Welcome to the AppalachianTrailCafe.net!
Take a moment and register and then join the conversation

Leaving Only Footsteps? Think Again

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

    • Leaving Only Footsteps? Think Again

      Leaving Only Footsteps? Think Again

      "ONE of the most popular places for backcountry skiing in North America is Teton Pass in Wyoming, high above the adventure playground of Jackson Hole.

      This winter, as skiers and snowboarders unload gear for a day of sweat and powder-skiing, the researcher Kimberly Heinemeyer has been moving among them with a clipboard. Dr. Heinemeyer, a senior scientist with the research group Round River Conservation Studies, explains that she’s studying the effect of recreation on wolverines. She asks skiers if they will wear a small orange GPS armband for the day that tracks their movement. Most people gladly agree.

      Wolverines, famously tough and elusive animals also known as “mountain devils,” are in......"

      nytimes.com/2015/02/15/opinion…ootsteps-think-again.html
      its all good

    • They fail to realize that the human traffic has the same impact on the wolverines as elk traffic. Animals reacting to stimuli isn't damaging them. The reaction to stimuli helps the animals survive. The animals that react better live.
      Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
      Dr. Seuss Cof123

    • While it did stop to make me consider our encroachment, a few of the claims in the article read to me like they bordered in Yellow Journalism. If the premise had been something more along the lines of "Certain threatened species in certain areas don't deal well with human encroachment" then I might have been more receptive. Instead the article appears to be looking to create a overreaching guilt trip about outdoor activities that I'm just not buying. It also severely underplays the impact that conservationists who use the land have had by protecting many hundreds of thousands of acres in this country that would otherwise be lost to development. To make claims that there is a "dead zone" within 100 yards of a walking trail, while ignoring the fact that the existence of the hiking trail is likely what prevented the land from being bulldozed into housing developments is bunk.
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    • Best comment

      "OK, OK, OK! I get it! I recognize that I'm a filthy human who leaves a wake of delayed death and environmental havoc just by existing on the planet! I promise not to venture closer to "nature" than strolling through my municipal parks or turning to the NatGeo cable channel! Cross my heart!

      Now how about YOU promising to stop chasing down critters to strap them with radio tracking devices? That can't be good for sex life in a thinning population? Sheesh!"
      Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
      Dr. Seuss Cof123

    • Best one yet

      elysianhomeRosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, South Dakota

      Here on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, traditional Lakota conclude their prayers with the phrase "Mitakuye Oyasin", which translates to English as "We are all related". How does this article's discussion of human interaction in the great outdoors ignore the basic fact that HUMANS ARE NATURAL?

      "We are all related", we are all a part of the same, bigger whole; the winged ones, the 4 legged ones, the 2 legged ones, those that slither, crawl or swim.
      Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
      Dr. Seuss Cof123

    • Rasty wrote:

      Best comment"OK, OK, OK! I get it! I recognize that I'm a filthy human who leaves a wake of delayed death and environmental havoc just by existing on the planet! I promise not to venture closer to "nature" than strolling through my municipal parks or turning to the NatGeo cable channel! Cross my heart!Now how about YOU promising to stop chasing down critters to strap them with radio tracking devices? That can't be good for sex life in a thinning population? Sheesh!"


      Rasty's watching wolverine porn!
      Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less. - Robert E. Lee

    • Translation: Buncha high-

      jimmyjam wrote:

      Rasty wrote:

      Here is another good one

      "This article is a perfect example of the Neo-Luddism and misanthropy at the dark heart of Casual Urban Environmentalism."


      What language is that? Can someone translate that into southern redneck for me?

      Translation: Buncha high-fallutin city folk are stickin their noses in business they don't understand.
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    • Grinder wrote:

      Rasty wrote:

      Best comment"OK, OK, OK! I get it! I recognize that I'm a filthy human who leaves a wake of delayed death and environmental havoc just by existing on the planet! I promise not to venture closer to "nature" than strolling through my municipal parks or turning to the NatGeo cable channel! Cross my heart!Now how about YOU promising to stop chasing down critters to strap them with radio tracking devices? That can't be good for sex life in a thinning population? Sheesh!"


      Rasty's watching wolverine porn!


      Hugh Jackman must have fallen into some very hard times... ;(
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    • SarcasmTheElf wrote:

      Translation: Buncha high-

      jimmyjam wrote:

      Rasty wrote:

      Here is another good one

      "This article is a perfect example of the Neo-Luddism and misanthropy at the dark heart of Casual Urban Environmentalism."


      What language is that? Can someone translate that into southern redneck for me?

      Translation: Buncha high-fallutin city folk are stickin their noses in business they don't understand.


      Yes. Advice from folks that have turned their neighborhoods into Super-Fund sites.
      Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
      Dr. Seuss Cof123

    • Yea the comments are all over the place... you are a few ahead of me. Rasty.. But I looked up the Grand Teton National Park as the pass is in the top of the picture. The red lines are all the trails and miles of roads and public access... I recommend everyone check out the Google Earth. Having been to Jackson Hole with family it brings everyone closer to nature. I don't have a problem with that. But research like this leads to laws & regulation later....I do have a problem with that.

      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:

    • jimmyjam wrote:

      Rasty wrote:

      Here is another good one

      "This article is a perfect example of the Neo-Luddism and misanthropy at the dark heart of Casual Urban Environmentalism."


      What language is that? Can someone translate that into southern redneck for me?




      Sorry couldn't figure out how to put Billy-Bob or Duluth Blue Jeans into a sentence.... ;( Honest they are just activists

      Neo-Luddism is a philosophy opposing many forms of modern technology. According to a manifesto drawn up by the Second Luddite Congress (April 1996; Barnesville, Ohio) Neo-Luddism is "a leaderless movement of
      passive resistance to consumerism and the increasingly bizarre and frightening technologies of the Computer Age."

      Misanthropy is the general hatred, distrust or disdain of the human species or human nature. A misanthrope, or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. The word's origin is from Greek words μῖσος (misos, "hatred") and ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos, "man, human"). The condition is often confused with asociality. "Misanthropy develops when without art one puts complete trust in
      somebody thinking the man absolutely true and sound and reliable and then a little later discovers him to be bad and unreliable ... and when it happens to someone often ... he ends up ... hating everyone."

      Here is the rub, its about the hidden meaning they are putting this out there to change public opinion.
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:

    • For 30 years my town has been on the fence about putting in a by-pass around the town because of a tree frog or turtle or somethin' (been so long I can' remember which) where the swampy no-man's land is. The town over from me has done their part by building the road, and it's working beautifully keeping traffic flowing...I can't help but think of the carbon foot print of the thousands of cars that run through our town and sit at the traffic lights idling each day. IDK