Posted on 08/31/2002 8:06:16 PM PDT by Justanumba
Fire-It's Coming to A Forest Near You
Mariah Wilson (c) 2002 mariahwilson@yahoo.com
Do you love the Mountain West? The incomparable scenic vistas? The incredible parks? The way the wind rustles through the trees? Do you have special forest places that you like to visit again and again? Do you love it so much that you live in the mountains? That you built your whole life around the experience of living with trees, flora and fauna?
Well, take a good look at it while you can. In fact, better take a trip this summer. Don't put it off. Don't wait. Take a look at what's left of the magnificent Mountain West. And take a look at what's gone as well, if you have the stomach for it.
I remember Yellowstone before the fires. You know I just flat out loved that park. The last time I was there 10 years after it burned, I cried the whole time. I couldn't wait to get out of the Park to private property, where people protect and care for the land rather than allowing it to be destroyed by something entirely preventable.
I saw the Bandolier National Monument and the forests around Los Alamos before that fire. I drank of their beauty. They are gone now, irretrievably, utterly gone. It takes 150-200 years to replace a forest devastated by wildfire. We will never get them back in our lifetime.
I saw Pike's Peak in Colorado and the whole area that has now burned. I marveled at its glory, it's elegant pageantry. I have to say goodbye to it now. I can hardly bear to lose it. It is almost beyond imagining that poor forest management has destroyed this area. I have wonderful photographs that I took. Not that I could stand to look at them now.
Oh, and don't get me started on the White Mountains of Arizona. I drove through them a couple of years ago, and wondered why I had not visited them before; they were such a special, unique place. Little did I know, that I was seeing them in their splendor for the last time.
I can't leave out the incomparable Bitterroot Valley in Montana or the wilderness areas that burned in the North Cascades, where I live in the mountains, surrounded by Federal and State forests that need thinning desperately, with no access roads, firebreaks, or any sort of proper land management going on. Believe me, the entire Mountain West is like this. It is a disgrace that this has been allowed to happen. I've been there. I've seen it. The Federal Government has sucked up all the prime mountain property under their control. They and environmentalists have teamed up to sign a death warrant on our National Heritage.
When I need balm for my spirit or a lift for my mind, I like to hit the road and explore the Mountain West. It is one of my most cherished past times. But, next time you see a beautiful forest, one that makes your heart sing, one that fills you with that indescribable love of country, one that imbues you with the joy that you live on God's green earth, be sure you take a good, long look at it and be sure that your children do as well. Because that forest may not be there next summer, or the summer after that. There's a good chance that it will be gone forever. Gone in flames. We are losing our forests and hopefully people will wake up and realize who is to blame.
Well, then, why didn'tcha ping ol Grampa Rampa Dave already??? Yer slippin!(grin)
I used to go to a couple of Boy Scout Camps, Pouch and Alpine, and now I think they were just using us to claer deadfall...
but then again they never burned, because a forest needs air and spave just like a kid that was ... nevermind!!
What I wanna know is... this year, will your number come up?
Well! Now isn't that special!?! I tried to ping John and evidently I can't remember how to spell his screen name correctly in order to ping 'em. I tried "JohnHuangII," then "John HuangII," then I gave up. Anybody know how to ping the "King of Ping?" Guess I'll have to go check "My Comments" to see how to spell it correctly.
Just some of the costs of radical environmentalism.
Thanks for the pings during my vacation, Gramps and madfly. I appreciate being kept up to date on the fire situation.
Now let's see if he rides to your rescue like Lawrence of Arabia, or leaves you hangin like Ahab the Arab(courtesy of Ray Stevens), the sheik of the burning sand. Burning!!!
That's right! Thats the subject of you fine thread as you thread the needle and wait for a super pinger 2 assist you.
I presume you know superfreeper Carry_Okie and how hard he works to keep his forested property in shape like the biblical "good steward," right?
One of these days he's gonna end up in the crick bed of one of his slippery slopes that he's properly preserving!
Just so it ain't "Magog!"
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