Vol 4, #21

   Friday, March 31, 2000

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) -- Beginning on April 18, the National Park Service will begin selling an all-new, $50 credit-card-style National Parks Pass which can be used in Yellowstone National Park and at other national parks around the United States.  This new pass will replace the existing Golden Eagle Passports program.

This year's card, the first one to be issued, will feature a winter scene from Yellowstone, the world's first and foremost national park.  The card, which can bear the users' name, will feature a magnetic strip which will allow users, eventually, to be able to swipe the card through electronic readers which will be installed at some park entrances in the future.  The automated gates, however, will likely be a few years distant.

The goal behind the new Parks pass is to raise new revenue for Yellowstone and other national parks.  The Park Service anticipates that the passes, in addition to being used to access national parks, will also become collectors items.  The passes will be available at national parks, by telephone, in stores in park gateway communities, in outdoor catalogs, and over the Internet.  The Park Service anticipates that the sale of new passes will generate over $150 million for America's national parks over the next five years.  70% of proceeds from passes sold at park entrances will stay within that particular national park.

More information on the new national parks pass program will be available in the coming weeks.

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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

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal. (NPS) -- Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has announced a draft plan to restore Yosemite Valley by reducing traffic and crowding and restoring portions of the valley which is at the heart of one of the nation's greatest national parks.

"Yosemite Valley is one of nature's most awesome creations," said Babbitt. "Over the years, roads and bridges and structures have been constructed which, in some cases, have contributed to the sprawl and crowding that visitors to Yosemite are trying to avoid. In Yosemite, we're using the lessons and impetus from the New Year's Day flood in 1997 to help adapt visitors to the needs and forces of nature in the Valley, rather than the other way around. We are helping to return the Yosemite Valley to what it has always been - a place of breathtaking beauty."

"The proposals we are making in Yosemite are in line with how we're improving the transportation system in other parks, such as the Grand Canyon, Acadia, and Zion. Our goal in Yosemite, as in those parks, is to make sure visitors spend time appreciating the natural beauty of the parks, rather than focusing on where to park," Babbitt said.

The changes are part of a Draft Yosemite Valley Plan which provides direction and proposes specific actions to preserve Yosemite Valley. The draft plan is based on the broad goals laid out in Yosemite National Park's 1980 General Management Plan of reducing traffic congestion and crowding, allowing natural processes to work, and reclaiming the Valley's natural beauty.

The Draft Yosemite Valley Plan produced by the National Park Service proposes to:

-- Rip out Cascades Dam on the Merced River, along with three bridges affecting the natural flow of the stream, restoring riparian, meadow and Black Oak landscapes on its banks

-- Remove roads through Stoneman and Ahwahnee Meadows, and tear up most parking in the east Valley other than at lodging, campgrounds and Yosemite Village

-- Demolish and restore to nature the Superintendent's House, commercial stables, some units of Housekeeping camp, some NPS Operations and concessioner administration.

The draft plan will restore roughly 180 acres in the Valley to natural conditions. Babbitt stressed that this plan can, in fact, allow more visitors by merely reducing the number of cars, encouraging visitors to leave them behind. "You can't 'love Yosemite to death' with too many people," said Babbitt. "But you can choke it to death with exhaust fumes while looking for parking. That's why we're increasing clean-air shuttles, reducing traffic by 60 percent, and letting people get out of their cars to experience Yosemite up close."

The plan also proposes to:

-- Create about 1,600 additional parking areas outside the Valley at Badger Pass, South Landing near Crane flat, and El Portal. Day-use visitors will be encouraged to park outside the Valley and taken shuttle buses into it from those sites.

-- Implement a contiguous River Protection Overlay, as proposed in the Draft Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan/EIS

--Convert NPS administrative buildings into natural and cultural history museums.

"This draft plan presents a range of alternatives for making Yosemite Valley a better place," said Yosemite Superintendent David Mihalic. "However, these are just proposals. Now it is the public's turn to read the plan, consider what it means, and tell us their reaction. I cannot emphasize enough the necessity for public input at this crucial time in Yosemite's history."

