[pct-l] Why MTB's will never be on the PCT

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

On Oct 21, 2012, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Me <hikerighthikeleft at gmail.com>
> Subject: [pct-l] Why MTB's will never be on the PCT
>
> the USFS shows
> an impartial image towards bikes. What I see happening is the USFS  
> heading
> off a stronger assault in the future by opening up the issue now

What people need to understand about the forest service is that it is  
not a conservation organization. It's role is to manage the use of  
the resource. Their goal is to manage all the uses of the resource so  
that all users get a slice of the pie. They lean more heavily toward  
allowing and managing extractive uses rather than conservational ones  
most of the time since just leaving things be is not really "using"  
the resource. So the forest service doesn't see anything as being an  
"assault" at all. Just another use to manage.