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Skiers, Snowshoers Win Permanent Access at Tahoe Meadows

FOREST SERVICE ORDER PROTECTS HIGH-USE AREA FOR HUMAN-POWERED SPORTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 8, 2002

CONTACT: Ken Miller, Public Policy Manager, 208.344.8692 (c: 208.890.3944), .

(CARSON CITY, Nev.) — In a significant victory for backcountry skiers and snowshoers in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area, the U.S. Forest Service has made permanent its policy setting aside a large tract of prime recreation lands above Lake Tahoe for human-powered recreationists.

Carson District Ranger Gary Schiff of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest signed the order July 29, resolving for now the dispute over increasing snowmobile use of the popular Tahoe Meadows recreation area. The long-awaited order came after the Reno-based Coalition for Safe and Appropriate Winter Sports (CSAWS), convinced the Forest Service to deal with the growing snowmobile problem on the Carson Range.

The Humboldt-Toiyabe was in the process of updating its 16-year-old management plan when it agreed to consider the overwhelming public comments demanding the USFS address worsening conflicts between skiers and snowmobilers.

Over two years, 2,500 comments poured into the Forest Service's Carson District office. Most urged the crackdown on snowmobiles, which have been squeezing skiers and snowshoers out of their traditional recreation area near the Mount Rose summit above the Tahoe Basin.

CSAWS President Gail Ferrell said her small group reviewed each of the public comments. An overwhelming percentage wanted snowmobile use sharply curtailed. Many agreed with CSAWS that the machines have become such nuisances and safety threats that they should be banned from the entire four-square mile area.

"At some point, they have to understand the human point of view," Ferrell said of federal land managers. She said CSAWS volunteers been tracking vehicles parked alongside the Tahoe Meadows recreation area, and on average more than 90 percent of them brought skiers, snowshoers, sledders and other human-powered users to the meadows.

"In the past, there were by far more pedestrian users," Ferrell said. "In the last six years the population's been growing here, and there were just more and more snowmobilers, and their behavior has gotten worse and worse. Their argument is that it's a family sport, but on any given day, at least half of the snowmobilers were violating the trespass."

Winter Wildlands Executive Director Sally Grimes said the Tahoe Meadows case is another example of an area where snowmobiles cannot co-exist with backcountry skiers.

"Shared use doesn't work, and by permanently preserving Tahoe Meadows for the quiet, pristine experience skiers and snowshoers seek, the Forest Service is acknowledging that motorized and non-motorized recreation need to be separated," Grimes said. "Winter Wildlands applauds the Forest Service's decision and looks forward to using Tahoe Meadows as an example and model for the dozens of other locations around the country where skiers seek a peaceful, safe, and healthy experience on their snow-covered public lands."

Snowmobilers seemed resigned to the permanent restrictions on where they can operate after the Forest Service made it clear it would act to separate machines from the skiers.

"It's better than nothing," Greg McKay of the Mount Rose Snowmobile Alliance told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "We lost quite a bit, but it's better than a total prohibition." The newspaper quoted Schiff as saying he believed the order represents "a decision everybody can live with. It's one of those situations where there's no easy 'right' answer."

Besides reducing the area open to snowmobiles, the order prohibits the machines on snow less than 12 inches deep. CSAWS had documented cases where snowmobiles were running on little snow cover, causing serious and long-lasting damage to forest resources.

While the Tahoe Meadows order was a major victory for CSAWS and those struggling to protect the backcountry solitude above Lake Tahoe, it also was also praised at Boise-based Winter Wildlands Alliance, a two-year-old national recreation group that works with CSAWS and other grassroots groups to protect backcountry winter recreation areas from snowmobile encroachment.

The Winter Wildlands Alliance includes such groups as California-based Snowlands Network; Friends of the Routt Backcountry and Backcountry Skiers Alliance in Colorado; Friends of Alpine/Nordic Winter Sports, the Idaho Alpine Club, and Nordic and Backcountry Skiers Alliance in Idaho; Central Oregon Backcountry Skiers and the Southern Oregon Chapter of the Oregon Nordic Club; Eagle Cliff Ski Association in South Dakota; Logan Backcountry Skiers Alliance in Utah; Ellensburg Cross Country Ski Club in Washington; and Togwotee Pass Backcountry Skiers in Wyoming.

Founded in 2000 by grassroots groups throughout the country, Winter Wildlands Alliance is the only national organization working to protect a quality human-powered winter recreation experience. For more information, visit www.winterwildlands.org.

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