Snowmobiling Economic Benefits Realized Worldwide

Haslett, MI, November 1, 2011 - The snowmobile community generates over 28 billion dollars in economic activity in North America. Snowmobiling supports over 90,000 full time jobs and generates millions of tax dollars. There are many ways that snowmobiling impacts on the economy. The production and sales of snowmobiles and the related products generates substantive economic impact and employment. In addition, there are thousands of snowmobile dealers and distributors of snowmobile parts that generate significant economic impact locally and nationally.

The largest single impact of snowmobiling can be seen in studying the Tourism Activity reports. In addition to snowmobile tourism, there are many snowmobiling events which generate millions of dollars of economic impact which are not considered in economic impact studies. Whether it is a snowmobile grass drag, an oval race, snow-cross race or a hill climb, they all collectively have a positive impact on the economy.

Communities that embrace snowmobiling benefit directly from recreational snowmobiling. Snowmobilers build trails that make communities more attractive in the winter and summer. Trails are one of the most sought after community amenities anywhere in North America for prospective homeowners.

Along those lines there is a considerable amount of money spent developing and maintaining trails by the snowmobile clubs and associations along with related government agencies and trail partners. The many weekends in September and October involving trail clean-up, brushing, signing and general repair generate positive economic activity for the community supporting snowmobiling.

All local businesses thrive during season, as those local businesses provide meals and lodging, gasoline, repair parts, and more.

Snowmobiling provides considerable health benefits, and the economic impact of healthy vibrant citizens must be considered. Studies show that snowmobiling requires positive physiological demand that has a beneficial effect on health and fitness. It has been determined that recreational snowmobiling is associated with moderate intensity cardiovascular demand and fatigue inducing muscular strength challenges similar to other activities such as alpine skiing and rock climbing. The rigorous physical activity associated with snowmobiling is recognized as being positive by the American College of Sports Medicine and should be considered to be a benefit to the overall economy and to the local region.

Snowmobiling generates snowmobile trails and supports family activities which helps build friendships and better communities - and a healthy active populace.

Still Time to Comment on Huron-Manistee National Forest Plan

Last month, the Huron-Manistee National Forests released a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for public review and comment. There is precious time remaining to comment on this plan and let the Forest Service know our (snowmobilers') preferred alternative. Comments will be taken until Dec. 21, 2011.

You need to comment on this issue to help fight the proposed closures to snowmobiling and hunting with guns in the Huron-Manistee National Forests! While this debate is over a desire by some for more "quiet" areas in the forests, expectations are unrealistic and show that these people don't understand the true surroundings found within the forests.

A Proposed Ban

The SEIS proposes to ban snowmobiling and gun hunting within 14 Semi-Primitive Non-Motorized Areas (SPNM) on these forests as the result of a legal decision by the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals.

Your MSA staff is in the process of wading through this, 198-page document, to help you better understand how each of the alternatives might affect you.

Here are the four alternatives outlined in the plan with our initial assessment.

ALTERNATIVE # 1 No action alternative.

While this keeps things as is, it doesn't comply with the problems the court case pointed out and probably leaves it open to more legal challenges.

ALTERNATIVE # 2 Proposed action.

This gives Mr. Meister exactly what he wanted, no snowmobiling or firearm hunting in the 14 areas in question. Clearly, MSA strongly opposes this one. Proposed Action Alternative 2 would essentially shut off trail networks both north to south and east to west across the Northern Lower Peninsula. All snowmobile trails which would be closed by Alternative 2 are located on open public roads and should remain open for winter snowmobile trail use.

Proposed Alternative 2 would effectively eliminate important small links within the overall trail network and consequently eliminate connectivity for significantly larger portions of the trail system.

Last month, I wrote that snowmobilers would have trouble getting from Ogemaw Hills to Houghton Lake. While we could still travel this route, our network would be broken with this ban. We would no longer be able to connect to other trails through the Huron National Forest.

ALTERNATIVE # 3 Change management area designation to align with the current uses of the areas. Basically, if you like how things are right now and want that to be the management goal for these 14 areas, this alternative is probably for you. This alternative allows snowmobiling and all firearm use to continue as is. The areas in question should be defined as Semi-Primitive Motorized areas, and kept open to snowmobiling and firearm hunting.

ALTERNATIVE # 4. Change management area designation and manage to provide a less roaded recreation experience. This is the USFS's preferred alternative, which also allows all snowmobiling and firearm hunting to continue as is. However, the new goal for these 14 areas would be to continue to reduce road mileage density in many of the areas. This alternative negatively impacts both snowmobilers and fire arm hunters.

A Personal Letter Carries More Weight Than a Form Letter

The Forest Service received more than 9,000 letters on this issue. We were told that 2,500 were form letters from members of the Fund for Animals. These letters came from all over the world, and were in favor of closing our public lands to snowmobiling and fire arms hunting.

That is why we have to make sure our voices are heard. We have also been told that the Forest Service has decided to classify duplicate form letters as one comment. For example, those 2,500 form letters form the Fund for Animals would now only be considered one comment.

By all means, if your time is limited download the form letter found on MSA's Web site, sign it, and send it in. However, if you have a little time, please write a personal letter. The letter you submit doesn't have to be long and lengthy. You just need to let the Forest Service know that you are in favor of Proposed Action Alternative 3 and opposed to Proposed Action Alternative 2. Just tell the Forest Service that they would be destroying our snowmobile trail network in this area. Tell them that Alternative Action 2 would destroy a snowmobiler's ability to ride cross-country in these areas.

Please also keep in mind that Michigan has the largest number of registered snowmobiles in the U.S. yet, on a per capita basis, the fewest miles of snowmobile trails. All existing trails on these forests are critical to meeting the high demand for snowmobile trails in Michigan. We need more opportunities, not less.

National Forests are to be enjoyed for multiple recreation uses; be very cautious about excluding public use based upon subjective positions or bias of a few toward other legitimate recreation use.

Once Comments are Received

Once the comment process is complete, the Forest Service will take all comments, both in favor of the ban and against the ban, and consider them in their decision. Remember form letters are collected, piled and considered one comment, either for or against.

The Forest Service will then come up with their recommendation. They will take that recommendation back before the issuing judge for his approval. We are working hard to make sure that this recommendation keeps these areas open to snowmobiling and firearms hunting. We also realize that once this recommendation is made and the judge makes his decision, lawsuits will more than likely be filed. Remember it was a lawsuit that started this entire process -- Meister v. USDA Forest Service Court Case. We will, more than likely be talking about this issue for months to come.

For more information

For more information about this process, call the Huron-Manistee National Forests office, at (231) 775-2421 to request a CD of the SEIS documents. You can also visit the Forest Service Web site at www.fs.fed.us/; select Huron-Manistee from the "By Name" menu at the top right of the page and hit "Go." Once the Huron-Manistee page opens, click on "Forest Plan SEIS" under Quick Links at the top right of the page. The Land and Resources Management page will open, which contains the "Draft SEIS PDF Suite" files with all SEIS documents.

Visit the MSA Web site at www.msasnow.org to obtain updates, comment information, and links to this process. We are doing our best to keep you informed regarding this critical issue. Rest assured those who want us out of our National Forests are doing everything they can to take away our right to recreate on our public lands.