Snow Sports Persuasive Essay

Anna Hill
Mr. Haney
English & 201
May 25, 2015

Snow Sports Encroachment on Wildlife in the Western United States and Canada

The world of snow sports has become a popular following these days from skiing and snowboarding to snowshoeing and snowmobiling. The issue that many will argue against these sports is their affect on the environment. With the ever-growing industry, regulars are finding a new need to go out of bounds and discover what they would like to consider the “unknown”, or “gems of life”. Research shows that these various snow sports can take a hugs toll on the wildlife. Particularly with the recent climate change, causing wildlife to migrate up into the mountains, participants of snow sports need to be more aware of the impact
they are making. Currently, although many snow sports participants may be eco- friendly and pro- animal, however in general, psychology studies show that humans take priority of themselves over all else as long as the present impact in good. One might wonder however, why exactly should I care so much about my impact in the future? Many people assume that their actions take place in the short-term however, that is not the case. In Environmental Science class, some of the first concepts you learn are that natural selection exists in all environments and that every species will reach extinction at some point in time. Wildlife can be our starting point and the research that many have done over the past five to ten years can tell us a lot about what the interactions between snow sports and wildlife are looking like in the Western United States and Canada. There are various organizations and laws that protect the environment but how much are they really helping? There are numerous organizations out there that are claiming to protect the environment yet even driving up highway 2 towards Stevens pass you will still see alleged ‘ski bums’ driving gas guzzlers. The definition on snow sports is continually changing and we need to do more to keep it from harming the present world. In the United States you have a few state run organizations, which we like to call national and state parks. What many people don’t know however is that we lack funding in our parks. Within the past few years you’ve seen various permits becoming required to park and use different parks and grounds whether it is the discover pass, evergreen pass, alpine pass, or a permit to hike through the enchantments, there seems to be one for everything now. (Add something about where this money goes when the WA Parks and Recreation responds to my inquisitions) Not only do we lack funding to support these parks but according to the Washington State Parks website, their mission and vision isn’t to protect the land and wildlife it inhabits but to create a safe and inspiring environment for the public that utilizes it. This is what many might call a paper park, a park that only exists on paper but isn’t really acted upon outside of that. Not only is there an issue with parks and protection groups being proactive, they also need to expand their goals. Not only did the Washington park service not mention the protection of land and wildlife but neither does National Park service. According to the national park service, their goal is to, “preserve[s] unimpaired the natural and cultural resources”, this concept of park protection is help with our personal human needs and making our resources last longer however in many cases we should be looking in the other direction and focusing on how to extend and maintain the already plummeting biodiversity numbers (“What We Do”). The snow sports industry is an ebb and flow industry because Mother Nature decides what exactly is going to happen or not. Looking at the statistics of snowfall in the northwest, there is an apparent drop. With the use of a hydrologic remote sensing center, on February 1, 2013 the northwest saw an average accumulation of 27.5 inches. The following year on February 1, 2014 the average dropped to 10.2 inches and finally this year on February 1, 2015 the number plummeted further to an average of 7.8 inches (“National Snow Analysis”). With the data from the past three years alone, you can see that snow levels have dropped in Western US and Canada and that isn’t predicted to improve any time soon. There are many people who have chosen to ignore this fact; the fact that the industry in the West is struggling but in whole that climate change does exist and we are starting to see the warming signs in our backyard. Although the summer is just getting started, temperatures keep on rising compared to last year. Just as temperatures are rising, so is wildlife. Studies show that as valley temperatures continue to rise, wildlife including deer, birds, reptiles, and others are being forced higher into the mountains in pursuit of cooler weather. This move not only is forcing these animals to alter their environment but also their food web and niches. As a piece of natural selection, it is only natural for some of these animals to dwindle their numbers of go extinct all together. One fact states in the first few chapters of environmental science and biology books is that every animal will go extinct at some point or another, climate change is just helping to push this process along. One may wonder how exactly climate change has to do with snow sports but as a dominant industry in the Western United States and Canada, snow sports are another leading cause in the fall of wildlife. The affects of skiing and snowboarding are minimal however with a growing industry, the boundaries of the sport are being pushed farther and farther out leaving less room for wildlife to find its niche. Although Cross-country skiing should fall under this category, the sport itself is fairly contained. Cross-country skiing can be done in areas with low snow volume and it almost always is made up of a track that skiers can follow. These tracks usually consist of one to four different loops but they always stay in a contained vicinity and lead back to one main lodge. In comparison to alpine skiing or snowboarding, you don’t have the freedom or the fluid movements that can take you through the trees out of bounds, which is a major cause to encroachment on wildlife. Although many of these ski areas have boundary lines, it is rare that they actually enforce their rules. Going out of bounds simply means that if you get hurt or lost, the ski area is not liable and any charges for search and rescue are on the person who crossed the boundary line. This in no way truly restricts these athletes from adventuring off into the distant mountains. In part from the more adventurous veteran skiers and snowboarders, the industry has spread to more than just the athletes. The ski industry in its expansion has grown to accommodate people who may be considered less athletic. With ski apparel brands such as Bogner, Kjus and Mountain Force, you just have the base point where women and men can buy $1000 dollar jackets just to sit in the lodge. With this new expansion however comes new technology as well. When you go to ski areas, it is a rare sight to see a rope tow or a t- bar, these days there are high-speed quads and gondolas. Despite the innovation of mechanics and inventors these days, the new ski resort transportation is making the areas more open to socialists opposed to athletes or tourists opposed to locals. The lifts however are also interfering with wildlife due to their increased pull of tourism but also their destruction of natural habitats. In the building of a new lift, you must clear a certain width of space all the way up the mountain to where you’d like to end the lift. This not only is clear cutting a section of trees, contributing to the growing supply of second generation forests but it is also tearing down homes to various wildlife. In the journal of Applied Ecology, there is a text on winter sports and alpine species. A specific factor that the authors argue in the text is how ski lifts, clear cutting, and grooming are all affecting different branches of wildlife, particularly black grouse. Just as you can see happening in the Western United States or Canada, “alpine vegetation is often severely damaged by both skiing and the preparation of ski runs (Wipf et al. 2005): shrubs, small trees and grass cover are reduced in height and density in order to smooth the ski runs (although this may also restrict natural shrub encroachment following abandonment of traditional grazing practices)” (Patthey 1710). Even the most eco- friendly ski areas can’t quite avoid this impact and they’re spreading still. If you take a look at Silver mountain in Kellogg, Idaho you see a ski mountain tucked into the corner of a town with a huge lodge, six