Enzi urges Yellowstone comments
Lots of ‘em
by U.S. Senator Mike Enzi's office
March 27, 2007
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., encouraged residents who care about public access and recreation in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks to raise their voices on how the park should be managed. The National Park Service is ready for public review and comment on the draft environmental impact statement that is part of a new long-term plan to guide the winter use management of the parks.
"Residents in the Yellowstone Park area have shared many thoughts with me about how they feel the park should be utilized in the winter. Now is the time to share those thoughts with the Park Service," said Enzi.
Electronic comment forms can be submitted at the National Park Service’s Planning, Environment and Public Comment website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov by picking Yellowstone NP in the pull down menu, then clicking on the ‘*Open for Comment’ link in the top middle of the page. Comments may also be submitted by mail to Winter Use planning Team, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190, or in person. Comments will not be accepted over the phone, by fax, or e-mail.
The comment period will be open for 60 days dependent upon the publication of an availability notice in the Federal Register. The exact date will be announced later, according to the National Park Service.
Enzi, met with Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis, Gary Pollock, Grand Teton Management Assistant and Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott last week in his Washington, D.C. office. Enzi talked with Lewis about the need for the Park to be consistent in its policies and advocated a shift toward broader public use of the parks. Enzi also offered ideas such as volunteer snowmobile trail grooming, a narrower route or a route shift as a few possible ways to keep the Park’s East Gate near Cody usable in the winter. Enzi made clear he strongly opposes closing Yellowstone’s East Entrance to winter use and is in favor of snowmobile access.
"Access and protection do not have to be mutually exclusive but this draft winter use plan seems to think they are," said Enzi.
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