***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
U.S.
Park Service to Curtail Snowmobile Use
***********************************************
Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
04/29/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
In a
major victory for ecological preservation, snowmobiling is to be
limited
in the U.S. National Park Service.
"The time has come for the
National
Park System to pull in its welcome mat for recreational
snowmobiling,"
said an Interior Department official.
Based upon
existing
regulations, they are to be excluded because they are not
consistent
with the purpose of National Parks.
They account for much
of the
worsening air pollution problems, are too noisy, and disrupt
wildlife. Given the National Park System's role in
maintaining
representative
natural vegetation and wildlife, this move is long past
due.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
ITEM #1
Title: U.S. Park Service to curtail snowmobile use
Source: Cable News Network
Status: Copyright 2000, contact source for
permission to reprint
Date: April 27, 2000
WASHINGTON
(CNN) -- The National Park Service on Thursday announced a
crackdown
on the use of snowmobiles. This will
mean new limits -- and
some
bans -- on the recreational use of the machines throughout the
system.
"There
is no future for snowmobiles in the national parks," said
Assistant
Interior Secretary Donald Barry as he made the announcement.
Contrary
to an earlier Associated Press report, the Park Service told
CNN
that Yellowstone National Park wouldn't be affected by Thursday's
announcement.
Yellowstone will continue with its own process of re-
evaluating
snowmobile use, officials said.
National
Park Service officials told CNN the agency is being ordered
to
enforce laws, regulations and executive orders covering the use of
snowmobiles
in its parks and reserves.
One
such regulation states that "snowmobiles are prohibited except
where
designated and only when their use is consistent with the park's
natural,
cultural, scenic and aesthetic values, safety considerations,
park
management objectives, and will not disturb wildlife or damage
park
resources."
Officials
expect several parks will end up banning the recreational
vehicles,
while others may restrict their hours or areas of operation
and
take other measures to limit their adverse effects.
In a
memo, Barry states: "Snowmobile use in most areas of the National
Park
System is not an essential or appropriate means of providing
winter
access."
Snowmobiles
run on two-stroke engines and put out substantially more
air
pollution than other vehicles. For example, in Yellowstone
National
Park, other vehicles outnumber snowmobiles 16-to-one over the
course
of a year. But snowmobiles are blamed for 78 percent of the
park's
carbon monoxide emissions and 94 percent of its hydrocarbons.
In addition,
snowmobiles are very loud. Environmentalists and others
complain
that they ruin the peace one expects to find in the park.
There
is some evidence they may bother wildlife, as well.
In
parks, snowmobiles often run on groomed trails. Disruption of
those
trails may change animals' migratory patterns -- bison, elk and
other
animals find it easier to make their way along groomed trails,
rather
than to slog through deep snow.
Snowmobile
enthusiasts say they have as much right as anyone else to
use
public land. Many towns neighboring national parks have come to
depend
on snowmobilers for much of their winter economies. And the
snowmobile
industry says it is working on cleaner, quieter machines
--
including a four-stroke prototype tested in Yellowstone last
winter.
Currently,
snowmobiles are allowed in 42 units of the National Park
system
-- including national recreation areas, preserves and national
parks.
In
addition, parks in Alaska and Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota
were
established under legislation specifically allowing snowmobiling.
It
would take an act of Congress to change that. And in all parks,
non-recreational
snowmobile use such as search-and-rescue is expected
to
continue.
ITEM #2
Title: NPS clarifies snowmobile crackdown
Source: Environmental News Network,
http://www.enn.com/
Status: Copyright 2000, contact source for
permission to reprint
Date: April 28, 2000
Byline: By Robinson Shaw
INSET:
"The
time has come for the National Park System to pull in its welcome
mat for
recreational snowmobiling," said Donald Barry, Interior
Department
assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.
The
National Park Service said Thursday it will immediately enforce
existing
regulations governing recreational snowmobile use in
America's
major national parks. The action will likely lead to a full
ban on
snowmobiles in these parks, a park service public affairs
specialist
said.
"The
time has come for the National Park System to pull in its welcome
mat for
recreational snowmobiling," said Donald Barry, Interior
Department
assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.
"Snowmobiles
are noisy, antiquated machines that are no longer welcome
in our
national parks. The snowmobile industry has had many years to
clean
up their act and they haven't."
Currently,
42 national park units, from parks to recreation areas to
parkways,
allow recreational snowmobiling. "Those 42 superintendents
have
been asked to enforce current regulations and that probably means
no
recreational snowmobiling (in the future)," said Gerry Gaumer,
public
affairs specialist for the NPS.
The
Associated Press reported Thursday that the NPS slapped an
immediate
ban on snowmobiles in park units where snowmobiling had been
allowed. "This is not a ban," Gaumer
explained. "We've just asked the
superintendents
to immediately begin strictly enforcing regulations."
Gaumer
allowed that all signs point to an eventual ban by individual
park
service superintendents.
Voyageurs
National Park in Minnesota and parts of the Alaska park
system
are exempt from regulations because recreational snowmobiling
was
included in the legislation establishing these units.
Yellowstone
and Grand Teton national parks aren't included in the
group
because both parks are currently revising their winter-use
plans. But recreational snowmobiling will almost
certainly be banned
in both
parks.
