Maybe I won't head that direction for a early morning lap tomorrow.  I'm glad you are able to raise awareness about this.  Hopefully, if will make a difference.

Though we don't know this to be true, we suspect this was not a case of anyone trying to be malicious, but one of a few folks pursuing their own recreational yahoos in a way that, unfortunately, has damaged the yahoos of we who ski or snowboard.

The riders who either ignored the fact that recreational snowmobiling is not allowed at Mission  Ridge or who were unaware of it, gave a quick lesson to resort skiers and snowboarders (who may not be involved in the backcountry issues between backcountry skiers and snowmobilers) that snowmobiles can very quickly ruin a slope for skiing and snowboarding.

This is not to say that skiing or snowboarding is any more legitimate than snowmobiling -- but it does say that snowmobilers who poach the few nearby places where they are not allowed can equally quickly generate a lot ire.

We've posted this to get the word out that the area is closed to recreational snowmobiling. Rather than generate ill-will, hopefully snowmobilers will spread the word that they should not ride here. They should give us plank-footed pansies at least this one local place to do our own thing.

I am an avid backcountry snowmobiler and have been away from skiing a long time. I apologize and deeply regret that this happened. Not only am I embarrassed and fearful of punitive recourse; but also truly feel the loss felt by the legitimate users. The effort and commitment it takes to enjoy an area for a limited time, especially with no certainty, make it very special. That area as I understand it is very close for the users and these actions, in a sense, closed a quality area to those who have traditionally used it when available. I agree it is vandalism, while; a rasher personality in me characterizes it as a terrorist act against the skiing community. My only hope is that the offenders “assumed” that the same rules apply to Mission as the Mill Creek drainage. They spent some time there seemingly unaware of the rules. Nevertheless, not at all excusable; and the damage was done.

I am a friend, coworker, neighbor, family member, and fellow wintertime sports and nature enthusiast. The vitriolic nature of the skiing vs. snowmobile community, winner take all, controversy is disheartening, to say the least. I feel your pain and would truly like good thoughtful solutions to all of our problems. There are those in both “camps” that will never be convinced or that have any desire for solutions; quite possibly addicted to controversy. I work in the Environmental Sciences field, restoring habitat for endangered species. I have often thought that poor planning and false, lazy, and uninformed conservation actions have left a constraint of available “quality” motorized available areas.

Concurrently this has left even more constraints on accessible, quality, and exclusive wintertime non-motorized areas. From the perspective of a biologist I think that the wilderness designations were short sighted and effort could have been put forth to “shape” them allowing for similar overall protected area concentrating on specific environmental protection concerns. At the same time considerations for access, not only to benefit my sport, of variable users with some thought to the eventual increases or decreases in interest.

I do not want to discredit the government or specific agencies of the past who had a wonderful vision to preserve and protect our amazing most precious space. I am however considering that there are very cool new technologies and resources such as satellite imagery, computer modeling, quantizes of data and highest level ever of researchers. It might be time to revisit the land use boundaries and varied use with a net benefit to overall environmental specifics.

The management technique of placing large blocks of area into wilderness designation may seem to benefit some and might even be good for your particular interests. But I feel that it will have a direct impact to all users in a considerably wider area than just the area “destined”; and more adversely affect user groups potentially more impinged than our own. True management would be to have areas with levels of multi and exclusive uses most aligned with mutual benefits to the users while environmental requirements and the real impact or consequently little or negligible impact is deemed appropriate to the area.

Again, I am ashamed of the people who had little consideration of others and a disregard for the rules. I am truly remorseful for the loss of quality recreation and enjoyment by the appropriate users. I really hope for, my children’s sakes, we can first stop the hate among groups that should otherwise be amenable, and secondly; come to some solutions beneficial to, not only our groups, but to the wider public lands user community. Best wishes, Brett

Thanks for your comment, Brett. There are conciliatory, thoughtful, and reasoned positions there that are refreshing. We agree that we should be able to work together toward better management solutions. In this respect, it's our perspective that the motorized camp has been least willing to engage in such a process because the current, unmanaged situation favors them. The more powerful machines become, the more they can access and the more they displace non-motorists who might have once visited an area when it was quiet and pristine. We admit this is simply a perspective and, like any perspective, only partially reflects truth.

We agree that reasonable people (i.e., those who see shades of gray and who understand compromise) working with new tools could craft management solutions that would result in significant improvements for all groups. In fact we think a major reason there is vitriol on both sides is because land agencies keep punting on the issue of actually managing. They lack the stomach (and perhaps the resources) to develop a management plan for the wintertime forest.

If we could eliminate lobbyists and put 4 informed but reasonable snowmobilers and 4 informed but reasonable non-motorized winter recreationalists together with five or six land agency specialists representing the welfare of the resource, this small group could craft a much better management plan than what we live with now. Such a plan would delight no one but would be more equitable, care for the resource better, and leave everyone happier than the no-plan situation governing us now.

Of course this won't happen. If and when the monster gets tackled, it will be a multi-user, multi-year, multi-million dollar process that will be heavily manipulated by interests that are backed by dollars. The process itself will create more vitriol but, if a plan comes out of it, we will all eventually get along better.