Yellowstone set to open for winter on Dec. 17

The gates to Yellowstone National Park will swing open to snowmobiles on Dec. 17— as planned. How long they stay open, however, remains in the hands of a district judge. It might be a day or two, or possibly for every winter far into the future.

In a complicated and narrow timetable, a rush of decisions will be unleashed in the days surrounding the 17th that will determine snowmobile use this winter.

— Rules based on the National Park Service's record of decision governing winter use of snowmobiles in the park could be released and made law anywhere between Dec. 11 and 15, with speculation headed more on later than sooner.

— U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has asked for three working days to review the rules before he delivers his decision on a lawsuit brought by environmentalists on whether the park should remain open to snowmobilers.

He is to decide if the Bush administration acted appropriately when it decided to set aside the Clinton administration's plan to phase out snowmobiles. That plan called for no snowmobiles in the park this winter.

— Various businesses in West Yellowstone, Mont., will learn Dec. 16 if they receive one of the 12 limited permits to guide snowmobiles into the park this winter. Only those with permits will be allowed into the park. And, right now, only commercial trips are open.

Whatever happens during that week ultimately will change the way visitors view Yellowstone in the winter.

The record of decision, arrived at after a lengthy public process, will limit the number of snowmobiles going into the park to 950 on any given day through the four entrances. The limit on the West Entrance, by far the most popular, is 550 per day. Last year, around Christmas, as many as 1,300 machines entered from the West Entrance in one day.

Of those entering this year, 80 percent will involve guided commercial trips, and 20 percent will be private individuals without guides. All of the private permits have been awarded through February 2004. The park service is reviewing its reservation procedure. In one case under review, a single individual living in West Yellowstone reportedly applied for and received 710 private permits.

"It should be pointed out," said Clyde Seely, a West Yellowstone business owner, "that all of the commercial machines, 80 percent, are 'best available technology' or BAT, which are the cleaner, quieter four-stroke engines."

Next year, under the proposed rules, all machines must fall into the BAT classification.