[at-l] Noberries again

[charliethorpe@worldnet.att.net (Charlie Thorpe)]

Hello Kahley -

You asked:

>One question?  Does LNT=eat no berries?

I (trying to be humorous) said:

>...I easily ate my weight in huckleberries and blueberries as I came
>up thru the Cascades on the PCT...but don't worry...none left the
>backcountry! <VBG>

I took a second look at my response and decided that I probably sounded
pretty snippy (I didn't mean to...honest <g>).  I also noticed that I left
off the more-serious reply that you probably were asking for.

My thoughts on your question -

Berries (nuts, flowers, spangham (sp?) moss, sang, mushrooms, etc.) are
just some of the wild items that have value in the world outside of the
backcountry.  Some areas get a LOT of gathering done by hoards of hikers
for their own use in the woods and, often, for everybody back home.  Some
places get a LOT of pressure from folks who are harvesting these wild items
for commercial use.  If the gathering/harvesting gets too bad, more gets
removed than the plants can replace...and the natural reproduction cycle
gets broken.  Things spiral downhill until we just can't find our favorite
berry any more <f>.

Most places haven't gotten that bad yet...but how DO we tell when we are
picking the "straw that breaks the ecosystem's back"?

All that being said, I DO enjoy eating wild berries...but I only have the
patience to stop hiking start picking when there are LOTS of them available
<VBG>.

Truly...thanks for the good feedback!

- Charlie II


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