[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [pct-l] True wilderness

Philippe,

Please understand that all I say in that next few paragraphs will be only
my opinion.

It seems to me that the American understanding and use of wilderness has a
historical-political-economic side to it as well as a recreational one.
From the late 1700s on, the nation's forests, grasslands, rivers, etc.
have been used by individuals and governments to extract resources from
and to derive revenue. Individuals who needed "elbow room," speculators
who wished to make a profit, and the federal government all made decisions
and took actions that impacted the forests, mountains, and waters.

There were early preservationists and conservations as well. The
Langford-Washburn-Doane expedition of 1870 in the Yellowstone area of
northwest Wyoming led to the creation of the nation's first national park
in 1872 (first administered by the U.S. Army). Theodore Roosevelt, between
1902 and 1905, doubled the number of national parks, created 16 national
monuments, 51 wildlife refuges, and tripled the national forest reserves.

In the last few decades, environmental legislation has served to protect
many individual species, and in the process, many thousands of hectares of
land. These efforts have not been without their detractors, nor have all
such actions been beneficial to the human users of the land. Thus, in some
instances, regulations and use have had polarizing effects, drawing people
into different camps regarding the use of national forests and wilderness
areas, and some of the members, on the fringe of acceptable beliefs and
practices, have practiced various forms of domestic terrorism in efforts
to politicize their viewpoints. 

I don't think that it can be truthfully said that any American wilderness
exists today that has not felt the impact of humankind's influence. And,
it may be, that so long as wilderness areas continue to exist, or be
created by legislative action or presidential decree, Americans will be
divided on how wildernesses should be used. 

Leave No Trace practices allow for the use of some discretion in how to
carry them out. Of course, there will be those LNTers who disagree. There
will be politicians and business people who want to bulldoze new roads and
log all the timber possible. There will be some folks who continue to
commit ecotage. And there will be a huge number of recreational users
who want to have places where they can go to play, to recharge spiritual
batteries, to enjoy solitude, to observe the wondrous interplay of natural
phemomena.

I belong to the latter group.

Craig W. Smith      FAX: (417) 873-7432
Associate Librarian      Phone:    (417) 873-7339
F. W. Olin Library       E-mail:   csmith@lib.drury.edu
Drury College
Springfield, MO 65802

"O Solitude! If I must with thee dwell, let it not be among the jumbled
heaps of murky buildings--Climb with me the steep, Nature's
Observatory..." 


* From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List | For info http://www.hack.net/lists *

==============================================================================