The snowmobile and off-highway motor vehicle communities have convinced the Forest Service to consider the opening of the Hoover Wilderness Addition to winter motorized recreation. Their success has culminated in the Forest Service issuing a Proposed Action that would open 7000 acres of pristine lands on the west side of the Addition to rampant snowmobile use.

The proposed Hoover Wilderness Addition near Sonora Pass, one of the most spectacular unprotected wild areas in California, is under grave threat and needs your help! Lying adjacent to Yosemite National Park and the Emigrant Wilderness, the proposed Hoover Wilderness Addition forms the headwaters of the West Walker River and contains soaring granite and volcanic peaks, alpine lakes and meadows, abundant fish and wildlife and more than twelve miles of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. This area of unparalleled beauty is a popular destination for hiking, fishing, horseback riding, camping, and backcountry skiing and snowshoeing.

The Forest Service is proposing to lift a long-standing closure of this area, in place for more than twenty years, to snowmobiles. Illegal snowmobile use in the Hoover Wilderness Addition, and adjacent Emigrant Wilderness and Yosemite National Park has soared in recent years but the Forest Service has stood by idly and done nothing. Now, to rectify its failure to enforce the existing law, the agency is simply proposing to change the rules to accommodate the unlawful snowmobile use!!!

The Forest Service proposes to lift the snowmobile closure in the Leavitt Bowl portion of the Hoover Wilderness Addition. Skiers have documented repeated damage to soils and vegetation in this area by snowmobiles, as well as illegal trespass into Emigrant Wilderness, just over the crest. If the closure is lifted in this portion of the Hoover Wilderness Addition, it may only be a matter of time before the Forest Service opens the entire Addition to snowmobiles.

The Proposed Action will greatly impact your ability to enjoy this phenomenal area that is accessible by a modest ski or snowshoe trip. Snowlands Network needs your letter, FAX or email by April 17, 2005 opposing the ill-conceived Proposed Action opening the Hoover Wilderness Addition to snowmobile use. Use the talking points below. Please relay your personal experiences if you have visited this area, especially in winter or spring when snow is on the ground. Do not delay. Take time now to write on this important issue. The ability of this area to ever be designated Wilderness may be lost if snowmobiles are allowed to use it now.

WHO TO WRITE

Address your letter to:

District Ranger
Bridgeport Ranger District
HCR1 Box 1000
Bridgeport, CA 93517

FAX to: 760-932-5899

Email to: comments-intermtn-humboldt-toiyabe-bridgeport@fs.fed.us

WHAT TO WRITE

In order for your comments to be counted as legitimate you must state that you are commenting on the West Hoover Travel Management Plan and you must include your full name and mailing address on your comments.

Here are some ideas to include in your letter. Please put them in your own words if you use them.

• Explain why you go backcountry skiing or snowshoeing.
• Explain why this area is important to you and why you desire the area to remain non-motorized.
• Describe your experience(s) in this area and how snowmobile use negatively impacts your enjoyment of the area.
• Clearly state that you oppose this Proposed Action that will open the Leavitt Bowl to snowmobile use.
• The Forest Service should not reward past illegal use of snowmobiles by changing the rules to accommodate them at the expense of law abiding citizens who desire to use the area for non-motorized winter recreation.
• The boundaries of the proposed open snowmobile area will be more difficult for the Forest Service to monitor and enforce than the existing boundaries that are limited to Highway 108 and the Leavitt Road Corridor. The Proposed Action will result in further unmanaged motorized recreation and additional trespass by snowmobile riders into other parts of the Hoover Wilderness Addition and the Emigrant Wilderness.
• The Proposed Action will increase conflict in the area between motorized and non-motorized winter recreation users. The Action ignores the negative impacts of snowmobile use on other winter recreation users of the area including skiers and snowshoers. 36 CFR Part 295 requires the Forest Service to provide vehicle management direction aimed at minimizing conflicts among users. The Proposed Action will increase conflict because the lands proposed to be opened to snowmobiles are the most accessible lands for non-motorized recreation and are regularly used for non-motorized recreation.
• The Proposed Action ignores the spread of snowmobile impacts like noise and odor onto National Forest lands beyond the proposal&Mac226;s 7000 acres.
• The Proposed Action would establish unsupervised off-road motor play as the preeminent winter use of this recommended Wilderness area. In doing so it will undermine the wilderness character of the area with noise, noxious exhaust and intensive, far-reaching habitat disturbance, which may jeopardize the potential for formal Wilderness protection of the area.
• The Proposed Action ignores impacts of direct petrol contamination of surface waters from snowmobile use on lakes and streams.
• The appropriate time for considering snowmobile zoning, and the Proposed Action specifically, along with wilderness recommendations, is in the revision of the Land and Resource Management Plan, in which all recreation demands can be considered and balanced forest-wide.
• Excessive damage to vegetation by snowmobiles has been documented in the area even when snow depth is great.

If the Bridgeport Ranger District proceeds to officially open the 7000 acres to snowmobile use, the Forest Service should undertake measures to improve motorist compliance and mitigate snowmobile impacts. Be clear that you oppose the Propose Action, but if it is implemented, ask the Forest Service to:

• Strictly enforce boundaries to prevent snowmobile use on the remaining Hoover Wilderness Addition and adjacent Emigrant Wilderness, and close the area to snowmobile use if snowmobilers trespass into restricted areas.
• Strictly prevent use of snowmobiles off-road in marginal snow.
• Create a time-sharing system whereby the area is closed to snowmobile use for 50 percent of the winter season so that non-motorized recreationists can have the opportunity to enjoy the area too.
• Require snowmobilers who desire to use this area to obtain a day-use permit and map that clearly shows where snowmobile use is and is not permitted, and require that the permit be displayed on their snowmobile windshield.

You may download PDF versions of the news release and the notice of proposed action. The latter has a map of the affected area.