At 05:39 PM 6/17/2002 -0700, you wrote:
I
was sorry to learn that the person who apparently started the huge fire
in Colorado was a Forest Service employee. If they can't trust their own,
now they'll probably be even more suspicious of outsiders entering the
forests!
I was a little surprised when that news broke. As Fred pointed out
in a previous message, this isn't the first time that this has
happened. When I was fighting forest fires back in Idaho we had one
of the bosses get caught starting small fires after lightning storms so
that he could get more overtime. As for the forest service looking
at us normal people with a suspicious eye, you are probably right, but
that has been happening for quite a while anyway. I have met some
really great people who work for the Coronado, but I have also met some
real jerks who seem to really resent us normal people being out in their
forest.
I don't know when things changed, but I grew up with the Clearwater
National Forest in Northern Idaho literally in my back yard. I
spent most of my first 20 years in that forest. Back then you could
go just about anywhere you wanted to, and the forest service employees
were always very helpful and would even suggest places that we might want
to try for hunting and fishing. Now when I go back there most of
the places that I have very fond memories of are gated off and there is
no access to them.
PS:
Scott Wood, I got a copy of the poster from Jason last week. Thanks for
sending them up! We were camping in Sitgreaves (which is still largely
open) this past weekend. I was so tempted to tape it to my
car...
Your welcome. We had a lot of fun with those. We had them
printed a couple weeks before the Mt. Lemmon fee went into effect.
On the first weekend there were people marching up and down the highway
with them made into signs. People had them posted all over their
cars. Someone even taped one to the toll booth where the workers
there couldn't see it.
Since that has started, the fees have expanded to Sabino Canyon and
Madera Canyon. There has been talk about expanding even further to
have a parking fee for anywhere in the Coronado National Forest.
For those interested, you might want to check out
http://www.freeourforests.org/
it is mostly information about National Forests in California, but there is still some really good info.
Scott
Team My Blue Heaven