Snowmobiles and Off-road Vehicles
05 December, 1980
The American Alpine Club is opposed to the use of snowmobiles and off-road vehicles as a means of recreation in mountain areas. Off-road vehicles destroy terrain, disturb wildlife and damage delicate ecosystems. These are important values which our national parks, monuments and forests were established to preserve. The noise of such vehicles is disturbing to wildlife and destructive of the quality of recreational experience which others have come to seek in a natural setting. It is the opinion of the Club that the terms under which our national parks and monuments were established, limit recreational uses to those activities which are consonant with the preservation of these areas in their natural condition. The national forest values of range, water supply, wildlife, recreation, and even timber management are all adversely affected by unrestricted ORV activity. The Club further believes that national well-being will be improved in all ways by encouraging more personal physical exertion on the one hand, and reducing the use of fossil fuels generally.