The
Yellowstone Net Newspaper Friday October 17, 1997 Vol. 1 No. 4 |
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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 JENNIFER MCKEE "That closure will have the effect of basically killing off that fledgling business,'' said Paul Hoffman, director of Cody Country Chamber of Commerce. Although snowmobiling accounts for a small piece of Cody's economic pie, the business is growing, Hoffman said. And it's dependent on keeping park roads open. "You take that away, you've made their business absolutely unviable,'' Hoffman said. Snowmobile-related profits totaled about $4.7 million for Park County, Wyo. last year, he said. But in West Yellowstone, Mont. taxes from snowmobilers accounted for almost half of the community's resort taxes last year, said Viki Eggers, director of the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce. Those tax dollars made up more than a third of the town's total operating budget, she said. "When I was girl in the mid '60s, before snowmobiling came around, about 7 or 8 of our businesses stayed open in the winter,'' said Eggers, a West Yellowstone native. "Now about 80 percent of our businesses are are open through the year.'' Many snowmobilers who stay in West Yellowstone don't spend much time in the park, Eggers said. But without Yellowstone as a hook, she wonders how many people will drive for days just for West Yellowstone. "That's the scary part,'' she said. "Will they really come from Minnesota? Will they come from Florida? They don't have to drive this far to to have snow to play in.'' Like Eggers, Inez Brandt at the Dubois Chamber of Commerce in Dubois, Wyo. said people will come to the area just for the park, even if they don't spend much of their vacation there. But Brandt wasn't sure tourists would come just for Dubois. "A lot of people can snowmobile where they're from, too'' she said. "Without snowmobiling, we'd go to being a place where people drive through on their way to Jackson to ski.'' Still, Brandt said she was unaware of any canceled reservations since the National Park Service announced a tentative lawsuit settlement that could close two 14-mile stretches of park roads this winter. Famous for skiing, Jackson Hole, Wyo., home of the Yellowstone Outdoor Recreation Solutions (YORS) group which is suing to become a third party in the proposed settlement, wouldn't feel a huge economic hurt, said Chamber director Bill Malone. "Whether it happens or not, isn't going to impact us negatively,'' Malone said. "Snowmobiling plays a significant role, but its different role than maybe some of the other communities.'' Like Jackson Hole, leaders in Red Lodge, Mont., say snow machines don't detract much from skiing. Still Carbon County Commission Chairman John Prinkki said the county will join Park County, Wyo., in asking to be a co-author of a potential Environmental Impact Statement with Yellowstone National Park. "We will support Park County,'' Prinkki said. "I think it's important that gateway communities support each other.'' In past weeks, Park County commissioners here have sent letters to promoters and officials in 26 communities in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, alerting them of the possible road closure and encouraging the towns an cities to ask to be a part of the EIS process. In letters covering a 200-mile radius around Yellowstone Park, from Billings to Thermopolis, the commission echoed words spoken at Tuesday's commission meeting. "If ever there was an issue to get everyone involved, this is the issue,'' said Commissioner Tim Morrison. |
By BRUCE GOURLEY YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- Federal, State and local officials continue to wrestle with the problem of bison infected with brucellosis, a disease which can causes cows to abort their calves. It is believed by some that the disease can be transmitted from bison to domestic cattle, although there is yet no conclusive evidence at this point. Yellowstone Park officials recently anounced that park rangers, for the first time, will be allowed to shoot some bison within park boundaries. In the past, rangers have been allowed to shoot diseased bison who wandered out of the Park, but not within the park boundaries. The option of shooting bison with Yellowstone's boundaries will only be used if other measures for preventing the animals from leaving the park do not work, according to officials. In addition, a federal proposal would allow the bison who have a low rist of carrying brucellosis to graze on public land outside the park. Montana ranchers want assurance that other states with import Montana cattle would not boycott the state's livestock because of the free-ranging bison. The Park Service is prepared to again capture roaming bison in temporary holding pens. Bison heading north out of the park near Gardiner will be captured and tested for brucellosis. Those testing positive will be slaughtered, while those testing negative will be held in the pens. Meanwhile, as winter slowly moves into the region -- it has been an unusually mild fall here -- officials continue searching for a long term solution to the bison and brucellosis problem, while hoping against a repeat of last years' 1100 bison slaughtered. To voice your thoughts and opinions on the bison situation in Yellowstone, go to our Bison Forum.
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