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FRIDAY, OCT 16, 1998 |
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Volume 2, No 104 | |||
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PARK
WEATHER MORE NEWS The Yellowstone Net Newspaper is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
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PUBLISHER EDITOR IN CHIEF CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (DOI) -- Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has signed the Record of Decision (ROD) for the 4.6 million acre Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) Final Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement. The ROD adopts the Bureau of Land Management's preferred alternative for management of the 4.6 million acre area. The decision, based on extensive scientific evaluation of the area, makes available to oil and gas leasing approximately 87 percent of the northeast quadrant of NPR-A. Approximately 580,000 acres will not be made available for oil and gas leasing. This area encompasses nearly all of the key goose molting habitat and critical caribou habitat. In addition, 900,000 acres is made available for oil and gas leasing, but prohibits all surface activity, or allows only exploratory drilling and essential road and/or pipeline crossings. Special stipulations protect subsistence and provide protection for the resource values found in the planning area. "This is a balanced plan that carefully weighs the impacts on a
fragile Arctic landscape and its abundant wildlife with the "I have instructed the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to begin the next step in the process," he continued. "The BLM will develop a schedule to implement the complex components of the decision, including a schedule for conducting an oil and gas lease sale." The decision will direct the BLM to exclude from oil and gas leasing nearly all of the area of shallow lakes north and east of Teshekpuk Lake. This area is heavily used by geese during molting season. It also includes important calving and insect relief areas for caribou. Similarly, the decision prohibits permanent oil and gas surface occupancy on Teshekpuk Lake and other locations important for fish and subsistence use. Altogether nearly one-third of the study area will bar surface development of oil and gas. If you would like to order a copy of the decision, you may request one from the BLM Alaska State Office at (907)271-5960.
Court Order Halts Construction in Yosemite by ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS NETWORK YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (ENN) -- Construction of buildings, parking lots and the realignment of a road in Yosemite Valley have been halted until a full trial is held next spring on whether or not the projects comply with environmental laws, a U.S. District Court judge ruled Tuesday. "The park service is trying to use the flooding as an excuse to avoid including the public in the process of planning Yosemite's future, and to do an end run around the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act to prepare an environmental impact statement and examine alternatives to a proposed action," said Joe Brecher, an attorney representing the Sierra Club in this suit. Click here for the full story from ENN.
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from NATIONAL PARK SERVICE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (NPS) -- Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Michael Finley has announced the park's first section of road inside the park has closed for the fall season. Dunraven Pass (Tower Fall via Dunraven Pass to Canyon) closed at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, October 13. The Beartooth Pass (outside the Northeast Entrance of the park) closed at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, October 14. The remainder of the park roads (with the exception of the road from the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, to the Northeast Entrance at Cooke City, Montana) will close for the season to the public at 8 a.m. on Monday, November 2. Beginning November 2, snow will be allowed to accumulate on park roadways in preparation for the winter season. At 8 a.m. on Wednesday, December 16, 1998, Yellowstone will open for the winter season to oversnow vehicles. Winter oversnow road openings are dependent on sufficient snow. Groomed roads will begin to close to oversnow vehicle use at 8 a.m. on Monday, March 8, 1999, with the closure of the Mammoth-to-Norris road. On Wednesday, March 10, Norris Junction to Madison Junction, and Norris Junction to Canyon will close. All remaining groomed roads will close to oversnow vehicle use at 8 a.m. on Monday, March 15, 1999. The road from the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, to the Northeast Entrance at Cooke City, Montana, remains open year-round to automobile traffic; this road is subject to temporary closures, and chains or snow tires may be required at times due to hazardous winter driving conditions. Park visitors are reminded that with the closing of park roads, the fishing season in Yellowstone also closes (at 10 p.m. on Sunday, November 1) in ALL portions of the park. When the interior park roads close to automobile traffic on November 2, non-motorized travel in the form of bicycles, roller blades and roller skis, will be allowed as long as weather permits. Specific information on these types of activities can be obtained by contacting the park.
Trumpeter Swans Relocated to Montana from SPOKANE.NET Ten young trumpeter swans that have not yet learned to fly have joined a growing list of Canadian wildlife being relocated to the northern United States, including Idaho and Washington. The swans were transplanted from the Grande Prairie region of northern Alberta to the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana about three weeks ago. The goal is to re-establish the world's rarest swan species in a state where it died out several years ago. The relocated swans were all less than a year old and have an average weight of 17 to 20 pounds. Click here for the full story from Spokane.net.
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