Machines in the Wilderness

Pete Bodo writes a summary of issues regarding snowmobile and jet ski access to wild places in this New York Times article. When I worked to get jet skis banned from the Great White Heron and Key West National Wildlife refuges in the late 1980s, there was no question in my mind that a handful of jet skis in and of themselves would have little impact. The problem is always the proliferation, and in the fact that you can’t set people on highly mobile vehicles free in a sensivite environment if you can’t afford to monitor their activities.