FYI News story

“By BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press Writer

April 10, 2003, 1:33 AM EDT
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- For more than 1,000 years, the two giant sequoia trees thrived in the Mariposa Grove, eventually towering 30 stories into the sky. When they fell, a hole the size of a jetliner opened in the forest canopy.
It may be months before park biologists determine what did in the trees, but officials say the human traffic through the forest may have played a large role.
"We may be loving them to death," says park ranger Deb Schweizer.
While more visitors means additional tourist dollars, park managers here and across the country are struggling with the challenge of protecting nature while welcoming Americans to see it.
It's possible that foot traffic around the base of the giant sequoias and erosion along a creek damaged their shallow roots enough that one, growing near the creek, collapsed onto the other. It's also possible that a trail built more than 50 years ago diverted too much water toward the trees, loosening the soil.
Park officials have tried to protect the big trees, fencing off some of the larger sequoias; even a hug leaves acid from human hands that can eat away the bark.
Long gone are the days when a truck-sized hole could be carved through a living sequoia, such as the grove's Tunnel Tree, which collapsed in 1969.
More than a million people each year walk among the world's largest trees, which grow naturally only on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada.
"We just need to find a balance," Schweizer says.
In Yellowstone National Park, the fight between access and environment involves snowmobiles in the backcountry. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the nation's most visited with 9 million tourists annually, sits in a haze of air pollution, in part because of all the vehicles on park roads. Managers at Virgin Islands National Park struggle to protect fragile coral reefs, while in Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve, some fear degradation from motorized access.
"It's really a fine line," says Michelle Jasperson, associate director of the National Parks Conservation Association's Pacific regional office. "But what can we do, fence off every park? That's just not logical."
Last year, 277 million people visited the National Park Service's 388 parks, monuments and historic sites. In 1960, there were just 80 million visits.
"You end up with a conflict between the philosophy of preserving things versus providing more recreation," says David Barna, the park service's top spokesman in Washington. "Our dream is that everyone in America can stand on this mountain and see this beautiful scenery, but our worst nightmare is that everyone decides to do it on the same day."
The challenge for park managers, he says, is to learn from the past and understand the changing future.
In many parks, officials are taking steps to reverse the human impact.
At Zion National Park in Utah, a plan put into place four seasons ago to reduce traffic by providing shuttle buses has led to the return of abundant wildlife in the upper canyon. A mountain lion with three cubs was recently spotted in an area once busy with cars.
In Yellowstone, snowmobile users will have to get reservations to enter the park starting next winter, and most will have to be accompanied by commercial guides.
"It strikes a balance between phasing out all snowmobile use and unlimited use as we've had in the past," says park spokeswoman Cheryl Matthews. The plan also sets daily limits, along with noise and emissions standards.
A controversial $441 million Yosemite Valley Plan calls for, among other things, reducing parking spaces and improving a shuttle bus system. Officials say it will mean fewer facilities but a better visitor experience -- and one safe for the sequoias.
Standing at the base of one of the giant fallen trees, Schweizer notes that their weaknesses saved them from the ax more than a century ago.
When logging companies began to cut sequoias in the 1860s, they discovered that the wood was so fragile that the trees splintered when they fell. Sections were used for grape stakes, pencils, shingles and toothpicks, but loggers stopped cutting them by 1900.
"They're pretty noble things, pretty impressive," Schweizer says. "And there is just something about people that makes them want to connect with these trees."”

“It's amazing that the only reason we have them is that they weren't good enough for the lumber barrons.”

“Wow, I don't know what to say. I never expected to read soething like that. I find that really disheartening...”

“I was born there. In a little town called Legget, where Highways 1 and 101 come together. There's still a drive through tree there.

I've been back a couple times to visit. My dad has an old "hippie" friend that lives in a cabin high on the coastal range. You can see the ocean on a clear day. No utilities He gets his water from streams, including a continuously refreshed pool, and uses solar panels and a generator for electricity. Later in the evening everything shuts down and he uses candles and oil lamps for light.

Quite a character. He does some summer work in a local sawmill and spends most of his winters playing sax and piano with a quartet that travels and does gigs in Europe. He supplements his income with some great humboldt county buds he grows in his greenhouse.”

“That's beginning to sound like "A Confederate General at Big Sur."”

“Not familiar with that Geo???”

“Hi,

My name is Tarp Rat...

I have been on this board since it began... I started many a thread and helped many people with choosing the right gear (TNF). And I left the board in 2001 because many of the threads became racist after 9-11 and I felt that I no longer wanted to associate with these people. I recently came back and started to voice my opinions about the current crisis in Iraq. I know many people disagree with me, and that's fine! However, I should be allowed to state my views just as everyone else. I was recently banned from the board, my IP disabled. I was told this was because of my off-topic posting, but this is a false claim because the threads I was posting to were completely off topic and unrelated to backpacking in the first place. I just wanted to say that this is unfair. Have a nice day… and let the games begin!

;-o”

“Hi,

My name is Tarp Rat...

