This report provides information about the extent to which personal watercraft and snowmobiles are used on federal lands, the process by which decisions about their use are made, and the extent of monitoring being done in areas where their use is allowed. It focuses on the four major federal land management agencies, which manage about 95% of all federal lands: the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service, all in the Dept. of the Interior; and the Forest Service in the Dept. of Agriculture. Appendix I describes the report's scope and methodology; appendix II contains agency-by-agency responses to the questionnaire.
Many of our national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and other federal lands are a potential source of recreational opportunities for the estimated 14 million adults who used a personal watercraft or snowmobile in 1999. However, the recreational use of these vehicles is often criticized as causing damage to plants, wildlife, and other resources, as well as creating safety problems and conflicts with other visitors to federal lands. Determining the extent to which these vehicles should be allowed to operate on these lands is a contentious and challenging issue faced by federal land managers. Although this issue draws considerable attention, relatively little reliable information has been assembled about the extent to which personal watercraft and snowmobiles are used on federal lands, the process by which decisions about their use are made, or the extent of monitoring being done in areas where their use is allowed. As a result, the General Accounting Office was asked to provide more information on these matters. GAO focused its work on the four major federal land management agencies-the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service in the Department of the Interior, and the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture. Collectively, these agencies manage about 95 percent of all federal lands. GAO addressed the following questions: 1) To what extent are personal watercraft and snowmobiles used in federal units managed by these agencies?; 2) What are the bases for agency decisions to authorize or prohibit the use of these vehicles?: 3) In federal units where their use is allowed, do restrictions exist on operations, and how are these restrictions enforced?; and, 4) To what extent have these federal agencies assessed the impact of such use? To respond to these questions, we asked managers from each of nearly 1,200 federal units within the four agencies to answer a questionnaire.
The American West at Risk summarizes the dominant human-generated environmental challenges in the 11 contiguous arid western United States - America's legendary, even mythical, frontier. When discovered by European explorers and later settlers, the west boasted rich soils, bountiful fisheries, immense, dense forests, sparkling streams, untapped ore deposits, and oil bonanzas. It now faces depletion of many of these resources, and potentially serious threats to its few "renewable" resources. The importance of this story is that preserving lands has a central role for protecting air and water quality, and water supplies--and all support a healthy living environment. The idea that all life on earth is connected in a great chain of being, and that all life is connected to the physical earth in many obvious and subtle ways, is not some new-age fad, it is scientifically demonstrable. An understanding of earth processes, and the significance of their biological connections, is critical in shaping societal values so that national land use policies will conserve the earth and avoid the worst impacts of natural processes. These connections inevitably lead science into the murkier realms of political controversy and bureaucratic stasis. Most of the chapters in The American West at Risk focus on a human land use or activity that depletes resources and degrades environmental integrity of this resource-rich, but tender and slow-to-heal, western U.S. The activities include forest clearing for many purposes; farming and grazing; mining for aggregate, metals, and other materials; energy extraction and use; military training and weapons manufacturing and testing; road and utility transmission corridors; recreation; urbanization; and disposing of the wastes generated by everything that we do. We focus on how our land-degrading activities are connected to natural earth processes, which act to accelerate and spread the damages we inflict on the land. Visit www.theamericanwestatrisk.com to learn more about the book and its authors.
2008 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine From dirt bikes and jet skis to weed wackers and snowblowers, machines powered by small gas engines have become a permanent—and loud—fixture in American culture. But fifty years of high-speed fun and pristine lawns have not come without cost. In the first comprehensive history of the small-bore engine and the technology it powers, Paul R. Josephson explores the political, environmental, and public health issues surrounding one of America's most dangerous pastimes. Each chapter tells the story of an ecosystem within the United States and the devices that wreak havoc on it—personal watercraft (PWCs) on inland lakes and rivers; all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in deserts and forests; lawn mowers and leaf blowers in suburbia. In addition to environmental impacts, Josephson discusses the development and promotion of these technologies, the legal and regulatory efforts made to improve their safety and environmental soundness, and the role of owners' clubs in encouraging responsible operation. Synthesizing information from medical journals, recent environmental research, nongovernmental organizations, and manufacturers, Josephson's compelling history leads to one irrefutable conclusion: these machines cannot be operated without loss of life and loss of habitat.
