Dear Editor;

I have been following the published debate with regard to the BMTC and the encouragement of nature-lovers to over-use the wilderness. I feel that many readers are short-sighted, and do not give this serious topic the attention it deserves. More than that, some Sierra Clubbers are reluctant to voice a personal view for fear of being categorized in one or the other camp. Like most of us, they prefer to be friends with Barbara Lilley and Abe Siemens, while having fun and enjoying hikes with Ken Jones, Jay Davis, etal. Some even confuse the issues with commercialism, railing against the income produced by the BMTC program.
I see other issues, and would like to generate more open discussion of BMTC, its goals, management, profits and eventual consequences.
Wilderness is doomed--how can we get the most of it for ourselves? That is a central issue. Visit Redwood Park and the rape of wilderness is apparent. I want all of the remaining wilderness left as it was (not as it is), in a pristine state. I hate the beer cans (and tabs), and I collect them. I hate the roads, the bridges, the ducks (I tear them down when no one is looking). I especially hate the trails and the reservations. I hate the Rangers and the "parking areas". I wish I saw no other person once I left the road head--I wish there were no road heads.
I can't have my wish - and the time is altogether too short to effect any real change. I urge all wilderness lovers to get out there and consume as much of the primitive world as there is left, and not to waste time with "Letters to the Editor". I urge our club to sponsor Monkey wrench* units to sabotage construction equipment and logging rigs. I, personally, will lead groups to known piles of rubbish - east of Icehouse saddle and along Trail Crest - and transport it to the paved parking area in Mosquito Flats, the ugliest spot of blacktop I know. I also suggest a massive propaganda campaign and rumor mill, i.e., "The road to Kennedy Meadows was washed out". For the best of all rumors I recommend, "Wilderness areas have been abolished, and no permits are required of anyone anymore." The Rangers will really be busy for a change.
It all comes to the same and immediate end - we are a feeble cry, in and for Wilderness. Use it fast, in good health. It won't outlast our generation, no matter what our cry. So have fun, confound the enemy, and vote against the incumbents of whatever administration--They've already been had!
  George R. Davis

* The Monkeywrench Gang by Edward Abbey

October Toast POPPY PARK DEDICATION

There's good news and bad news. First the good news. California's first Wildflower Reserve was dedicated at Lancaster, April 24. This is the realization of a forty-year dream of our member and painter of California flora, Jane Pinheiro, who was present in her colorful Poppy Print dress and was honored. The bad news is that the next day sheep passed through the Reserve and ate the wildflowers.

Poppy Print issued by
Theodore Payne Native
Guild, Vol. II, No. 2
 
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