Grand Tetons in winter.

Documents pertaining to winter use are available below. In December 2007, the National Park Service issued new rules for long-term winter use plans for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. In July 2008, the National Park Service issued a Record of Decision Amendment – Sylvan Pass Management. Those rules and the associated Environmental Impact Statement and Records of Decision are posted below. Additional information may be obtained from Yellowstone National Park at (307) 344-2019.

The Director of the Intermountain Region of the National Park Service signed a Record of Decision Amendment – Sylvan Pass Management on July 16, 2008:

Record of Decision Amendment – Sylvan Pass Management (345 Kb pdf)

On December 13, 2007, the Final Rule governing winter use in the three parks was published in the Federal Register.

Final Rule (153 Kb pdf)

The Director of the Intermountain Region of the National Park Service signed a Record of Decision (ROD) on November 20, 2007:

Record of Decision (286 Kb pdf)

On September 24, 2007, the NPS released the Winter Use Plans Final Environmental Impact Statement:

Volume 1 Abstract, Table of Contents, and Summary (843 KB pdf)

Volume 1 Chapters 1, 2, and 3 (2.4 MB pdf)

Volume 1 Chapters 4, 5, and Bibliography (2.8 MB pdf)

Volume 2 Appendices A-I (1.4 MB pdf)

Volume 2 Appendix J (6.7 MB pdf)

Modeling Reports for EIS

Modeling reports were prepared by consultants to the National Park Service to assist the NPS in preparing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Winter Use Planning. Draft modeling reports are made available for technical review and comment. The authors address the technical comments and provide the NPS with final reports, which are posted below.

•Economics Modeling Report Addendum June 2007 (102 KB pdf)

•Air Quality Report Addendum July '07 (94 KB pdf)

•Sound Modeling Report Addendum June 2007 (2.2 MB pdf)

Modeling Report-Sound Due to Over-Snow Vehicles:

• Final Sound Modeling Report (2.5MB pdf)
• Appendices A-F Final Sound Modeling Report (5.8MB pdf) 
• Appendices G-References (4.6MB pdf)  

•Air Quality Modeling Report (Final) (1.24MB pdf)
•Appendices E, F and I are available upon request in a zip file. If you are interested in viewing these large data files, please send an email request to e-mail us

•Regional Economic Impact Analysis (Final) (355 kb pdf)

2007-2008 Monitoring Reports and Other Studies

This Draft Report, Exterior Sound Level Measurements of Over-snow Vehicles at Yellowstone National Park, June 2008, provides information about sound testing last February of selected snowcoaches and snowmobiles at Yellowstone's South Entrance. The report is available for technical review by all interested parties. Please provide focused substantive, technical comments about the information presented. In particular, comments regarding methodology, experimental design, analysis and scientific reasoning would be valuable. Once technical and internal reviews are completed and the author has the opportunity to address any comments that are provided, the on-line draft report will be replaced with the finalized report. Please submit your comments to this office by August 15, 2008. Comments may be mailed to: Winter Use Planning, PO Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190.

Exterior Sound Level Measurements of Over-Snow Vehicles at Yellowstone National Park (draft) - (1.18 MB pdf)

This Draft Report, "Natural Soundscape Monitoring in Yellowstone National Park, December 2007-March 2008, June 30, 2008," summarizes Yellowstone's soundscape monitoring results from last winter. The report is available for technical review by all interested parties. Please provide focused substantive, technical comments about the information presented. In particular, comments regarding methodology, experimental design, analysis and scientific reasoning would be valuable. Once technical and internal reviews are completed and the author has the opportunity to address any comments that are provided, the on-line draft report will be replaced with the finalized report. Please submit your comments to this office by August 15, 2008. Comments may be mailed to: Winter Use Planning, PO Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190.