I have been on this board since it began... I started many a thread and helped many people with choosing the right gear (TNF). And I left the board in 2001 because many of the threads became racist after 9-11 and I felt that I no longer wanted to associate with these people. I recently came back and started to voice my opinions about the current crisis in Iraq. I know many people disagree with me, and that's fine! However, I should be allowed to state my views just as everyone else. I was recently banned from the board, my IP disabled. I was told this was because of my off-topic posting, but this is a false claim because the threads I was posting to were completely off topic and unrelated to backpacking in the first place. I just wanted to say that this is unfair. Have a nice day… and let the games begin!

;-o”

“Hi,

My name is Tarp Rat...

I have been on this board since it began... I started many a thread and helped many people with choosing the right gear (TNF). And I left the board in 2001 because many of the threads became racist after 9-11 and I felt that I no longer wanted to associate with these people. I recently came back and started to voice my opinions about the current crisis in Iraq. I know many people disagree with me, and that's fine! However, I should be allowed to state my views just as everyone else. I was recently banned from the board, my IP disabled. I was told this was because of my off-topic posting, but this is a false claim because the threads I was posting to were completely off topic and unrelated to backpacking in the first place. I just wanted to say that this is unfair. Have a nice day… and let the games begin!

;-o”

“Hi,

My name is Tarp Rat...

I have been on this board since it began... I started many a thread and helped many people with choosing the right gear (TNF). And I left the board in 2001 because many of the threads became racist after 9-11 and I felt that I no longer wanted to associate with these people. I recently came back and started to voice my opinions about the current crisis in Iraq. I know many people disagree with me, and that's fine! However, I should be allowed to state my views just as everyone else. I was recently banned from the board, my IP disabled. I was told this was because of my off-topic posting, but this is a false claim because the threads I was posting to were completely off topic and unrelated to backpacking in the first place. I just wanted to say that this is unfair. Have a nice day… and let the games begin!

;-o”

“Hi,

My name is Tarp Rat...

I have been on this board since it began... I started many a thread and helped many people with choosing the right gear (TNF). And I left the board in 2001 because many of the threads became racist after 9-11 and I felt that I no longer wanted to associate with these people. I recently came back and started to voice my opinions about the current crisis in Iraq. I know many people disagree with me, and that's fine! However, I should be allowed to state my views just as everyone else. I was recently banned from the board, my IP disabled. I was told this was because of my off-topic posting, but this is a false claim because the threads I was posting to were completely off topic and unrelated to backpacking in the first place. I just wanted to say that this is unfair. Have a nice day… and let the games begin!

;-o”

“Hi,

My name is Tarp Rat...

I have been on this board since it began... I started many a thread and helped many people with choosing the right gear (TNF). And I left the board in 2001 because many of the threads became racist after 9-11 and I felt that I no longer wanted to associate with these people. I recently came back and started to voice my opinions about the current crisis in Iraq. I know many people disagree with me, and that's fine! However, I should be allowed to state my views just as everyone else. I was recently banned from the board, my IP disabled. I was told this was because of my off-topic posting, but this is a false claim because the threads I was posting to were completely off topic and unrelated to backpacking in the first place. I just wanted to say that this is unfair. Have a nice day… and let the games begin!

;-o”

“Hi,

My name is Tarp Rat...

I have been on this board since it began... I started many a thread and helped many people with choosing the right gear (TNF). And I left the board in 2001 because many of the threads became racist after 9-11 and I felt that I no longer wanted to associate with these people. I recently came back and started to voice my opinions about the current crisis in Iraq. I know many people disagree with me, and that's fine! However, I should be allowed to state my views just as everyone else. I was recently banned from the board, my IP disabled. I was told this was because of my off-topic posting, but this is a false claim because the threads I was posting to were completely off topic and unrelated to backpacking in the first place. I just wanted to say that this is unfair. Have a nice day… and let the games begin!

;-o”

“Hi,

My name is Tarp Rat...

I have been on this board since it began... I started many a thread and helped many people with choosing the right gear (TNF). And I left the board in 2001 because many of the threads became racist after 9-11 and I felt that I no longer wanted to associate with these people. I recently came back and started to voice my opinions about the current crisis in Iraq. I know many people disagree with me, and that's fine! However, I should be allowed to state my views just as everyone else. I was recently banned from the board, my IP disabled. I was told this was because of my off-topic posting, but this is a false claim because the threads I was posting to were completely off topic and unrelated to backpacking in the first place. I just wanted to say that this is unfair. Have a nice day… and let the games begin!

;-o”

“Hi,

My name is Tarp Rat...

I have been on this board since it began... I started many a thread and helped many people with choosing the right gear (TNF). And I left the board in 2001 because many of the threads became racist after 9-11 and I felt that I no longer wanted to associate with these people. I recently came back and started to voice my opinions about the current crisis in Iraq. I know many people disagree with me, and that's fine! However, I should be allowed to state my views just as everyone else. I was recently banned from the board, my IP disabled. I was told this was because of my off-topic posting, but this is a false claim because the threads I was posting to were completely off topic and unrelated to backpacking in the first place. I just wanted to say that this is unfair. Have a nice day… and let the games begin!

;-o”

“I will not be able to watch, someone take notes!


Latest News: 60 Minutes to air “Doing Business With the Enemy”



60 Minutes will run a piece this Sunday evening (7pm EST – check local listings) about Halliburton’s business deals in Iran, cleverly circumventing the Iran-Libya sanctions Act, which Vice President Dick Cheney lobbied to repeal while he was Halliburton's CEO. The company also did business with Libya.”