Re: Yellowstone Completes Wi-Fi and Cell Phone Plan

Yellowstone Completes Wi-Fi and Cell Phone Plan

Yellowstone National Park has completed a plan which addresses the future of wireless communications in the park. Wireless communications in Yellowstone will be allowed in very limited areas to provide for visitor safety and to enhance park operations. The plan restricts towers, antennas, and wireless services to a few limited locations in the park, in order to protect park resources and limit the impact on park visitors.

An environmental assessment (EA) for the proposed project was released for public review last fall. Changes made in response to comments were incorporated into a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) which was recently signed and is now available online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov. Plans addressing wireless communications have been completed or are underway at other National Park Service sites, including Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada and Arizona, and Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC.

Under this plan, cell towers would not be allowed in recommended wilderness, in campgrounds, or along park road corridors. No cell phone service will be allowed in the vast majority of Yellowstone. Cell service is currently limited to the immediate vicinity of Canyon, Grant Village, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Old Faithful. The park would accept proposals to establish cell service for the Fishing Bridge/Lake Village area.

In response to public comments, the plan calls for the future relocation of the cell tower at Old Faithful to reduce its visibility, and for the park to explore design options intended to reduce the visual impacts of equipment located on Mt. Washburn.

Park concessioners would be allowed to offer Wi-Fi service in some buildings. In response to comments, Wi-Fi will be prohibited in the Old Faithful Inn and the Lake Hotel in order to preserve the historic lodging experience. Concession operators will be permitted to offer Wi-Fi service in other park lodging and general stores.

The plan also calls for Yellowstone to actively promote the courteous and respectful use of cell phones and Wi-Fi devices and to establish and sign "cell phone free zones" in the park.

Is it not possible for all these damn zombies to disconnect for more than 5 minutes?

I can see the day when people are hiking up the Mist trail or something completely zonked out staring at their Crackberry. What a world.

I think the stream bed off the edge of the Mist Trail would eventually fill up with their wretched remains, phones still stuck to their ears, vacuous gazes fixed on nothing.

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Old Dude

I read somewhere last year that a guy walked off one of the 90-something switchbacks of Mt. Whitney while texting or something like that. Ended up having to be rescued and taken off the mountain. I honestly wished for a "better" outcome......................

Are we talking about Yellowstone or Yosemite? It is going to take a lot to people to spill over from Yellowstone into Yosemite and fill up the Mist Trail.
So far as Yosemite is concern, what about eliminating from the Valley that real instrument of the devil-- electricity?
Next thing you know, they will be getting AM and FM radio reception in the Valley.
Just see how it deteriorates then!

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

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Frank Furter
Are we talking about Yellowstone or Yosemite?

Yellowstone. Like the subject line says.

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eeek

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Frank Furter
Are we talking about Yellowstone or Yosemite?

Yellowstone. Like the subject line says.

We need a smiley that communicates a little tiny bit of sacrasm as sardonic humor does not transmit well.
Perhaps a smiley of Don Rickles? of Rodney Dangerfield? perhaps a "sarcas-o-meter" reading?
To register the anticipated humor range perhaps a humor-ometer in degrees Celsius (no, in degrees Silly-est)

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

I like the idea of cell phone-free zones. Should be more of those everywhere.

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Gary
Yosemite Photo Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/yo

In retrospect I must agree with Gary. If we continue allowing electronics into the wilderness, no matter how worthy some benifits may be argued, it will one day cease to be wilderness as we know it. Preventing this may be a hollow dream in the long run because I expect someday everybody will carrying around super affordable satellite phones the same way they now carry cell phones. It's a sad commentary on the perceived need to be connected 24/7.

Jim

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tomdisco
In retrospect I must agree with Gary. If we continue allowing electronics into the wilderness, no matter how worthy some benifits may be argued, it will one day cease to be wilderness as we know it. Preventing this may be a hollow dream in the long run because I expect someday everybody will carrying around super affordable satellite phones the same way they now carry cell phones. It's a sad commentary on the perceived need to be connected 24/7.

Jim

With sufficient wi-fi, animal telemetry, infra-red cameras, motion or flow transducers and web-cams, we will all be able to enjoy the parks from our cell phones without actually even leaving home or the bar. This arrangement would certainly cut down on bear-jams.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

How about Twittering while on the cables??? "I'm on the cables, it's hard, update to follow"

"I have to be quick because I'm in the process of falling to my death."

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Old Dude

Boy, that would be the worst...headed up/down the Half Dome cables and the traffic jam in front of you is headed by somebody mindlessly gabbing on their phone (she did?? She didn't!! He did?? Wait, I'll send you a picture) while they hold up traffic. Or twittering, I guess, if you can do that (I've never twittered that I know of, but it sounds dangerous 8^). Or checking their email...

I haven't seen a lot of cell phone abuse in the Valley, but I don't usually go in summer so maybe it's different. Just an occasional one walking along gabbing and missing the beauty of where they are, but not too many.

I have to confess though, that I did call (but on my 2004, no camera, no internet, no anything extra phone) from the top of Half Dome a couple of years ago. I went behind some rocks to do it, because I didn't want to be seen on a cell phone at the top of Half Dome 8^). But it was just to leave an answering machine message at home, which I used in my photo slideshow of our trip to the top, so it was kind of neat having that message with the time and date interrupt the music and play with the photo of us on the summit.

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Gary
Yosemite Photo Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/yo

I'm thinking that idiots will be using the things while on the cables holding on with one hand.

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Old Dude

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Sierrafan
Boy, that would be the worst...headed up/down the Half Dome cables and the traffic jam in front of you is headed by somebody mindlessly gabbing on their phone (she did?? She didn't!! He did?? Wait, I'll send you a picture)

I think it's more like "then she's all..... and I'm like......"

or

"She did? She dih-int! Shut. Up. No she dih-int!!!"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2009 08:26AM by cthenn.

You sure it wouldn't be texting instead?

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cthenn

I think it's more like "then she's all..... and I'm like......"

or

"She did? She dih-int! Shut. Up. No she dih-int!!!"

Wow, you nailed it there, perfect!

I can almost see the headlines "Another fall from Half Dome Cables. Some suspect it may not have been an accident, witnesses mysteriously saw nothing..."
8^)

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Gary
Yosemite Photo Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/yo

Perhaps rather than having all-talk all the time, the park(s) could place emergency phones (they dont have to be big and intrusive) strategically placed within the park, so maybe people who need to feel secure, will feel secure enough to not have to carry a phone.

B