National forests see fewer visitors
by Michael Milstein, The Oregonian, November 17, 2008 [here]
National forests have long been prime recreation spots in the Pacific Northwest and around the nation, but new federal figures show far fewer people are visiting them since 2004 — especially in this region.
Now researchers are trying to determine why people are staying away from the prized public playgrounds, including the nearby Mount Hood, Gifford Pinchot and Deschutes national forests. …
The visitor decline turned up last month when the Forest Service released new figures from visitor monitoring in 2007. The numbers provided the first comparison against figures from 2004.
The figures are estimates based on surveys and counts around each national forest. Total forest visits dropped from 204.8 million in 2004 to 178.6million in 2007, a 13 percent decline. Visits to Oregon and Washington national forests fell from 28.2 million in 2004 to 20.5 million in 2007, a 27 percent drop.
That’s the sharpest percentage drop of any Forest Service region in the country. The next largest drop was 24.3 percent decline in the Forest Service’s Eastern Region, which encompasses several Midwest and northeastern states. …
The Forest Service developed the new counting system to replace an earlier method that wildly overestimated numbers of recreational visitors. Recreation has become an increasingly prominent use of national forests — and an important economic driver — as logging declined. …
Visits to undeveloped national forest wilderness areas also dropped, from 8.8 million in 2004 to 6.3 million in 2007. Wilderness visits typically involve longer hikes or backpacking. About two-thirds of wilderness visitors were men. … [more]
by Hilary Clinto
by YPmule
Our Idaho Primitive Area used to be used by a variety of people. Recreation: camping, hunting, fishing, gathering food (berries, mushrooms) ranching, logging, and mining. Families lived in many places connected by roads and trails. There were post offices, schools, even telephones. Then they made it the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness (or as some locals called it the “Land of No Use”.)
Except for planes, pack outfits and backpackers, the public had been essentially locked out. Fishing and hunting still drew visitors to benefit the local economy. Then they changed the hunting tags and the fishing became catch and release - further reducing the number of visitors.
Then we were hit by the “roadless” concept - closing off public access to areas outside of the wilderness and introducing “let it burn”. (Which is great if you pick morel mushrooms.) The reduction of dispersed camping areas, forcing folks to camp in fee areas (adjacent to the dusty main roads) further reduces the appeal to visitors.
The forest is now “managed” to benefit a few select special interest groups - and not the general public at large. The rest of the public is actually discouraged from visiting. Confusing maps, closed roads, crowded campsites, forest fires, fees and the price of fuel seem to be contributing factors.
Communities that supported timber and mining turned to a tourism based economy - which does not support families with children. Its sad to see not only the destruction of our forests, but the destruction of our communities as well. Not only have the number of visitors fallen off, so have the numbers of full time residents.
Wilderness now appears to be a designation that allows the USFS to let it all burn if lightning starts a fire. Before Wilderness, when most US Forest Service lands were unroaded, and serviced and administered by a trail system, back country rangers and ranger stations, every smoke was investigated by a ground pounder, and if possible, the fire put out. Today, there are few lookout towers left, and most fire detection is done by airplanes when weather allows them to fly. Then the people in charge can choose not to fight the fire. Or maybe take a few days to decide whether or not they should fight the fire. Consequently, this last summer and fall the whole of, the entirety, of the Umpqua Natl Forest’s Boulder Creek Wilderness was burned, and many more acres outside of the designated Wilderness. Then, all of the burned area, and much of the area around the fire event was closed to public entry.
And they bemoan the fact they have fewer vistitors? Gimme a break!!! AND the whole of the upper Middle Fork of the Rogue River was burned, including parts of Crater Lake National Park, and a portion of the Sky Lakes Wilderness. The Kalmiopsis Wilderness has now been burned twice in the last 20 years. And the smart boys from Portland, the City Slickers, want us to endorse more Wilderness on Mt. Hood so we can have more wilderness to burn? Seems like a Pearl of an idea to me.
The USFS is shutting gates, tank tracking many, many spurs, and not grading or maintaining in any way a very large and once wonderful access road system. About the time your teeth rattle out of your mouth on a washboarded road so bad that you wonder how runoff could accomplish such a perfect torture system, you hit a pot hole or come to a fallen tree only partially cut out and traffic skirting it off the running surface. You thank your lucky stars they haven’t yet gated or closed this road like so many you have passed.
Trail heads with parking lots have cars broken into, and many trails have no parking, only a wide spot up or down the road that might hold one or two cars.
The “people friendly” USFS is a damned joke!!! They are truly a taxpayer subsidized environmental people-hating organization today. They don’t want the public on the land. The public only uses and degrades the land. It is “wild” and people have never used it, and that is “natural.” A tale of bunkum and bully boy lies from a dysfunctional, leaderless, fast devolving, once proud, public land management agency.
A sad tale playing out before our eyes, and the Oregonian is only reporting the symptoms of a disease few have discovered. The disease is the problem, not the symptoms. But the train carrying the cure has left the station, and now all we will be allowed to do is cough on the inevitable smoke, while we wish to see the summer sun, as the PhD’s so mentioned go about incinerating the whole of our public lands.
BUT BY GOLLY, NOBODY REMOVED ONE LOG!!! WE BEAT THOSE NASTY TIMBER BARONS!!! EARTH FIRST!!! WAHOO!!! (a dead, burned, decaying 700 year old tree will not be there, as a live and very old tree, for at least another 700 years-concept!!!)