Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA) is a national nonprofit organization promoting and preserving winter wildlands and a quality human-powered snow-sports experience on public lands.

Wend: How does outdoor recreation affect your personal approach to conservation?

McCarthy: During graduate school, I studied with Dr. George Schaller, who’s done as much to protect wild places as anyone walking the planet today. He told me, “As a scientist, we have a moral obligation to protect what we study.” What that meant to me—somebody who comes from a strong recreational background in the Rocky Mountain West—is that I should be encouraging the outdoor recreation community to be conservationists. I believe backcountry skiers have a moral obligation to protect the places [where] we recreate, to not take them for granted.

Wend: How can experiencing the outdoors lead to conservation?

McCarthy: I used to work for Exum Mountain Guides. One day after skiing a classic 3,000-foot powder run in Grand Teton National Park with two clients, we crossed some wolverine tracks. I discussed how wolverines, with their 5-inch feet, are bioengineered for survival in wild winter landscapes. At dinner that night, when the waiter asked, “How was your day of skiing?,” the clients never even mentioned the powder. All they could talk about was the wolverine tracks. There are only a handful of wolverines—which may soon be listed on the Endangered Species List—in the Tetons, and with financial support from Patagonia, WWA started the Backcountry Scientist Project, where we’re educating and training the backcountry skiing community in wolverine ecology and conservation. People like my clients that day, who’ve even remotely experienced these rare animals, can better understand why it’s so cool to have them around.

Wend: Let’s talk about snowmobiles.

McCarthy: Public land managers are mandated to do travel planning and assess potential environmental impacts of recreation for the summer season only. In places like the Northern Rockies—where the hiking season is about six weeks and the skiing season six months—this can cause problems. In winter, the Forest Service has no process to determine where motorized recreation is appropriate and where it is not, which leaves the door open to snowmobiles. If someone drives their four-stroke to somewhere I can drive my Prius to during the summer, without disturbing any wildlife, I don’t take issue with that. But a lot of backcountry areas where you’d never see a snowmobile 20 years ago have now become nothing short of motor parks. We just believe that quality opportunities for historically non-motorized recreation need to be protected and maintained.

Wend: What are some environmental threats posed by motorized recreation?

McCarthy: Winter is the most vulnerable time for wildlife. And both skiers and snowmobilers need to respect this. On average, backcountry skiers cover less than five miles in a day, while the average snowmobiler covers 30-70 miles, creating a larger impact. And the sound can disturb winter wildlife from a greater distance. Unfortunately, the majority of snowmobiles out there today are still two-stroke, meaning about one-quarter to one-third of their fuel exits the tailpipe unburned into the snowpack, which becomes drinking water. Two-stroke engines have been banned on all public bodies of water, yet we continue to allow two-stroke snowmobiles to go out unregulated and literally spew millions of gallons of unburned fuel every year into our national forests.

Wend: What challenges have you encountered from the snowmobile community?

McCarthy: The snowmobile community is very organized, and they loudly oppose any additional regulations. Skiers tend to be more passive and non-confrontational. One time, the Bridger-Teton National Forest was doing a public scoping meeting about their new forest plan, and somehow the meeting had been scheduled on a Saturday night during the World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb in Jackson. It was nothing short of disaster. Multitudes of intoxicated snowmobilers came in, literally shouting. I actually didn’t feel safe [laughs] expressing how I’d rather see certain winter landscapes remain quiet, closed to snowmobiles.

Wend: But WWA does a lot more than debate with snowmobilers.

McCarthy: We’ll always take [on] the snowmobiling lobby head on, but our focus is helping human-powered winter recreation enthusiasts to organize and let their local land managers know that they have needs, too. Working with local groups is really core to who we are. We’re here to provide the tools they need to succeed. We offer grassroots training programs for them and run a Snow School Program, where we get kids outdoors and teach basic winter ecology. We also have an annual Backcountry Film Festival, which celebrates human-powered winter recreation. It’s showing in about 50 locations this year, including several in Europe, Australia, Canada and Antarctica. Grassroots and nonprofit organizations host the festival and use it as a fundraiser. You can tell your readers that we’ll be accepting submissions for the 2011‑2012 festival until September, and amateur work is welcome. If we work together, we can really make a difference.

Forrest McCarthy is the public lands director for Winter Wildlands Alliance.