[pct-l] My plans,in a nutshell

[giniajim]

Read "Don Coyote"; very good explanation about the complex and interwoven nature of the environment.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Melanie Clarke 
  To: Paul Robison 
  Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net 
  Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 10:30 PM
  Subject: Re: [pct-l] My plans,in a nutshell


  Dear PCT,

  We don't want to upset the delicate ecosystems.  Rattlesnakes keep the
  rodent population down.  You take out this valuable member and the rodent
  population will explode.  I'm not a biologist but rodents carry diseases,
  maybe they will destroy plant life, which could lead to erosion etc.  I read
  an article from the Sierra Club on how the entire ecosystem of the
  Yellowstone area was destroyed just because they killed all the wolves.
  Deer and Moose exploded, ate all the vegetation, I can't remember but it
  devastated the water streams and systems.  They explained it very clearly, I
  should go look for it.  Anyway, after they re-introduced the wolves the
  balance has been almost restored after 5-10 years, again, I don't have the
  exact facts but you get the idea.

  With so many people traveling along the PCT, I don't think we should be
  harvesting the plant life either.  We can get food, the animals can't.  I
  think we should be self sustaining along the trail and not take food from
  the wild life.  I know it's "cool" to survive like the Indians did 400 years
  ago but hunter gatherer societies can't support as many people as we have
  now.  Even "back in the day", hunter gatherer societies would devastate
  their ecosystems and have to move on to devastate another area.  They were
  always on the move.  That is just unsustainable with the enormous
  populations we have now.

  Melanie