New push to protect ‘the plug’

Group comes together to present organized opposition to plowing road to YNP’s Northeast Entrance

Posted 9/15/22

A newly formed organization of Cooke City and Silver Gate business owners, residents and outdoor recreation enthusiasts have united to ensure their message is heard: protect our plug.

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New push to protect ‘the plug’

Group comes together to present organized opposition to plowing road to YNP’s Northeast Entrance

Posted

A newly formed organization of Cooke City and Silver Gate business owners, residents and outdoor recreation enthusiasts have united to ensure their message is heard: protect our plug.

For many years there’s been a contentious debate about plowing the plug, a 9-mile section of U.S. Highway 212 between Cooke City and the parking lot at Pilot Creek. It’s one of the snowiest mountain passes in Montana and currently the main groomed trail for winter recreational access to nearby backcountry wilderness areas, remaining unplowed from October to May each year.

The area is a bucket-list destination for snowmobiling and backcountry skiing and draws both visitors locally and from around the country as well as internationally. Should the plug be plowed in the future, some business owners and recreationists fear the area will lose its unique experience, pushing visitors to other outdoor meccas.

“If the few have their way, year-round plowing of Highway 212 will ruin the draw … to Cooke City in the winter,” said Rowdy Yates, president of the Upper Yellowstone Snowmobile Club, in an August letter.

“Cooke City is known as the ‘Coolest little town in America’ for a reason; it’s a cool little town. It is cool because it’s the last stop on the map in Montana heading east from Yellowstone National Park,” he said. “You don’t have to be a snowmobile enthusiast to enjoy Cooke City’s end of the world feel, although to many it’s why they come here to ride. Cooke City will never be a Cody, a Jackson Hole nor a Vail and we love it that way.”

The Cody Country Snowmobile Association has also been fighting those wishing to plow the plug, saying it will “decimate winter snowmobile recreation and tourism in the Beartooth [Mountains],” in a letter to Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon earlier this summer.

A growing number of calls have been made recently to plow the section of highway and Yellowstone National Park officials had pledged to plow the plug if they couldn’t get roads rebuilt before winter after June floods swept away five sections of the Northeast Entrance Road. The road through the northern section of the park is currently the only connection gateway communities have to Gardiner and beyond for supplies and emergency services during winter.

The organization, which goes by POP for short, officially came together earlier this month in hopes of further educating those participating in the debate. They point out not every issue has been carefully considered by those wanting to plow the short section of mountain road with hopes of opening up more business opportunities between Park County cities like Cody and Yellowstone National Park.

A recent survey requested by Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly and done by the Cooke City Chamber of Commerce showed 61% of Cooke City/Silver Gate residents want the plug plowed. 

If the plug was plowed, residents of the Cooke City and Silver Gate area could make the trip to Cody, saving them more than an hour of travel time one way, according to Terri Briggs, owner of the Big Moose Resort in Cooke City and board member of the Cooke City Chamber of Commerce. 

In a letter to Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Briggs said the time saved each way could mean the difference between life and death in a medical emergency and allow businesses to stay open during winters.

“The livelihood and health and safety of our towns is dependent on being able to keep U.S. Highway 212 (the plug) open year-round,” Briggs wrote in the letter.

Of 216 ballots mailed out last fall in the Cooke City vote, 140 ballots were returned, with 86 votes in favor of plowing, 52 no votes and two blank ballots, as reported by the Tribune in January.

The results mirror a previous survey taken last year and are similar to survey results from 2017, said Rick Hoeninghausen, director of sales and marketing for Xanterra Parks & Resorts at Yellowstone.

He said one of the reasons for the changing attitude toward plowing may be due to changing ownership for businesses in the Cooke City area.

“There has been some turnover of businesses with a lot of newer owners now. That’s perhaps contributing to this — where this is going now,” he said.

Sholly said he isn’t advocating for the change of policy, but rather exploring the prevailing attitude in the communities. And Hoeninghausen has been pushing the idea locally.

Plowing the plug “provides tremendous opportunities for Park County, Wyoming, and Cody, and the communities in Wyoming around our county to establish a much, much better, more robust winter business than we have now,” he said during a Park County Travel Council meeting earlier this year.

POP members say they support Sholly and Yellowstone National Park’s ambitious plan to open the Northeast Gate by Oct. 15, or prior to the winter snowmobile season, but “collectively oppose” any proposal to plow the U.S. Highway 212 plug other than if needed on a temporary emergency basis. They also want a higher level of transparency on why Xanterra, cities like Cody, Red Lodge and Gardiner, and other groups have an interest in opening the road.

“All the news we’ve been getting from Cam Sholly is good news,” said Kay Whittle, spokesperson for the group and co-owner of Antlers Lodge in Cooke City for the past 19 years. 

“They’re making great progress,” she said. “This winter looks like it is going to be just like all the other winters. We will exit town just like we always have.” 

Group members suspect those advocating to plow the plug are only thinking of businesses outside of Northeast Entrance gateway communities.

“What could end up happening [if the plug is plowed] is we could potentially lose our wintertime recreators,” Whittle said.

Whittle and Lisa Ohlinger, who co-owns and operates the Elkhorn Lodge in Cooke City, said June floods gave those pushing to have the plug plowed ammunition to make calls for the policy change. The communities suffered significant damage to homes, infrastructure and businesses during the flood.

They contend they are using the natural disaster to push for plowing, when the two subjects should remain separate.

“The other side wants everyone to think that our businesses aren’t viable and everyone’s about to go belly up,”  Ohlinger said. “Or that it’s just tragic here. It’s not like that. We have a great winter economy. And it’s all due to snowmobiling and skiing.”

They point out that business continues to improve, saying visitors from Canada are finally able to make reservations for return visits in the post-pandemic environment.

They also contend gateway communities lack the infrastructure to handle large crowds of winter travelers. The lack of cellphone service, parking lots and sewers precludes any move to bring large groups to the area in winter and to build new infrastructure requires a federal environmental assessment that will take years to complete.

Whittle said 75-100 trucks and trailers for winter enthusiasts park daily in the Pilot Creek area. But, if U.S. Highway 212 is plowed, those rigs have to come to town rather than the less intrusive snowmobiles. 

“The problem is, there’s nowhere to park now,” she said. “They would literally be lining the streets. I can’t even imagine it.”

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