OGDEN (AP) -- The Wasatch-Cache National Forest hopes to settle a battle over snowmobiles as agency officials draft a new forest-management plan for the next 15 years.
"Our position is simple," said Dick Carter, coordinator of the High Uintas Preservation Council. "The Forest Service has bent over backwards to meet the concerns of snowmobilers and -- I hesitate to say this too broadly -- but the loudest-mouthed snowmobilers don't really seem to care about the forest in any way, shape or form except in their own personal fun and access."T.H. Cates says he gets 850,000 visitors a year at his two snowmobile concessions at Monte Cristo and Hardware Ranch.
"These are people who are out here enjoying the place," Cates said. "The environmentalists have maybe 10 visitors a year, and they want to shut off millions of acres? Hey, majority rules."
The Forest Service will settle the dispute by year's end.
"It's a balancing act," said Tom Scott, a Forest Service "social ecologist" who studies comment from both sides. "We're going to do something for everybody, and not everything for everybody."
The Forest Service master plan is a blueprint for management of millions of acres of land and thousands of miles of trails.
Even if federal law didn't require it, Scott said, a new Forest Service plan is needed to replace one that is 15 years old.
And since 1985, the Utah population has boomed with a heavy demand for recreation of all kinds, especially snowmobiling and mountain biking.
The number of recreational vehicles registered in Utah has doubled over 10 years. Last year, the state counted 34,265 snowmobiles, up from 16,481 in 1989. All-terrain vehicles tripled to 98,301 and boats nearly doubled to 89,560 in Utah during the same period.
The 1999 State of the Forest report from the Wasatch-Cache lists a wide range of concerns to be addressed in the new management plan. A draft version will come out this summer, when a new round of public comments will be taken.
Scott said the final plan should be in place a year from now.