Dear HCN,
I almost needed earplugs
to read your cover story, “STOP: A national forest tries to rein in
recreation” (HCN, 1/17/00); seems that some folks thought their
oxen would never get gored, and are now caterwauling as if flesh
wounds were fatalities. It’s kind of entertaining, and long
overdue.
Recreation has become, with our
technology and our exploding population, an extractive industry,
one as potentially destructive of wildlife and ecosystems as
mining, logging or agribusiness can be. This is a depressing, but
accurate, admission; we need to make it, then act accordingly. The
motorized crowd and the ski industry do most of the damage and will
suffer the greatest curtailments, either now or eventually. But
mountain bikers, cross-country skiers, equestrians and, yes,
backpackers and hikers (my own ox pasture companions) will have to
act responsibly as well, and accept limits. Closing roads is
paramount, and Alternative D makes a good, though modest, start.
Pedestrians are affected by road closures, because trailheads get
drawn back out of the core, enticing backcountry to more buffering
locations, and these increased distances will discourage some
hikers. Most backpackers are motorists, even at times
four-wheelers; I’ve only recently gotten rid of my old Toyota 4×4,
and will henceforth go Greyhound or not at all. It can no longer be
ignored, the first law of wildlife and wilderness protection:
Access kills, and easy access kills easily, and
quickly.
I would go so far as to propose an
Alternative Z, which would establish what might be called “zones of
forbearance’ – areas where no human entry is allowed. Let wolverine
and lynx, desert tortoise and coatimundi have a bit of true refuge;
our official wildlife “refuges’ are too often anything
but.
It will be very embarrassing if we
public-lands visitors begin demanding absolute scientific data to
justify any and all restrictions, behaving just like the coal and
auto industries in the face of global warming. Let’s instead teach
by example, exercising the same self-restraint we so often urge
upon others.
John
Wahl
Flagstaff, Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Goring our own oxen.
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