Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve was established under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in December 1980. In abidance with ANILCA, Wrangell-St. Elias provides reasonable and feasible access to inholders, subsistence, and recreational users in the park. The most common means of access is by ATV or all-terrain vehicle.

ATV permits are REQUIRED
for all RECREATIONAL users.
ATV use is restricted to established ATV trails.

ATV permits are ENCOURAGED but not required
for all SUBSISTENCE users.
Subsistence users are those individuals who reside within a local resident zone community surrounding the park.

To receive a permit, apply in person at the Slana Ranger Station or Park Headquarters.
ATV Permits are issued to document the type and amount of use on trails, identify the location of users in the event of an emergency, and to ensure users are aware of the restrictions governing the use of ATVs on park lands.

Commencing in 2004, park staff have initiated a GPS-based inventory of alignments, and detailed physical characteristics of the established ATV trails. The resulting data will be utilized by park staff to manage ATV use on park lands.

For more information, please visit:
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve - All Terrain Vehicles (U.S. National Park Service)

3 TRAILS: Park Service assailed by conservationists, hunters for lapses with rules.

By ELIZABETH BLUEMINK
Anchorage Daily News
May 16, 2007

Recreational four-wheeling will be restricted on several trails in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve for four years, due to a court settlement announced Tuesday.

Conservation groups contended in a federal lawsuit that the ATVs were damaging the tundra in the north part of the park. They also accused the National Park Service of flouting its own rules when it began allowing ATVs there in the 1980s.

"We are starting the journey to heal some serious wounds to the land," Jim Stratton, the state director of the National Parks Conservation Association, said Tuesday.

The settlement signed by conservation groups, the National Park Service and groups that intervened in the lawsuit -- including the Alaska Outdoor Council and several pro-ATV groups -- ends the lawsuit filed by the NCPA and two other conservation groups last summer.

The settlement says that by the end of 2010, the Park Service will have to complete an environmental impact statement reviewing the effects of recreational ATVs in the Nabesna Road corridor of the park. The study will begin this summer and take three to four years, National Park officials said Tuesday.

If the study shows that ATV riding isn't harmful, the Park Service then must issue a formal ruling that ATV use is compatible with the park's purpose, according to the settlement.

Until the study is done, ATVs will be banned from three of the nine trails cited in the lawsuit when the ground is not frozen at least six inches deep. Local subsistence hunters will be allowed to drive ATVs without restrictions.

The three trails are the Copper Lake, Tanada Lake and Suslota Lake trails. Those are in boggy areas, according to the Park Service, and NCPA contends that those were the most damaged by ATVs.

The seasonal closures would likely affect sport hunters, said Vicki Snitzler, an outdoor planner for Wrangell-St. Elias.

For now, limiting trail use will intensify the pressure on other areas, said Rod Arno, executive director of the pro-hunting Alaska Outdoor Council, which was a party in the settlement.

"The big thing is, it should have never gotten so bad," Arno said. He blamed the Park Service for not enforcing its own rules or working with locals to resolve the problem.

Snitzler said the study could find options that route trails around the boggy areas.

Article Reference: adn.com | outdoors : ATVs restricted in Wrangell-St. Elias park for four years

Also see:
Notice of ATV Route Closures