Washington, DC — More than 20 years after promising to remove a cell tower looming over the Old Faithful Historic District, Yellowstone National Park finally took it down last month without public announcement. It was replaced by a new 110-foot tower nearby, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which had long campaigned for removal of the Old Faithful tower.

The park conceded the need to remove the tower in 2004 after burned lodgepole pines continued to fall on the hillside, revealing the large tower from viewpoints throughout the Upper Geyser Basin. Meanwhile, the telecommunications infrastructure within the park has grown to six towers, with another four currently under consideration following the park’s approval of a 187-mile fiber optic cable project in 2021.

This expansion denotes Yellowstone’s decision to facilitate commercial structures offering subscription cell service to meet “visitor expectations.” Impacts of this decision include:

• Signal spillover into the backcountry. Coverage maps show that approximately two-thirds of the entire park has cell coverage despite a pledge to limit signal to the park’s developed areas;
• Fiber optic wiring threatens to compromise some of the unique hydrothermal features which led to the creation of the park; and
• Massive corporate subsidies (including waiver of Use and Occupancy Fees for some telecom providers) have deprived the park of revenue to address major infrastructure needs. Yellowstone’s maintenance backlog, nearly a billion dollars, is the largest of any park in the nation and includes remediating unsafe lead- and asbestos-laden housing for many employees and contractors.

“Yellowstone has acted more like a Verizon subsidiary than a national park when it comes to ‘connectivity,’” stated PEER Senior Counsel Jeff Ruch, referencing years of Freedom of Information Act requests to unveil park-telecom interactions. “The record shows Yellowstone has yet to say no to a telecommunications project, regardless of its impact.”

On visual impacts, PEER points to the transformation of Mount Washburn, one of Yellowstone’s most popular hiking destinations, into an electronic bunker hosting more than 60 wireless antennas on new metal walls sheathing the historic fire lookout.

During the first Trump administration, the National Park Service rescinded requirements to inform the public or conduct environmental review on applications for new cell towers or modifications of existing permits. The Biden administration declined to restore those rules.  Consequently, many cell tower projects in national parks proceed without any public notice.

“Telecommunications planning inside national parks has become a completely closed-door affair,” added Ruch, noting the absence of any announcement about the removal of the Old Faithful tower or the erection of its replacement. “The natural soundscape of national parks is an asset which has been freely given away without any consideration.”

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Trace history of the Old Faithful cell tower

Look at backcountry awash in signal spillover

Note threats to thermal features from fiber optic cables

See corporate subsidies Yellowstone provides

Read about Yellowstone’s unsafe housing

Revisit suspension of public notice on cell tower decisions

Examine ongoing cellular visual impacts at Yellowstone

PEER protects public employees who protect our environment, natural resources, and public health. We support current and former environmental and public health professionals, land managers, scientists, enforcement officers, and other civil servants dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values across federal, state, local, and tribal governments.