Senators Oppose Park Service
Settlement Of Activists’ Suit

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A recently announced settlement of a lawsuit related to buffalo in Yellowstone National Park could result in trail closures, undermining a National Park Service promise, Wyoming's U.S. senators have said.

Sens. Craig Thomas and Mike Enzi, both Republicans, said in a joint statement they would rather have seen the Park Service continue to fight the lawsuit filed by animal rights and environmental activist groups. They also expressed dismay that the Park Service had agreed to reward the activists for suing it.

"Park policy shouldn't be hatched by aggressive environmental lawyers," said Thomas, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks. "If lawsuits or the threat of lawsuits are going to dictate park policy, we won't be doing what's best for our national parks, for protecting the resources or for the people who enjoy them for recreation."

Under the agreement, the National Park Service will make a full study of the impacts of snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

And at least one snowmobile trail in the parks could be closed each winter to see what effect the closure has on the park's wandering buffalo.

The agreement, which has been submitted to a federal judge in Washington for approval, would settle a lawsuit several environmental activist and animal rights groups filed last May.

The Fund for Animals, one of those groups, contends that groomed snowmobile trails allow buffalo to migrate unnaturally out of the park to winter forage.

Enzi said that in a recent conversation with Park Service Director Bob Stanton, the director assured him that the settlement would result in no trail closures.

"I am, to say the least, disappointed," Enzi said.

He and Thomas also said they were unhappy with a provision of the settlement requiring the government to pay $11,000 in legal fees for the suing activists.

"This is a prime example of why citizens have a bitter taste in their mouths and right now I'm drinking out of the same cup," Enzi said. "It's outrageous that a federal agency would use taxpayer money to pay a private special interest group to sue the agency."