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Re: [RC] wilderness - heidiI don't know how many of you belong to the organization "Back Country Horsemen". It's a national organization that works to keep trails and back country open for horse travel, and I've been a member for several years. Many of the trails deemed "wilderness" don't allow motorized vehicles. BCH volunteers pack in a lot of trail maintenance supplies. My friend and I have horses that are trained to drive and pull loads. We had visions of using our horses to pull in loads too large for pack horses with a wagon and team. I was surprised to learn that the motorized vehicle rule applied to anything with tires - including horse drawn equipment. In some areas it also bans anything that is steel shod - including horses. Be very informed of what groups you support. Roadless wilderness seems like a good idea but it's surprising how many organizations include horses in their vision of exclusions. I'd like to encourage all trail and endurance riders to support Back Country Horseman. It's a national organization with state and local groups. The national organization has a web site found at Back Country Horsemen of America. If you can't join to support their activities physically I encourage trail riders to join and support them financially. BCH is indeed an outstanding group. And yes, they do a lot of "by hand" trail maintenance. But I know from experience with the BCH group here that while they do a huge amount of work every year, very little (if any) of it is in the wilderness areas, because the wilderness areas are SO huge that it is virtually impossible to get past a bit along the edges unless you have major supply lines and lots of time. The BCH group is made up primarily of regular human beings with jobs, and so their trips are pretty much limited to 2-3 day work stints. Also, BCH uses chainsaws a lot--likewise forbidden in wilderness areas. We did a lot of "by hand" (but with chainsaws) maintenance in Newberry Crater National Monument when we used to put on the Paulina Peak ride. We also reopened some trails in same that had been closed by down timber for years when we put on the Pan-Am in that area in 1997. Yes, the area is roadless, but because it allows chainsaws and also snowmobiles in winter, it was humanly possible to go in and maintain trails (one could get enough done in a short enough period of time to be worth it), and we also had help from other user groups (hikers, mountain bikers, OET--Oregon Equestrian Trails, which works a bit like BCH, and snowmobilers). Being able to maintain a few trails makes it POSSIBLE to go in and enjoy the "wilderness experience" which is nigh on IMpossible in the "wilderness areas." Furthermore, Bob Morris is right about "travel plan" issues in wilderness areas--in less restrictive areas such as national parks and monuments, managed roadless areas, etc., at least we had the option of going in and reclaiming old trails, instead of having them arbitrarily legislated into oblivion. Here in central Idaho, there are a great many historical trails which will never again see the light of day because they have been buried by "wilderness" designation (unless by some miracle we can someday "deregulate" some of the wilderness). Sad, very sad... Heidi ============================================================ There is no better way to see the world than from the back of a horse. ~ Teddy Roosevelt ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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