I'm not sure who pissed in your cereal this morning, but you need to relax, for your health. Quickest way to PLT (and sale) is to not let people use it. It doesn't mean we can't agree there is a problem. I often wonder if this is new or people were always such assholes and now we get to see the video evidence on a daily basis.
I’m blaming this on the influencers. Everyone gets so much “content” pushed their way with the social media algorithm that your getting a bunch of people camping because they started following some self-promoting asshole on Facebook that convinced them to go camping. If it wasn’t for social media most of the surface shitters wouldn’t be in the Forest in the first place.
BS. RMNP requires a timed entry reservation with associated fee during certain parts of the year and if you want to access the Bear Lake area. This because usage demand is higher than what the resource can accommodate. RMNP is hardly at risk of falling to a PLT.
You just want to argue. Paying doesn’t fix anything, except funding issues. It only takes a few seconds on Google to see visitors making a mess of Yellowstone, Glacier, and many other NPs. Maybe RMNP is the exemption. I suspect the problem is also the root cause of private landowners not wanting to open land to public hunters.
Pot calling kettle black.
The story centered around "Trash, human waste, graffiti, and crowds are threatening the fragile [Enchanteds] alpine environment. Volunteers say years of federal staffing cuts have left this wilderness on the brink." So yes, asking the "users" to pay more to use the resource may help address the many years of funding cuts that area has experienced. And if the price is steep enough or the access is limited to a manageable number given the current resources available, there is also a good chance the wilderness area can be brought back from the brink. If overuse (and abuse) is the problem, limit the usage. Not a hard concept to understand, at least for some of us.
Congratulations. You were were able to discover that even with national treasures such as YNP and GNP, people have no problem trashing them. The fact that USG employees are there there to clean up the mess they are too lazy to do themselves doesn't alter the fact that many of these "visitors" have no respect for the environment, the natural habitat, and the enjoyment of that resource by others. Fewer USG employees just highlight that even more.
On this point, I would agree. Yet the majority of folks on HT bash private landowners for not opening their land to them. It only takes one bad hunter to ruin it for everyone else. So who is to blame - the landowner that has been taken advantaged of or the bad apple? Not every landowner is out to make a buck via a private hunting gig.
I'm actually not arguing anything (other than "Shut it down" which is a terrible solution) and agree with your post. I'm not sure why every post is seen as an argument. The interesting part is you think I am and would rather try to throw passive-aggressive insults.
I’m curious what the difference is between NW MT and your area of WA. There is active timber sales, logging, bridge/road/culvert repair happening near me and areas further away that I hunt as I type this. All on National Forest, not timber co. lands. There’s even timber sales that don’t get bids.
We definitely have a lot of projects held up by litigation, but I think it's pretty common that there's more going on than people tend to realize.
There's an emergency declaration for that. Joking of course, but only half. It isn't litigation that is the main problem. The article below is a pretty decent high level take from your area. Voters like statements for simple solutions, but the answers to complex problems are never simple.
Ha! I’m aware of the emergency declaration. As I’ve stated in previous threads, it’ll take a lot more than a stroke of a pen to make logging economically viable in rural communities again. I’ve watched the decline in the timber industry for the 20+ years I’ve lived in MT.There's an emergency declaration for that. Joking of course, but only half. It isn't litigation that is the main problem. The article below is a pretty decent high level take from your area. Voters like statements for simple solutions, but the answers to complex problems are never simple.
Thanks for the link though. Interesting read. I hope what Professor Hines predicts doesn’t come true. Certainly a lose lose.There's an emergency declaration for that. Joking of course, but only half. It isn't litigation that is the main problem. The article below is a pretty decent high level take from your area. Voters like statements for simple solutions, but the answers to complex problems are never simple.
I have no idea. My parents spend the majority of their free time on the Gifford Pinchot NF., They said the same thing. Nothing gets done. So I don't know what the difference is.
Ok, I'll admid I forgot about the Nanapoc Ridge cuts (Upper Wenatchee Pilot Project), of which included quite a bit of thinning a decade ago. Here's a list of their projects across 1.5 mil acres of the W-O NF. If that meets your threshold for "getting stuff done" then we simply have differing expections.
I think it is more an issue of perception which is also fed by the constant political narrative of "forest mismanagement". As the climate gets hotter and dryer and there are more fires (largely human-caused) the narrative is easy to accept. The report below is from 2020, so it might need updated. The chart is the key shot. The decline is driving by private land harvest, and I would bet a decent sum that is due to the decline of the newspaper industry and print publishing. The reality is America doesn't use as much wood products. If the tree can't be turned into a 2x4 or furniture, it has little value today.
