Read it here Yellowstone (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=7&u=/ap/20031217/ap_on_go_pr_wh/yellowstone_snowmobiles_3)

That was also featured tonight on NBC by Tom Brokaw's show....while it was nice to see the sleds riding around out there, I hated to hear the commentary. They even made sure a couple of the park's employees were wearing gas masks when the camera was on them. We can all make our case, and point to other motorized traffic that probably pollutes just as much, but THEY are a much more stronger, political force than WE are. I'm afraid the time is just around the corner when our sleds will no longer be allowed in those parks. I sure hope the manufacturers can put their efforts TOGETHER for this battle and join forces to rally our cause, or we will be shut out. The BIG FOUR is our only real hope, collectively they are the only force with pockets deep enough to carry on this battle. As in most cases, the side that can buy the most votes will win.

When I was out there, I didnt see one darn gas mask. They must save that for the news crews. :cussing:

Seemed like everone we came across, appeared to be happy that they were employed.

When I was there in 2001, they checked for exhaust sound levels only! Not one Park Ranger was wearing a gas mask! The folks in West Yellowstone were upset about the slow closure of the park. This is their lively hood. It is a fun ride around the park ONCE, I don't think I would ride it again unless I took the wife and kids there for a trip.

Here is the article on MSNBC.com this morning. Talk about judicial activism-I thought they were supposed to enforce the law, not make the law. Hopefully the next level up will tell this judge to go back to what he's supposed to do:

Most snowmobiles on hold at Yellowstone

Judge orders National Park Service to reverse courseMSNBC staff and wire reports
Updated: 8:36 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2003WASHINGTON - The National Park Service must revive a scrapped plan to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, a federal judge ordered Tuesday, one day before the service had planned to open a winter season under rules that allowed snowmobiling to continue.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said the Bush administration should not have set aside a Clinton administration plan that would have banned snowmobiles in favor of mass-transit snow coaches, which would reduce pollution in the parks.

The Bush administration dropped that plan and decided instead to allow limited snowmobiling to continue under rules that allowed only snowmobiles with quieter and less-polluting engines. The Park Service was set to start operating under the new rules Wednesday.

Sullivan's ruling does not entirely close the parks to snowmobiling, however. Instead, he ordered the Park Service to follow the older rules, which will eventually allow only snow coaches — which carry groups of winter visitors — in areas where individual snowmobilers once rode.

A limited number of snowmobilers will be allowed to enter this winter — about 490 per day in Yellowstone and 50 per day in Grand Teton.

950 snowmobilers a day
The Bush administration plan would have allowed 950 snowmobilers a day in Yellowstone and 400 in Grand Teton, although most would have had to ride the less environmentally harmful machines.

The Park Service called the administration plan a balance between its duty to protect the park and its responsibility to allow the public to visit and enjoy it.

In a lawsuit, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition of Bozeman, Mont., argued that the Park Service had ignored its own studies that show a ban on snowmobiles and the use of snow coaches would best protect the park's natural resources.

The group argued that unacceptable pollution and health risks to workers would have continued even with the new emission and entry limits on snowmobiles.

But Interior Secretary Gale Norton called the proposed rule “a common sense solution to years of conflict. This rule allows Yellowstone employees to closely manage snowmobile use in ways that protect wildlife and resources while maintaining a quality visitor experience.”

“The plan discounts the extreme and unacceptable options — a complete ban on snowmobiles versus unrestricted access and continued reliance on older and polluting technology,” she said in a statement this week.

Engine tests

In August, the Park Service asked for comments on two different ways to test snowmobile emissions and, in the final regulations, chose a method that was based on tests of entire classes of snowmobile engines.

The Park Service said more than 90 percent of the nearly 105,000 people who submitted comments on the new rules were against them. Sacklin said those comments were not within the bounds of the last phase of the planning process, which aimed to fine-tune the rules.

Snowmobile opponents said the Park Service was ignoring evidence.

“Never before has the National Park Service ... understood so completely what is needed to protect park resources, only to have political appointees at the Interior Department order a different course which they know will harm the park,” said Rick Smith, a retired Park Service official.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.