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RE: [RC] Wild Horses - David LeBlancTom, please don't make the mistake of thinking that "wilderness" is just a non-motorized area. A wilderness area is so tied up in red tape that you can't maintain trails, you can't go in to get an injured person out, you can't manage it for grazing or horseback riding--nothing! I'm right smack up against wilderness areas where I live, and they are NOT places where you can go and have the kind of "wilderness experience" that you had. They are locked-up wastelands of down timber, they are fire hazards, and they are nigh on impossible for the average citizen to access and enjoy. There's wilderness that we ride through up near Salmon La Sac. It's absolutely gorgeous. Incredible trails, and nothing built by people anywhere you can see. I don't think the part we ride through has been logged but once. You can maintain the trails, just not with power equipment. This does make it harder - you have to drop back to techniques used 50 to 100 years ago. I do agree with you that not all of the restrictions make sense - for example, they ought to be able to bring in a helicopter to get injured people out. What I think we need is something between wilderness and taxpayer funded tree farms. Maybe a recreational area designation that only allows certain activities, but not as restrictive as wilderness. I find it ironic that a national park is less restrictive than wilderness. There might be ways already on the books to do this. There's an area near here that might get marked wilderness. It is a good candidate - good bit of old growth in there. The thing that bugs most people is that we have a nice trailhead we'd lose because they'd take out the road that gets you there. It would make riding up there a lot harder - fairly well limit things to people capable of overnighting and maybe endurance riders if they get up early enough. ============================================================ REAL endurance is your water freezing IN the cantle bags! ~ Heidi Sowards ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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