Dear HCN,
Writer Dyan Zaslowsky
suggests that we stay home and give parks a rest (HCN, 9/16/96),
which ticks me off for two reasons: If you go more than three miles
on almost any trail, you are going to be alone. So the issue of
parks being elbow-to-elbow with people is silly. Crowding is
usually confined to parking lots, scenic overlooks and visitor
centers.
More important, even if I were wrong
about this applying to backcountry hiking, resting natural lands is
not a proper solution to the problem of overcrowding. That is best
dealt with by increasing the size and distribution of public areas.
And that’s a message for Capitol
Hill.
Cody L.
Arenz
Lincoln,
Nebraska
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Let’s increase the supply of outdoors.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
