Wyoming wants to block YNP snowmobile plan

LARAMIE, Wyo. — The state of Wyoming has asked a federal appeals court to give a judge authority to block a proposal reducing the number of snowmobiles allowed in Yellowstone National Park.

The National Park Service has said it intends to release a plan that could limit snowmobile traffic into Yellowstone and neighboring federal lands to 318 trips a day — less than half of last season’s daily limit of 720.

The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office argued Friday that the plan would violate U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer’s order that set the daily limit at 720 snowmobiles a day.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver heard arguments Friday in Laramie on an appeal by the National Parks Conservation Association, which wants Brimmer’s order invalidated.

Snowmobile management issues in Yellowstone have been in turmoil over the last few years as federal courts in Wyoming and Washington, D.C. both have presided over lawsuits on the issue.

Conservation groups have sued seeking lower daily limits while Wyoming, Park County and snowmobile groups have pushed to maintain access.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of Washington, D.C., last year rejected a Yellowstone winter use plan that would have set the snowmobile daily limit at about 600 machines.

Although Brimmer criticized Sullivan last year for not deferring to courts in Wyoming, he didn’t contradict Sullivan’s order. Instead, Brimmer ordered the Park Service to reinstate a 2004 management rule that set the daily cap at 720 machines until the federal agency adopted an acceptable management plan.

Brimmer ruled earlier this month that he didn’t have authority to rule on whether the Park Service plan would violate his earlier order. The judge said he lost authority over the case when the conservation group filed its appeal.

Wyoming earlier this week asked the appeals court to send the case back to Brimmer for the limited purpose of allowing him to decide whether he believes the Park Service would violate his original order by proceeding with the new rule.

Although the federal panel didn’t announce any decision on Friday, judges questioned Deputy Attorney General James Kaste closely on the state’s position that Brimmer has authority to rule.

Judge Neil M. Gorsuch asked Kaste whether the state believes Brimmer could stop the Park Service from promulgating a new rule. Kaste replied that the judge could stop the agency from promulgating anything less than a permanent rule.

“That is quite an astonishing assertion of a federal court’s power here,” Gorsuch responded.

“If Judge Brimmer thinks we’re off our rocker in making this motion, he’ll tell us,” Kaste said.

Washington, D.C.-based lawyer Bob Rosenbaum, representing the National Parks Conservation Association, said the outcome of his group’s appeal will likely affect the coming winter season at Yellowstone.