[at-l] Alternative Trails And Other Stuff

[RoksnRoots at aol.com (RoksnRoots@xxxxxxx)]

    Well if Jim and Weary want to ignore my posts fine, however, there's 
something about my AT integrity that can't let this kind of specious equivocation 
go unaddressed:


          " You want public preserves - so --- how much?  Where?  Why? "


        ~   MacKaye was very specific about this. Sounds like the same 
question being asked twice. It's obvious the best place those preserves should go is 
the place dedicated to them. That would be the AT. Seems simple enough 
doesn't it? The scientific answer is those places that best preserve natural 
ecosystems and concentrated intact areas of flora or fauna. The next answer is those 
places best adding to the sense of remoteness and wilderness and therefore 
"AT"... 




      " The AT needs very little in the way of new land acquisition to 
accomplish the basic purpose.   RnR's 10 to 20 mile wide swath already exists.  <> 
so how much of the Trail is really "unprotected" and "in danger" as Roks 
continually claims? "


         ~   This is self-exposing in itself. Read the ATN Jim. The AT is 
under perpetual threat wherever it is near private borders. Comparing the changes 
to the Trail from nearby development over the last decades and extrapolating 
the future changes on this basis would answer that question. It's really sort 
of a silly question. The difference between the Maine Earl Shaffer experienced 
and the one the Kingdoms' come proliferators desire is one answer. 

         Literally, the worst threat to the Trail is its conservation 
philosophy being lost to other interests...



    " You want to expand a single corridor that will generate massive 
political resistance and you ignore the  multiple corridors that NEED to be expanded. 
 Why?  Maybe because you're hung up on the AT as being the only trail worth 
fighting for?  That's dumb.  And for Roxy's benefit - Mackaye would have your 
tail roasting over a slow fire for allowing the opportunity to protect other 
trails to slip through your fingers by concentrating on only one corridor like 
that.    The AT's not the "only" trail in the world - or even the most 
important one. "


       ~  Here is where you have drawn a battle line against the AT and what 
it stands for Jim. This is a false argument and I'll explain why. First off, 
this scenario doesn't come close to acknowledging the present reality. Those 
other trails are in the same state and just as threatened as the AT. The lean-to 
liability issue on the Cohos Trail is a good example. If your policy of 
laying back on the AT is carried out it is most likely NONE of the trails will 
acquire any new buffers. If the AT is allowed to lapse off its stated purpose, it 
will only stand as a good example of the prime national hiking trail reaching 
its apex and surrendering to the legitimacy of expanding sprawl containment. I 
can't say the things I feel like saying to you Mr Owen.

            Benton MacKaye would tan your britches for using his name in a 
quote that worked against his real purposes. There is no case where he would 
consent to retreat from AT fulfillment. His leaving the Project shows how he felt 
towards that. Make no mistake, the slogan "the AT isn't the only trail in the 
world" is just an obvious excuse for not fully backing the AT. Ask the public 
to name the nation's LDH trails. They'll name the AT. I doubt they'll know 
any others. If the public sees the AT was unable to complete itself, it won't 
have any trouble accepting the failure of trails it doesn't even know of. When 
backing the AT, a straight rule pretty much applies - any program, masked as 
the better way, that asks to limit or curtail AT land acquisitions is probably 
against what the Trail stands for. Any program that *improves* the Trail's 
buffers, according to its constitution, is one that works in the Trail's favor. I 
think the problem some have with Jim's spin is that it conforms to the former 
and not the latter and is a little too willing to give up future AT wild lands 
for ambiguous reasons. Another glaring flaw is that it fails to recognize the 
progress that is happening while he figures out just what is right...

  









 
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