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Poll: Overwhelming Majority Wants Limits on Snowmobile Access

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    We all know Dubya doesn't read newspapers, and his staff only tells him what he wants to hear, so he probably won't learn that a poll by the Los Angeles Times and the Bloomberg news service shows an overwhelming majority of Americans believe there should be limits on where snowmobiles can go.
    I'm not talking a slight majority, like 55 percent, or a moderate majority, like 65 percent, but an overwhelming majority of 80 percent of those who live in the West and 77 percent of a national sampling.
    I wonder if that tidbit will be taken into account by the folks up in Yellowstone delving into the latest study of whether snowmobiles are good for the park?
    The survey touched 1,478 adults. Here's a snippet:

        Although the Bush administration has advocated increased access for snowmobiles and other forms of motorized recreation in national parks such as Yellowstone, a substantial majority opposes such measures. In the West, home to many of the nation's most popular parks, 80% called for limiting access to snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles to protect natural habitat and wildlife. Nationally, the figure was 77%.
        "I'm not a huge fan of snowmobiles," said Democrat Dasal Ridgley, 26, a student from Iowa City, Iowa. "It gives people easier access, but it also destroys the land."

Comments

I'd applaud elimination of snowmobiles and jet skis from the National Parks. They are simply too noisy. But in the same vein, I'd ban any noisy vehicle. The desired quiet of my last visit to Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows was blasted by noisy motorcycles. They travel in packs, gunning their engines and roaring off. It's just too much. And as for air pollution, is there any effort out there to ban diesel buses from the National Parks? They're awful, especially trying to chug up mountain roads putting out black clouds of stench.

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