Trailer trash

Corey Shuman

The world's population grows by 75 million people each year and 3 million of them end up in the United States. That's why land for recreational use is shrinking. I doubt you even had knowledge of those basic figures. You look at a stand of trees in the distance and don't see the houses creeping up behind it.

If such hikers exist (where exactly?), at least they aren't adding noise and fumes to the mix. A narrow hiking trail with barely audible footsteps is nothing compared to a huge slash with Jeeps and white trash rumbling over it. I don't know any hikers who don't pack it out, and the whole hiker mindset is much less likely to litter. I think you're confusing land squatters with recreational hikers.

If the population ever stops growing there could be some balance between the needs of people and the needs of other species and wilderness. But the population keeps growing and taking over more land for recreation, housing, mining, you name it. You treat nature as limitless but you're flat out wrong. That's why all these conflicts exist, for crying out loud. Look at satellite photos and topo maps. Most land is chopped up into parcels and development is constantly encroaching on the boundaries of nature. Most people are clueless about the "ecological footprint" of modern Man, including his vehicles.

Ah, here we go. You've finally admitted that there are problems, but instead of seeing the bigger picture (too many people) you'd rather put it all on me for not solving things singlehandedly. Believe me, I'm doing plenty, and I'm not demanding more roads in roadless areas. I understand that there are limits to growth but you refuse to see any.

Define "plenty." How many acres per square mile should stay roadless? The land is losing that battle EVERY DAY. The amount of wilderness in the world shrinks every time a housing project goes up or a road is built, and that happens 365 days a year (thousands of acres daily, vanquishing the last frontiers). Environmentalism wouldn't be needed if the land was as unscathed as your fantasy has it. You talk in vague terms about frontiers you can't really define. Fifty acres at the end of a dirt road could be called a "frontier" if one chose to. Admit that you respect people and their "right" to relentless intrusion more than you respect intact nature. Don't try to fake your motives.

Are you claiming that only people in motorized vehicles can "get out there" because they can go faster with greater ease? What an idiot. You keep buttuming there's real frontier left, and that it's somehow a bad thing to just leave it alone. You need to learn more about what population growth is doing to the landscape around the clock. It's basically a slow war of attrition against wilderness. Growth conflicts are making headlines every day all over the nation because the population NEVER stops growing. That bothers me but you're just fine with it, aren't you?

It's substantiated by scientific and visual evidence that you are willfully ignorant of. You probably voted for Bush, our great "Creation Science" President. The truth is that overpopulation is carving up wilderness and off-roading just adds to the problem. You can't treat a grossly unbalanced situation as a mere case of Jeepers getting harbutted.

R. Lander