Washington has a total of 4,423,676 acres of designated wilderness
Washington only has 42,612,480 acers of land, of that 22 million acers are forested....that is half the state!!
There are 4,423,676 acers of Wilderness with another 22,000 waiting for Senate approval.
If backcountry skiers need more terrain without snowmobiles, the logical solution is to snowplow existing roads that provide closer access to legal wilderness areas, and to build a few more roads and trailheads that access Wilderness boundaries. Keep such access open in winter and we will automatically have all the non-motorized terrain we could ever ask for.
Sure, in some areas you can still hear a snowmobile, but overall we have a huge tract of prime backcountry around us. More than is even utilized.
Most importantly, demographics show an aging population with most of our population growth coming from other cultures that don't participate heavily in outdoor recreation, especially in the Winter! Thus, implementing extreme restrictions based on guesses about future growth could well be unnecessary. Certainly we must be conservative when caring for creation, but there is a difference between conservatism and fanaticism.
As a photographer, maybe backcountry skiing should be banned from the wilderness as the tracks ruin the pristine beauty. Backcountry ski tracks might make life hard for Lynx..hmmm theres a thought.
Avoid clubs or political groups and people that bicker with, and want to limit other user groups. Be wary of groups like WMC that call attention to user "conflicts" to further their agendas of use restrictions. People can get along, and emphasizing their differences is nothing less than exploitation. Most of all be willing to share. Backcountry skiers should stop feeling superior because they use blood sugar instead of gasoline. Snowmobilers should drive with courtesy.
Any multi-use group worth it's tires or boot rubber--or steel edges--should have no problem sharing.
But the underlying philosophy of most land management should value human recreation in the equation. In most cases, we should only restrict recreation when it causes massive, irreversible damage -- not a bit of trail erosion, a tent visible by a lake, or even one group being seen by another.
Regarding plowed winter roads: Many in the anti-motor lobby are well aware and quick to point out that the occasional snowmobiler rides on legal wilderness land. This is no secret.
Frankly, I'm not highly concered about this (though I'd like it to stop), as I'm certain most of these riders are unclear about the Wilderness boundary, and the places they ride are usually quite close to the highway. But if you dislike snowmobiles, and dislike plowed roads, and your life is ruined if you find out about a snowmobile in legal wilderness, consider this: If a road was plowed in winter, and muscle powered users were entering legal wilderness from trailheads on this road, snowmobilers would not be riding in that same wilderness. Thus, plowing a road would enhance wilderness values for the BC Skiiers and others.
Sometimes life is messy, and workable solutions are not pretty. Roads are not evil. Roads have a place, and there is more to roads than meets your tires. Plowing just a few more winter roads to a few more trailheads would cause a marked reduction in crowding of existing trailheads, and could actually enhance wilderness values.
Backcountry skiing is actually on the decline, the reasons for the decline are many. Backcountry ski sales (especially Telemarking) have been plunging 23% per year for the last few years. There has been an increase in backcountry snowboarders, but they typically dont whine as much.
The fact is, when an enviro fanatic whines about the crowded wilderness, or the need for more wilderness so that skiiers have more room, their whine flies in the face of the facts. I see this trend continuing. Our population is aging rapidly, and all increase of our population is coming from cultures that don't include skiing in their recreation value systems.
Special Thanks to Louis in Colorado for some of these responses and ideas.
