Disruptive snowmobiles threaten wildlife in three Western forests

September 8, 2017

Guardians and Winter Wildlands Alliance today challenged a Forest Service decision to open up millions of acres of wild backcountry to snowmobilers—an act that will disrupt quiet and harm imperiled winter wildlife.

The lawsuit focuses on three national forests—the Boise and Payette National Forests in Idaho and a portion of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. The forests ignored current Forest Service snowmobile guidelines and instead chose to publish winter motorized travel maps based on data more than 15 years old, allowing snowmobiles to lay waste to these public lands.

Science shows that snowmobiles can cause real and harmful impacts to imperiled animals like Canada lynx and wolverine, which already live on the edge of survival during the winter months. Protecting habitat based on current, hard-fought, science-based regulations is instrumental in curbing snowmobiles’ path of destruction.

This case is an opportunity for the courts to bring consistency to snowmobile management on our public lands and set the stage for protecting our wildlife, wild places, and quality recreation opportunities in the future.

Read the press release.

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