Re: Typical Mountain Biker Demonstrates Their Inability to Learn

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 16:12:17 -0800, "Jeff Strickland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

.> .I absolutely agree that there are places where the damage is significant
.and
.> .needs to be repaired. It would be foolish to say that we can continue
.> .recreational activities ANYWHERE without any maintenance activities
.> .following along behind. But, there isn't a single moutnain bike track
.> .anywhere (or any other kind of vehicle route for that matter) that is a
.> .total environmental wasteland from one end to the other. Not one, not
.> .anywhere.
.>
.> That's an obvious lie. You obviously haven't seen every trail. The fact
.that you
.> have to lie to make your case proves that you don't HAVE a case.
.> ===
.
.
.I have seen enough "destroyed" trails to know that they are not destroyed at
.all. I have seen trails closed for miles when the only real damage can be
.measured in feet, and the damage can be cured by a few hours of volunteer
.service by the people that use the trails in the first place.

You obviously have your own special definition of "destroyed". Killed animals
and plants cannot be "restored". Eroded topsoil cannot be retrieved. Wildlife
driven from their habitat probably won't come back, as long as too many humans
are present.

.I can take you today to a trail that is a historical route that was used by
.the settlers that came west from St Louis, and the trails is now closed due
.to rantings like your's. The irony is that the very animals the closure is
.meant to protect are actually blocked from gaining access to the limited
.water supplies because the lack of visitation and vehicle travel has allowed
.the underbrush to become so thick.

Right. Animals don't know how to get to water. They need us to make trails for
them. Sure.

.Rantings like your's are a danger to society. You haven't a clue what you
.are talking about most of the time, and you get reactionary people to buy
.into your rants.

Yosemite National Park banned mountain biking without a word from me. It doesn't
take much intelligence to see that mountain biking is a destructive activity
that has no place in a civilized society.

 The problem that I have is that I agree with the basic
.premise of what you have to say, but I disagree completely with the
.conclusions you arrive at. I think that most of us here would want to
.preserve the environment if given the chance, but we do not agree with you
.on the extent of damage that recreation creates.

Then you haven't read _Wildlife and Recreationists_ or _Recreation Ecology_. I
suggest that you do your homework, before putting your foot in your mouth like
that.

 Nobody here would dispute
.the notion of a freeway or a housing tract and the impact these sorts of
.things has, but we use decades of personal esperiences to judge that
.responsible recreation is not the severe environmental threat that whackos
.that you represent say it is.

Right. And mountain biking is NOT "responsible recreation".

.You are a threat to society more than society is a threat to the
.environment. The really sad thing is that you think you are saving lots of
.stuff, when the reality is that you are saving almost nothing. While saving
.almost nothing, you are blocking about 90% of public lands from the public.

You are LYING. NO public lands are blocked to you, only to BIKES. DUH!
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande