(DCC Member Update: To view this as a webpage, click here)

Happy Solstice!

The dark days turn to light soon as we progress past solstice and into a brand new year. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and the best to all in the coming year. A wish for peace, good health and joy for all.

Join the Christmas Bird Count at Denali !
Not sure what Nan wanted to say but you can put it here, with her email and information. I will do the link to her email below. (All you have to do is highlight the link, then put, in the properties inspector, maito:surfbird@mtaonline.net.You can move the link around using cut/paste or backspace and it should remain active.
Contact Nan Eagleson for more information at surfbird@mtaonline.net If Nan wants here phone number posted, you can put that in also (683-2822)

ATA Jeep Tour Comments Due January 30
Comments are due to DNR in Fairbanks
There was public discussion of the application for DNR permit by Alaska Travel Adventures at the last Borough Assembly meeting. The Planning Commission session dealt almost entirely with the subject of the application for permit for Jeep Tours to travel to mile 11 of Stampede Road. The permit asks for permission to park the Jeeps at mile 11 and have a turnaround spot as well as a campfire ring and 2 temporary wall tents to be set up for the summer. To read more, log on to the company's website at www.alaskaadventures.com. Even though the company does NOT yet have their permit, they have information on their tour. To comment on this application, contact hal_meyer@dnr.state.ak.us. Comments are due January 30, 2004.

 

Federal Judge overturns Yellowstone snowmobile ruling
On December 17, 2003 federal judge Emmet Sullivan overturned the ruling from last year that was going to allow 950 snowmobiles a day into Yellowstone National Park. Either poor timing or great timing, the decision was made on the eve of the gate opening at Yellowstone. If the decision stands, it will mean only 480? snowmobiles will be allowed in Yellowstone and Teton NP each day and next season snowmobiles will be phased out completely. For more on this issue, read the article copied below.

 

Next newsletter deadline
The next newsletter is February 1, 2004. If you would like to contribute or have a subject matter you would like covered, please contact us at sue@denalicitizens.org

Next Denali Borough Assembly meeting
January 14, 2004 at the McKinley Village Community Center.

Denali Park Announces Winterfest
Put Feburary 27-28 on your calendar to attend Denali's 4th Annual Winterfest. Chili Cook-off, Ski Clinics, Friday evening dinner and speaker and much more!

 

 

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2003/12/17/build/wyoming/15-snowmoopen.inc

First snowmobilers turned away from Yellowstone Park entrance

By BRETT FRENCH
Of The Gazette Staff

WEST YELLOWSTONE - In a scene perhaps prophetic of what's to come, a snowcoach was the first vehicle allowed through Yellowstone National Park's west entrance Wednesday at 8:41 a.m.

Snowmobiler Norm Burnel of Manitoba, Canada, would have been the first to enter, but he was turned back by rangers.

Burnel, his wife and two friends did not have a guide.

"This is a farce," Burnel said. "It's against the law. I've had reservations since November."

Under rules in effect as of Tuesday night, all snowmobiles entering the park must be guided. The rules were drawn up under the Clinton administration to limit air pollution and disturbances to wildlife in the nation's first national park.

Those rules were overturned by the Bush administration. As of Tuesday, snowmobilers were told by the National Park Service that they could enter the park unguided if they had a reservation.

Those rules, however, went out the window with Tuesday night's ruling by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan.

Under the Clinton rules, snowcoaches will be the only motorized way to access Yellowstone National Park next winter. Snowmobiles will be outlawed.

The West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce, which had planned a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the mayor Wednesday morning, scrambled to get the word out to visitors that the rules for entering the park had changed.

"This, if nothing else, is a lesson in fluidity," said Marysue Costello, chamber president.

The International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, Inc. and the Blue Ribbon Coalition asked for a stay in the judge's decision Wednesday. They said the move was necessary because the judge's ruling would "prevent thousands of visitors from seeing Yellowstone National Park this winter."

The ruling allows a limited number of snowmobiles this winter - but all must be part of commercially guided trips. Under the proposed Bush administration rules that the judge scrapped Tuesday, some snowmobilers would have been able to go into the park alone.

Under the new rules, 493 snowmobiles are permitted each day in Yellowstone and 50 each day in Grand Teton and on the parkway that connects the parks. By the winter of 2004-05, only mass-transit snow coaches would be allowed.

Wyoming Attorney General Pat Crank said he planned to file an appeal, asking that Yellowstone be allowed to operate under the Bush administration rules.

"We think the rule adopted by the Park Service is the correct rule," Crank said. "It balances the ecological concerns of Yellowstone with regard to wildlife, with folks being able to use Yellowstone National Park during the winter season."

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)