Re: Please Clarify...


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Posted by curt on May 20, 2002 at 01:50:37:

In Reply to: Please Clarify... posted by hank jr on May 17, 2002 at 20:40:37:

Thanks for the statistics, but really, I have done my research. Yes, I've been on a 1/2 dozen trips into the backcounty of 2 of the 3 large wilderness areas that you mentioned. The Trinity Alps have been totally logged out of their old growth and the miners tore down entire mountainsides in their day. (and we already about the indigenous) This history is repeated throughout the west. The Carson Iceberg Wilderness still allows cattle on most of their land, severely eroding and compacting soils, muddying rivers…. The ecological balance of California is worlds away from what it was a mere 150 years ago. I’m not against logging, or mining or grazing done well but I also believe that there needs to be places that natural evolution can take place free from the impact of human needs. I point out these two examples only to show that just because an area has some governmental status doesn’t mean that it’s integrity hasn’t been or won’t be severely compromised.

Human impact is different in different bio-regions and I don’t wish to mix up forests with deserts although many of the same principles apply. I really don’t know the particulars of Surprise Canyon Road closure. Never been there. I don’t know the particulars. I may have stepped into a bit of a hornets’ nest on that one. I made my original post in response to the Sierra Club being labeled as eco-kooks. I thought that the Sierra Club was trying to counter the popular notion that the desert is a lifeless area worthy of only bombing ranges, toxic waste dumps and orv playgrounds.


Question: What do you think that these eco-kooks’ aims are? What is wrong with holding a bio-region’s health above our right to drive through it? I suppose it’s a matter of priorities and competing science. Where some people see cars as innocuous and others as destructive. We then gather the data to support our goals. I think we can all agree that when a plant, insect or animal population is dwindling its habitat is in jeopardy.

I want my daughter’s grandchildren to know of the existence of wild places where non-human evolution has been proceeding ever since that last ice age. There is a growing demand to open up more and more areas of our state for development, recreation and resource extraction. I still contend that without the presence of these environmental groups, California's wild areas would be in much worse shape.I don’t pretend to influence anyone’s opinion through a post but I do feel the need to defend the aims of ‘those eco-kooks’.

Respectfully,
Curt



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