Funding Needed for Yellowstone Roads

The coalition of businesses that have been maintaining snowmobile and snow coach access to most of Yellowstone National Park during the federal government shutdown is reaching out for help.

Xanterra Parks and Resorts, which operates hotels inside the park in winter, and 13 companies that run winter tours in the park have been paying about $7,500 a day to keep snow-covered park roads groomed and open.But Xanterra general manager Mike Keller told KEMC-FM that any assistance from others, such as the state of Wyoming, to keep Yellowstone access open would help.

On Friday, Yellowstone announced that it was using previously collected recreation fees to bring back some staff for entrance stations and to clean public restrooms. But Keller says the staff won’t be grooming roads.