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Eagles Nest Wilderness.
Dear Editor-
I’m writing to Thank Senator Mark Udall for looking into new Wilderness designations in Central Colorado and Browns Canyon. It’s no surprise that Mr. Udall chose these area’s to study for possible protection, because support for wilderness protection runs deep.
As the co-founder of Fishpond USA my business is directly impacted by how we treat our public lands and rivers. The gear we sell is used on our rivers, and healthy rivers are dependent on healthy watersheds. Wilderness protects the headwaters and wetlands that comprise these vital watersheds. Wilderness designation is the best way to preserve the “natural capital” that makes Colorado great.
Fishpond, inc. both employs people here in Dillon, and has relationships with suppliers and retailers in other markets. The healthy environment that allows me to do business in Dillon has a ripple effect on other economies in the Colorado Rockies and beyond. Local businesses like mine benefit from our surrounding natural landscapes. It is important we invest in our “natural capital” by protecting portions of the landscape. I applaud Mr. Udall for beginning a process to designate new wilderness and urge him to introduce legislation as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
John Land Le Coq
Filed under: Colorado, Environment, public lands, Summit County Colorado Tagged: | Mark Udall, public lands, Summit County Colorado, wilderness
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Well said John. Good to see his opinion.
Ditto, JLLC. More than a few of us depend on the quality of our public lands and waterways for a living. To have U.S. Senator like Mark Udall-coming from pedigree he does in natural resource appreciation-is worth his weight in gold and more. Support this process any way you can!
Of course we COULD explore congressionally enacted companion designations that would allow all existing silent uses, any of which would be equally unassailable (not one has ever been overturned…EVER,) and generate almost immediate consensus among local stakeholders.
Mountain bikers are an important group of environmentalists that have proven their stewardship mettle. It’s also a group that’s done nothing but lose trail access to Wilderness designations since the 1984 Forest Service bureaucratic INTERPRETATION of the Wilderness act to exclude bicycles.
In an area like Summit County, where significant revenues are generated from a decidedly eco-friendly mountain biking tourism segment, a tool like Wilderness that eliminates MTB access isn’t an ideal solution, especially when more appropriate (and arguably just as bulletproof,) options are available.
The ranks of backcountry stewards needs to be increased. Alienating mountain bikers is a step in the wrong direction. And whether on foot, in waders or by bike, we are ALL brothers and sisters in arms in the service of public land protection and conservation. We’re the fraction of a fraction of the US public that actually know and care. And we continue to be entrenched in the current dynamic where we respectfully ask to join hands in the service of a solution and are told, “Yes…but leave your bicycles outside.”
Not good enough. Not anymore. Too partisan. Too petty. To shortsighted.
We still deal with Wilderness ideologues whose outdated “Wilderness or nothing!” mentality hamstrings real and immediate progress in the national conservation dialogue. Because we’re not ready to give up any more trails. We’ve already lost too many. A better solution needs to be found. And it’s out there, albeit marginalized by some as “so-called companion designations,” the authors of such descriptors probably not realizing that as opponents of a consensus-based approach, they’re handicapping what SHOULD be a common goal – land conservation. In other words, they’re a part of the problem.
Wilderness is an amazing tool. So are National Conservation Areas, National Protection Areas and National Scenic Areas. None of them are one-size-fits-all solutions – we need a toolbox approach where we utilize each of them to best effect. Please let’s not confuse the tool (Wilderness) with the goal – the immediate and unilateral protection of our precious backcountry against the REAL enemy; extraction and development.
Mike McCormack