Schweitzer takes first snowmobile trip through park

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

WEST YELLOWSTONE - Gov. Brian Schweitzer took his first snowmobile ride through Yellowstone National Park Tuesday, and immediately promised to do all he can to promote snowmobiling in the park.

"I'll use the bully pulpit I've got," he said. "I'll talk about the great experience I've had."

Schweitzer, a Democrat, rode from here to Old Faithful and back on a trip organized by Bill Howell, a partner in one of the large snowmobile rental shops.

He said the park was uncrowded, the bison, elk and swans he passed seemed unconcerned and "I didn't see any clouds of exhaust."

He rode one of the new "cleaner, quieter" machines that are allowed into the park under a temporary plan, then met with a group of West Yellowstone civic and business leaders.

"We need to get the word out that we're open in the winter," he told them. "It's a new and improved experience. It's not crowded. Not even close."

People in the snowmobile business here have been whipsawed for years as the federal government announced different winter-use plans and court battles from Wyoming to Washington, D.C., produced contradictory rulings.

Howell said during the meeting that when he goes to conventions, two out of five people he meets still believe Yellowstone is closed in the winter.

The National Park Service is scheduled to release a set of possible new plans in March. A long-term plan is still some time in the future.

Currently, all visitors on snowmobiles must ride an approved machine and travel with a commercial guide, and that doesn't sit well with many customers, Howell said.

Several people at the meeting said they want a system that allows for people to be certified as "non-commercial" guides, so friends and family could travel without paying a guide.

Before the guiding requirement was put in place, people could rent machines and tour the park without a guide.

"We were providing a service the public wanted," said Brad Schmeir, a snowmobile outfitter. "They still want it, but we can't provide it."

Nobody in the room said they wanted to go back to the old days of the early 1990s, when loud machines were tearing across the park roads and rangers in congested areas sometimes wore gas masks.

"We're not pushing anything that's going to degrade the park," said Drew Barney, the town's deputy mayor. "Maybe we went too far 10 years go."

Of the people at the meeting, only Scott Carsley, who operates a snowcoach business, spoke up for the current management plan, which limits snowmobile entrances at the west gate to 400 per day.

Guests say they are having a "phenomenal experience," he said. "A lot of that is because of the new rules."

In January, an average of 213 snowmobiles and 25 snowcoaches entered the park through the west gate daily.

The number of January snowcoach entrances here is down 5.4 percent from last year, while snowmobile entrances are up 8.3 percent. Parkwide, coach visits have climbed 17.5 percent from last year, while snowmobile visits have grown by 10.4 percent.

However, last January was a poor snow year. When compared to 2004, snowcoach visits parkwide are up 28 percent and snowmobile visits are up 4 percent.

Schweitzer said when he stopped at Old Faithful he talked to people from all over the United States and several foreign countries. The economic impact of those visitors is important, he said, plus some park visitors return to Montana and invest money.

"That's all new money," he said.

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