United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-09-15 monographic deposited born digital 90 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-243 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-243 P0b002ee180372b90 f:rc00243 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-243 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-243 RCED-00-243 National recreation areas Land management Motor vehicle safety Conservation National parks National forests Wildlife conservation Outdoor recreation Federal regulations National Wildlife Refuge System Letter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the use of personal watercraft and snowmobile use on federal lands, focusing on: (1) the extent personal watercraft and snowmobiles are used in federal units that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the National Park Service (NPS), and the Forest Service; (2) the bases for agency decisions to authorize or prohibit the use of these vehicles; (3) where the vehicles are whether restrictions exist vehicle on operations in places where their use is allowed, and how are these restrictions enforced; and (4) the extent to which federal agencies assessed the impact of such use.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) in fiscal year 1999, personal watercraft, snowmobiles, or both were used for recreation in 475 of the 1,018 federal units that responded to GAO's questionnaire; (2) several factors determine whether personal watercraft or snowmobile use is permitted in a particular federal unit; (3) specific provisions in federal law prohibit the use of these vehicles in some locations, such as wilderness areas, and specifically authorize their use in others, such as national recreation areas; (4) if no laws specifically prohibit or authorize use, the federal agency responsible for managing the land and water makes such a determination; (5) NPS and the FWS generally disallow the recreational use of these vehicles unless it can be demonstrated that no harm would be likely to result to the unit's resources and environment; (6) in contrast, the Forest Service and BLM generally allow their use unless the unit manager clearly demonstrates potential harm; (7) approval for recreational use of personal watercraft or snowmobiles on federal lands generally comes with restrictions; (8) in most cases the restrictions come from state laws and regulations that have been adopted by the federal agency or an individual unit; (9) in many cases, enforcement actions are a shared responsibility among federal, state, and local officials; (10) even with this shared responsibility, a significant number of federal units reported that a personnel shortage limited enforcement activity; (11) managers of individual federal units often do not have any information on the impacts of personal watercraft and snowmobiles on their unit's resources and environment; (12) a variety of laws and executive orders authorize the federal land management agencies to monitor the impact of using recreational vehicles on natural resources, safety, and other users of federal lands and waters; (13) about 60 percent of the federal units that have use reported that they have not collected information on the effects of that use; (14) of the remaining units, about half said the information was not adequate for determining how personal watercraft and snowmobile use should be managed; (15) agency officials generally attributed this lack of information to the low priority the agencies have given to monitoring the effects of these vehicles; and (16) according to officials of all four agencies, monitoring has received a low priority because only a few units have experienced intensive use of these vehicles. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-243/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-243.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-243/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-243.pdf GAO/RCED-00-243 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-243 Letter Report GAO/RCED-00-243; Federal Lands: Agencies Need to Assess the Impact of; National recreation areas Land management Motor vehicle safety Conservation National parks National forests Wildlife conservation Outdoor recreation Federal regulations National Wildlife Refuge System