Positive And Negative Effects Of Yellowstone In The Winter

Yellowstone In the Winter

Despite the benefit Motorized vehicles have concerning Yellowstone National Parks income and profit, motorized vehicles within Yellowstone National Park during the winter months should be severely limited or even prohibited because of the negative effects that they cause with in the park. Snowmobiles, cars and snow plows cause unexpected pollution, commercial noises and significantly increase wildlife harassment, increasing the danger to yellowstone's resources, habitats and wildlife.
The regional processes cover Yellowstone National Park and the geographic processes studied concern the negative effects that tourist interaction during the winter months may cause on the surrounding wildlife and nature. Specifically,

With Snow building in the cold months, excess fumes and noises coming from plows and tourist cars do have a negative effect on the quality of the National Park. Maintaining the roads used during the snowy months causes unexpected effects on the habitats and patterns of animals who live within the park. Starting in the early 1930s there was a push from the surrounding cities of Yellowstone National Park to provide the tourist's with pre-plowed roads year round in order to stimulate spending within the communities. For a while, the National Parks Service declined the request stating that the weather conditions were too harsh and the Parks roads were too narrow for the necessary snow storage that would rise on either side of the road (Winter Ecology, NPS). The push for more tourists however. could not be prevented. leading to the development and use of enclosed over snow vehicles (OSV) which could carry up to ten people throughout the park. In 1963 the first modern snowmobiles were used and then began to dominate winter transportation. The managers of Yellowstone still had the pressure on them to plow the roads of the park in order to accommodate different modes of transportation. Providing for the needs of both snowmobilers and drivers would drastically affect the look and feel of the park’s wilderness in the winter. Eventually, after a congressional hearing in 1967, an OSV program was

Each machine used a mix of oil and gas as combustion which creates extremely high levels of pollutants that escape into the air and damage its quality.The snowmobiles not only affected the quality of air that humans would breathe but also that of every creature within the park and these machines which ran consistently all day long caused a negative effect on tourist’s ability to experience the natural silence and beauty in the way nature intended it to be. Not only were the tourist's affected by the new transportation, but the movement of bison and other large animals was as well. Tourists have little experience in the movements of bison and other creatures, which meant that the use of snowmobile put the animals in more situations of wildlife harassment and endangerment. Over 1000 bison left their habit during the years of 1996-1997 as the thick layers of ice denied them access to forage underneath the snow (Winter Use, NPS). The bison who left were quickly shot or shipped to slaughter and some were fearful that migrating animals would transmit diseases to cattle in Montana. (Winter Ecology, NPS) The decrease in animal populations throughout YellowStone National Park caused great concern that grooming more roads, for snowmobiles would mean an increase in wildlife that is could be harmed or even