And they sometimes cause damage to vegetation if the snow is not deep enough. For many of these reasons, newspapers have reported, the Forest Service is proposing to ban snowmobiles in selected areas of the Tahoe Basin. The National Park Service has already prohibited snowmobiles in many parks and monuments. Recently, according to news reports, they also decided to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. That prospect is causing a lot of heartburn for snowmobilers and local townsfolk.
Snowmobiles are the way most folks travel in the park during the winter.
And, there is a substantial business activity catering to snowmobilers. I'm frequently asked if snowmobiles contribute to pollution in the Tahoe Basin. Because I couldn't find data about that issue, I haven't written anything about it. And I still don't have data about snowmobiles in the Tahoe Basin. Part of that work concerned pollution, and we might get some hints about potential Tahoe problems from that effort.