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Yellowstone National Park officials want to reduce the number of snowmobiles allowed each day in the park as part of its winter management plan, said a congressional aide briefed on the plan.

The park is seeking to impose a daily limit of 540 snowmobiles, down from 720 vehicles, said Matt McKenna, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. McKenna said a park official met with the senator's staff Thursday to discuss the plan.

Park spokesman Al Nash declined comment.

The 540-snowmobile limit will be the agency's new "preferred alternative" in the park's winter management plan to be released Monday, McKenna said. A final decision was expected sometime in November.

Last year, the park averaged about 290 snowmobiles a day and reached as many as 542 on one day, park officials have said.

Snowmobile use at the park has fueled years of legal wrangling. The latest decision was a disappointment for both sides of the debate -- for environmentalists who had been hoping for a ban or a sharp reduction in snowmobiles and industry advocates who thought the previous cap was acceptable.

Conservationists say the current number of snowmobiles has already created too much noise, pollution and disturbance to wildlife. They argue that allowing a cap higher than the average would not help.

"Why would they pick a number that is higher than they are already having a problem with?" said Rick Smith, member of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. "It just seems hard to understand."

Bill Horn, a Washington D.C.-based attorney for the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, said his group was comfortable with the cap of 720 snowmobiles and argued the vehicles were not harmful.

The group had hoped the number would have eventually increased to accommodate growth it felt was limited in recent years amid the furor over snowmobiles in the park, he said.

"We, clearly, will be letting the Park Service know what we think about this," Horn said.

Conservationists said more people are naturally turning to snowcoaches -- which are like buses on tracks -- to tour the park in winter because they are more comfortable and quieter.

"Every previous study has found that snowcoaches are best for the park," said Amy McNamara of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.

She said her group would prefer to have no snowmobiles in the park.

(newsday)

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