(ED—Following is a letter we sent to the Teton County (WY) Commissioners regarding their upcoming meeting/vote on creating more Wilderness areas in western Wyoming. Some background information is here: https://www.snowest.com/2018/10/land-use-alert-teton-county. Do what you can to help. The commissioner’s meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 16 in Jackson, WY. Additional information is on the Advocates for Multi-Use of Public Lands’ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AMPLcommunity/ and https://amplcommunity.org.)
Dear Teton County Commissioners:
By way of introduction, I'm Lane Lindstrom, editor of SnoWest and Dirt Toys magazines. We are headquartered in Idaho Falls, ID, just over the mountain from you folks.
I've been an editor here at Harris Publishing, owner of SnoWest and Dirt Toys magazines, for more than 20 years. Here at SnoWest, a magazine that focuses on snowmobiling in the West, we represent more than 100,000 sledders who love to explore all the West has to offer when the snow falls. Dirt Toys is for off-road enthusiasts who love to ride the forest trails in the mountains, as well as other places.
During my time at Harris Publishing, I've seen (and participated in) scores of land use issues. I've never been a proponent of new Wilderness areas, even before I ever got a job where I get to enjoy riding motorized vehicles. I've never liked the idea of shutting out the public from public lands. When you create a new Wilderness area, it provides a private recreation area for a handful of people. I'd rather take the approach of managing lands for multiple use.
Does that mean we should be able to ride anywhere and everywhere? Absolutely not. But over the years I've been here, our available riding areas have continued to dwindle. I understand the whole wildlife, quiet scape, etc., etc., arguments. I've heard them all. And I've read study after study about how hikers (about the only way you can access most Wilderness areas) scare more wildlife than motorized or mechanized users.
My purpose here is not to pore over all those studies and reignite the arguments that have raged on for years and years.
My purpose is to ask, how much Wilderness is enough? For some, there is never enough and they won't rest until every last acre of public land is locked up from the public. As motorized users, we simply want to keep open the areas that are now open to riding, including the areas you're considering in the Palisades and Shoal Creek areas. We're not asking for additional areas to ride (although that would be awesome), just keep open those areas we now are allowed to ride in. I hear that over and over from snowmobilers all over the West, who are looking at smaller and smaller areas to ride ... and who enjoy the backcountry every bit as much as anyone else does.
The irony of any new Wilderness proposal, including the ones in Teton County, is that there is already plenty--more than plenty--of Wilderness for those who enjoy solitude to do so. They access such a small percentage of the land that when you look at the overall picture, it's simply ridiculous that a select few people want more.
No doubt the Teton County Commissioners are in a tough spot. Take a common sense approach and keep lands open to multi-use--angering those who want all those lands you're talking about as Wilderness--and then potentially face a lawsuit. I get it. I've seen it dozens of times.
So why try? Why not just take the easy way out (and designating an area all Wilderness is the easy way out--that indeed is a fact) and go with the all Wilderness option?
Because easy is not always right. Sometimes people in a position such as yours have to make tough decisions and represent more than a few special interest groups but represent all groups.Sometimes it means putting personal preferences aside and looking at the bigger picture.
We love to explore the backcountry and western Wyoming has some of the best anywhere in the West. The snows are awesome, the terrain is spectacular and the scenery amazing. We don't want to lose it.
Thanks for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Lane Lindstrom
Editor, SnoWest and Dirt Toys Magazines