Dear HCN,
I applaud Annie Conner
and the Clearwater National Forest in their efforts to erase roads
and recreate some semblance of an ecologically viable system in
north-central Idaho (HCN, 11/8/99).
Although I,
too, have used many a Forest Service road, I will gladly curtail my
off-road driving time for the good of the system, of which I am but
a small part, and the enjoyment of those able to enjoy such a space
without the aid of internal combustion. I want to make clear that I
wholly support a gentle, restorative ecology. I also have some
questions.
If I understand correctly, most of
those Forest Service roads were built for the timber companies, not
by them, through healthy government subsidies and incentives. Now,
after the timber industry has made its monies, leaving a
much-changed landscape and a “boom-bust” local economy in its wake,
the taxpayer is being called upon again to remove these roads (a
use of my tax dollars I actually feel comfortable
about).
But why is it that my government will
create a road for a timber company, cut a swath for an electric
utility company and impound water for ranching, yet won’t maintain
a simple hiking trail unless I personally pay for it? I am not
oblivious to the swiftly mounting visitation pressures these Forest
Service lands, and personnel, are facing. Two things would seem to
be a logical outgrowth of such a reality: an aggressive lands-use
education campaign, to allow our young to be informed recreators in
the future, and an increase in tax dollars being spent (not
collected) on maintaining those unique landscapes for current and
future generations.
Yet, what do I see? My
government, which continues to subsidize logging on my national
lands, as well as mining and an overabundance of ranching, is now
asking that I pay an additional fee, at the door. If coal can be
taken, and turned to profit, and lumber can be taken, and turned to
profit; if water can be taken and turned to profit, why can’t I
take a hike?
Dave
Sherman
Flagstaff,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Why fee me?.
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