Instances
where recreational snowmobile use could be allowed include
access
to inholdings and access through parks to reach other federal
lands
where snowmobiling is allowed.
Executive
orders dating from 1972 and park service legislation such as
the
Organic Act and General Authorities Act establish strict
environmental
management standards that must be satisfied before
recreational
activities such as snowmobiling are allowed in any park
service
unit, according to the NPS. Enforcement of these regulations
by NPS
has been lax, park service officials admitted.
"These
are not new policies. We're just enforcing current
regulations,"
said Gaumer. "Snowmobiling is an
activity inconsistent
with
park service mandates."
The NPS
is enforcing established rules and laws because snowmobile
technology
has finally caught up with park officials, said Gaumer.
"The
technology of snowmobiles has gone so far that their use as
recreational
vehicles far exceeds what anyone dreamed they could do,"
he
said.
Any ban
will almost certainly affect snowmobile outfitters. "What
we've
been told is that they're closing Trail Ridge road (through
Rocky
Mountain National Park) but they're keeping a two-mile stretch
open
because it provides access to forest," said Greg Potts, owner of
Alpine
Arctic Cat in Grand Lake, Colorado. "It's too bad. Trail Ridge
road is
a nice little trail, but there are plenty of other
opportunities."
"There's
no question it will affect our business [if snowmobiling is
banned
in Yellowstone]," said Bill Schapp, general manager of Three
Bear
Lodge in West Yellowstone, Montana. "About 90 percent of our
snowmobiling
guests go into the park."
The
Blue Ribbon Coalition, a staunch supporter of recreational
snowmobile
use on public lands, is not pleased with Thursday's
announcement. "These top-down declarations from the
administration
are
catering to the anti-access groups, shutting everyone else out of
the
discussions. They have turned their back on reasonable dialogue
and the
American public. They don't seek
answers to issues, they
don't
want to work toward solutions. They just want people out of the
parks.
What is next, cars?" said Adena Cook, public lands director for
Blue
Ribbon.
"Snowmobiling
in national parks is a wonderful way to directly
appreciate
the parks' magnificence, where snow cover allows that
special
experience. Its popularity indicates that it is the preference
of
many," she added.
"Snowmobiling has always been heavily regulated
by each
park's management plan. Contrary to allegations by anti-access
groups,
these plans have always protected the resources of our
national
parks."
The NPS
decision was prompted by a petition filed last year by the
Bluewater
Network and more than 60 environmental organizations. The
coalition
requested that the park service ban snowmobiling in all park
system
units. In response, the service sent surveys to the 42 units
where
snowmobiling is allowed.
"Quite
frankly, we were surprised and disturbed by the results of the
snowmobile
survey," said Denis Galvin, NPS deputy director. "The
surveys
graphically demonstrated that years of inattention to our own
regulatory
standards on snowmobiles generated the problem we have
before
us today. In almost every instance, our administration records
were
incomplete or inadequate to allow snowmobiling in parks to
continue.
Let me reaffirm for the American public that our national
parks
will be managed in full compliance with our environmental laws."
Reports
on snowmobile impact by the NPS and the Greater Yellowstone
Winter
Wildlife Working proved to the park service that snowmobiles
pollute
air and water, create noise pollution, disturb wildlife and
damage
resources, Gaumer said.
Under
existing laws and regulations, snowmobile use is currently
allowed
in the following 42 NPS units:
*
National Parks including Acadia, Maine; Black Canyon of the
Gunnison,
Colorado; Crater Lake, Oregon; Grand Teton, Wyoming;
Kenai
Fjords, Alaska; Kobuk Valley, Alaska; Mount Ranier, Washington;
North
Cascades, Washington; Olympic, Washington; Rocky Mountain,
Colorado;
Sequoia and Kings Canyon, California; Theodore Roosevelt,
North
Dakota; Voyageurs, Minnesota; Yellowstone, Idaho, Montana and
Wyoming;
and Zion, Utah.
*
National Parks and Preserves including (in Alaska) Aniakchak, Bering
Land
Bridge, Denali, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, Katmai Fjords,
Lake
Clark, Noatak, Wrangell-St. Elias and Yukon-Charley Rivers.
*
National Scenic Rivers and Trails including the Appalachian National
Scenic
Trail and Saint Croix National Scenic River.
*
National Monuments and Lakeshores including Pictured Rocks
Lakeshore,
Michigan; Cape Krusenstern, Alaska; Cedar Breaks, Utah;
Dinosaur,
Colorado and Utah; Grand Portage, Minnesota.
*
National Parkways including Blue Ridge, North Carolina and Virginia;
and
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Wyoming.
*
National Historic Sites including Herbert Hoover, Iowa, and Klondike
Gold
Rush, Alaska.
*
National Recreation Areas including Bighorn Canyon, Montana and
Wyoming;
Curecanti, Colorado; Delaware Water Gap, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania;
Lake Chelan, Washington and Ross Lake, Washington.
Snowmobiling
is also allowed in Perry's Victory International Peace
Memorial
in Ohio.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
This
document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-
commercial
use only. Recipients should seek
permission from the
source
for reprinting. All efforts are made to
provide accurate,
timely
pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information
rests with the reader. Check out our
Gaia's Forest
Conservation
Archives & Portal at URL= http://forests.org/
Networked
by Forests.org, Inc., gbarry@forests.org