Winter use plans : final environmental impact statement for the Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway / U.S.

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Publisher: National Park Service, Denver Service Center

Publication Date: 0000-00-00

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Location: Denver Colorado

Abstract: This document presents and analyzes seven alternatives for winter use management in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway (the Parkway). YNP, encompassing 2.22 million acres, and GTNP, comprising 310,000 acres, form the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, described as the last large, nearly intact ecosystem in the northern temperate zone. The approved plan will serve as a management plan for the three national parks. Alternative G, the preferred alternative, emphasizes clean, quiet access to the parks using the technologies available today. It would allow over-snow access on all routes currently available via NPS-managed snowcoach only. Other key changes in recreation opportunities are: eliminating winter plowing on the Colter Bay to Flagg Ranch route, making Flagg Ranch a destination via over-snow transport, and eliminating all winter motorized use on Jackson Lake. This alternative addresses the full range of issues regarding safety, natural resource impacts, visitor experience and access. It addresses the issues in a way that would make it necessary for local economies to adapt, and for snowmobile users to access the parks using a different mode of transport. Under alternative A-No Action, current use and management practices in the parks and Parkway continue. The concept under alternative B provides a moderate range of affordable and appropriate winter visitor experiences. Air quality and oversnow motor vehicle sound would be addressed, and by the winter of 2008-2009, strict emission and sound requirements would be required by all oversnow vehicles entering the parks. This alternative also emphasizes an adaptive approach to park resource management, which would allow the results of new and ongoing research and monitoring to be incorporated. Alternative C maximizes winter visitor opportunities for a range of park experiences. Alternative D stresses visitor access to unique winter features in the parks. This alternative emphasizes clean, quiet modes of travel, visitor activities focused near destination areas, and a minimization of conflicts between nonmotorized and motorized users. Under alternative E the protection of wildlife and natural resources is emphasized while allowing park visitors access to a range of winter recreation experiences. Alternative E uses an adaptive planning approach that allows new information to be incorporated over time. Alternative F stresses the protection of wildlife resources by focusing winter visitor activities in YNP outside important winter range for large ungulate species, and closing north and west roads to winter use. For GTNP and the Parkway, this alternative emphasizes the protection of all resources by focusing developments, oversnow motorized trails and zones, and nonmotorized trails and zones in certain areas, while still allowing park visitors opportunities for a range of winter recreational experiences. The details and impacts of the alternatives are described in this document. They include major long-term beneficial improvements to the protection of geothermal winter range and other park resources, some adverse effects from visitor use activities, and major beneficial improvements to the desired visitor experience for solitude, clean air, and natural quiet. These impacts vary by alternative. For more information about this document, contact Clifford Hawkes, 12795 West Alameda Parkway, Lakewood, Colorado 80228. The NPS is requesting comments on the plans/FEIS, although it is not legally required to do so. All comments must be received by October 20, 2000 and should be sent to the above address or the email address: yell_winter_use@nps.gov. Comments received after this date will not be considered. Comments transmitted by facsimile machine will not be considered. To meet a deadline in a court-approved settlement agreement for this plans/EIS, the NPS cannot extend the comment period. A full copy of this document is available on the Internet at the National Park Service web site www.nps.gov/planning. Copies are also available at local libraries. Written requests for full copies of the document should be directed to Clifford Hawkes at the address above. Please specify whether you wish a paper copy or a copy on CD ROM. In 1990, a Winter Use Plan was completed for Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway (the Parkway). In 1994 the National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Forest Service began work on a coordinated interagency report on Winter Visitor Use Management. This effort was in reaction to an earlier than expected increase in winter use. The 1990 Winter Use Plan projected 143,000 visitors for the year 2000. In 1992-93 winter use in YNP and GTNP exceeded this estimate. In 1994, the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee (GYCC), composed of National Park Superintendents and National Forest Supervisors within the GYA, recognized the trend toward increasing winter use and identified concerns related to that use. The GYCC chartered an interagency study team to collect information relative to these concerns and perform an analysis of winter use in the GYA. The analysis, Winter Visitor Use Management: a Multi-agency Assessment was drafted in 1997 and approved by GYCC for final publication in 1999. The assessment identified desired conditions for the GYA, present areas of conflict, issues and concerns, and possible ways of addressing them. The final document considered and incorporated many comments from the general public, interest groups, and local and state governments surrounding public lands in the GYA. In May of 1997, The Fund for Animals, Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Predator Project, Ecology Center, and five individuals filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging failures by the NPS to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and other federal laws and regulations in connection with winter use in the three national parks. The NPS subsequently settled the suit, in part, by an agreement to prepare a comprehensive environmental impact statement (EIS) addressing a full range of alternatives for all types of winter use in the parks. This is the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) that fulfills that portion of the agreement. The NPS has prepared this FEIS on its preferred alternative, no action alternative, and five additional alternatives. This Summary outlines the FEIS.

Keywords: management, human activity, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, John D Rockefeller Memorial Parkway , Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, wildlife, animal