Congressmen attack proposal to ban sleds in national parks> Acadia superintendent expects plan to cause few problems

WASHINGTON — Congressional critics attacked a National Park Service plan to ban snowmobiles from most parks, calling the move an unjustified attempt to please environmentalists.

“It really is crazy what they’re trying to do here,” Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said Thursday.

The park service announced last month it was banning nearly all snowmobile traffic in 25 national parks, recreation areas and other agency lands. Conservationists estimated about 180,000 snowmobilers used park service land last year.

Paul Haertel, superintendent of Acadia National Park, said Thursday that the ban will have little impact on the winter operations of Maine’s only national park. Because of its proximity to the ocean, Haertel said, the snowfall at the park is usually light and therefore snowmobile use is infrequent. Records show that fewer than 500 snowmobilers use the park each winter.

Those who used snowmobiles already were limited to specific regions of the park, Haertel said. “The use of snow machines is limited to designated areas,” Haertel said, “such as motor routes on the east side of Eagle Lake.” The ban allows nonrecreational use of snowmobiles at the park for management and emergency services.

Haertel said he and his staff are developing ways to notify park users of the ban, but those plans are still a few months from completion.

Separate hearings before the House Resources and Senate Natural Resources subcommittees gave snowmobilers a chance to vent their anger and lawmakers a chance to grill the Interior Department official who announced the ban.

That official, Assistant Interior Secretary Donald Barry, stood his ground. Barry said the ban merely enforces regulations the park service had not been following and will protect federal land from pollution and other damage.

“This is not about closure of national parks to the American public. This is about restricting a form of access to national parks,” Barry said. He compared the ban to rules preventing motorcyclists from riding up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

Chris Twomey, president of the snowmobile manufacturer Arctic Cat, said Barry maligned the industry last month when he called snowmobiles “noisy, antiquated machines that are no longer welcome in our national parks.” Twomey said manufacturers have been making cleaner, quieter machines in response to customer demands.

Twomey said the snowmobile business generates $6 billion a year and is responsible for 65,000 jobs, including 10,000 in snowmobile manufacturing. Surveys show snowmobilers are mostly middle-class families who enjoy the outdoors, he said.

“We’re mad because our access has now been denied to our national parks,” added Bill Manson of the American Council of Snowmobile Associations. “Mr. Barry has painted us to be an antiquated bunch of wild people.”

The ban does not apply to parks in Alaska and Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota because Congress specifically allowed snowmobile use in those parks. It also does not apply to the Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks in northwestern Wyoming because the park service is considering a separate ban for them.

The snowmobile ban is one of a series of moves by federal land management agencies to restrict motorized traffic in national parks. In March, new restrictions were outlined to limit the use of motorized watercraft in some parks. Efforts are under way to limit private automobile traffic to reduce congestion and air pollution at some of the busiest parks.

NEWS reporter Shawn O’Leary contributed to this report.