Snowmobile traffic down in park

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

Snowmobile traffic in Yellowstone National Park fell by two-thirds in January, compared to the same month last year.

Meanwhile, snowcoach traffic grew by less than 10 percent, according to National Park Service statistics released Tuesday.

The patterns were consistent at most of the park's major entrances.

At West Yellowstone, the busiest gateway, snowmobile entries dropped 66 percent, from 13,628 entries in January 2003, to 4,585 last month.

In that town, some businesses are already laying off workers and nobody knows what to expect next, said Jerry Johnson, the mayor and owner of a snowmobile rental shop.

"There are also people that are just hanging on, waiting to see what happens," Johnson said Tuesday.

At the south entrance, near Jackson, Wyo., entries fell by 55 percent, from 3,683 to 1,660 for the month.

At the east entrance, near Cody, Wyo., entries fell by 67 percent from 907 to 299.

When the January 2004 entries are compared to those from January 2002, a year with better snow, the difference is even more stark: a 72 percent drop at West Yellowstone, 60 percent at Jackson and 72 percent at Cody.

Only at the park's north entrance, traditionally the quietest of the four gates that allow snowmobiles, have snowmobile entries grown. A total of 317 sleds entered the park there this January, up 48 percent from last year's total of 207 sleds and up 45 percent from the 2002 total.

Johnson said the numbers didn't surprise him and are consistent with what he's seeing in town.

The decline comes in what could be the last season of recreational snowmobiling in the park.

A Washington, D.C., judge ruled Dec. 16 -- the day before the season opened -- that a Bush administration plan authorizing cleaner, quieter machines was not good enough for Yellowstone.

He reinstituted a Clinton-era ban on the sleds, which will begin next winter. Pro-snowmobiling groups are appealing that decision and seeking other legal relief, but there has been no decision yet.

No matter what the judges do, this season already is half over and probably is shot, Johnson said.

"It's irreparable damage," he said. "It's been affected and there's no recovery."

Environmental groups are encouraging snowshoers, skiers and others to visit the park and spend money in gateway communities, like West Yellowstone.

But it's going to take a lot of them to make up for the reduced number of snowmobilers, which form the basis of West Yellowstone's winter economy.

Winter Wildlands Alliance, a Boise-based group, has vowed to bring 300 skiers to West Yellowstone on Valentine's weekend for a rally.

"Skiers and snowshoers will return, and so will others who simply want to take snowcoaches to experience Yellowstone's natural sights and sounds," predicted Sally Grimes, the group's executive director.

Johnson said he hopes she's right.

"I hope they come and empty their pockets out, and I don't care where they spend it," he said.

But the Valentine's weekend is the one weekend of the winter likely to be busy anyway, Johnson said, because it's a three-day holiday, with President's Day falling on that Monday.

"I wish they'd come the weekend of Feb. 8," he added.

All snowmobile trips must be led by a guide, and few trips are filling up this year, Johnson said. Snowcoaches often aren't full either, he said.

In January of this year, the number of snowcoach entries to the park dropped by 7 percent to 567. But the number of passengers they carried rose by 7 percent, from 3,746 people last year to 4,017 this year.

That is less than half the 9,044 people who entered the park on snowmobiles, including passengers.

The number of snowcoach passengers fell slightly at the north and south entrances, but grew by 24 percent at the west entrance. Snowcoaches are a new offering at the east entrance, and carried only 35 people in January.

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