Keep ‘Hell’ Quiet

We call it Yellowstone. But it was first known as Colter’s Hell, after pioneer explorer John Colter emerged from the wilderness in 1807 with bizarre tales of geysers shooting a hundred feet into the sky, bubbling mud pots and scalding water flowing over shimmering rock terraces.

It’s still easy to see Yellowstone National Park as hellish when the white winter wilderness is shattered by hundreds of screaming, polluting snowmobiles. The problem became so severe that the National Park Service pushed for years to limit and then ban snowmobiles from the park, a change set to begin in the winter of 2002-03. This was and remains the right thing to do.

People who want to visit Old Faithful and other Yellowstone attractions can take quiet snow coaches. Those who enjoy recreational snowmobiling have vast reaches of nearby national forests in which to pursue their sport.

In April, the Bush administration announced it was allowing the Clinton administration rule to stand while it sought a compromise that would lead to some snowmobile use. Now it appears that the Bush administration is on the verge of reversing the ban. The departments of the Interior and Justice have been negotiating a possible settlement of a lawsuit brought by snowmobile makers against the order.

The manufacturers have argued that new models of the machines are cleaner and quieter and thus, presumably, more compatible with the wilderness. But as long as they whine, spout exhaust and spill oil, they don’t belong in the snow-muffled serenity of this park.

The administration should be fighting this lawsuit, not trying to cut a deal for the snowmobile industry. Let’s put some peace and quiet back into wintertime Colter’s Hell.