Crowdog
12-12-2002, 10:08 PM
How Enviromaniacs Are Winning the Snowmobile War.
by Viki Eggars-Mason
I hate to be the one to break this to you. With the Clinton/Gore snowmobile ban postponed and the EPA taking a more relaxed posture on snowmobile emission standards, some of you might think that motorized recreation has, at long last, vanquished the evil enviro-meanies. Wrong. We’ve not won a thing. As a matter of fact, if you look closely, you’ll see that the powerful environmental army is gaining ground every day.
It’s a bit like boiling a frog. (I’m speaking metaphorically, of course.) They say that if you toss a live frog into a pot of hot water, he’ll hop right out. If, on the other hand, you put him in a pot of cold water and turn up the heat gradually, he’ll be dead before he knows what hit him.
Inch by inch and trail by trail, anti access groups are turning up the heat all across the country. With plenty of media savvy and money to burn, our opponents have successfully convinced most of America that YOU are bad for the planet. You and your toys (Please select all that apply: snowmobile, dirt bike, ATV, PWC, 4X4,) are increasingly unwelcome from ANWAR to the Everglades. Why? Because instead of hopping out of the kettle, you’re doing the back -stroke!
The motorized crowd is notoriously lazy. Granola groups count on that. They depend on you to lie back and let somebody else deal with all those boring political details. They know you will NOT attend meetings, NOT write letters, NOT communicate with your elected officials. They understand that the key to political clout is clear and constant communication with land managers and politicos. So, while you’re swimming laps in your ‘heated pool’ they are bending administrative ears.
In the last public comment period on the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park snowmobile ban, anti-snowmobile groups generated four comments to every one of ours. Despite the overwhelming pro-ban sentiment, the National Park Service is leaning toward allowing snowmobile access in Yellowstone to continue at some restricted level. We are fortunate to have an administration that is willing to let good science drive the decision-making process. But, that’s not a given, and it’s certainly not forever. The Yellowstone issue is currently on hold while the planners take a longer look at the public comments. (Yes. The ones that are four to one AGAINST us.) In the spring of 2003, we will hear the Yellowstone verdict. Meanwhile, don’t nod off. Groups like the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Wilderness Society, and the National Parks and Conservation Association are already planning for the next battle. They are prepared to do whatever it takes to remove snowmobiles from National Parks permanently, and our monumental apathy is working to their advantage.
In addition to being lethargic, we’re also disjointed. Fewer than 10% of OHV owners belong to local or state associations. That means 90% of you are probably under-informed about the issues that affect your sport and are contributing nothing..nada..zip..zero to solving the problems that plague us. As a group, we spend neither time nor money on unity. Our adversaries speak with one mighty voice. We are thousands of voices each croaking our own itty bitty song. Impressive? Not.
Organizations like the BlueRibbon Coalition exist to speak out on behalf of motorized recreation, but they are increasingly impotent. The concept is a good one, and if there were more and better cooperation among members of the motorized family, the synergy would be awesome. Unfortunately, too many issues, not enough money and rising administrative costs make it impossible for BRC to do a very thorough job of representing any single sport or winning any single battle decisively. They fought valiantly in Yellowstone, but legal costs dipped deeply into their budget. Rightly so. The courtroom is precisely the place they should be spending your membership dollars. But, high-profile legal battles leave no money to reconfigure public sentiment - the single most critical step toward winning political favor outside the sparsely populated and Congressionally challenged Western states. You can buy a twenty-dollar membership in the BRC and it might help. But tossing a few bucks at the problem won’t make any significant difference in the larger scheme of things and it certainly won’t get you off the hook. Sorry.
You can’t build a skyscraper from the top down. You have to start with a foundation of individual commitment and responsibility. It begins at the local level, and grows upward and outward from the grass roots. The secret weapon in the bitter battle over public lands access is staring at you in the mirror. It’s all about you. But, beware. I’m not talking about just personal involvement. I’m talking about INTENSE PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT! The only way we’ll ever reclaim the land we’ve lost is by linking dedicated, active individuals together to create a network of genuine commitment. No individual, no single group nor organization can do this. It takes all of us working together.
It all begins when you hop out of the pot.
