WENATCHEE — Rob Mullins remembers the days when he could load up his snowmobile, ride for a few miles up any one of a dozen groomed snowmobile trails, park the machine and go skiing for a full day of quiet recreation.

That’s back when a snowmobile could barely chug through deep snow off a groomed trail.

But those days are gone. Now, Mullins says, he’s hard-pressed to find a spot — even deep in the back country — where he won’t run into a group of snowmobilers, carving up the powdered slopes that took him hours on skis to reach.

A former Leavenworth logger and trapper who retrained as a nurse, Mullins says he has nothing against snowmobilers. He relates to these guys when they stop to chat with him. And, after all, he uses one himself.

His issue is with the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, which, he says, is refusing to recognize that snowmobiling isn’t the same sport it was 20 years ago.

“It’s ridiculous. We’re out on foot, with our family or our dog, and we’re being asked to share the space with a vehicle that weighs 450 pounds and goes 80 miles per hour,” said Gus Bekker, who heads a Wenatchee backcountry ski and snowshoe club and, with Mullins, founded the Wenatchee Mountains Coalition.

There have long been tensions between people who like to recreate in the winter on skis or snowshoes and those who prefer riding on a snow machine.

But a newly proposed Forest Plan has brought the issue to a head.

Snowmobilers are upset because the Forest Service may recommend changing popular snowmobile play areas into wilderness, which is off limits to snowmobiling.

And some non-motorized users aren’t happy because the plan makes no changes with regard to snowmobiles, even though the machines themselves — and their use on the forest — have changed dramatically since the last plan was enacted some 20 years ago.

“Any time there’s a change, it rolls down to us,” said Cal Anderson, president and groomer of the Apple Country Snowmobile Club.

He said when a skier or other winter user gets injured or lost out in the woods in the winter, ski patrols or the sheriff’s office call out the snowmobile clubs to help in the search. But if some areas used for winter recreation become wilderness, snowmobiles won’t be able to respond there, he noted.

Anderson said he’s not aware of any issues between skiers and snowmobilers sharing trails. “We really don’t have a problem with the skiers or snowboarders in our area,” he said. “In Lake Wenatchee, they share their trails with the dog sledders. Everybody seems to slow down for them — same with the skiers.”

But some skiers say slowing down — while respectful and appreciated — isn’t really the issue, although noise, emissions and safety are reasons they think that sharing trails doesn’t work.

Bekker and Mullins say snowmobiles have taken over the forest in the wintertime, and no one’s doing anything about it. “Your average hiker or person that recreates in the summer, if they actually knew the extent of forest domination by snowmobile riding in the winter, I think they would be outraged,” Bekker said. “We’ve gotten to the point where, through default, and by non-management, they’ve come to accept that the entire forest should be open to motorized use in the winter.”

He said the agency should be preparing for more non-motorized users, as national trends from 2006 to 2010 show a 47 percent decline in the sale of snowmobiles, while backcountry skiing, snowshoeing and alpine ski touring all grew.

Mullins said when he first raised the issue with the Forest Service, officials told him to bring his concerns to a committee developing the new Forest Plan, so he did. But now that the plan is out, he finds no change with respect to snowmobiles.

Forest Service officials say they agree snowmobiling on the forest needs to be addressed. But it’s not part of the proposed Travel Management Plan, which covers only motorized vehicles used in the summer, and it doesn’t belong in the Forest Plan.

Margaret Hartzell, the Forest Plan revision leader, said the level of detail needed to set aside certain areas for non-motorized winter use doesn’t fit with the broad over-reaching planning that’s set out in the Forest Plan.

The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest recognizes that recreation trends are changing, and that snowmobiling must be addressed, said Mary Bean, Forest Service recreation manager. But currently, the agency is in the middle of reviewing a proposed Forest Plan and Travel Management Plan, and cannot take on another major forest-wide planning effort.

When the Forest Service does get around to developing a plan for winter recreation, it’s likely to cause a bit of a stir.

Andy Dappen, content editor for the online magazine WenatcheeOutdoors.org, said not even skiers and snowshoers agree among themselves about how the increasing use of snowmobiles should be addressed, particularly since some of them use snowmobiles to get to their favorite skiing spots. But most agree that there aren’t enough places set aside specifically for non-motorized users.

“The bigger issue for me is having places nearby where the average recreationist can go to have a quiet, relaxing outing,” he said. “Nowadays, life is pretty ramped up, and cross country skiers and snowshoers look at the outdoors as a quiet place to unwind. This isn’t compatible with the speed and noise of snowmobiles.”

He said it appears to be a problem, not just on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, but in many areas where snowmobilers and cross country and backcountry skiers mix. “It seems like an issue that hasn’t had an easy fix,” he said.

K.C. Mehaffey: 997-2512

mehaffey@wenatcheeworld.com