From: gopal@astro.as.arizona.edu (Gopal Narayanan)
Newsgroups: rec.backcountry
Subject: Re: Backcountry Crowding
Summary: A rational post at last
Date: 22 Nov 92 19:49:05 GMT
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

In article <1992Nov22.161127.11177@inmet.camb.inmet.com> daf@inmet.camb.inmet.com (Tony Flanders) writes:
>I have been following the various threads on population growth and its
>effect on the backcountry with some interest and some anger.
>
>Yes, backcountry in the U.S. has become much more crowded in the last few
>decades.  Whether it is has become *too* crowded is a matter of opinion,
>but the increase is a matter of record.  Very little of the increase in
>backcountry use is due to population growth.  Between 1960 and 1990, the
>U.S. population increased from 180,000,000 to 250,000,000.  A 40% increase --
>nothing to sneeze at.  But if backcountry use were 40% greater than in 1960,
>people would hardly have noticed.  I don't have access to any figures,
>but I guess that the increase has been closer to 5-fold.

...much cutting of a long but excellent post(IMO) to save BW..

Finally, we hear a more rational point of view in this divided, often 
vitriolic thread in r.b. I come from a country where the population is getting
close to a billion. But if you do go out to the wilderness (at least whatever
that remains) you CAN completely get away from it all. I attribute it to the 
fact that in India there are no good roads, campgrounds, the social setup, good
gear and leisure time for a mass onslaught on the backcountry as it is in
this country. I think THIS is the major reason why it is harder to get away
from people in all your once-favorite haunts. To attribute it all to a
catastrophic increase in population and advocate mass extermination (:-))
or to put the blame on immigration is totally irrational. I think anybody 
would admit most of the increase in influx into backcountry in recent times
is from newly converted yuppies than from poor immigrants who are fighting 
to make a livelihood in some inner city ghetto.

>It is great to be part of an elite minority making use of an abundant resource
>provided at public expense, but it is not reasonable to expect that situation
>to last forever.  Sooner or later, other people are going to catch on.
>

Yes!!

Thanks for adding a touch of reality to this whole arguement. I think one can 
be a realist and still be a dreamer and romantic at heart. You can't always
spread the wool in your eyes and scream irrationally when you see your 
illusion of the American frontier dissolving before you. Tony is very right. 
The American continent is very lucky in that there are vast areas of wilderness
and nature to be enjoyed by a relative few when compared to the rest of the 
world. It is the responsibility of ALL of mankind to try to preserve these 
vestiges. But shortsightedness and racial hatred and bickering is not the 
solution.

>    - Tony Flanders
>	daf@inmet.camb.inmet.com

-Gopal Narayanan
--
________________________________________________________________________
Gopal Narayanan    gopal@astro.as.arizona.edu         Ph (602) 621 6523
Steward Observatory.                      University of Arizona. Tucson.
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