U.S. to Curb Snowmobiles in Parks

By next winter, visitors to many national parks may be limited in their use of snowmobiles and barred from using them altogether in some places.

Federal officials are expected to announce a ban today that could affect Yellowstone National Park along with other popular destinations such as Crater Lake in Oregon, Grand Teton in Wyoming and Mt. Ranier in Washington. The ban, however, would have virtually no effect in California, where recreational snowmobiling is not allowed in national parks within the state.

But California snowmobile enthusiasts worry that new restrictions in national parks could be the first step toward a broader ban on the wintertime activity, which is allowed in many of California’s state and federal forests.

“I don’t see this as having a big impact in California, but it’s a disturbing trend,” said Don Amador, Western representative of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, an off-highway vehicle advocacy group. “We’re worried about this continued assault on OHV use on public land.”

The National Park Service is announcing this week new restrictions on the use of snowmobiles for recreation at more than two dozen parks, monuments, recreational areas and other federal park units, government and private sources said. In some cases snowmobiles may be banned, sources said.

Snowmobiles are allowed in more than 40 park units from Acadia National Park in Maine to numerous parks in the Northwest and Alaska.

As the vehicles have grown in popularity in recent years, however, a growing number of complaints have been filed by park visitors annoyed by their noise and pollution. Some opponents of snowmobile use say the vehicles damage the parks.

An announcement is to be made today, U.S. Interior Department officials said, adding that the aim is to “halt the escalating recreational use of snowmobiles” within the park system.

Environmental groups and the National Parks and Conservation Assn., a private park advocacy group, have argued that the Park Service has failed for years to enforce existing regulations against recreational snowmobiling at many national parks.

Under rules dating from the 1970s, the Park Service is required to monitor off-road vehicle use, including snowmobiles, and prohibit such uses if it is determined that they cause environmental damage, said Kevin Collins of the National Parks and Conservation Assn.

Instead, the Park Service has allowed virtually unrestricted use of snowmobiles in many of the parks, “with almost no analysis of environmental effects,” Collins said.

“We’re thrilled that the Park Service is recognizing the serious damage the snowmobiles are causing,” said Russell Long, executive director of the San Francisco-based Bluewater Network, which supports a ban. “At the same time, we hope that their regulations encompass the entire park system without exception.”

Long said a two-stroke snowmobile engine running for two hours creates as much emissions as a car driven for 200,0000 miles. His organization will release the results of an environmental impact study in the next few days, he said.

But snowmobile advocates say such studies are flawed and fail to recognize efforts by the industry to develop new machines that are quieter and cleaner.

Some advocates characterized the looming regulations as a blow to individual access to parks such as Yellowstone, which does not maintain plowed roads in the park in the winter. Snow coaches are allowed in the park to take tour groups, but snowmobiles offer the only motorized access to individuals. About 85,000 snowmobiles enter Yellowstone a year.

“What about older people who don’t walk or cross-country ski?” said Jack Welch, president of Colorado-based Blue Ribbon Coalition. “It goes right along with kicking cars out of Yosemite.”

The Park Service eliminated snowmobiling at Denali National Park in Alaska, but a court ruling reinstated the practice, saying snowmobiling is a traditional activity in the sprawling park.

The decision dealing with snowmobiles is likely to affect many of the 28 parks outside of Alaska where snowmobiling now takes place, those familiar with the issue said. Alaska is likely to be excluded from a snowmobile ban because parks in that state are governed by different regulations.

In California, the only snowmobiling allowed in a national park is at Sequoia, where a dozen families are allowed to use snowmobiles to reach private cabins they lease in the Mineral King area, park spokeswoman Kris Fister said. The park ban is not expected to curtail use of snowmobiles to reach the cabins, which were built before development of the park and are to be abandoned after the current leaseholders die.

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The Associated Press and Times staff writers Eric Bailey and Julie Cart contributed to this story.