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I wrote WWA and thought I'd share what their response was.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Winter Wildlands Alliance and your views on snowmobilers and skiers on public lands.
First I’d like to tell you that WWA does not advocate at all for the removal of snowmobiles from public land either publicly or privately. Simply put, we are the only organization that specifically represents quiet, human-powered winter enthusiasts and their values to public land managers and elected officials on the national level. We do try to work with snowmobilers on many levels where we can and where we can have productive conversations about how to fairly share our public lands in a way that provides a quality experience for the majority of Americans who value non-motorized winter recreation opportunities. In fact many of our grassroots member groups are in ongoing collaborations with snowmobile groups to do just that and to negotiate balanced winter recreation management plans that accommodate motorized and non-motorized recreation fairly. Your suggestion of designating areas close to parking lots that are off limits to snowmobiles has been implemented in some areas and works in some cases when properly enforced and agreed upon by all user groups. One local area in our neck of the woods has a gentleman’s agreement to that effect, but people don’t always know about it or care so skiers often get fed up and don’t go there. Closing just a few slopes doesn’t always meet the needs of a huge population of folks that seek peace and quiet in winter wildlands. Non-motorized areas need to be large enough to provide that sound buffer to allow for the kind of experience many people are looking for.
You are also right that today’s snowmobiles are much more powerful, and thus capable, of getting further into the backcountry and on much steeper terrain; places that historically skiers have pretty much had to themselves because snowmobiles couldn’t go there. The growth of snowmobiling and the ability of the machines to reach deeper into the backcountry have created a lot of conflict in high use areas and those are the issues we typically deal with or focus on. Shared use in many areas simply does not work for people who go out into the woods to get away from machines, noise and people zooming around them.
I know snowmobilers are very passionate about their sport and I have several friends and acquaintances (mostly from growing up) who are avid riders. Some are more extreme in their views than others and unfortunately the extreme ones tend to be the ones that get heard the most. The stance of many snowmobile clubs and advocacy groups that makes it difficult to have productive relationships with is the “No Net Loss” stance, which basically says there shouldn’t be any land off limits to snowmobiles more than there is currently. The fact is that many quiet enthusiasts seek experiences away from snowmobiles for several reasons and typically will not recreate in areas with heavy snowmobile use, effectively taking their access away from that particular piece of public land. I personally don’t have a problem with occasionally bumping into a snowmobile in the backcountry, but that’s not the problem. The problem is when you can’t have easy access to areas that aren’t overrun by the machines to find the quality experience that you seek.
We are not enviro-zealots as you suggest and we don’t represent enviro-zealots, although just as in the case of snowmobilers with extreme views there are those skiers who are extreme in their views as well. In fact we are a reasonable organization that advocates for balanced management of public lands and winter recreation. We could probably go on forever talking about what is “balanced management” and perhaps we would still come out on different sides of the issue, but from our perspective the way our public lands are being managed currently heavily favors motorized use on public lands in winter. We try not to be one-sided and welcome conversations and debates about the issues with snowmobilers.
Thanks again for your comments and feel free to share your views with us again.
Charlie Woodruff
Can you believe he said heavily favors motorized use on public lands. These people are clearly blind.
I said that it seems like their mission is to erraticate snowmobiles and that letter was the response to it. I also said there is plenty of non-motorized areas and there starting to get greedy. With a comment like public lands favor motorized use they are clearly greedy.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Winter Wildlands Alliance and your views on snowmobilers and skiers on public lands.
First I’d like to tell you that WWA does not advocate at all for the removal of snowmobiles from public land either publicly or privately. Simply put, we are the only organization that specifically represents quiet, human-powered winter enthusiasts and their values to public land managers and elected officials on the national level. We do try to work with snowmobilers on many levels where we can and where we can have productive conversations about how to fairly share our public lands in a way that provides a quality experience for the majority of Americans who value non-motorized winter recreation opportunities. In fact many of our grassroots member groups are in ongoing collaborations with snowmobile groups to do just that and to negotiate balanced winter recreation management plans that accommodate motorized and non-motorized recreation fairly. Your suggestion of designating areas close to parking lots that are off limits to snowmobiles has been implemented in some areas and works in some cases when properly enforced and agreed upon by all user groups. One local area in our neck of the woods has a gentleman’s agreement to that effect, but people don’t always know about it or care so skiers often get fed up and don’t go there. Closing just a few slopes doesn’t always meet the needs of a huge population of folks that seek peace and quiet in winter wildlands. Non-motorized areas need to be large enough to provide that sound buffer to allow for the kind of experience many people are looking for.
You are also right that today’s snowmobiles are much more powerful, and thus capable, of getting further into the backcountry and on much steeper terrain; places that historically skiers have pretty much had to themselves because snowmobiles couldn’t go there. The growth of snowmobiling and the ability of the machines to reach deeper into the backcountry have created a lot of conflict in high use areas and those are the issues we typically deal with or focus on. Shared use in many areas simply does not work for people who go out into the woods to get away from machines, noise and people zooming around them.
I know snowmobilers are very passionate about their sport and I have several friends and acquaintances (mostly from growing up) who are avid riders. Some are more extreme in their views than others and unfortunately the extreme ones tend to be the ones that get heard the most. The stance of many snowmobile clubs and advocacy groups that makes it difficult to have productive relationships with is the “No Net Loss” stance, which basically says there shouldn’t be any land off limits to snowmobiles more than there is currently. The fact is that many quiet enthusiasts seek experiences away from snowmobiles for several reasons and typically will not recreate in areas with heavy snowmobile use, effectively taking their access away from that particular piece of public land. I personally don’t have a problem with occasionally bumping into a snowmobile in the backcountry, but that’s not the problem. The problem is when you can’t have easy access to areas that aren’t overrun by the machines to find the quality experience that you seek.
We are not enviro-zealots as you suggest and we don’t represent enviro-zealots, although just as in the case of snowmobilers with extreme views there are those skiers who are extreme in their views as well. In fact we are a reasonable organization that advocates for balanced management of public lands and winter recreation. We could probably go on forever talking about what is “balanced management” and perhaps we would still come out on different sides of the issue, but from our perspective the way our public lands are being managed currently heavily favors motorized use on public lands in winter. We try not to be one-sided and welcome conversations and debates about the issues with snowmobilers.
Thanks again for your comments and feel free to share your views with us again.
Charlie Woodruff
Can you believe he said heavily favors motorized use on public lands. These people are clearly blind.
I said that it seems like their mission is to erraticate snowmobiles and that letter was the response to it. I also said there is plenty of non-motorized areas and there starting to get greedy. With a comment like public lands favor motorized use they are clearly greedy.
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