Spring 2007 Newsletter
Snowmobilers press the Forest Service to open up the Pacific Valley roadless area to snowmobile access
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Back in 1991, the Stanislaus National Forest adopted a Forest Plan that prohibited all motorized use in the Pacific Valley roadless area. As years passed, however, snowmobilers trespassed into the area, looking for exciting challenges and extreme riding conditions. For various reasons, the Forest Service chose not to enforce the roadless area boundaries, nor to cite riders who openly trespassed into the area. Now many of the snowmobilers are pressing the Forest to legalize snowmobile use inside the roadless area. |
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For more than a decade, CSERC has led conservation community efforts to keep the Pacific Valley roadless area pristine and free of motorized use. The latest chapter in this emotional struggle opened a year ago when the Forest Service organized a “collaborative” group of snowmobilers, backcountry skiers, county officials, and Bear Valley residents. At many of the group meetings, snowmobile enthusiasts argued against restrictions on motorized use in the Pacific Valley roadless area, even though they acknowledged that they knew they were trespassing. CSERC’s executive director persistently pointed out that the Forest Plan requires the Pacific Valley area to be kept wild and non-motorized.
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| In March of this year, snow conditions were finally deep enough and firm enough for the Forest Service to host a snowmobile ride up Highway 4 to the area of debate. Representatives of the local snowmobile community joined Forest Service officials and three environmental leaders (including John from CSERC) in a caravan of snowmobiles that journeyed up to the roadless area. In the top photo, District Ranger Bill Lorenz is shown at the center of the group, facilitating the debate in a backdrop of slopes that rise up to the crest, where the official wilderness begins. In the photo at right, Patty Clarey, another Forest Service employee, points out the current boundaries and various options for opening up portions of the roadless area to legal snowmobile use.
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Standing high on a ridge above Pacific Valley, with one slope of the roadless area looming in the background, snowmobilers argue for allowing extreme riders to penetrate deep into the roadless area. In much of the Pacific Valley roadless area, the forest contains large numbers of old growth firs and pines, as well as big snags and down logs that provide important habitat value for high elevation wildlife species.
Responding to the snowmobilers’ arguments, CSERC’s director pointed out that the current status of the Pacific Valley roadless area qualifies the entire area to be designated as official Wilderness. If the agency chooses to switch and to openly allow legal snowmobile access into the wild area, the approval of motorized use would make it far harder in the future to convince Congress to designate it wilderness. The on-going motorized use would trump the area’s wildland values.
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More important than the political effects, however, are the biological impacts of snowmobiles whining across the rugged mountainous terrain. For wildlife species that are sensitive to noise or the smelly pollution from snowmobiles, groups of snowmobiles roaring across a forest slope can disrupt normal feeding patterns and cause some animals to retreat to shelter. Sensitive wildlife species such as the marten (shown at right) already face intense cold, deep snow, and limited prey during the long winter season. This roadless area is one of the few places wildlife can escape motorized use.
The Forest Service has not yet officially opened up the Highway 4 corridor Winter Recreation Plan for public comments, but one key question is already clear: “Should the Forest Service reward those who intentionally trespassed for years by granting their wish to gain permanent legal access?” |
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CSERC | PO Box 396 | Twain Harte, CA 95383 | (209) 586-7440 | info@cserc.org
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