The Park Service and Forest Service see hikers and horsemen as two equal groups getting equal treatment. They believe they can simply provide whatever facilities are necessary or desirable for all backcountry users and ignore the conflicts between hikers and horsemen. Visitors can find a variety of wilderness experiences in keeping with traditional use patterns and can select the degree of crowding, solitude, or human impact which they wish to experience. Visitors have differing desires and expectations and should have the opportunity to have them met. Regulatory restrictions will be minimized to allow as much freedom as possible consistent with wilderness resource objectives.
Opportunities are available for both foot and stock travel.
This is a typical bureaucratic response. It ignores both the conflicts between these two groups and the relatively greater biological impacts of horse use, especially in certain areas. Actually, there is probably another reason, never explicitly stated, but perhaps more important. Trail maintenance supervisors often ride rather than walk. Supervisory rangers generally ride.