More winter Yellowstone Park use urged

For too long, snowmobilers and environmentalists have controlled the debate about access to Yellowstone National Park in winter, said West Yellowstone businessman Doug Edgerton. He hopes to help change that. Edgerton, who builds specialized track-setting equipment for cross-country ski trails, and David Robinson, who designed the Web site Plowyellowstone.org, are urging people to support plowing as a winter travel option between West Yellowstone and Old Faithful. The current system of allowing only limited snow coach and snowmobile travel into Yellowstone is damaging West Yellowstone’s economy, Edgerton said, and making the park the exclusive playground of the few who can afford to pay about $100 per adult to enter. “The west side of the park is for the enjoyment of the few and wealthy, and that’s for the benefit of the public?” Edgerton said. As evidence of the park becoming more exclusive, Yellowstone’s statistics show the park’s winter visitation dropping by more than 41,000 people from 1999 to 2009...read more

These "exclusive playgroun(s)" are being created all over the West, via Wilderness and other restrictive designations that keep the public out.