Yellowstone National Park will delay opening its four entrances and leave positions unfilled in order to make up $1.75 million in cuts from the sequester. In a news conference on Monday, Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk said that the park could save almost a tenth of the necessary cash by not plowing roads until a week later in the season. “We spend more than $30,000 a day plowing roads,” he said. “If we can save five days because we’ve let the energy of the sun soften the snow, more efficient plowing, we can save more than $150,000.
One unusual side benefit of the closures may be to boost bicycle use in Yellowstone. During the gap between snowmobile season, which ends in mid-March, and the opening of the roads in mid-April, ; this year’s late opening will extend the car-free season.
Via