Snowkiters flying above Forest Service wilderness rules for now

Three years ago, Chris Sabo first saw the colorful kites twisting above the snowy contours of Ball Butte. The Deschutes National Forest trails specialist was patrolling the boundary of the Three Sisters Wilderness west of Bend on a snowmobile when he came across a group of snowkiters, who harness the wind to pull them across the snow on skis or snowboards. "I do remember the big question was, 'Is this legal technically?'" recalled Sabo. That question could soon lead to one of the first changes to the U.S. Forest Service's wilderness regulations in more than two decades. "It has rapidly made its way up to the Washington office" of the Forest Service, said Shane Jeffries, Bend-Fort Rock District Ranger in Bend and Sabo's supervisor. The small sport of snowkiting is about a decade old in Oregon, but it's growing. Congressionally designated wilderness areas have been around since the 1960s. The recent intersection of the two demonstrates how government agencies react as the way we play on public lands continues to change. "Periodically new things pop up on us that we just can't envision," said Sabo. It happened with hang gliding and, more recently, Geocaching -- a GPS-driven treasure hunt popular on public lands. Now it seems it's snowkiting's turn to bow to the bureaucracy...The Oregonian

"bow to the beaucracy" - when it comes to wilderness, that's a pretty accurate phrase.

Can you fly a kite in a wilderness area? Wonder what Benjamin Franklin would say.