"stone" typed:

The point of all this is that the wilderness in the lower 48 is gone....long
gone. If you want a "wilderness experience" go to Alaska or get Disney to
make you for you.

Man, I am sooooo tired of listening to you elitists telling me that if
I cannot afford to go to Alaska I must do without, or accept a
mass-market commercial imitation.

You can't bring it back....areas logged over three times
ain't wilderness......and will not ever be so again.....

Actually, that's patently false. All depends upon the time-scale you
apply. But I repeat: absolute, pristine wilderness is not necessary
to fulfill the spiritual/emotional needs of most Americans (look at
Europeans, who have "recreating" themselves by shelter-hiking the
Alps, for centuries). An undeveloped, un-clearcut wood, with some
renmaining natural fauna, is quite enriching for many people, even if
there are blazed trails and -- omigosh -- huts and footbridges along
the way. And even if it was a clear-cut site or a strip-mine several
decades earlier.

and don't dare to
tell me that because I live in a relatively "undeveloped" area I have to
stop my ecomonic developement so you can wander around in the "woods."

No, I don't think I want to tell you that, unconditionally. But I
would certainly support regulation of the forms of development that
you would be allowed to choose. This is a fairly well-established
principle, where, for example, zoning boards across the country will
not allow businesses to be established in the middle of a residential
neighborhood, or industry to be established in a commercial
neighborhood. It's just a matter of scale, and on a large scale, the
United States is my neighborhood and I don't care to see destructive
industries in that neighborhood -- even if it's yer backyard being
trashed, not mine.

You evidently live in NC....which is a wonderful state with many great
places....but don't stick your nose in our Michigan and tell us how to live
our lives....

Sorry, mister, but yer Michigan is part of my United States, and I am
interested in keeping my United States a beautiful place to live. If
despoilation is how you want to live yer life, I'll tell you yer
wrong, and I'll vote for Federal regulations to force you to change.
And if yer state legislature allows you to trash yer state, then yer
state won't get any of my tourist dollars.

nuff said....

Yer not kidding. Too much said, with not enough thought.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
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Richard Hopley, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net 1-301-775-0471
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll.
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu 1-336-713-5077
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters.
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