Yesterday in the NYT there was an op ed bemoaning the stringent enactment of the Wilderness Act and the fact that so much of our lands have received designated wilderness protections
Aw Wilderness NYT August 26 2010
Footprints out onto the shore ice Beaufort Sea, Arctic Ocean, January 90
.At first I had hoped that there would be something about lack of access. At one time I spent a winter and spring on the border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and I realized that other than people who worked there, or the original inhabitants of the area (Inuit) the incredibly beautiful Refuge is inaccessible to any but the most affluent in our society.
After an opening about lack of signage making hard to find one's way, the writer got to where he was headed in his essay.
Over the decades an obvious contradiction has emerged between preservation and access. As the Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management — each of which claims jurisdiction over different wilderness areas — adopted stricter interpretations of the act, they forbade signs, baby strollers, certain climbing tools and carts that hunters use to carry game.
Then later this.
Part of the problem is that many of today’s common outdoor activities were unheard of in 1964, including trail cycling and wind-powered skiing. In forbidding them, the agencies invoke the Wilderness Act’s ban on "mechanical transport." But the act’s legislative history makes clear that Congress never intended to stop people from using their own power to travel or shepherd their children, or from using light mechanical assistance that leaves no lasting trace.
I think what this boils down to is certain user groups can’t participate in their favorite thing, whatever that is, or they have to participate at a more basic level.
Actually that is exactly why I like wilderness areas. Hunters don’t care about carts, they want to ride their ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles), climbers can’t use battery operated power drills to make holes in the rock for expansion bolts, no mountain bikes, no heli-skiing. Oh my gosh you have to carry your kid!! And heaven forbid there aren’t enough signs. How to find one’s way without signage?
Many wilderness areas are hardly wilderness, but anything that can be done to help them retain any wild ness is well worth doing, even if that means a user group that you or I belong to has to give up a little of our mechanical assistance to do so.
Lastly the good part.
In March 2009, President Obama signed a law protecting 3,125 more square miles, the largest expansion in more than a generation.
Update: I did a google search on the author, seems he's a mountain biking advocate, one of the more destructive user groups.