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Simpson backs use of howitzer, chopper
By Carole Cloudwalker
This document was published online on Thursday, January 31, 2008
At least two participants in the second Yellowstone winter use mitigation team meeting this week in Billings believe the status quo is working well and should be continued.
The group is attempting to hammer out mitigation that will keep the park's East Entrance open in winter.
A recent Park Service Record of Decision stipulated the east gate would close in winter after this season, but provided until June 1 for mitigation talks that could change that action.
“I'm optimistic,” participant Tim French, chairman of the Park County commission, said Wednesday as he returned home from the Monday-Tuesday session in Billings. “I'm hoping when we are finished it will dawn on everyone that what we're doing (on Sylvan Pass) is working.”
“That's pretty clear to me,” added participant and state Rep. Colin Simpson, R-Cody, who feels the howitzer should be part of the final mitigation.
Simpson said the discussions were useful, though this time they tended to be a review of what's been done so far, aimed at bringing all members of the group up to speed.
“We more clearly identified issues and positions (of members) that need further clarification,” Simpson said.
These include the cost of using the howitzer and a contracted helicopter to drop explosive charges.
The charges artificially trigger avalanches, allowing the Park Service to then perform clean-up of downed snow and to safely open the pass to over snow travel.
Simpson said that work costs $50,000-$75,000 per year.
He said Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis, who attended the meeting, discussed costs as one factor to be considered, along with safety, return on investment and allocation of limited resources park-wide in the winter.
“I understand her job as superintendent, but I feel the cost of using the howitzer isn't that great,” Simpson said.
He added that when the NPS does “full-forecasting” of avalanches, as planned in the ROD, “they have to get to the west side” of the avalanche area anyway, and he favors the idea that if conditions are stable enough, they should proceed to the howitzer and use it.
The purpose of the meetings, Simpson added, is to determine how to reasonably provide continued over snow access beyond this winter.
French said Wednesday the NPS brought in four avalanche experts, including a woman who currently performs avalanche control on Sylvan Pass, to explain how the problem currently is addressed in the park and elsewhere.
One avalanche expert is a Wyoming Department of Transportation employee who triggers slides near Jackson, French said.
“We didn't make any decisions - this was two days of information from experts,” French added.
He said the next meeting, which will be March 13 in Billings, likely will be the time when “we really start offering solutions and get to the heart of the matter.”
He said there will be no meeting in February because several members of the group - all of whom must be government representatives under terms dictated by the Park Service - will be away at the Legislature in Cheyenne.
French anticipates meetings in March, April and May before any conclusions are reached.
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