congress passes legislation supporting snowmobilers

On Friday December 15, 2000 a bipartisan vote of the US Congress sent a strong directive to the Department of Interior, the National Park Service management and snowmobile enthusiasts.

The directive was included within an end of the year appropriations bill in section 128.

Section 128 immediately halts National Park Service (NPS) rulemakings to reduce recreational use of snowmobiles in the national park system. It prohibits the agency from spending any funds between now and July 31, 2001 for any rulemaking which would reduce snowmobile use in the parks this winter (2000-2001) or next winter (2001-2002). The rider also bars NPS from enforcing any recently imposed restrictions on snowmobile use (i.e., Denali National Park).

The recent Yellowstone Record of Decision (ROD) is not directly impacted by Section 128. However, efforts to implement the ROD through rulemaking are stopped. Hence the proposed Yellowstone closure regulations published in the Federal Register dated December 18, 2000 must be put into abeyance until after July 31.

Fundamentally, in this legislation, Congress has repudiated the anti-snowmobile policy announced last spring (April 2000) and provided an opportunity for snowmobile interests to revisit the issue with the incoming Interior and NPS leadership. NPS does, however, retain authority for emergency closures to snowmobile use.

The snowmobile community looks forward to working with the Department of Interior staff and members of the US Congress to achieve reasonable snowmobile rules and guidelines.