Dear editor:

Once again the issue of plowing the plug has arisen. Unfortunately, this time it may come to pass. I have said this before and I will say it again — plow the plug and say goodbye to East Gate as we know it. Access through East Gate has been diminishing for years.   

When the plug is plowed, our East Gate access will incrementally be shaved away by the National Park Service to become a much shorter summer season. Perhaps Friday of July Fourth weekend through Labor Day will be the norm. Why? For any or all of following reasons — resource protection: Sylvan Pass will become critical wolverine and/or lynx habitat. Safety: Astonishingly, amidst global warming, avalanche danger will be at its greatest risk. Funding: The NPS will claim they cannot safely plow and maintain the pass due to dwindling funds from Congress. 

Put that in your Wyoming tourism industry pipe and smoke it!

A brief history for the relatively new folks in the media and tourism businesses who, themselves, will only briefly stay at their current jobs: Once upon a time, East Gate opened May 1 and closed the first Monday in November. When May 1 landed on a Monday, the NPS — back when they were service orientated — opened the park on Friday, April 28.  

Not long ago — the time span of three park superintendents, and about five to six complete media and tourism employee churns — Mammoth bureaucrats shortened the summer season by opening the first Friday in May and kept the closing date the same, thus shortening the season. 

Beginning in 2022, the current superintendent decided to shorten the season again, this time moving the closing date to Oct. 31. Look for the last October Monday to be next.

The “Heads on Beds” article is contradictory. Local tourism leaders speak of a robust year with growth every year. It also reads:  “The East Entrance is the only gate to see a decline in the past decade, including this year.”  

The NPS has its method of counting visits. It manipulates the multiplier applied to vehicles entering the park. Example: Move the multiplier from 2.76 to 2.58 people per vehicle and suddenly there are less visits with the same amount of cars. This is to achieve a desired outcome — less people. Consequently, federal bureaucrats will suddenly savvy good business sense and claim it costs too much to operate East Gate, and will have to shorten the season.

Park County Travel Council once paid a lot of money to fund avalanche mitigation on Sylvan Pass via arial bombardment, because a park superintendent claimed lack of funding.  

Wyoming Department of Transportation, funded in part by Cody businesses, plowed the road into the park in spring 2013, because a park superintendent developed a Let-It-Melt policy due to lack of funding. A park ranger’s patrol vehicle  was involved in an avalanche on Sylvan Pass. 

Cody’s new alternative gate — Northeast Gate/Cooke City — is only 26 miles farther, we will be told. Forget the fact Sedge Bay is 63 miles one-way from Cody through East Gate, and 185 miles one way through Cooke-Mammoth-Norris-Canyon-Fishing Bridge to have a ham sandwich by the lake.

There is no guarantee the park will keep the Northeast Road within the park open to wheeled vehicles in winter. The NPS and concessioners will financially benefit when the Northeast Road is closed in winter. No more expensive plowing for the NPS. Snowcoach tours will be mandatory

Pro plug plowers are being played. Never trust the NPS. Ever.

Respectfully and sincerely,

Steve Torrey

Cody