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Re: [pct-l] Is LNT all we need?

Once again, I wanted to show my appreciation for a great series Charlie;
despite any mud-slinging, Nazi smear tactics, or McCarthyistic brainwashing
included!  This is the type of stuff these types of lists are made of, very
good wholesome broadening dialogue.  I find myself, admittedly wrong, often
with the attitude that you described:  an ex thru-hiker who feels like he
knows all about the outdoors, and cannot learn anything else.  But I find
through this list in particular that I am continually educated and
broadened on a variety of topics.  I'm banking all of this knowledge away
for my PCT hike someday (hopefully 1999).  Hopefully with everything, I can
hit the trail more responsible and a better hiker.  Thanks again Charlie,
and everyone else contributing constructive messages!  

-Bald Eagle GA->ME '95
Andy Somers
São Paulo, Brasil 

----------
> From: Charlie Thorpe <charliethorpe@worldnet.att.net>
> To: pct-l@saffron.hack.net
> Subject: [pct-l] Is LNT all we need?
> Date: Segunda-feira, 04 Maio, 1998 12:46 AM
> 
> Hello Ron -
> 
> Nice post!  I do enjoy a posting that takes the trouble to explain where
> the ideas are coming from <g>.
> 
> I find that I agree with many of your observations and with many of the
> conclusions that you are drawing from them.
> 
> You said:
> 
> >Over the years since it's inception the AT has undergone numerous
> >changes.  Often to the dismay of the previous generation. As a result
> >we tend to rail against the new comers as uncouth vagabonds that
> >shouldn't be caught within ten miles of our sacred trail.
> >The truth is, change is enviable. This is true for the PCT also. Much
> >of the damage on the AT is blamed on the new comers while we tend to
> >overlook many other equally important factors...
> 
> Yeah...the good old "shut the door after I am in" syndrome <VBG>.  I
agree
> that it happens in all aspects of life and that it might be happening in
> some of the philosophical debates occuring on all of the "Great Trail"
> lists from time to time.
> 
> I am not aware of it playing any role in the development and
implementation
> of the LNT program.  In fact, from my personal observations and from
> discussions with other LNT trainers, I would have to say the opposite is
> true: LNT is being accepted MUCH quicker by the new generation of outdoor
> folks than it is by us old(er) fogies <g>.
> 
> I think that most LNT'ers that I have met would agree that our biggest
> training hurdle (by far!) lies in "undoing" attitudes/skills that made
> perfectly good sense when we learned them at our outdoor mentor's knee.
> That modern research has shown some of these attitudes/skills to be no
> longer appropriate for modern backcountry conditions is NOT a matter for
> "blame"...rather, IMHO, it IS a matter for education!
> 
> But still, young or old, skilled or unskilled, nothing will start to
happen
> until somehow significant numbers of us get access to the LNT message.
> 
> You said:
> 
> >Damage is due only in part to the increase in trail traffic. A larger
> >and greater damage is cause by actions taken often far away from the
> >trails...
> 
> Yes.  Often much of the damage being done to our favorite backcountry
areas
> is caused by factors that we have zero direct control over (i.e., cows on
> the PCT).  We can try to figure out how we can gain some measure of
control
> (petition the managing agency, political action, monkey-wrenching, shoot
a
> cow or two, etc.)...but, no matter how successful we are (or aren't) it
> still doesn't change one basic fact.  One source of backcountry damage
that
> we have ABSOLUTE control over lies in the impacts that we personally
create
> every time we visit the backcountry.  We make 'em...we can STOP making
'em!
> 
> You said:
> 
> >I don't have a problem with LNT but if we lull ourselves in believing
> >that it will somehow solve the ills of the wilderness, we're barking
> >up the wrong tree...
> 
> No and yes.  No it won't solve all of our backcountry ills, yes it can
help
> a HUGE amount with those ills that are directly related to the increasing
> numbers of folks using the backcountry.  Even if we somehow find and
elect
> the perfect politician to solve the global "system" problems that plague
> our backcountry...we still will be faced with the incremental damage
being
> done by the ever increasing crowds of backcountry users.  IMHO, LNT has
> little place getting involved in the (political) "system" solution...it
IS
> the best that I have found yet to help create a realistic/practical
> "incremental damage" solution.
> 
> I said:
> 
> >There appears to be NOWHERE near the AT-levels of dependable
> >long-term support infrastructure available.
> 
> You said:
> 
> >Well it's that infrastructure that's in part responsible for changing
> >the character of the trail. In a post today Dan "Wingfoot"...
> 
> I probably didn't make my point clearly enough.  The support
infrastructure
> that I was referring to is the one that supports the trail itself
> (organizations that do maintenance activity, political action groups,
> etc.), not the one that supports the trail users.
> 
> We now seem to be almost totally dependent on the (sometimes fickle) feds
> to support the PCT.  The PCTA appears to be working hard at getting the
> needed long-term support infrastructure together...but there is a LONG
way
> to go!
> 
> You said:
> 
> >If we really want to make LNT work, maybe we should expand it to
> >provide suggestions on how our individual daily decisions effect the
> >environment, both local and global.
> 
> Remember, LNT is really a "process" that is designed to help us
> develop/maintain a deeply felt "wilderness ethic" that allows us to make
> day-to-day decisions that support our backcountry instead of destroying
> it...NOT a simple set of "rules".
> 
> This very logical (and ultimately very ethical) process can work well for
> us anytime we need to create a "decision making system" for ourselves. 
Try
> exchanging "work ethic" (or "parenting ethic", or some such) for
> "wilderness ethic"...it makes for some interesting trail discussions <g>.
> 
> Thanks for the interesting posting!
> 
> Trace No Leaves,
> 
> - Charlie II
> 
> 
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