by Zach Bigalke

Created on: February 07, 2007   Last Updated: December 27, 2007

"...to promote and regulate the use of the...national parks...which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

-National Park Service Organic Act, 16 U.S.C.1.

There is a reason that locals talk about "Kickin' A%& on Togwotee Pass"... Twenty miles east of the entrance to Grand Teton National Park at Moran Junction, there stands a mountain playground where snowmobiles can freely wander and thrash about. Offering abundant snowfall and sweeping panoramas of the Teton mountains, the roadway through the Absaroka range crosses the Continental Divide and offers hundreds of miles of perfect snowmobile runs for sightseers and thrill-seekers alike. Two resorts, Togwotee Mountain Lodge and Brooks Lake Lodge, offer varying degrees of luxury for a getaway. With easy access to both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and the historic town of Jackson, travelers can enjoy adventure sports in the breathtaking Bridger-Teton National Forest. A well-known destination for snowmobile enthusiasts, Togwotee Pass is an adventure paradise.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, founded in 1872 and 1950 respectively, are visited by millions of visitors annually from around the globe. With striking geological settings and an incredible plethora of flora and fauna, each park is an ecological wonder that are rightfully preserved as natural wonders of the world. The National Park Service, under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, is endowed with the responsibility to preserve these lands for posterity. To simultaneously be vacation spot for the masses of the world and provide residence for innumerable creatures, the duty of the Park Service is to ensure the safety and enjoyment of visitors with a minimum of interference to the ecosystem.

A new proposal in the National Park Service's preliminary draft of their new environmental impact statement would upend the environmentally-driven 2001 regulations that limit the number of snowmobiles allowed into Yellowstone National Park. Citing improvements in emissions and noise-output standards, proponents of the plan seek to effectively triple mechanized winter traffic in the park. The proposed measure, which would permit over seven-hundred snowmobiles to enter Yellowstone National Park each day, would effectively expunge the Clinton-era

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