Washington, DC — An attempt to establish a national park policy governing hoverboards, e-scooters, and Segways leaves much to be desired, according to public comments filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Wilderness Watch. The National Park Service (NPS) is proposing each park superintendent set rules for usage of these “Powered Micromobility Devices” subject to few parameters, allowing for inconsistent treatment of these devices from park to park and within a park with each change of superintendent.

“The national park system is supposed to be operated as one system, united by a single purpose,” stated PEER Board Member Frank Buono, a retired 25-year NPS manager. “This proposed rule gives too much latitude to individual park superintendents and affords insufficient protection for park resources.”

With a public comment period ending on March 17^th, the proposed rule contains only one major restriction – that these motorized devices may not be used in designated wilderness. Yet, the Wilderness Act already forbids motorized transportation, generally, thus the rule provides no additional protection. At the same time, the proposal does not mention –

• Recommended Wilderness. Congress has yet to ratify the presidential recommendation to designate wilderness over 5 million acres in 17 national parks ranging from Glacier in Montana to Big Bend in Texas;
• Proposed Wilderness. NPS has also proposed wilderness in six national park units: Bighorn Canyon, Cape Lookout, Glen Canyon, Grand Canyon, Lake Mead (the Arizona portions) and Voyageurs;
• Eligible Wilderness. These are lands the NPS has formally determined are “eligible” for wilderness designation. NPS policy says these lands should be managed to protect their wilderness character, but the proposed rule could create needless conflict; and
• Sensitive Areas. Many park units have areas of wildlife critical habitat, natural quiet, battlefields, cultural landscapes, and historic properties – listed or eligible for listing – that may be adversely affected by motorized traffic.

PEER is recommending that all these areas be made explicitly off-limits to hoverboards and other such devices both to be consistent with other NPS policies and to protect superintendents from being pressured to make exceptions that will be hard to undo later or limit.

In recent years, PEER successfully litigated against an NPS decision to open all parks to e-bikes without requiring environmental assessment as to potential impacts.

“We are not sure what the motivation for this policy is or why this would be a priority now,” added PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse, noting that the proposal emerged in the last weeks of the Biden administration. “We urge the Park Service to be more mindful of the potential impacts of national policies authorizing mechanized visitation,”

###

Look at NPS proposed guidance on hovercraft and other micromobility devices

Read the PEER/Wilderness Watch comments

Examine vast orphaned national park wilderness

Revisit the national park e-bikes fiasco