Bluewater Battles Snowmobiles
by Brooke Coleman
Bluewater Network

Twenty-five years ago, many National Parks closed down during the winter. Times have changed. Two endangered gray wolves were intentionally run down and killed by snowmobiles last winter in Voyageurs National Park. In the last three years, at least seven Yellowstone Park bison have been struck by snowmobiles.

Although such incidents are rare, they contribute to a growing animosity between snowmobilers and conservationists with different ideas about the true purpose of National Parks.

"Winter should be the quiet season for park inhabitants," says John Sacklin, Chief of Planning at Yellowstone. "Visitors are often dismayed to find 1,000 or more snowmobiles at Old Faithful."

Every weekend, these snowmobiles produce more than a year's worth of automobile exhaust in Yellowstone. Each winter, snowmobiles in Yellowstone produce enough pollution to equal 55-65 years of the park's auto traffic. "The Park Service keeps using the excuse that they need more data to restrict snowmobiles," said Jeanne-Marie Souvigney, associate program director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, "but they have enough."

Yellowstone registers the country's worst carbon monoxide (CO) readings – 36 parts per million (worse than any US city) – and the NPS is facing a rash of complaints from visitors and dizzied park rangers.

At Yellowstone's West Entrance, where smog readings regularly flunk federal health requirements, light-headed park employees have had difficulty counting change. Visitors report they can taste the blue haze in this area. Yellowstone officials were forced to enclose ranger booths and pipe in fresh air to curb dizziness, headaches, throat irritation and nausea.

A Pall of Acid Snow
Unfortunately, such solutions are not available for wildlife. Air pollution along snowmobile trails – which commonly run along rivers and streams – releases nitrogen, sulfate and hydrocarbon compounds and increases the acidity of the snow.

"This massive liberation of atmospheric pollutants is connected to a very important increase in acidity ... 100 times higher than usual in surface water," says a 1990 report.

Acid snow kills aquatic insects, amphibians and trout. Trout exposed to hydrocarbon pollution have lower reproductive success, stunted growth and decreased ability to swim against stream currents. Acidity fluctuations may disturb a watershed's natural pH level, damaging the entire ecosystem.

Wildlife biologist D.J. Schubert believes that grizzly bears, lynx, elk, wolves, and bald eagles are harmed by snowmobiles. "These are supposed to be federally protected endangered species," says Schubert.

"The cumulative effects of repeated disruptions over a winter season can reach a level where it negatively affects an animal, particularly in times of severe winter weather or nutritional stress," says Voyageurs staff biologist Jim Schaberl. The park recently closed 11 areas to snowmobiles.

While wolves abandon snowmobile areas, bison, elk and deer use groomed trails to find better forage, save energy and avoid predators. But the short-term survival of ungulates comes at the expense of endangered grizzly bears, lynx and wolves which rely on winter-killed bison, elk and deer as a primary food source.

Snowmobiles also disrupt the courtship and survival of bald eagles. "Energy balances, feeding patterns and wildlife distribution run amok, and that violates park code, as well as the Endangered Species Act," Schubert complains.

"Groomed trails encourage bison to walk beyond park boundaries and get shot," says Souvigney. "Montana is practicing hypocrisy. They want the economic benefits, but not the snowmobile destruction – they can't have it both ways."

Having it both ways clearly violates the Park Service's Organic Act of 1916, which requires preservation of "nature as it exists" and resource management "so as to leave [resources] unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

Presidents Nixon and Carter anticipated the snowmobile controversy. In two successive Executive Orders, they required "a unified Federal policy" for off-road vehicles on public land. Nixon required land managers to assess snowmobile use. Carter strengthened the provision by imposing an immediate ban until further studies could confirm that snowmobile use would not harm the national parks.

"Carter's amendment required us to ban snowmobiles until we determined that they were appropriate and compatible with our mission – and we couldn't do that," says Fred Van Horn, assistant chief ranger at Glacier National Park. "Irrespective of any wildlife controversy, snowmobiles are incompatible with park preservation and recreational purposes," he added. "They are high-maintenance, expensive to accommodate and unenforceable."

In the last three years, snowmobiles were involved in 67 percent of all motor vehicle accidents in Yellowstone, despite accounting for less than 5 percent of the park's vehicles.

"Between all the dead bison and the howling snowmobiles," USA Today editorialized, "it seems the park has been deeded over to narrow local interests." Federal funds were earmarked for extensive snowmobile trails in Grand Teton National Park, in spite of contrary recommendations from the Park Service.

Meanwhile, Honda, Kawasaki, REI and others who profit from snowmobile use fund special interest groups like the Blue Ribbon Coalition that lobby to open national parks to off-road vehicles.

Eighty-nine percent of Americans believe that snowmobiles should be banned or restricted in National Parks. In January, Bluewater Network submitted a petition signed by 60 organizations, demanding that the NPS honor its charter and the will of the American people.

What You Can Do: Contact your elected representatives and urge the Park Service's Maureen Finnerty [(202) 208-5651; e-mail: maureen_finnerty@nps.gov] to ban snowmobiles. Contact Bluewater Network, 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133; (415) 788-3666.