Yellowstone
Net Gazette Monday October 13, 1997 |
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MORE NEWS ARCHIVES DISCUSSION FORUMS Go to Yellowstone Net Home Page Note: In-house stories are signified by the abbreviation YNET. Otherwise, the stories herein are from outside sources, to which proper credit is given. Editor Contributing |
By MICHAEL MILSTEIN TUCSON, Ariz. - The new director of the National Park Service has called a special meeting of the agency's eight regional directors later this month to lay the groundwork for what he hopes will be increased funding for national parks such as Yellowstone. "The American people support their parks, and I believe the Congress wants to do the right thing by them," said National Park Service Director Robert Stanton, confirmed by Congress to head the agency about two months ago. In an interview with The Gazette at the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Tucson, Stanton said the National Park Service must do a better job explaining to the public its policies on issues such as management of Yellowstone Park bison. But he said one of his first priorities is gaining enough money to complete the rebuilding of Yellowstone's disintegrating road system. The National Park Service has in recent years received an annual appropriation of about $80 million in federal road funding. "We will argue for no less than double that - $160 million, because the parks need it," Stanton said. "Our mother park, Yellowstone, is in dire need of that money." He said he has called a meeting of National Park Service regional directors from across the country, "to work on immediate and long-term budget strategy, and so we can communicate to the secretary of interior and to Congress exactly what our parks need." Preserving the natural values of national parks must always take precedence, he said. "If you lose the resources for which the park was established, you don't have anything," he said. That goes both for the large natural parks like Yellowstone and historical sites such as Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Stanton succeeds former National Park Service Director Roger Kennedy, who resigned earlier this year. The former head of the Park Service's national capital region, Stanton is the first career Park Service employee to head the agency in more than a decade. He grew up in a low-income neighborhood in
Fort Worth, Texas, and took his first job with the National Park Service as a seasonal
park ranger at Grand Teton National Park in 1962. He was nearing his retirement from his
regional director post in Washington, D.C., when Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt
called him into Babbitt's office to ask Stanton is the first African American to serve as Park Service director. He said the Park Service needs to better articulate its management policies to the public especially when it comes to issues such as the handling of bison that leave Yellowstone Park in the winter. Last winter state and federal authorities shot more than 1,000 bison to keep them from carrying the disease brucellosis outside the park. Some park bison are believed to carry brucellosis, which can cause domestic cattle to abort. There has never been a documented case of bison transmitting the disease to cattle, however. The National Park Service "natural regulation" management policy took heat from critics who argued that it was simply the agency's excuse for not managing wildlife and other park resources. Stanton said, however, that natural regulation "does not say, totally hands off. That's a simplistic way to see it." He said the policy represents the Park Service's aim to let ecosystems function, as much as practical, as they naturally would. "It does not mean no regulation." He said he believes it is appropriate for park managers to take strong stands on projects that may jeopardize park resources. Yellowstone Superintendent Mike Finley took such a stand against the gold mine proposed just outside the park's boundary until the government bought out the project. Stanton said he hopes to couple expanded use
of volunteers in national Increased entrance fees at many national parks have met with a positive response from the public, he said. Congress will probably authorize a continuation of the higher fees, he said. |
By BRUCE GOURLEY BILLINGS, Mont. (YNET) - In August of 1996, President Clinton announced a plan to save Yellowstone from the threat of a proposed mine near the Northeast corner of the Park. Now, fourteen months later, Congress and the White House are finally on the verge of signing legislation that would officially put the plan into place. Last week, the White House and congressional leaders tentatively agreed to pay Crown Butte Mines Inc. the originally-proposed $65 million to abandon its New World Mine near Cooke City, Montana. In addition, the agreement calls for another $12 million to be spent repairing and maintaining the Beartooth highway, a breathtaking stretch of mountain highway which is costly to maintain because of its high elevation. Finally, the deal calls for Gov. Marc Racicot (Montana) and the U.S.Interior Secretary to prepare a study for Congress on potential mineral resource development in Montana. The fact that a tentative deal has been placed on the table is an indication that progress is finally being made. However, the wrangling is far from over at this time. Montana Republicans Sen. Conrad Burns and Rep. Rick Hill are still trying to secure the transfer of federal coal reserves to Montana for future development, as part of the Crown Butte deal. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition are opposed to the idea of opening more Montana wilderness to development. The final outcome of the proposed legislation is uncertain, although it does appear that after months of very little progress, a final deal is near. -------------------- Recently, rumors have been flying around the country that Yellowstone is going to be closed for the winter. The rumors seem to be stemming from Yellowstone's proposed winter closing of the Canyon to Lake road as part of a lawsuit settlement which instructs the Park to re-evaluate it's groomed snowmobile trails and the effect the trails have on the movements of Yellowstone's bison during the winter months. The slaughter of some 1100 bison last winter led to the lawsuit by the Fund for the Animals. Yellowstone will be open for the winter. However, West Yellowstone business owners are concerned that the trail closing, coupled with continued rumors of the entire Park being closed, could result in a significant loss of winter tourism business. Thus, even as snow is beginning to fall in the Yellowstone region, the bison problem is coming to the forefront once again. Last year's bison slaughter captured the attention, and the outrage, of the nation. At a bison exhibit in Yellowstone's Canyon Village over the summer, handwritten notes from visitor's from around the nation expressed anger over last winter's slaughter, and demanded that such extreme action not be taken again. Government officials are aware of public sentiment, and are determined to avoid a repeat of last year. Nonetheless, the parties involved have yet to find a sure-fire solution to the bison and brucellosis problem. Yellowstone Net will cover the saga of the bison during the coming winter months. We invite you to share your thoughts and comments on our Bison Forum. -------------------- If you are a wildlife fan, you will want to visit our October Wildlife Update found on our Wildlife Page. The October edition of the wildlife update focuses on the greatest of all Yellowstone's wildlife, the Grizzly Bear.
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