The Feb. 8 Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that a judge has again chastised the Bush administration for violating federal law when it overturned the Clinton-era Roadless Rule. And she has issued an order protecting 52 million acres of federal roadless forest lands nationwide from roads or surface disturbance related to energy development.
Though it's likely that feds and states will continue to litigate this good idea to death (why?), I'm going to celebrate by tucking into this great new volume of essays on the topic from intrepid roadless defenders Wildlands CPR just received at my office: A Road Runs Through It. "Road-ripping," writes Annie Proulx in her foreword, "is a meaningful ritual that seeks to reestablish the correct order of the world." Amen.
Comments View as Flat
willa Posted 10:18 pm
08 Feb 2007
Awesome!
Good to know we still have some judges out there who will stand up to the monkey-in-chief.
BTW, it's a "foreword", as in a word in front, not a "forward".
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caniscandida Posted 11:38 pm
08 Feb 2007
not out of the woods yet
In the midst of this lengthy litigation process, involving appeals and counter-appeals from both sides, can any road-ripping take place? Or, on the other hand, can any new road-building take place, e.g. in the Bighorn National Forest, which was mentioned as particularly vulnerable?
It is interesting that Erik Molvar, spokesman for the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, keeps emphasizing that the anti-road decision is good for hunters and fishers. It is good for the elk, of course, but that in turn is good not so much for the elk as for the hunters who want to kill them.
The problem with "forward" I had not caught, Willa, till you pointed it out. And right you are.
Annie Proulx, who lives in the vicinity of Laramie, WY, is the author of many novels and short stories, including the collection titled "Close Range: Wyoming Stories." That book ends with the powerful, and now famous, "Brokeback Mountain," the first act of which takes place up around the Bighorns. Proulx has a definite appreciation for the interests of people who go "recreating in the wilderness," and would prefer not to be disturbed by traffic.
Chickens are our cousins! So are other sensitive animals! Enough is enough! No more factory farms!
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Erik Hoffner Posted 11:40 pm
08 Feb 2007
thanks
Yes, Willa, thanks for catching that. Haste makes waste, as my 2nd grade gym teacher liked to say. He also liked to call us ankle-biters, but that's beside the point.
The Orion Grassroots Network is a meeting place for 1000+ great grassroots organizations working for conservation and more: www.orionsociety.org/ogn
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Biodiversivist Posted 11:59 pm
08 Feb 2007
Without roads,
the beer swilling hordes couldn't haul their six packs in, which would remove the motivation to go drinking ...uh, I mean camping.
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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amazingdrx Posted 2:29 am
09 Feb 2007
Walk or run
So you wanna see the wilderness? Walk, run, even ride your bike.
For the terminally carried by other conveyances there is always horses and helicopters. Or just watch a video made by those of us who do carry ourselves under our own power.
The only reasons for roads in the wilderness are logging or ripping up the land with various polluting noisey obnoxious boring machines. Off road vehicles, snowmobiles, four wheelers and their disgusting ilk.
Let the meatheads and teens (under the age to drive cars, 80% of snowmobiling and ATVing around here) that ride these infernal machines do it on land already destroyed by this kind of stupidity.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog
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