treehugger Loc: Eastern Idaho Highlands

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK NEWS RELEASE
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Yellowstone National Park Spring Opening Delayed

Roads into Yellowstone National Park will open one to two weeks later than normal this spring.

Each spring, park road crews clear snow and ice from 198 miles of main road, 124 miles of secondary roads and 125 acres of parking lots inside the park as well as 31 miles of the Beartooth Highway outside the park’s Northeast Entrance to prepare for the summer season.

Crews normally begin plowing roads on the Monday after the first weekend in March. Budget cuts due to the impacts of sequestration prompted the park to take many administrative actions, including delaying the start of plowing until Monday, March 18.

It costs up to $30,000 a day to clear Yellowstone’s roads in the spring. Allowing time for more snow to melt from the roads should reduce the number of days it takes to clear each road segment. This will also result in less ice to be cleared from the road base, less re-plowing of road segments, less wear and tear and repairs on equipment, and a reduction in fuel costs.

The park chose to delay spring road clearing as part of an overall plan to cut $1.75 million from the anticipated $35 million annual base operating budget, since a delayed spring opening will impact fewer visitors and have fewer impacts on local communities than cuts during the peak summer months.

Based on 2012 visitation figures, opening two weeks later than originally scheduled will impact approximately 135,000 visitors, compared to the 505,000 visitors who would be impacted if the park were closed the last two weeks of the fiscal year in mid-September through the end of October. Yellowstone hosted of 3.45 million visitors to the park during the 2012 calendar year.

The Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, Snow Lodge Geyser Grill and Bear Den Gift Shop will open on April 26, a week later than previously scheduled. All other services including the Old Faithful Inn, the Old Faithful Lodge, Old Faithful Snow Lodge and the Upper and Lower General Stores and Service Stations will open as originally scheduled.

All services in the Mammoth area including the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, Dining Room, and Terrace Grill will open as originally scheduled. The Yellowstone General Store, clinic, post office, campground, and Albright Visitor Center are open all year.

The roads from West Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful will open to automobile travel at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, April 26, one week later than originally scheduled.

The road from Norris Junction to Canyon Village will open on Friday morning, May 3, two weeks later than previously scheduled. The Canyon Adventure Store will now open on May 3 and the Canyon Visitor Education Center will open on May 25, both two weeks later than previously scheduled. All other services in the area including the Canyon Lodge will open on schedule.

Yellowstone intends to open the road from the park’s East Entrance to Fishing Bridge, Lake, and Canyon Village no later than May 17, which is two weeks later than normally scheduled. This may result in a delayed opening for the Fishing Bridge General Store, the Fishing Bridge RV Park and the Fishing Bridge Service Station. The Fishing Bridge Visitor Center will open on May 25, three days later than originally scheduled. All other services in the Lake and Fishing Bridge area including the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, the Lake Hotel Cabins and the Lake Lodge and Cabins will open as originally scheduled.

Travel through the park’s South Entrance to Grant, West Thumb and Lake will begin no later than Friday morning, May 24, in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The road from West Thumb Junction over Craig Pass to Old Faithful will open shortly thereafter. The Grant Mini Store will open on May 24, one week later than originally scheduled. All other services in the Grant area will open as originally scheduled.

The section of US-212 between the park’s Northeast Entrance through Cooke City and Silver Gate to the intersection with WY-296, the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, will open on Friday, May 24, in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The section of the Beartooth Highway between the junction of US-212/WY-296 and the community of Red Lodge, Montana, is now set to open on Friday, June 14.

The road between Canyon and Tower-Roosevelt over Dunraven Pass will open to travel sometime in early June. Construction will resume this summer between Tower-Roosevelt Junction and Chittenden Road, with up to 30 minute delays and possible nightly road closures. All services in the area including the Tower Fall General Store and the Roosevelt Lodge and Cabins will open as originally scheduled.

The road from the park’s North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana through Mammoth Hot Springs on to the Northeast Entrance and the communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana, is open all year.

The sequestration cuts will result in a base operating budget of approximately $33.3 million, a 10-percent decrease from the $37 million base operating budget Yellowstone received in Fiscal Year 2010. The park anticipates taking several other actions including leaving several permanent positions vacant and hiring fewer seasonal employees in order to make up the budget shortfall, while still working to provide a high quality visitor experience during the peak summer season.

- www.nps.gov/yell -

warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA

And there is all that labor sitting on their butts in prison.

NOSLEEP Loc: Calgary

I live in winterland. Please explain to me how you have a spring Opening if you have to plow the roads. It makes no sense. The roads will be clear of snow if spring has sprung. What a waste of money...

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

I applaud Yellowstone National Park services for dealing responsibly and rationally with their portion of the budget cuts. It shows that it can be done, and trimming back occasionally is probably a good thing overall for most large organizations.
I appreciate you posting this notice, treehugger!

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

[quote=NOSLEEP]

Obviously you have never been over the Beartooth Pass to access the NE entrance from Cooke City, MT. It is closed from October 1 to May 31 as it is just not possible to plow this road at these elevations during the winter. The snow never leaves and you can ski there in August, as MANY do. The US Downhill Ski Team training camp is up there from June through July every year, but only those months as the area is inaccessible except via helicopter the rest of the winter. That's not the only road that needs to be plowed for access, there is also Sylvan Pass in Wyoming for accessing the East gate from Cody, but it is much lower and much easier to plow once Spring finally arrives.

NOSLEEP Loc: Calgary

[quote=MT Shooter]

I don't live at 11000 feet, neither have I visited Beartooth Pass. I suppose if it is profitable to run a resort or ski area including plowing the roads for access then no problem. If they are using tax payer money to subsidize the vacationers and ski teams then I could see where people would be objectionable. Here part of the Kananaskis Hwy 40 closes every winter from fall till late spring.

stonecherub Loc: Tucson, AZ

OK, you're an average American living in the area and pretty much dependent on what you make from your summer employment at the park. The deferred opening puts a pretty good dent in that employment. Depending on how close your economic life is to the edge, that dent could be quite substantial.

Austerity is good if it isn't forced on me.

Drigby1 Loc: American Fork, UT

The cuts are the ones Obama planned. Every dept can cut fat, but the administration, to be mean, is having them cut the meat. Won't work. Too many in the nation, including Watergate's Woodword refuse to be more burdened by debt spending.

ole sarg Loc: south florida

NO the cuts are not the ones OBama planned!

It is a result of the Grand Obstructionist Party!

Notice how the Grand Obstructionist Party has presented no plan to cut the deficit! Talk about it yes, but cut it NO!

hustlerb58 Loc: Fort Worth, Texas

Or maybe we should stop spending money on people who hate America like...lets see..... all of the mid east perhaps?

cz3056 Loc: Somewhere in Michigan or Texas

Maybe the bucks spent on a golf game could have been used to pay for the normal operation of getting the park ready on time

Drigby1 Loc: American Fork, UT

Nope The Repubs went in with a plan, but would not go for higher taxes. To get revenge OBAMA put this package together.
He did in in spite of the proposals of the repubs. He cannot get out of it this time. Even the staunch democrat reporter, Bob Woodward, that figured out Watergate, can see through this. He pulls no punches and is always thorough and tells it straight. No there is no defense that can be used this time.
A spade is a spade is a spade. PERIOD