[pct-l] Chainsaws and Wilderness

[Eric Lee]

Ken wrote:
>
I think those who advocate that it is impossible for there to be a
wilderness experience when chainsaws are allowed, need to explain why I
never hear anyone complain about travelling through wilderness in Yosemite,
Yellowstone, SEKI, etc?
>

It's a complicated issue, for sure.  I'm fairly active in trail maintenance
in northern Washington, I'm a certified PCTA sawyer for both chainsaw and
crosscut, and I'm generally in favor of the machinery ban in designated
wilderness areas.

I'm not sure how national parks intersect with designated wilderness.  For
sure, Yellowstone isn't designated wilderness - there are autos, motorboats,
and snowmobiles all over the park all year round.  I love Yellowstone - it's
one of my favorite places on earth, but it's not a wilderness as defined by
the Wilderness Act and doesn't fulfill the goals set forth by that Act.
Does Yosemite National Park have designated Wilderness areas within it?
Yosemite Valley for sure isn't.

In any case, National Parks have the advantage of an active oversight
organization that can closely monitor and control use patterns day to day.
The rules are what the Park Service says they are and they enforce them.  By
contrast, most designated Wilderness areas have very little hands-on
oversight and pretty much the only thing protecting the way they're used is
the language of the Wilderness Act itself.  "Slippery slope" arguments are
sometimes bogus but in this case I think it's a strong argument.  The
Wilderness Act draws a clear line against use of mechanized equipment of any
type for the express purpose of maintaining the primitive atmosphere of
those places.  It includes exactly one exception for preservation of life,
but that's it.  If we start making exceptions for the sake of simple
convenience of any particular group of people, where does it stop?  It's a
pain to pack your chainsaw in 30 miles on foot, too.  How about a couple of
jeep roads so we can truck in large trail crews and get a lot of work done
quickly?  Once you have jeep roads, who gets to use them?  Remember, there
often isn't anyone advocating for the integrity of these places on a daily
basis.  The only protection they have is the respect we pay to the
Wilderness Act.  If that goes away, there isn't much protection left.

There are reasonable arguments in the other direction, too.  That's ok.

Eric