The Tahoe Meadows are so loved that 1500 skiers, snowshoers and families sledding will be there on a sunny winter afternoons this winter. 40,000 winter visitors enjoy the Tahoe Meadows each snow season. Sadly, some skiers and snowshoers have stopped going to the Meadows because it is no longer tranquil due to snowmobile use there.
E-mail to:
Larry Randall, Acting District Ranger
lrandall@fs.fed.us
Please send a copy of your e-mail to Snowlands Issues so we can follow up and make sure your concerns are addressed.
The 4 square mile area of Tahoe Meadows is too small and too popular to accommodate the mix of motorized and non-motorized use that is occuring there. Many skiers and snowshoers have stopped going to the Meadows because it is no longer tranquil due to snowmobile use there. The handful of snowmobiles that use the Tahoe Meadows displace skiers and snowshoers because of the noise, danger, air pollution, and limited parking. Skiers, snowshoers and snow players make up 95% of the winter use at the Tahoe Meadows. Snowmobiles constitute 5% of winter use at the Tahoe Meadows but have an inordinate impact on the other forest visitors.
Snowmobile noise is inescapable even in the human powered areas of the Tahoe Meadows. Snowmobilers have access to other summit areas including Brockway Summit, Spooner Summit, Little Truckee Summit and Hope Valley for their activity. Skiers, snowshoers and families snow playing have the right to experience tranquility on public lands.
The mixed use at the Tahoe Meadows is unmanageable. This winter again, the forest service will spend $40,000 alone working at the Tahoe Meadows. This winter there have already been snowmobile trespass, including the closed south side of the Tahoe Meadows! The last three winters there have been over 130 snowmobile trespass incidents in the areas surrounding the Tahoe Meadows, even with efforts by the Forest Service, Snowlands Network, and the snowmobile group to curtail illegal snowmobile use at the Tahoe Meadows.