This Land is Our Land

[Faiaoga]

Nicolas Kristol, a columnist for the New York Times, wrote a short article (NYT Sunday Review for August 29, 2015) about a backpacking trip he and his daughter took along part of the Pacific Crest Trail. "This Land is Our Land" discusses how fortunate Americans are to have public lands set aside for outdoor recreation.

[kyratshooter]

Being a NYTimes article the piece is as much about the "class struggle" and growing inequality as it is about the wilderness, which was obviously preserved for us by what they feel were the far sighted clandestine socialist leaders at the turn of the last century.

People need to learn the difference between the US Forest Service and the US Park Service. Most of our public land is under the control of the Forest Service, established to manage our lumber, grazing and mineral resources to insure they make a profit for the government.

All of the major hiking trails change constantly, moved due to logging and mining operations intruding on the pathways. The pathways are simply moved to avoid the harvesting operations, so the hikers never see the "modern world" intrude on their pristine wilderness.

Don't worry, it grows back and has been a successful management method for 100 years.

In the western US 1/2 of the land is in government ownership

In the Eastern US 1/3 of the land is in State or Federal control (includes military bases, Corp of Engineers land, national forests and wilderness areas as well as "parks and trails")

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/op...ollection&_r=0

[Faiaoga]

Thanks for posting a link to the article and for the useful information. Yes, there is certainly a viewpoint expressed by Mr. Kristol, who apparently grew up on a farm in Oregon, but he is not writing against the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management or other agencies that administer public lands. I think the point of the article is that Americans have some access to the outdoors if they are willing to put out some effort to utilize it.
I would give Mr. Kristol and his daughter credit for packing their own gear when they enjoy the outdoors.

I have enjoyed National Parks - longest trip was 10 days backpacking in Kings Canyon CA - and I have also worked in the National Forests - two summer seasons for the Bureau of Public Roads in the South Tongass National Forest in AK. Both agencies provide opportunities for people in the USA to get away from urban life and to enjoy the outdoors, and I appreciate these opportunities. We will always have some disputes concerning hunting, shooting, prospecting, skiing, hiking permits, use of motorized vehicles and other issues where public lands are concerned but we at least have the public lands where there is reasonable access.

[kyratshooter]

I am not knocking the FS or NPS, or our nations leaders in those early days. They were taking control of the vast expanses of uninhabited land to prevent the misuse of the resources.

As a side effect we are blessed with forest to roam, reservoirs to swim, ski and boat in and designated hiking trails, even if they have to be rerouted on occasion.

Almost 1/4 of my state is a national wilderness, and that does not include the huge areas taken up by Fort Knox and Fort Campbell, or the streamside areas under control of the COE. Within 5 miles of my house I am blessed with more than 1,000 acres of WMA land where I am free to roam and hunt. It makes living on my little postage stamp sized plot endurable.

We have a good deal to be thankful for.

[WolfVanZandt]

Unfortunately, at least in the southeast, when they harvest the hardwood forests, they replace them with pines that grow back faster and bring in the bucks for the paper industries. They are also much poorer for land conservation and atmospheric reconditioning.

[Batch]

Bill Bryson said in one of his books, that the forest service is the #1 road builder in the world. I have read elsewhere that they have built 340,000 miles of road in the last 5 decades. Much of that road was for logging.

Much of the western everglades is called Big Cypress. Most of the really large cypress was logged between the 1930's to 1960's. The area is called Big Cypress because of how big it is in area. 740,000 acres of mostly 2nd growth cypress.

A lot of Florida had pines logged and replaced with pulp wood pine.

The Bill Bryson book may have been "A Walk In The Woods" which is now a movie staring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.

[chiggersngrits]

Unfortunately, at least in the southeast, when they harvest the hardwood forests, they replace them with pines that grow back faster and bring in the bucks for the paper industries. They are also much poorer for land conservation and atmospheric reconditioning.

So true WVZ. In the southern part of the state (AL) they naturally have a lot of pines, but up in the north especially north east we are mostly hardwoods. So those patches of planted pines look really out of place.

[WolfVanZandt]

One of the things I really liked about Alabama was that they love their wilderness areas and, if given half a change, they would fight tooth and claw for the forests. I used to host an annual camping event in northeast Alabama (at Buck's Pocket on Sand Mountain). North Alabama, all the way across is a beautiful area. I've always been torn between: "Boy! I wish more people knew about this great place," and "Nyah. They'd probably ruin it."

[Phaedrus]

I'm all in favor of parks! I'm glad the govt has stepped in to protect some spaces from complete exploitation. I just got back from Jedidiah park in CA where the Redwoods start and it was awe inspiring! But most of the old trees were cut down and if the "invisible hand of capitalism" had it's way they'd all be gone. It's the nature of the beast that those that can profit from a thing will do so at the expense of all other concerns.