Mead, city officials discuss Y'stone plow options

The governor's office has been conferring with Cody and Jackson officials to get state plows to Yellowstone and open up the park's East and South entrances sooner than the dates targeted since the cuts took effect March 1.

Yellowstone, meanwhile, is amenable to raising its gates for WyDOT snow plows.

"Should we get a proposal, we just have to see about working out the details," park spokesman Al Nash said Monday.

Cody and Jackson aren't opening their checkbooks just yet, however.

Another option would be a fund drive among Cody Country Chamber of Commerce members. The chamber was awaiting word from the governor's office to proceed, Executive Director Scott Balyo said.

"We're kind of waiting for two pieces. One, yes this can be done. And two, here's how much it's going to cost," Balyo said. "It's going to have to be done pretty quickly. We'll only have a handful of days to pull that together."

Park officials decided that relying more on warming temperatures to do snow removal this year was one of the less disruptive options available to them to save money under the cuts in effect across the federal government.

Plowing was supposed to begin March 4 and has been delayed until March 18. The postponement is saving Yellowstone an estimated $30,000 a day, or a total of anywhere from $150,000 to $300,000, depending on the weather.

Depending on how much snow falls in the weeks ahead, park entrances originally scheduled to open in early May now aren't expected to open until mid-May. That worries local businesses owners looking forward to the start of summer tourist season.

"It's truly surprising. I think we should do a little bit better than that," Jackson Mayor Mark Barron said.

Barron said he planned to discuss plowing options with his town manager, the Teton County Commission chairman and the executive director of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce. He suggested that a bigger priority is pay increases for his employees, who haven't gotten raises in four years.