Natural Soundscape Monitoring in Yellowstone National Park, December 2007-March 2008, June 30, 2008 (3.3 MB pdf)

2006-2007 Monitoring Reports

•Winter Air Quality in Yellowstone National Park, December 2006-March 2007 (2.6 MB)

•Natural Soundscape Monitoring in Yellowstone National Park, December 2006-March 2007 (2 MB pdf)

Wildlife Responses to Motorized Winter Recreation in Yellowstone 2007 Annual Report (142 Kb pdf)

• Summer West Entrance Personal Exposure Monitoring 2006 (3.7 MB pdf)

• Winter Air Quality Study 2005-2006 (3.1 MB pdf)

• In Use Emissions Report, January 2007 - (7.7 MB pdf)

• Behavioral Responses of Wildlife to Snowmobiles and Coaches in Yellowstone (2006) - (369 KB pdf)

• Wildlife Responses to Winter Recreation in Yellowstone National Park—Figures 2006 (Final Draft) - (446 KB pdf)

• Wildlife Responses to Winter Recreation in Yellowstone National Park—Appendices 2006 (Final Draft) - (348 KB pdf)

•Yellowstone Winter Use Personal Exposure Monitoring Report June 2006 (Draft) (1.79 MB pdf)

•Yellowstone Winter Use Personal Exposure Monitoring Appendices June 2006 (Draft) (14.2 MB pdf)

•Yellowstone Natural Soundscape Monitoring, August 2006 (Final) (2.6 MB pdf)

2002-2005 Monitoring Reports

•Winter Air Quality Study, 2004-2005 ( 1.58MB pdf)

•In-use Emission Measurements of Snowmobiles and Snowcoaches in Yellowstone National Park, January 2006 (5.7 MB pdf)

•Natural Soundscape Monitoring in Yellowstone National Park, Winter 2005 (1.01 MB pdf)

•Wildlife Responses to Motorized Winter Recreation in Yellowstone National Park, 2005 Annual Report (713 KB pdf)

•Winter Use Personal Exposure Monitoring Report, June 2005 (10.5 MB pdf)

•Summer Entrance Employee Air Monitoring Report, August 2005 (6.8 MB pdf)

•Effects of Snowmobile Emissions on the Chemistry of Snowmelt Runoff in Yellowstone National Park (792 KB pdf)

•Wildlife Responses to Winter Recreation in Yellowstone National Park, 2004 Annual Report (1.57 MB pdf)

• Air Quality Analysis of Snowmobile and Snowcoach Emissions, July 2004 (735 KB pdf)

•Evaluating Wildlife Responses to Winter Human Use in Yellowstone National Park, Winter 2003-04 (233 KB pdf)

•Natural Soundscape Monitoring in Yellowstone National Park, Winter 2003-04 (1.04 MB pdf)

•Wildlife Responses to Motorized Winter Recreation in Yellowstone National Park, 2003 Annual Report (1.81 MB pdf)

•Evaluating Wildlife Responses to Winter Human Use in Yellowstone National Park, Winter 2002-03 (230 KB pdf)

Winter-use-related documents:

Below are additional winter-use documents.

•Economic Analysis of Winter Use Regulations in the GYA (Final Report) (1.75 MB pdf)

•Public Comment Report for Winter Use DEIS (294 KB pdf)

•Public Comment Report for the Proposed Rule (274 pdf)

•Scoping Report - December 2005 (748KB pdf)

•Sylvan Pass Operational Risk Management Assessment (Final Report) (2.5 MB pdf)

•Avalanche Hazard Assessment & Mitigation Report Sylvan Pass, Yellowstone National Park - (1 MB pdf)

•Snow Water Equivalent and Temperature Data for Oversnow Vehicle Travel Areas in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park - September 2005 (1.4 MB pdf)

•Winter 2002-2003 Visitor Survey - Revised July 2005 (837 KB pdf)

•Spatial Variations of Volatile Organic Compounds Associated with Snowmobile Use in YNP Sive, et al, October 25, 2003 (986 KB pdf)

•The Effects of Winter Recreation on Wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone Area: A Literature Review and Assessment (1.5 MB pdf) - Requires Acrobat Reader to be viewed or printed.

