Yellowknife (Apr 18/03) - Council will reconsider restricting snowmobile use in Willow Flats after Old Town resident Mike Byrne argued that the ban was unnecessary.

Council voted 4-3 to send the snowmobiling bylaw back to administration, even though the bylaw was only on the table for a simple "housekeeping" matter.

City administrators responded last week to a petition asking that Willow Flats be off-limits to snowmobilers.

The 30 residents who signed the petition said unrestrained snowmobiling in the area would destroy vegetation and habitat for creatures like voles and ptarmigans.

The wetlands are already a restricted area, but mislabelled in legal description in the bylaw, city administration found.

Because snowmobiling is already banned there, the law was before council only to bring the legal description up to date.

Byrne, alerted to the ban by last week's Yellowknifer story, argued to council that Willow Flats has a long history as a transportation link from Great Slave Lake to Old Town for dogsleds and snowmobiles.

Byrne said two scientific studies of heavy equipment on vegetation in Alaska found that dispersed traffic was easier on vegetation than repeated traffic on a specific track.

He also suggested that the Old Town cat population has a much more detrimental effect on wildlife than snowmobiles.

"If you're going to restrict snowmobiling, maybe to be fair, you should look at restricting cats from that area," Byrne said.

After 20 minutes of debate on the issue, Coun. Wendy Bisaro reminded council that a simple clarification, and not a snowmobiling restriction, was the issue on the table.

Coun. Robert Hawkins suggested council take the opportunity to give the bylaw a thorough look.

"We can incorporate a look at speed concerns and safer interactions between different groups out on the trails."