[at-l] Wilderness areas and maintenace....

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob C.)]

Wilderness areas don't just happen. They have to be fought for, often for
decades, before the politicians can be persuaded to restrict the use of some
areas only to hikers. It took at least 20 years to persuade the Forest Service
and then Congress to designate the Caribou-Speckled Wilderness, a few miles from
the trail in Maine.

 If we demand the right to use chainsaws to maintain our trails in wilderness
 areas, we'll be laughed out of Congress the next time we fight for wilderness
 designation.

 Wilderness has very few champions, especially in national forests where people
 are used to using ATVs, and snowmobiles, and where you are competing with the
 economic interests of the wood-using industries.

 Weary