•Winter Visitor Use Management: Multi-agency Assessment, 1999

•Final Report - Economic Analysis of Temporary Regulations of Snowmobile Use in the Greater Yellowstone Area (October 2004, 1.5 MB pdf)

•Economic Analysis of Temporary Regulations on Snowmobile Use in the Greater Yellowstone Area - August 2004 (1.8MB pdf)

•Economic Impact Analysis of the Temporary Winter Use Plan for Yellowstone, Grand Teton, national parks, and J.D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, August 2004 (325KB pdf)

•Winter 1998-1999 Visitor Survey Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and the Greater Yellowstone Area. Final Report. John Duffield and Christopher Neher, Bioeconomics, Inc. Missoula, Montana, May 2000 (957KB pdf)

•Winter Visit and Visitor Characteristics of Yellowstone National Park, Final Report. William T. Borrie, Wayne A. Freimund, Mae Davenport, University of Montana and Robert Manning, William Valliere, and Ben Wang, University of Vermont. 1999.

As part of the Winter Use Plans Final Environmental Impact Statement, the NPS plans to implement a tiered series of studies to gain reliable knowledge regarding the effects of winter snow-road grooming on bison movements in Yellowstone National Park. In 2007, Dr. Robert A. Garrott of Montana State University-Bozeman and Dr. P.J. White of the National Park Service developed the proposal detailing the studies, sent the proposal out for peer review, and addressed comments arising from that peer review. The draft and final proposals may be found below, along with the peer review plan, two peer review reports, and the authors’ response to those reviews. Also found in this section is the report commonly known as the "Gates report," an exhaustive review of the state of knowledge of the bison-groomed road issue.

•Final Research Proposal: Evaluating Key Uncertainties Regarding Road Grooming and Bison Movements, by Robert A. Garrott and P.J. White, September 25, 2007 (2.5 MB pdf)

•Draft Research Proposal: Evaluating Key Uncertainties Regarding Road Grooming and Bison Movements (1.2 MB pdf)

•Peer Review Plan—Evaluating Key Uncertainties about Road Grooming and Bison Movements (230 KB pdf)

•Millspaugh's Review of Research Proposal (108 KB pdf)

•Aune's Review of Research Proposal (71 KB pdf)

•Author's Response to Peer Review Comments (31 KB pdf)

•The Ecology of Bison Movements and Distribution in and beyond Yellowstone National Park, Dr. Cormack Gates, University of Calgary - April 2005

Court Rulings:

•U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, September 24, 2007

•U.S. District Court for Wyoming, June 27, 2007 ruling (951 KB pdf)

•U.S. District Court for Wyoming, October 15, 2005 ruling (1.9 MB pdf)

•U.S. District Court for Wyoming, October 14, 2004 ruling (1.4MB pdf)

•U.S. District Court for Wyoming, February 10, 2004 ruling. (95KB pdf)

•U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia December 16, 2003 ruling. (162KB pdf)

Previous Winter Use Planning Documents:

The first three files below guided winter use in the parks for the winters 2004-05 through 2006-07. All of these files are listed for reference only; they are not currently guiding management in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

•Final Rule Published in the Federal Register Implementing the Temporary Winter Use Plan - November 10, 2004 (351KB pdf)

•Temporary Winter Use Plans - Finding of No Significant Impact, November 2004 (735KB pdf)

•Temporary Winter Use Plans Environmental Assessment (1.04MB pdf)- August 20, 2004

•Regulation Implementing the SEIS Record of Decision, December 11, 2003 (188KB pdf)

•Final SEIS, Winter Use Plans Record of Decision - March 25, 2003 (654KB pdf)

•Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, Winter Use Plans - February 2003

•Final Rule Implementing the EIS Record of Decision - January 22, 2001 (451KB pdf)

•Winter Use Plans, Record of Decision- November 22, 2000 (268KB pdf)

•Please contact the Management Assistant's Office at 307-344-2019 if you would like a copy of the "Temporary Closure for a Winter Road" (1998) or the "Final Winter Use Plan, Final Environmental Impact Statement" (December 2000).