Park County Commissioner: Keep the Gate Open
Aug 20th 2007ScottWyoming & Yellowstone East Gate & conservatism & multiple use
Park County (WY) Commissioner Tim French (R) is a classic small-government Republican. If there’s an issue with the Federal Government overstepping it’s bounds, especially in Park County, he’ll often be the one to take up the lead on opposing whatever needs opposing.
He’s been helping out a lot with the local citizens’ group Shut Out of Yellowstone. Recently he was invited to attend a meeting in Yellowstone regarding avalanche mitigation:
The assessment included input from federal risk experts, avalanche experts from the U.S. Forest Service and Wyoming Department of Transportation and others.
French was invited as an observer to represent Park County and said the group was very receptive to hearing his comments.
“Everybody, including me, tried to keep their biases set aside, but every once in a while, it would creep in, and I was right there to say, ‘Now wait a minute,’ ” he said.
French said the assessment was not designed to choose a preferred alternative for avalanche management. That choice will be left to Snyder, if he decides to keep the pass open.
Instead, every plausible avalanche management option was considered and ranked according to its level of risk and likely effectiveness.
Options included the familiar howitzer gun and helicopters used to drop charges, but they also touched on some more exotic techniques.
One option involved using a small cable system to suspend and move explosive charges over avalanche chutes before remotely dropping the charges.
Another would set up propane tanks on the hillside that could set off small explosions just above the snow, with detonations triggered from as far away as the Lake area.
“They went through every possible way to deal with an avalanche,” French said, adding that the assessment was a “good exercise.”
Commissioner French’s conclusion: Keep the East Gate open for winter use. Makes sense to me. Hopefully, it makes sense to Mr. Snyder too.
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