Author’s Note: No amphibians were harmed in the making of this article.
by Viki Eggars-Mason
I hate to be the one to break this to you. With the Clinton/Gore snowmobile ban postponed and the EPA taking a more relaxed posture on snowmobile emission standards, some of you might think that motorized recreation has, at long last, vanquished the evil enviro-meanies. Wrong. We’ve not won a thing. As a matter of fact, if you look closely, you’ll see that the powerful environmental army is gaining ground every day.
It’s a bit like boiling a frog. (I’m speaking metaphorically, of course.) They say that if you toss a live frog into a pot of hot water, he’ll hop right out. If, on the other hand, you put him in a pot of cold water and turn up the heat gradually, he’ll be dead before he knows what hit him.
Inch by inch and trail by trail, anti access groups are turning up the heat all across the country. With plenty of media savvy and money to burn, our opponents have successfully convinced most of America that YOU are bad for the planet. You and your toys (Please select all that apply: snowmobile, dirt bike, ATV, PWC, 4X4,) are increasingly unwelcome from ANWAR to the Everglades. Why? Because instead of hopping out of the kettle, you’re doing the back -stroke!
The motorized crowd is notoriously lazy. Granola groups count on that. They depend on you to lie back and let somebody else deal with all those boring political details. They know you will NOT attend meetings, NOT write letters, NOT communicate with your elected officials. They understand that the key to political clout is clear and constant communication with land managers and politicos. So, while you’re swimming laps in your ‘heated pool’ they are bending administrative ears.
In the last public comment period on the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park snowmobile ban, anti-snowmobile groups generated four comments to every one of ours. Despite the overwhelming pro-ban sentiment, the National Park Service is leaning toward allowing snowmobile access in Yellowstone to continue at some restricted level. We are fortunate to have an administration that is willing to let good science drive the decision-making process. But, that’s not a given, and it’s certainly not forever. The Yellowstone issue is currently on hold while the planners take a longer look at the public comments. (Yes. The ones that are four to one AGAINST us.) In the spring of 2003, we will hear the Yellowstone verdict. Meanwhile, don’t nod off. Groups like the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Wilderness Society, and the National Parks and Conservation Association are already planning for the next battle. They are prepared to do whatever it takes to remove snowmobiles from National Parks permanently, and our monumental apathy is working to their advantage.
In addition to being lethargic, we’re also disjointed. Fewer than 10% of OHV owners belong to local or state associations. That means 90% of you are probably under-informed about the issues that affect your sport and are contributing nothing..nada..zip..zero to solving the problems that plague us. As a group, we spend neither time nor money on unity. Our adversaries speak with one mighty voice. We are thousands of voices each croaking our own itty bitty song. Impressive? Not.
Organizations like the BlueRibbon Coalition exist to speak out on behalf of motorized recreation, but they are increasingly impotent. The concept is a good one, and if there were more and better cooperation among members of the motorized family, the synergy would be awesome. Unfortunately, too many issues, not enough money and rising administrative costs make it impossible for BRC to do a very thorough job of representing any single sport or winning any single battle decisively. They fought valiantly in Yellowstone, but legal costs dipped deeply into their budget. Rightly so. The courtroom is precisely the place they should be spending your membership dollars. But, high-profile legal battles leave no money to reconfigure public sentiment - the single most critical step toward winning political favor outside the sparsely populated and Congressionally challenged Western states. You can buy a twenty-dollar membership in the BRC and it might help. But tossing a few bucks at the problem won’t make any significant difference in the larger scheme of things and it certainly won’t get you off the hook. Sorry.
You can’t build a skyscraper from the top down. You have to start with a foundation of individual commitment and responsibility. It begins at the local level, and grows upward and outward from the grass roots. The secret weapon in the bitter battle over public lands access is staring at you in the mirror. It’s all about you. But, beware. I’m not talking about just personal involvement. I’m talking about INTENSE PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT! The only way we’ll ever reclaim the land we’ve lost is by linking dedicated, active individuals together to create a network of genuine commitment. No individual, no single group nor organization can do this. It takes all of us working together.
It all begins when you hop out of the pot.
Author’s Note: No amphibians were harmed in the making of this article.