ABSTRACT
In comparison with the vastness of the area available, their numbers were few and their environmental impact insignificant. Mankind has been traditionally environmentally destructive in the application of developing technology and the malevolent minority may be large in number and impact. Perhaps the greatest potential for environmental damage by the oversnow vehicle lies in the fact that it provides man with his greatest possible mobility at a time when nature is least mobile. Little is known about the psychological need of wildlife for the silence and imperturbability of the hitherto snowbound winter; yet the harsh shattering of the winter sanctuary by the devastating roar of the snowmobile leaves naturalists with due cause for concern. The chapter focuses on the snowmobile since it represents perhaps the most dangerous potential for impact, a potential rendered all the more difficult to assess because of the many indirect aspects and the critical absence of research.
