I am surprised by the chainsaw thing too. Ask the WTA here in Washington. When they do a work trail party, everybody brings these big band saws--sometimes they look to be 6 feet in length. I have asked why bandsaws. Same answer everytime is: "It's in a Wilderness Area and we cannot use chainsaws".
Ask Marylou. She is more up on it than I am.
However, I will say I believe some backcountry horsemen will use a chainsaw...if nobody knows about it.