail and greenway networks. "When the public thinks of the National Park Service, they think of beloved national treasures like Yosemite and Gettysburg, but our mission actually extends far beyond the boundaries of these majestic national parks. The Service also seeks to preserve natural treasures close to home - and that is where the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program is leading the way," Stanton said. New offices, staffed by one or two NPS professionals, are to be opened in Los Angeles, Calif., Salt Lake City, Utah, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Minneapolis, Minn. This brings the total number of Rivers & Trails offices to 30 locations in all regions of the nation. By placing NPS staff in field offices close to the communities that have asked for their help, Rivers & Trails can better assist these locally-led conservation projects. The additional assistance is made possible by a Fiscal Year (FY) 2000 funding increase of $500,000 added to Rivers & Trail's existing $7.2 million budget. The funding increase has permitted the program to assist approximately 250 projects in FY 2000 -- 25 more than in 1999. The President's FY 2001 budget proposes an additional increase of $500,000 for the Rivers & Trails program. This level of funding would allow NPS to assist 25 more community conservation projects and place additional staff in locations around the country. Fulfilling the NPS' commitment to help communities help themselves is the mission of the Rivers & Trails program. Rivers & Trails does not direct or fund projects, but when a community has decided to conserve close-to-home landscapes, Rivers & Trails can help it get started by providing a national network of conservation and recreation-planning professionals to assist with nature-based recreation development and environmental, historic and cultural conservation projects. Since its inception, the Rivers & Trails program has participated in more than 1000 projects in all 50 states. In FY 1999 alone, Rivers & Trails assistance led to the protection of 1400 miles of trails, 400 miles of river corridor, and 11,000 acres of open space nationwide. Rivers & Trails is one of a number of programs set up by the National Park Service to better serve the needs of communities and their local conservation efforts. Through these programs, communities across the nation ask for and receive help in establishing new trail systems, restoring degraded rivers, acquiring federal surplus lands for parks and recreation, and protecting historic and cultural places important to them. These programs include Federal Lands to Parks, Land and Water Conservation Fund, Long Distance Trails, Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery, and Wild and Scenic Rivers. For further information on the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, visit the website at www.ncrc.nps.gov/rtca or contact Samuel N. Stokes, Chief, Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, D.C., 20240, or by telephone at (202) 565-1200. |
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