Obama Administration proposes new cap on snowmobiles in Yellowstone

The number of snowmobiles allowed in Yellowstone National Park would be cut by more than half under an Obama administration proposal announced Thursday that marked yet another policy swing for an issue that's been unresolved for more than a decade. The proposal would allow 318 snowmobiles and 78 multi-passenger snowcoaches daily for the next two winters, Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said. That's down from 720 snowmobiles per day allowed last winter. That cap was never reached: an average of 205 snowmobiles daily entered the park in 2008-09 and the busiest day of the season saw only 426 of the machines. The question of how many snowmobiles are appropriate for the nation's first national park has sparked political and legal skirmishing since the Clinton administration, when an outright ban was proposed...AP