Vermont's stand... Re: [at-l] "The Trail Isn't Really Wilderness Anyway..."

[sloetoe@yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

--- RoksnRoots@aol.com wrote:
>               6) The AT need for a natural viewshed is in
> direct conflict with ridgetop steel structures. Like most, the
Governor of Vermont gives as much notice to this as an elephant
does a spider web...

### I've glazed over much of this, but the comment above, even
if written in obvious ignorance, is ... too much. To wit:

1920s: The Long Trail, the nation's oldest long distance hiking
trail, and conceived by *private* citizens, is completed by the
volunteer Green Mtn Club (formed for the very purpose of
bringing this original idea to fruition). Benton MacKaye,
reportedly in a treetop on the (new) LT's Stratton Mtn., thinks
"Hey, this neat idea could be extended!..." The AT was conceived
by the genetic forebears of the LT, not as a gift from any
higher power. Further, the LT maintains itself *to* *this* *day*
as a *volunteer*, NON-GOVERNMENTAL endeavor, and stands as an
original, rude exception to those who say that only the heavy
hand of GUMMINT can save us.

1970s: Vermont nukes billboard advertising as an ugly blight on
the VIEWSHED they recognize as a primary economic driver in
their state. Thirty years later, they remain one of a handful of
states with such a proscription.

1980s: Acts "100" and a few years later "200" are passed. Hugely
impactful planning/zoning requirements, enacted statewide, to
confront the battle between the scenery-spurred development of
Vermont countryside (farms) and the preservation of that scenery
as the state's Golden Goose. Controversial, to this day the
battle rages. (Last I heard was that major overhauls are
contemplated -- some think to gut the Acts, some to preserve
their positive influence.) Yet all recognize that there *is* a
golden goose.

2002: RnR emits "the Governor of Vermont gives as much notice to
this as an elephant does a spider web." So:

### "Viewshed" is this state's bread and butter. Whether on a
side you prefer (ha!) or not, the topic is one familiar to every
Vermonter. 
### It's one thing to be an informed-if-irrational fanatic; it's
quite another to be uninformed-and-rightious.
1) The AT was conceived on the LT.
2) The LT was AND IS a volunteer effort of private citizens, not
a metastacizing boondoggle-in-waiting.
3) "Viewsheds" and their consideration DRIVE much of this state.

Sloetoe

=====
Spatior, Nitor, Nitor, In Nitor!

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