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8 SNOWEST DECEMBER 2009 SnoWest Magazine is published 8 times per year by Harris Publishing, Inc., 360 B Sreet, Idaho Falls, ID 83402 (208-524-7000). Harris PublisHing, inc. Jason Harris—President Chuck Harris—Vice President Ryan Harris—Vice President Steve Janes—Vice President Clayton Ward—Treasurer Janet Chase—Secretary advertising and editorial offices: 360 B Street, Idaho Falls, ID 83402; Phone: 208-524-7000; Fax: 208-522-5241. subscription services / address change: SnoWest, 360 B Street, Idaho Falls, ID 83402; 1-800-638-0135. subscription rates: SnoWest, $19.95 per year. Back issues, when available, $5.00 each. Copyright (c) 2009, Harris Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is strictly prohibited. www.snoWest.com PUBLISHER STEVE JANES EDITOR LANE LINDSTROM TECH EDITOR RYAN HARRIS EDITORIAL ASSISTANT KAISJA CLARK SNOWEST TEST STAFF LANE LINDSTROM STEVE JANES MARK BOURBEAU RYAN HARRIS ADVERTISING MANAGER GREGG MANWARING gm@snowest.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES DEAN COWLEY dean@snowest.com MARK EVANS mevans@snowest.com MARKETING DIRECTOR ROBIN BLACK robin@snowest.com SNOW GROUP SECRETARY CAMILLE TYLER camille@snowest.com PRODUCTION MANAGER JANET CHASE DESIGN LAVON HORNE PRODUCTION JIM DONOVAN APRIL FREDERICK IT DIRECTOR CHUCK HARRIS CONTROLLER CLAYTON WARD ACCOUNTING LAURA RAFFERTY CIRCULATION YVONNE YOUNG EULA ENDECOTT Whose Job Is It? By Lane Lindstrom Runnin' On Empty I was sitting in a lecture hall at a local university the other day and noticed a bank of burned out lights in the ceiling. I don't know how long the lights have been burned out and while noticeable to me, there was still adequate light in the room. Maybe no one else noticed it. I also don't know the procedure at that university to get something like that reported and fixed. But here's what I'm guessing is going on. The professor I was listening to lectures in that hall a couple of times a week and while there he is busy running herd on 25 or so college students. Maybe he's noticed the burned out lights but hasn't reported it. The students are busy listening to and taking notes from that same professor and may or may not have noticed the burned out lights. If they have noticed, it just doesn't affect them that much. The person who cleans the lecture hall is probably so busy trying to get his work done that he's rushing through each room in the building to get it all clean before the next day of classes. He might have made a mental note to report the burned out lights but forgot or just didn't get it done. My guess is that most who enter that lecture hall are assuming or at least thinking that someone else will report the burned out lights so it can be taken care of. Meanwhile, the lights are still burned out. That same thing is happening in the public lands debates all over the West. Are outdoor recreationists assuming someone else is taking care of defending our right to recreate on public lands? Sure, some recreationists are paying attention to our version of the burned out lights (taking away access to public lands) but not near enough of them. And those few people are doing their best to do something about it. Again, they are just a few troops fighting the battle when an entire army is needed. There are basically two groups of snowmobilers: hard core and recre- ational. I have no idea what the per- centage is of each group who are those few troops while the other larger per- centage stands idly by thinking some- one else will take care of our issues. Thank God there are at least those few troops willing to write a letter, attend a meeting or call their Congressmen or we would most likely be sitting in a dark room just looking at our sleds. What group do you align yourself with? Better yet, are you one of the few doing something about all the public lands issues facing winter recreation- ists—there is definitely no shortage of issues—or are you waiting for someone else to report the burned out lights? continued on page 33