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Disputes heating up on snowy back trails
By Chris SolomonSeattle Times staff reporter
With timber harvesting all but stopped on federal lands in the Northwest, new battles are nudging the old logger vs. tree hugger debate out of the spotlight. One close to home pits environmentalists against recreationalists, and recreationalists against one another — hiker vs. mountain biker, snowshoer vs. snowmobiler, backcountry skier vs. helicopter skier.
In the Okanogan-Wenatchee national forests, two environmental groups have challenged a decision by local Forest Service officials to renew permits for snowmobile outfitters. Those groups, along with some backcountry skiers, are also challenging the permit for a 14-year-old heli-skiing operation in the forest's Methow Valley.
On Monday, acting deputy regional forester Gary Larsen turned both decisions back to local ranger districts with orders to give the public another chance to comment on the proposed permits. The companies will receive temporary permits to continue this winter.
Such conflicts are not new in the Methow or elsewhere but are increasing as more people head to the woods for recreation, and as the "toys" and equipment to access the backcountry improve, according to Forest Service officials.
"There are a lot of people out there on the national forest who would really, really like to go there and not see another person," said Jennifer Zbyszewski, recreation staff officer for the Methow Valley Ranger District. "And that's getting harder to do. "The more popular places are where the numbers are increasing, and we're seeing increased tension."
For the past three years North Cascades Heli-Skiing in Mazama has sought renewal of its five-year permit to fly skiers within a 300,000-acre area in the Okanogan National Forest. For $675 a day, a helicopter drops skiers on mountaintops and retrieves them after long, powder-filled runs.
Business has been growing about 20 to 30 percent annually, to nearly 600 skiers last winter, said Randy Sackett, who has owned the company since 1988. Sackett wants permission to roughly double the potential skier-days, to 1,050. A skier-day is one skier skiing for one day.
Three snowmobile outfitters also applied for renewals of permits to deliver rented snowmobiles to clients and guide them from 10 Sno-Parks in the Tonasket and Methow Valley ranger districts, and to use a warming hut in Blackpine Basin, a popular snowmobile area. All of the companies had permits in the past.
After environmental analyses, the district rangers in October agreed to grant permits to the operations. But both decisions were appealed by the Kettle Range Conservation Group and Methow Forest Watch. Another group, the North Cascades Backcountry Skiers, joined in appealing the heli-skiing permit.
"We're not trying to shut down heli-skiing," said Matt Firth, an ardent backcountry skier who has lived in the nearby Twisp River Valley area since the mid-1980s. Some self-propelled skiers fear that a potential doubling of heli-skiers, and the possible addition of a second helicopter, would impinge on the solitude that backcountry travelers seek, said Firth.
"Anybody who's ever spent time in the mountains in winter can appreciate that a helicopter flying overhead is a big intrusion."
Environmentalists claim the Forest Service does not fully recognize the impacts that heli-skiing and snowmobiling have on sensitive or endangered species such as lynx, grizzly bear and wolverines — particularly when those businesses are combined with private snowmobile use, which makes up most such use in the area.
"They have utterly failed to address cumulative effects," said Susan Crampton, a field biologist and board member of Methow Forest Watch, a small environmental watchdog group. "We're talking about a long list of uncommon and reclusive wildlife that is being pushed and pushed and pushed."
Crampton added that she is not against snowmobiling. "But it's the Forest Service's responsibility to manage that without damage to forest resources," she said. "And they haven't done that." She said the groups would sue if necessary to block the permits.
Sackett, of North Cascades Heli-Skiing, himself a backcountry skier, said concerns are overblown. He said the company doesn't plan to double its business, and wants the option to use a second helicopter only if a private party wants to reserve it. Guides and pilots rarely see wildlife in the high alpine environment in winter, Sackett said, but the company agreed to avoid some slopes that might contain mountain goats and will be required to report sightings of wolverine tracks or dens.
Such recreation conflicts remain limited mostly to urban-influenced areas, but the issue will only increase as more people move to once-rural places, said Ken Karkula, program manager for recreation special uses for the Forest Service in Washington, D.C.
"You're going to have the pressures, as the national forests become the city parks, the county parks, if you will," Karkula said.
The number of conflicts has also increased as the toys of the backcountry have changed, said Al Soucie, snow ranger for the Salt Lake Ranger District in Utah, home to an ongoing dispute between heli-skiers and backcountry shredders. Better snowshoes, snowboards that can be split and used as skis to ascend mountains, and more powerful snowmobiles make going deeper into the mountains much easier, said Soucie.
Chris Solomon can be reached at 206-515-5646 or csolomon@seattletimes.com.
