Yellowstone Opens For Winter Season Thursday December 15,2011

Yellowstone National Park will open to the public for the winter season as scheduled on December 15. Beginning Thursday morning, visitors will be able to travel on commercially guided snowmobiles or snowcoaches between the park's South Entrance and Old Faithful.

Businesses which normally offer commercially guided snowmobile and snowcoach tours will be temporarily allowed to use either rubber -tracked snowcoaches or wheeled vehicles to transport visitors from West Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful. Rubber-tracked snowcoaches will be permitted to travel between Norris and Canyon.

The rest of the interior park roads have too much ice and snow to allow visitor travel by commercial wheeled vehicles, but not enough snow yet to permit commercially guided snowmobile or snowcoach travel.

Travel through the park's East Entrance over Sylvan Pass is scheduled to begin December 22.

The road from the park's North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana through Mammoth Hot Springs and on to Cooke City, Montana outside the park's Northeast Entrance is open to automobile travel all year.

At Old Faithful, the Geyser Grill, the Bear Den Gift Shop, and the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center open for the season on December 15. The Old Faithful Snow Lodge and Cabins and the Obsidian Dining Room open on Sunday, December 18.

The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, dining room, and gift shop will open for the season on Tuesday, December 20. The Yellowstone General Store, the medical clinic, campground, post office, 24-hour gasoline pumps, and the Albright Visitor Center at Mammoth Hot Springs are open all year.

All communities around and on the way to Yellowstone are open year-round, with local businesses offering a wide range of winter recreation opportunities. Extensive information and assistance for planning a visit to Yellowstone are on the park's web site at http://www.nps.gov/yell.

The final legal requirement to winter opening of the park was met Monday, with the publication of the "One Year Rule" in the Federal Register. This allows managed oversnow travel this season in the same manner as has been permitted under a temporary plan the last two winters.

Under the rule, up to 318 commercially guided, Best Available Technology (BAT) snowmobiles, and up to 78 commercially guided snowcoaches a day will be allowed into Yellowstone again this winter.

In the next few weeks, the National Park Service will begin working on a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in order to complete a long-term plan to guide winter use in Yellowstone. A draft Supplemental EIS will be completed and released for public review and comment in early 2012. The National Park Service intends to have a final Supplemental EIS, a Record of Decision, and a long-term regulation in place prior to the start of the 2012-2013 winter season. - National Park Service Release

This from the National Park Service:

Native Fish Conservation Plan Environmental Assessment

Yellowstone National Park » Native Fish Conservation Plan Environmental Assessment » Document List

A plan to protect the native fish population in Yellowstone National Park has been released for public review.

The Native Fish Conservation Plan Environmental Assessment (EA) is designed to guide the management of fisheries and aquatic resources in the park for the next two decades.

The preferred alternative would conserve the Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake by increased netting of non-native lake trout. It also calls for removal of non-native fish from some streams and lakes in the park, and re-introduction of native fish into restored habitats. It would allow managers to take an adaptive management approach to native fish conservation, incorporating new information and lessons gained from experience in annual work and treatment plans. This plan does not propose any changes in the Madison or Firehole rivers.

An EA has been prepared for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and is available on this website, or to request a paper or CD copy of the EA please call (307)344-2874 or write to:

Native Fish Conservation Plan EA
Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY, 82190

Respondents are encouraged to submit their comments through this NPS website. Comments may also be mailed to the address above or hand-delivered to the park's headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming.

Public comments must be received by midnight, January 31, 2011.

For more info visit:
http://www.parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=111&projectID=30504&documentID=37967

Contact Information
Al Nash
307-344-2010

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For more information on Yellowstone National Park and
the surrounding communities visit these helpful sites:

YellowstoneNationalPark.com - YellowstoneLodging.com
YellowstoneFlyFishing.com

This from the National Park Service: Native Fish Conservation Plan Environmental Assessment

Yellowstone National Park » Native Fish Conservation Plan Environmental Assessment » Document List

This from the National Park Service:

Native Fish Conservation Plan Environmental Assessment