KirkW

Good luck on your quest to close down one of this nations most treasured assets. Once you successfully close our national parks I'm sure that even more people will become tireless defenders of wilderness since they'll have even less access to it than they do now. “There’s nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” – Ansel Adams

Yawn

Sure. If you leave off the last part. Parse it however you want.

I took this to mean repeal the wilderness act but I guess you could parse it differently if you were so inclined.

We've been living under a police state for years now and it's only getting worse. Glad some of you are starting to notice that it's gotten out of hand. It's well past time this country realizes that we have an out of control law enforcement system and a tangled mess of laws that even they don't understand. The cops certainly have plenty of defenders though. That squeaky clean segment of the population that "has nothing to hide". Sure you don't. Feel free to post the contents of your hard drive if you think you're perfect. Feel free to call me prejudiced. Anyone that chooses to work in law enforcement these days is complicit with so many systemic crimes and constitutional violations of citizens that I'm afraid their "bad apple" arguments don't sway my opinion much. I'm wary of cops and anyone with half a brain should be too. Unfortunately it appears most in this shit hole country are walking around with less than half a functioning brain. This board being no exception apparently. I fail to see why a broken NPS LE system means the citizens should be robbed of their public lands and the wilderness act repealed but there's a lot of crazy things people think and say these days that don't make much sense.

Back in 2009 this approach would usually take 4.5 hrs but with all the spandex and featherweight first aid kits available these days folks are getting it done much quicker.

The "migration corridor isn't all that blocked"...huh? This statement sounds about as scientifically accurate as something my father would say when discussing climate change. Don't worry...chances are you're old enough that you'll be long dead before there's a significant enough population of Grizz up there that you'll have to worry about getting "torn to shreds". BTW...Grizz kill a fraction of the humans that black bears take out every year but keep on believing and spreading this nonsense that black bears are cute, docile and totally afraid of humans while Grizz are blood thirsty killers. Most people will believe you when you spread that lie because they don't know a damn thing about bears they didn't learn from cartoons, advertising or movies. Response to this thread is pretty disappointing. I figured more of you would be for restoring a vibrant population of one of the largest and most impressive N American mammals to part of it's historic range. I guess we see now why they were poisoned, trapped, hunted and harassed nearly to extinction and no one gave a shit about them until it was too late. It's a lot easier to act as if they have no right to be there because it might impact where you can park your car and enjoy a well manicured hike in the woods. NIMBY!

Well, that's not what I was implying but the idea might work. You first.

Spreading people out to relieve trail congestion will only work in the short term. From what I can tell is seems that adding easier access does not equal trail maintenance. Rather it appears to mean adding huge parking lots, garbage cans, cars, more horses, fee boxes, dog shit and tons of clueless people who've never heard of LNT. Better to just keep that crowd on the land they've already discovered because they're going to wreck it wherever they go. Eventually we'll run out of places to disperse them to. Then what? Yes, It's way past time for the big gear makers and the giant corps that have made billions off the surge of new outdoor enthusiasts get in on the conservation, preservation and restoration act in a way that is more than just fodder for their monthly marketing campaigns. I'm not aware of anyone in the industry that's pushing something similar to Dingell/Johnson or Pittman/Robertson. If you want to affect change you'd be much better served by lobbying the corps that lobby congress. If you can get people to stop giving their money to the multi billion dollar companies that pay off our legislatures you might get someone to pay attention. Good luck with that.

Thanks

Do you have a link to the EIS? All Google is finding for me is dead links.

While I completely agree with the sentiment that it would be great to just let these populations rebound or spread "naturally" the reality is that this will never happen without human intervention. The historical travel corridors that connect currently suitable habitat are gone and will not be returning unless we removed humans from the landscape. It's all about the habitat and the ability of animals to move freely within it. I agree that we need to put more focus on respecting and protecting the land but unless we're going to rip out all the dams, tear up our highways, cease land development and stop putting out forest fires and controlling other "natural" but devastating events, there isn't a snowballs chance in hell that Grizz will repopulate on their own. If people want them back in the N Cascades we're going to have to put them there. We can't manage some parts of the system and then expect the others to function "naturally". I don't think this is at all presumptuous. Rather, It's the reality that having nearly 8 billion people on the planet brings us to. Edit to add : Although not directly related to the issue at hand... Radiolab did an excellent series of podcasts focused on the Galapagos islands and the efforts to "save" the tortoises on Pinta island. Anyone interested in wildlife reintroduction issues might find them interesting and thought provoking. "Resurrection" delves into the issue the most. http://www.radiolab.org/story/galapagos/

I wish I still aid climbed Ivan. Despite the fact that I've given up the habit, I'd love to share a camel at a belay station with you again. Long live the Grizz

Zinke is a tool of the highest order but even a broken clock is right twice a day. I'm all for restoring Grizz to any of their native range that is reasonable. The amount of apes taking up space in prime habitat is a bit problematic though. Maybe I'll get the chance to hunt Grizz before my days are up! "Cattlemen were incensed, stating they have already faced too much carnage from the return of the wolf to Washington"

First week of July is the latest you want to ski it. Typically the glissading crew takes over management of the mountain right around the 4th and the south side routes soon turn into a pock marked mixture of boot tracks and bathtub sized sun cups. Skills honed at the resort will get you down the chutes no problem but that's only a few minutes of your day.Has anyone in your party done any volcano touring? There can be a lot of suffering done on Adams if you're not ready for it. Set your party up for success and try something smaller, earlier in the season and give yourselves plenty of time to futz around with gear and take pictures. If everyone enjoys that, rinse and repeat on something bigger.