Here's a bit of good news.  Pat yourselves on the back for this one.  You
richly deserve it.

Peggy Murdock

*** Nat'l Park Service bans snowmobiles
WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Park Service Thursday issued a broad
ban on recreational use of snowmobiles at nearly all of the national
parks, recreational areas and monuments. The off-road vehicles have
had "significant adverse environmental effect" on the park system,
the agency said. The only exceptions to the ban were parks in Alaska
and the Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, where Congress
specifically allowed use of snowmobiles, and in cases where the
vehicles are considered necessary for access to adjacent private
lands or inholdings, the agency said. The ban applies to 12 national
parks from Acadia in Maine to Sequoia and Kings Canyon in California,
including Yellowstone in Wyoming, where snowmobiling has been the
focus of intense controversy. Snowmobiling also no longer will be
allowed in 15 national seashores, monuments, parkways, historic
sites, recreational areas and scenic trails. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2566052625-c8b ***
List of snowmobile ban parks, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2566051062-233