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Article 2/16/05 |
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| Norton
a believer after snowmobiling
By Becky Bohrer , The Associated Press , Salt Lake Tribune
2/16/05 |
YELLOWSTONE
NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - Interior Secretary Gale
Norton cruised soft, powdery roads on snowmobile, then
planned to ride in a snug snowcoach, to experience for
herself Tuesday the plan that has made room for both activities
in Yellowstone National Park for at least the next two
winters.
Norton, making her first wintertime
visit to the park this week, said snowmobiles ''can play
a role'' in the park, and that an outing Monday on the
machines, in which she encountered a small herd of bison
and only one paid her notice, reinforced that belief.
Concerns have been raised in the past by some conservationists
about harassment of wildlife by riders.
Norton said she has seen none of that
and that guides, required for trips into the park, seem
to be ensuring riders use reasonable speeds. But she said
she is interested in training for ''self- guided'' trips,
which was one element of a snowmobile plan blocked by
a judge last winter in a lawsuit brought by conservationists
- possibly as part of a longer-range winter use plan.
The National Park Service is planning
to allow up to 720 guided snowmobiles a day into Yellowstone
and 140 snowmobiles, with no guiding requirement, in nearby
Grand Teton National Park through the winter of 2006-07.
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