lifts, 1 magic carpet, their own selection of real estate and an indoor water park. If you had visited this mountain approximately ten years ago when I visited the area, it was 4 lifts and a small lodge with a restaurant. Looking at the change over the past years, it is amazing to see with just this one ski resort how fast the place and the industry expanded. To know that it will interesting to see how much more land the industry eats up. It is quite ironic how many ski areas and lodges across the Western United States and Canada use animals such as eagles and bears to market the fact that their place is ‘natural’ and has an essence of ‘wild’. As stated in a journal, Cypress mountain, right outside of the melting pot known as Vancouver, British Columbia uses a bear as it’s symbol. The bear is a significant piece of wildlife in the Vancouver area (Stoddart 57). The bears habitat is found not only in Stanley Park but also upon Cypress mountain. The catch however is that through all this promotion of the bear culture, there is not once a mention of how the tourism and skiing/ snowboarding is harming these animals. The journal quotes, “The recruitment of animals into skiing discourse connects the sport with an environmentalist stand- point. However, this may obscure the ways in which entanglements between skiers and animals often has harmful effects for animals” (Stoddart 58). Despite the growing presence of wildlife on the mountain, this is starting to attract attention. Although skiers like to be able to say they are eco- friendly and never do harm to wildlife and the environment, it still happens. The journal reiterates a story told by a skier at Whistler- Blackcomb who says that he sometimes just rides the lifts and comb the terrain to scout out the bears on the hill. To some people like this man, being apart of the ski world isn’t just about the sport or being in nature, he made it into a hide and go seek game with wildlife. This is one of those points when people should stick to the picture of a bear on their computer opposed to interfering with a world they know little about. Upon most people’s judgment snowmobiling could be considered the worst offender in encroachment on wildlife refuges. With the constant hum of an engine, the sports not only releases harmful emissions but also they venture far out into the snow leaving behind nothing but trouble. From scaling sides of mountains to tearing up snowy roadways, snowmobiles range pretty freely. Although the vehicles are restricted in some areas, in other areas such as a ski area by the name of Spout Springs in Idaho, they are everywhere. It may be an expensive sport but it’s a fun family adventure as well. Used as a tourist attraction, many people will rent a snowmobile but how many of these people really know what they are doing. Statistics show “each year snowmobile accidents produce approximately 200 deaths and 14,00 injuries” (Pierz). To think that those numbers are produced from one sport alone is unbelievable. Just as snowmobiles are causing harm to people, they cause just as much harm to wildlife. In a text written by the Winter Wildlands Alliance, they go over the details of how snowmobiling harms wildlife. During the winter many wildlife spend their time migration, hibernating, and foraging however when the wail of a motorized vehicle comes along, they are forced to run elsewhere. In a study done in Yellowstone National Park, both and elk and mule deer were tested and tracked for their wasted time and energy. This research accounted for the following:
The energy cost estimates calculated for these impacts were 4.9 to 36.0 kcal in elk and 2.0 to 14.7 kcal in mule deer per disturbance (Parker et. al., 1984). These energy expenditures are roughly equivalent to the necessary additional consumption of 4.3- 13.7 grams of dry forage matter by elk and 1.8- 12.9 grams by mule deer each time a disturbance occurs. (“Environmental Impacts From Snowmobile Use”)
The sheer numbers behind this fact that outline the effects on wildlife simple due to the presence of a snowmobile in their vicinity is matter enough to prove them harmful. To add on top of this however, there are more factors such as the noise pollution, physical harm to wildlife, and compaction of snow.
An article that came to my attention on the harm that snow sports does to wildlife is how man made paths and tracks are skewing animal migration and living habits.
You wouldn’t think that making tracks in the snow would harm animals because they tend to be creatures of habit and once a new snowfall hits, one would assume those tracks would be covered and cleared once again. The journal written by two students at the university of Wyoming showed through their studies that by the use of snow sports compacted trails, “animals reduce their sink depth and therefore also their cost of travel by selecting for harder snow surfaces” (Whiteman 156). The issue is that these tracks are making a lasting impression on wildlife and the environment. There is also the fact that with our low levels of snowfall in the west, these tracks aren’t getting covered up. The major effect of the tracks that these major sports are making is in the path it makes. Many animals will pick a path or a scent to follow and in certain times of the year such as fall and spring when the wildlife is migrating, the packed out trails are making the trip tens times easier and faster in the path. This may not come off as a huge concern to many however wildlife biologists are watching as animals are tracking too far out that they either can’t return back to where they started later in the year or they simply get
lost. Snowshoeing, although not a popular sport in the northwest is definitely a factor in the recent encroachment of wildlife refuges. From the tracks that pack out their limitless boundaries, this particular sport is showing an impact. For someone who snowshoes, you have no boundaries, as long as you can carry your own weight you are free to roam through ski areas, backyards, meadows, and deep into the hills with little or no disturbance. In the hobby all you have to do is throw on you boots and pack away at the snow. Many times however people won’t just go out in pairs, they may throw a snowshoeing party and trample out in a group of 20 to 40 people. These groups can tend to create an impeding environment. For example, REI, a northwest based recreational company along with selling goods also leads various summer and winter excursions. Included in these is snowshoeing up in British Columbia where their groups can extend from as little as four people to as many as twelve. Whether you are in a small or large group however, you are still packing out one long path for wildlife to follow. In a journal posted on the Ecological Society of America, the authors looked at how skiing and snowshoeing were impacting black grouse. Their particular results, although varying yielded quite different results. The patterns of this particular wildlife group was tracked to more free- ranging areas and therefore linked closer to a high impact from snowshoeing. The case however, “snowshoers ' occurrence was linked to hiking or skiing routes and moderate slopes” meaning that their study didn’t range very far and the snowshoeing patterns they were researching varied from the different distribution possibilities that exist (Braunisch). The fact of the matter is that although their study reached a limit, their results yielded a >10% chance of interaction between the wildlife and these two snow sports. Despite the many reasons to love snow sports, it is also apparent that that they can have and will continue to do more harm, particularly to our wildlife numbers. Although the encroachment on wildlife will stretch on, there are some ways in which snow sports participants can try and protect the wildlife and know our boundaries. What we do as participants will have the largest impact on the wildlife’s future in the area. The government and these various smaller organizations as well play a role in rules and regulations although how we enact these ideas will play a role. By buying a discovery pass to fund our parks or following the rules when it says no out of bounds skiing, it is all going to make a difference in your safety as well as the safety of our wildlife. The overall impact of these different sports and how they are going to affect the wildlife and environment not just a year from now but ten or twenty years from now should be a large concern an seeing as the mountainous terrain is becoming a larger refuge for more and more animals each year, snow sports participants need to adjust and take car of the areas. This will eventually determine the future of snow sports despite the rise in temperatures.

