Yellowstone National Park staff is proposing to run a fiber optic network into developed areas in the park to improve telecommunications and allow for the removal of microwave dishes and other telecommunication equipment atop mountaintops.

Under the plan, now open for public comment, fiber optic cables would be installed along existing park roads if the proposal is approved. Additionally, existing telecommunications equipment in the general vicinity of Madison, one in the Old Faithful area, one on Bunsen Peak, and two on Buffalo Plateau would be removed.

The company seeking the right-of-way for the cable, Diamond Communications, LLC, wants to:

• Install fiber optic cable along 187 miles of park roads. See map.
• Use appropriate equipment e.g., rubber-tracked vehicles, to install the conduit underground within the existing road corridor, immediately adjacent to and/or directly into the roadbed. See photos (click on YELL Fiber Optic EA).
• Temporary and localized traffic delays up to 30 minutes and speed reductions in work areas from April until early November for three consecutive years.
• Remove five microwave radio reflectors that were installed in the park's backcountry around 1980. Removal could begin in the near future as fiber optic becomes operational.
  • Currently, these reflectors are an essential component of the park's microwave radio telecommunication system.
  • Each reflector is about 28 feet high and 24 feet wide.
  • The existing microwave radio system is the only means of telecommunication (telephone, 911 and computer networks) in the park interior.
• Broadband over fiber optic cable could replace the obsolete microwave system.

According to a park release, additional proposal details include:

• It is estimated that 8 percent of the park is currently covered by cellular.
• The proposal would not expand authorized cellular phone coverage areas in the park but would substantially improve coverage quality in existing developed areas.
• This proposal is consistent with Yellowstone National Park's Wireless Communications Services Plan.
• No new cellular towers would be installed under this proposal.
• Diamond Communications, LLC. would pay for all up-front construction costs.
• Once installed, the park could subscribe to the broadband services.
• Commercial telecommunication systems can be considered a utility and, like other utilities, are authorized on NPS lands using the right-of-way permit process.

 The proposal addresses the following park issues:

• Bandwidth on the existing microwave radio system is inadequate and no longer meets the park's needs for business operations, employee communications, and emergency communications and operations.
• Due to extremely remote duty stations, recruitment/retention for both the NPS and its business partners is severely affected by a lack of consistent and reliable connectivity.

If this proposal is approved, the benefits to NPS staff, partners and visitors would include:

• Improved telephone, cellular phone, park computer networks and broadband internet services that could meet critical park operations, safety and emergency services and visitor information needs and expectations in developed areas.

Comments must be received by April 21. Comments may be submitted online at: parkplanning.nps.gov/fiberEA or by mail. Mail comments to: Compliance Office, Attention: Fiber Optic Project, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190.

Following the comment period, the park will make a final decision about the proposal. A final decision is expected this summer.