Snowmobile Ruling Puts Skids on Town’s Winter

Getting a table at Jackie LaFever’s sports bar and restaurant is easy this winter. So is finding a room at Vernetta Steele’s motel -- or most anywhere else in town.

This community just outside Yellowstone National Park is much quieter than normal, and for many residents, the mood is bleaker.

Although snowmobiles still cruise the powdery streets of the self-proclaimed “snowmobile capital of the world,” the numbers are far below those of previous years. Residents blame it on a federal judge’s ruling that reversed Yellowstone’s snowmobile rules just hours before the start of the season in December, and on the confusion and uncertainty that have surrounded the issue for months.

“Just tell them: Yellowstone is open and West Yellowstone is open,” LaFever said from behind the bar at Bullwinkle’s Saloon & Restaurant.

Perhaps none of the towns around the park feel the economic pinch as much as West Yellowstone, which historically has been the most popular gateway for entering Yellowstone in winter.

Town officials are trying to figure out what happens to West Yellowstone and its businesses if U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan’s ruling withstands an appeal.

“We have many questions we need answers to before we can start out on a plan,” said Marysue Costello, executive director of the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce.

Not knowing is the worst part, said Bill Howell, whose business includes snowmobile rentals, a hotel and restaurant. “I haven’t really thought about next year,” he added. “How can you?”

Howell was among those who invested in cleaner-burning, quieter snowmobiles to meet new park standards under a Bush administration plan that was set to take effect this winter. That plan set limits on the type and number of snowmobiles that could enter the park. Sullivan, however, ordered the Park Service to reinstate a Clinton administration plan that phases out the machines in favor of mass-transit snow coaches.

Now Howell is stuck with too many machines.

All snowmobiles entering Yellowstone this winter need to be part of a guided trip. Commercial guides like Howell get the authority to bring in a set number of machines each day. Howell, who has 137 machines, says his daily limit in the park is 35, but there haven’t been many takers so far.

“I haven’t been able to fill those all-days because people aren’t coming,” said Howell, who also rents machines to people who want to ride outside Yellowstone. “You can’t survive with what they’re proposing.”

Kent Swanson agrees. He says he may have to file for bankruptcy if he can’t generate more revenue and attract more riders.

On average, Swanson says only about half of his 46-snowmobile fleet is rented each day. Oddly enough, he says, he got back into the snowmobile-rental business after a two-year absence because of the Bush administration plan.

Gene Hansgen’s family made plans to visit West Yellowstone before Sullivan’s December decision. He says he came anyway because other family members had already booked flights.

“I came in with a bad attitude,” said the 68-year-old enthusiast from Orem, Utah. “But we had a good time” seeing the park as part of a guided tour.

Conservationists say this season is a rare treat -- a chance for visitors to see Yellowstone without the buzz of so many snowmobiles.

“I think once things settle down, it will be good for the economy,” said Betsy Robinson, a Bozeman-based guide who takes trips into the park. “I think people are resistant to change, but I think this will be more in keeping with what the park was created for.”

Scott Carsley, a snow-coach operator, says his business has been good this year and believes that it will improve under the current rules. “But we’re a small segment of the winter economy here,” he said.

In town, many business owners paint a different picture.

Some restaurants have scaled back hours. A few motels are closed. And the Food Roundup, a local grocery, recently laid off three part-time workers and a full-time employee.

Linda Heyes, coordinator of job and social services, says job openings have been down dramatically.

Vernetta Steele is drafting a new marketing plan in between minding the front desk and doing other tasks at her Big Western Pine Motel. Steele, who also has a restaurant, has had to lay off workers.

She is thinking about remodeling the motel and making a few other changes as she looks to cater to other groups of visitors. Her backup plan: sell.

“This is beyond belief,” said Steele, whose reservation book is nearly empty. “I can’t grasp it myself, but I believe it’s true because I’m running out of money.”

Mayor Jerry Johnson, himself a snowmobile-rental operator, bristles at the suggestion that his town hasn’t diversified much beyond snowmobiling -- particularly snowmobiling in the park.

“Those who say we need to diversify need to open their eyes,” he said. Attractions he and others mention include skiing, snowshoeing, snow-coach rides and snowmobile trails outside the park.

“The economic impact is not overblown,” he said from his shop, where black snowsuits hang unused against a wall. “It will be interesting to look at West Yellowstone in five years.”