The Draft YVP will be available for public review and comment from April 7 to July 5, 2000. To obtain a copy of the plan, or submit comments, write Yosemite Valley Plan/SEIS, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite National Park, CA, 95839. Comments must be postmarked by July 5, 2000. Copies will also be available at http://www.nps.gov/yose/planning.ht

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BOZEMAN, Mont. -- The battle over grizzly bear protection has gotten a whole lot hotter with the release of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) Draft Conservation Strategy (CS) for the Grizzly Bear in the Yellowstone Area.  Conservationists regard the document as another step toward the premature removal of Endangered Species Act protections for the Yellowstone grizzly bear and its habitat.

"This document proves the FWS is determined to remove Endangered Species Act protections for the Yellowstone grizzly bear.  This strategy sets the bar for habitat protection so low it doesn't even protect bears where they live today, much less consider future threats to the forests and mountains where they range," said Louisa Willcox, Project Coordinator of the Sierra Club Grizzly Bear Ecosystems Project.  "And, instead of factoring in the over 16,000 pro-bear protection public comments they have received in the pending decision, FWS has ignored the will of the people and set up a impenetrable web of simultaneous processes that would be mind-boggling even to a rocket scientist," she concluded.

In the next 90 days, no less than five separate processes related to grizzly recovery will be underway in the region:  FWS is accepting comments on the Conservation Strategy, the Bitterroot reintroduction process, the Habitat Criteria (see below), and hosting a three-state governors' roundtable process.  Meanwhile, Wyoming is preparing for public comment on their state grizzly bear management plan that must also be in place before delisting.

Americans showed they care deeply about protecting the grizzly bear in FWS's recent public comment period on grizzly habitat protection, the Draft Habitat-Based Recovery Criteria for the Yellowstone Ecosystem.  More than 95% of nearly 17,000 respondents said they want better protection for the bear and its habitat, including wildlife supporters in all 50 states and a
few foreign countries.  The results of this comment period, however, appear to have been completely ignored by the FWS, and the agency inserted the same habitat standards into the CS with no changes - as if the previous comments had not happened.

The CS sets standards for bear and habitat protection based on the assumption the grizzly and its habitat will no longer be covered under the stringent protections of the Endangered Species Act. Grizzly experts continue to worry about the implications of escalating private land development in bear habitat and uncertainty about the key food sources such as white bark pine, imperiled by an introduced disease, and Yellowstone cutthroat trout, which is threatened by whirling disease and introduced Lake trout in Yellowstone Lake.  Still, pressure by some elected officials such as Sens. Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Craig Thomas (R-WY), is pushing the delisting process.

The Fish and Wildlife Service's Conservation Strategy falls short of protecting grizzly bear habitat for the long-term.  Conservationists are recommending that the agency:

-- Protect sufficient habitat.  The Recovery Area boundaries must be changed to include areas currently used by bears as well as areas vitally important for food and habitat.  Boundaries must be based on the needs of bears, not a desire to open more lands to industrial development.

-- Strike the plan's loopholes that allow for destruction of thousands of acres of bear habitat within the recovery zone.  One such loophole in the current document allows for a one percent loss of much of the remaining bear habitat.

-- Protect lifelines.  Wildlife corridors between Yellowstone and Canada are vital to the long-term survival of grizzlies in the lower-48 states. Unfortunately, the government's plan proposes only to "study" these linkages but provides no guaranteed protection, even on an interim basis. The plan should call for action, not more study.

-- Restore degraded habitat.  The current plan identifies important grizzly bear areas where habitat is degraded below acceptable levels.  However, it does not set any goals or timelines that agencies must meet to restore this degraded habitat-it only states these areas need "improvement."  The Fish and Wildlife Service should require that these problem areas be brought up to standards that will sustain bears.

--Provide real standards for motorized access in grizzly habitat. Government standards are based on an arbitrary acceptance of 1998 road levels, not on the demonstrated needs of grizzlies and other wildlife.

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BILLINGS, Mont. -- Hewlett-Packard Company has partnered with Yellowstone Net to automatically deliver the Monday edition of the Yellowstone Net Newspaper to your printer through HP Instant Delivery.

The HP Instant Delivery service features select publications and allows users to automatically download and print the publications via the Internet at scheduled times.

HP Instant Delivery says of the Yellowstone Net Newspaper, "Yellowstone Net Newspaper brings you all the latest about the "Crown Jewel" of America's National Park system. Whether you're planning a vacation or just interested in protecting our natural resources, this newsletter has information you can use."

To receive your automated printout of the Yellowstone Net Newspaper via HP Instant Delivery, click here.

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