Snowmobile decision announced.

In another installment of drama between the National Park Service (NPS) and the federal courts, NPS has issued a proposed ruling allowing 720 snowmobiles each day in Yellowstone National Park, 140 for Grand Teton Park and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway that links the two parks for the next three winters. Snowmobiles will only he allowed on roads specifically designated for them with a guide, and no off-roading will be allowed.

NPS officials say this new decision will give the organization enough time to assess the environmental impacts of having snowmobiles tread through public lands. The ruling also requires a four-stroke snowmobile model, which is quieter and cleaner titan the older two-stroke models. The final decision will be released early this month ill time for the winter season, which begins in mid-December.

"This is a great victory for those who believe that active and well-reasoned management carl best address Yellowstone's winter access issue," said Jack "Welch, president of the Blue Ribbon Coalition.

The original decision to phase out snowmobiles by this winter season was made by the Clinton Administration, and was overruled in December 2003 by a Bush Administration ruling that reinstated snowmobiles in Yellowstone with a limit of 950 snowmobiles each day, with no plans of banning future snowmobile use. After conflicting decisions between two federal judges over the course of the 2003-2004 winter season, it was finally decided that NPS would set its own standards in time for the upcoming season.

Environmental and conservation groups are still not content with the decision, stating that the willful ignorance of the NPS toward environmental hazards to wildlife and public land is inexcusable. "Just imagine how the American people would react if the Bush Administration acknowledged that its new proposal for snowmobile use may harm visitors and employees, Yellowstone's wildlife, and the natural ambience people expect to find in their national parks," said Rick Smith, who has served as acting superintendent at Yellowstone and is currently a spokesman for the Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Retirees.

The NPS decision can be viewed at www.nps.gov/yell/planvisit/winter use/winteruse-ea.htm.