NPS still counting 410 skiers

well it sounds sketchy and overly restrictive to me, but maybe someone should try answering JimH's question.

Local City, County, State, and Federal Governments are suffering through one of the worst budget crisis in history. People are loosing their jobs. And yet someone feels the need to pay this dude to go skiing and count ski tracks. I can think of about a billion better ways to spend taxpayers money. Disgusting.

What's the NPS justification for this? Is there an 'official' position or other communication between NPS and Crystal explaining the issue?

This subject goes back many years.
The Parks master plan for the closure was long before Crystal's ROD for development. So you can catch up
READ THIS
Good bathroom reading.

I agree with altasnob...a waste of money, truck, drive time, environmental impact and the Park has to buy the lift ticket to boot. I suspect that the carbon footprint of the audit alone does more environmental damage to MRNP resources than the actual skier impact.

well it sounds sketchy and overly restrictive to me, but maybe someone should try answering JimH's question.

More reading...
This article in Powder Mag online

Like the Beastie Boys say, "You gotta fight...for your right...TO PAAARTY!

The NPS and MRNP are in desparate need to good leadership; it won't come until it is demanded by those who enjoy parks in person; there is a whole community devoted to keeping people out of parks.

But as Crystal Mountain sought to widen its lift-served terrain (though some proposed chairlifts, like East Peak and Silver King, didn't make the final cut) within the existing SUP, concern over the adjacent pristine areas rose sharply. Even to the point of the ROD requiring that Crystal Mountain hire a snow ranger to patrol the boundary.

I wonder if Scotsman's ranger was hired by Crystal and not patroling for MRNP.  I don't know if that changes anything, but it might shift the venom in another direction.