[pct-l] Winter Climbers and Any Thrill Seeker!!

[dude@coruscant.net (The Dude)]

Why don't these "problem" areas install bear boxes in the popular campsites?  I Hiked from Tahoe to Whitney in 98 and used the boxes near Vidette Meadow/Rea Lakes.  It was easy and convenient, as it didnt require me to carry anything extra.  ...and the boxes work.  Bears cannot get into them. 

It seems like this is a great and sensible alternative to:
1.  Requiring people to carry large bulky and heavy cannisters
2.  Fruitlessly Prohibiting camping in certain "problem" areas which causes the bears to move to other places and make them new "problem" areas.
3.  Risk angering a bear into attack with feeble weapons that are inadequate for true defense (sling-shots, rubber bullets, sticks, etc)
4.  Risk further conditioning of the bears due to improper/inadequate storage.

The Forrest Service shouldn't have any problem installing these boxes.  They already have installed bear poles, bear cables, picnic tables, tent pads, roads, cattle guards, gates, barbed-wire fences, snow-survey stations/towers, dykes, damns,  and everything else in these areas; so they really don't have an argument that it disrupts the ecology or something like that.

peace,
dude in Texas.

> "Jim Mayer" <jmayer@rochester.rr.com> <Montedodge@aol.com>, <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net> Re: [pct-l] Winter Climbers and Any Thrill Seeker!!Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 08:43:30 -0400
>
>When, as with automobiles, 45,000 people a year are killed, and hundreds of
>thousands injured, doing those things perhaps I would agree with you.
>
>In general, though, I'm not a fan of "slippery slope" arguments.
>
>With regard to bears and food, the whole ecosystem is so messed up already
>that I think people have no choce but to regulate (there's that word again)
>animal populations.  Bears that hang out at garbage dumps and campsites
>aren't "wilderness" creatures any more than suburban deer are.  If wrist
>rockets actually work then I, personally, would have no problem with them.
>I have no problem with the bear hunting seasons we have here in the east
>either... and while we have lots of bear in Pennsylvania, they just are not
>a problem while camping.
>
>If I had to pick a policy from the fog of my ignorance, it would be
>something like this:
>
>(1) Run a study to determine the sustainable bear population (natural food
>sources only) for each area.
>
>(2) Institute a hunting season to bring the bear population down to the
>target level.
>
>(3) Verify and encourage the use of effective food defense mechanisms by
>campers (which might well include slingshots).
>
>(4) Require safe food storage (bins, cannisters) within, say, one mile of
>any official campsite.
>
>(5) Attempt to educate backcountry campers about bear foraging behavior and
>patterns (e.g., don't camp by streams, etc.).
>
>(6) Implement an adversive conditioning program around campsites.
>
>(7) Kill problem bears.
>
>Anyway, the bears should all be glad I don't run the NPS.
>
>-- Jim
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <Montedodge@aol.com>
>To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
>Sent: Friday, August 10, 2001 1:43 AM
>Subject: [pct-l] Winter Climbers and Any Thrill Seeker!!
>
>
>> I think all Mt. climbing and any type of adventure seeking should be ban
>on
>> the grounds that somewhere down the line a climber may break their back
>and
>> it would cost us all Big Tax dollars. Secondly, all climbers should be
>> required to pack a canister to at least the 11,000 ft. level of any given
>> Mountain in the slight chance there may be a bear lurking near a crevasse.
>> Anyone who partakes in any activity that could cause bodily harm to that
>> person, should be arrested or heavily fined so as not to cost taxpayers
>> money!!! Signed, Hormone theSocialist Hiker  PS   I guess I must have been
>> the only moron to read 1984, Hum???
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