Works Cited

Pierz, JJ. "Snowmobile injuries in North America." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2003. Web. 31 May 2015.
"National Snow Analysis." National Weather Service. N.p., 6 May 2015. Web. 31 May 2015.
Whiteman, John P., and Steven W. Buskirk. "Footload Influences Wildlife Use of Compacted Trails in the Snow." Wildlife Biology 19.2 (2013): 156-64. Wildlife Biology. EBSCO. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.
Stoddart, Mark C. J. "Grizzlies and Gondolas: Animals and the Meaning of Skiing Landscapes in British Columbia, Canada." Nature and Culture 6.1 (2011): 41-63. Nature and Culture. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
Braunisch, Veronika, Pattrick Patthey, and Raphaël Ariettaz. "Spatially Explicit Modeling of Conflict Zones Between Wildlife and Snow Sports: Prioritizing Areas for Winter Refuges." ESA Online Journals 21.3 (2011): 955-67. ESA Online Journals. EBSCO. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.
"Patthey, Patrick, et al. "Impact of Outdoor Winter Sports on the Abundance of a Key Indicator Species of Alpine Ecosystems." Journal of Applied Ecology (2008): 1704-11. Print.
"Environmental Impacts from Snowmobile Use." Winter Wildlands Alliance. N.p., 2014. Web. 31 May 2015.
"What We Do." National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 28 May 2015. Web. 31 May 2015.
"Snowshoe Whistler in British Columbia, Canada." REI. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 June 2015.
"Silver Mountain Resort Trail Map." Silver Mountain Resort. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 June 2015.