Superintendent Paul Anderson
Denali National Park and Preserve
P.O. Box 9
Denali Park, AK 99755
Dear Superintendent Anderson:
The purpose of this letter is to offer a few comments by the Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition (AQRC) on the Cantwell Subsistence Off-Road Vehicle Management EA. As you are aware, AQRC is a statewide nonprofit organization concerned with the adverse impacts of motorized recreation on the natural sounds and natural quiet of our public lands and on the experiences of non-motorized recreationists, cabin owners and wildlife. We seek to insure that recreational opportunities created or occurring on public lands be fairly divided between non-motorized and the motorized recreationist.
As an organization, AQRC has no position on subsistence so these comments will be brief. Our concern is that national park lands not be opened to ORV recreation. Accordingly, we support alternative 4 in that it offers the most limited opportunities for the use of ORVs in connection with subsistence. This alternative would limit ORV use to specific trails for a specific period of time.  Though the preferred alternative, 3, also limits ORVs to specified trails, it would appear to allow ORV use in support of subsistence activities throughout the year. We are not convinced that NPS would be able to monitor the ORV traffic  sufficiently to insure that ORVs were only being used for subsistence. In fact, we think this alternative would “invite†recreational ORV users.
Thank you for this opportunity to comment.
Sincerely yours,
Susan Olsen, Treasurer
Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition