[at-l] Wilderness "Mechanism"

[rickboudrie@hotmail.com (rick boudrie)]

"The "light" is the Trail and how MacKaye intended it."

And how is that?  I have only read his 1921 article.  There are some things 
in that article that make a whole lot of sense to me.  Like the part about 
how spending "two weeks on the mountain top would show up many things about 
life during the other fifty weeks down below". I like the part about how the 
project would call out for volunteerism.

On the otherhand, that article speaks about a whole range of things that I 
think would simply be catastrophic to the Trail as we know it. For example, 
his call for volunteer labor is massive-- specifically, he calls for the 
equivalent of 40,000 FULL TIME workers for the project.  Ouch.  He speaks of 
a string of Swiss Style Chalets, some serving food.  Ouch.  I am a big 
supporter of the huts, but I would hate to see that concept extended even in 
an improved/idealistic manifestation.  He speaks of massive recreational 
communities along the Trail.  Ouch.  Some of the other parts of that article 
seem inspired more by the political economists of his day than by any 
environmental ethic.

Of course, MacKaye wrote other stuff too.  Perhaps, some of what he has 
written can shed some light on how we deal with the Trail and the outdoors 
today.  I'm not so sure, however.  Perhaps those who know him better can set 
me straight on that.  Hopefully with something more than "He was great, read 
his letters and textbook.  Regional planning, my boy".  I could go and try 
to research that but, for now, I think I will go back and reread "A Sand 
County Almanac" instead.  Its around here somewhere.


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com