Re: [Paddlewise] Dave's Spot: Angst about "Sharing"

Dave Kruger wrote:
> BIG SNIP<

> Now, I've spent an afternoon a week for maybe 4-5 years, paddling ALL
> OVER the habitat the Water Trail will traverse.  Man, I know this
> place.  I know where the animals feel comfy and where they flee. 


Dave, sadly, as you must know, its not so much the people as the NUMBER 
of people! Turn a hundred of you loose in there and see what would be 
changed.

I have places that I love to go in the dead of winter. No one else goes 
there that time of year, not even a hard nosed fisherman. I shared one of 
those places with two friends that I introduced to kayaking, this past 
weekend. They are the only people that "know" it as I have seen it.(spell 
that free of boats and the only noise is what you make and nature)
We saw a couple of mule deer on the island we camped. I have NEVER  seen 
any back in there before! We saw a brown pelican. I have NEVER saw a 
brown pelican(just white) in NM!  Thats all we can do. Share with who we 
trust and hope that the magic will rub off. Preaching doesn't work too 
well. I know, as I'm one of the best examples alive! <G>

Dave Forman said something to the fact that..there should be places that 
have no maps. If you wanted to enter you had to do so on natures terms. 
No rescues if you screwed up or anything like that. No whinning and 
filing sute if you were hurt in an accident or run over by a moose or 
mauled by a bear. Make a decision thats wrong and pay the price. REAL 
unspoiled wilderness!

I agree with him. It may seem harsh but I believe it is best answer and 
maybe the only answer for those "magic" places that we ALL seem to want 
to save just for ourselves.

I now have put on my shirt with the cross hairs. <G>

I hope your place well!

James

 And,
> frankly, even without a Water Trail, there are damn few places where
> waterfowl and seals can avoid human exposure.  One of my favorite, most
> unreachable ones will be right in the middle of the "freeway" this Water
> Trail will generate, passing through waters the powerboat crowd can not
> touch (too shallow). [This is "Dave's secret spot," per George's post.]
> 

> So, here's my question to the assembled wisdom of the Paddlewise
> throng:  How should such a wildlife region be managed?  All of this
> water is "navigable," and can not legally be "fenced off" for the
> protection of wildlife.  Virtually all of the people who will use the
> proposed Water Trail will be good, conscientious folks who would sooner
> commit hari-kari than crush a baby duck.  Yet, 80 per cent of them will,
> in their ignorance, blithely paddle down sloughs, completely unaware
> that their presence is scarifying the very animals they would protect
> with their donations and letters, if sensitively publicized on TV.
> Enough of them, as an aggregate, will "crush baby ducks" by making those
> sloughs and backwaters untenable for nurturing small waterfowl, not to
> speak of the effects of disturbance on over-wintering birds.
> 
> We've know for a long time that the enemy is us, especially more of us.
> I just need some help sorting out how to handle all of this.  What's a
> body to do?  Hayduke's methods seem inappropriate here!
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
>

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