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"Can You Hear Me Now?" Verizon Wants To Erect Cell Tower Near Lake In Yellowstone National Park

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Is cell service in Yellowstone National Park important enough to you that a 100-foot cell tower should be erected near the Lake area in the park?

Yellowstone officials currently are reviewing a proposal from Verizon Wireless to put up that tower to serve the Lake and Fishing Bridge areas.

According to park officials, the Lake/Fishing Bridge area is the only location in the park where construction of a new cell tower was permitted under the park’s Wireless Communications Services Plan Environmental Assessment.

The proposed gray steel lattice tower and accompanying ground facilities would be erected at an existing utility site, next to existing telephone and electric lines. However, the tower as proposed would rise 30 feet above the surrounding tree tops.

Yellowstone guidelines "state that towers taller than 20 feet above the surrounding tree height require a detailed explanation of why a shorter installation is not feasible," park documents note, adding that, "The extra ten feet of height in this case avoids the need to construct additional towers in the area in the future. Designing the tower with an extra ten feet will promote site-sharing by multiple users, consistent with the 2008 Wireless Plan EA."

A crane and weather balloons were used to simulate the height of the proposed tower in order to ensure that it would not be visible from the nearby Lake Hotel, Fishing Bridge and Lake Lodge historic districts. This particular site was also selected in order to minimize the cell signal’s reach into the park’s backcountry.

Earlier this year Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility harshly criticized the proposal, saying not only had the park failed to seek public comment on the matter, but that Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk pushed the plan without adhering to guidelines in the Park Service's Management Policies, in violation of the National Historic Preservation Act, and without waiting for comments on the project from the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office.

Additional details of the project, including the categorical exclusion, a minor amendment to the Wireless Plan EA, and an electronic form to submit comments on the internet can be found online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/LakeCellularSite

Written comments may be submitted through the web site, in person or by mail to Compliance Office, Attention: Lake Cell Tower Proposal, National Park Service, and P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190.

Comments must be received or postmarked by midnight, November 16, 2012.

Comments will not be accepted by phone, fax, or e-mail, and submitted responses may be made publicly available at any time.

Comments will be reviewed by the NPS prior to approving a right-of-way permit for the facility. If the right-of-way permit is approved, construction would begin later this fall or in early 2013.

Comments

for people passing through for a day or two, im sure this makes no sense, but for us employees of the park, this would be great


For all of those who are only focused on their personal views of the image of a cell phone tower please try to imagine yourself in a situation where a family member suddenly has a heart attack or suffers an injury where immediate help may be the difference between life and death. The ability to make a life saving emergency call for help versus waiting on a Park Ranger to happen by or driving for miles in bumper to bumper traffic for help should probably outweigh your selfish preference to preserve the unspoiled beauty of nature. Is anything more important than preserving the safety of park visitors?


Turning off the cell phone is what it's all about. I do most of the time.

However for emergencies it is great to know it will work.

Cell towers can be very well hidden these days. If you look hard enough you can find a problem with anything. Pay more attention to what you go to Yellowstone for and not for things to complain about.


What would Teddy have done?


I do turn off my "cottinpickin'" cell phone. I do not take calls during my time away. There is a reason for there to be no service. Loud, overbearing blabbermouths (possibly such as yourself) are quite obtrusive to those of us who enjoy nature as it is and do not wish to listen to boors (possibly such as yourself) engaging in noise pollution.

And I'm not your "pal." Obviously.


Teddy wouldn't have had miles and miles of paved roads, flush toilets, campgrounds, hotels, emergency services, untold amounts of government administration, hundreds of thousands of cars and millions of visitors annually, etc. But then, Teddy lived in a different age. It doesn't degrade Yellowstone to make it so people find it a comfortable as well as supremely beautiful place to visit. It's available to us all in it's many guises. Full comfort for those who want such, wilderness such as John Coulter experienced (well, almost anyway) for those ambitious enough to search it out. It's why everyone loves (and hates) part of Yellowstone....


Given what having a cell phone tower has done to the experience at Old Faithful (I can't count the number of "Hey, Mabel, guess where I am" calls I've not been able to avoid overhearing), I say no.

Turning off my own cell phone isn't the problem. It's not being able to avoid hearing everyone else blab unnecessarily on theirs.


re: DD-393- We live in a relatively free country. You're free to enjoy nature as you wish as are the rest of us. You do not however have the right to impose your wishes on everyone else. No one enjoys being trapped by a boor on a cellphone while he's engaging in an activity where the guy should know enough to shut up. Simple courtesy should suffice. It doesn't because people make their own choices. I suspect that if people visiting Yellowstone were polled they would support providing cell service within the developed areas of the park while mitigating the impacts to the environment in a reasonable way. Like has been done with all the other services provided. The park belongs to all Americans, not just a few of us. "Nature, as it is" doesn't include the concrete aprons and walkways around Old Faithful, the cafeterias and gift shops or other developed facilities. Perhaps you should get off the beaten path to sites where you can experience "nature as it is". There's is a ton of it available in Yellowstone, Pal.


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