Re: [Paddlewise] Saturation Point

> From: Dave Kruger <dkruger_at_pacifier.com>

<snip>

> Jackie then said:
> 
> > I guess this, like anything else, is relative.  Those that started
> > paddling decades ago feel a greater impact than those that started
> > paddling say 10 years ago that see a greater impact than those that
> > started paddling a year ago that see a greater impact than those that
> > started a couple of months ago that think the waters are vast open
> > spaces without a whole lot of people but will feel differently this
> > time next year.  Which is where we all were at one time or another.
> > 
> > Does this make sense?  Is it important?  Probably not... :-)
> 
> I think it is important, and it makes a lot of sense.  Doug has raised an
> existential question -- often the most important sort.

Well, I guess I'm flattered as I really didn't consider my ramblings
above as important. :-)

I guess I'm not particularly worried about kayak traffic as far as
numbers.  No matter what space in time you choose, there will be those
mourning the loss of the good old days.  Would I give up what I have today
for more space... the good old days?  Nope.  Not me.  I'm pretty happy
about my space and time.  That's because I *know* I can't do anything 
about my time, but I can do plenty about my space if I choose.  

> Five years ago my 80-year-old father gave me a panoramic photo of the north
> shore of La Jolla, CA, circa ... 1918!  It looks like some remote parts of the
> Baja coast:  sere grassland with the odd oak or two, a straggle of telephone
> poles along a lazy dirt track, and ... way off in the distance ... a couple
> haciendas.  The haciendas are the ancestors of wall-to-wall condos,
> apartments, and resorteffluvium -- which now contaminate the La Jolla scene.
> 
> Who changed that scene?  We did.  Just as we are changing the paddle scene in
> Doug's back yard, and Jackie's, too.

You may mourn that, but I do not.  Ergo, my comment that all is relative.
Those bare street scenes exist still but elsewhere.  The population here 
in my backyard (the US) is shifting, not exploding in general.  Unless
you are talking about population explosions elsewhere which have
nothing to do with kayaking and, therefore, nothing to do with this list?

> Doug is trolling.  He caught some of us.
>
> Got any **real** answers to your questions, Doug?  

Your beef is with numbers.  Because answers which included educating
are not to your satisfaction and don't cause paddlers to disappear 
doesn't make those answers not real.  I'm not sure what you are going 
to do about the current population of paddlers.  They are here.  And 
some of us are genuinely not bugged by the kayak traffic we encounter. 

> The problem is there are too many of us. 

<snip>

Where?  Where you don't want them to be or everywhere?  I don't share
your angst.  I don't think there are too many paddlers in general.  I
think it's quite possible to get away and paddle in solitude.

> Anybody who has practical, realistic ways to promote protective enjoyment of
> precious paddle spots should speak up.  Heaven knows resource managers like
> Anna Gajda of Gwaii Haanas struggle every day with this.  We owe them our
> ideas and support.  Not simplistic answers or jingoistic phraseology.

Like I said, because you may think it's simplistic or jingoistic, doesn't
make the suggestion of education so.  It is important enough to me to 
spend a lot of sleepless nights maintaining a forum where people can learn
more about safe and responsible paddling as well as become more aware of
their marine environment.  I don't think the answer would be to shut down 
PaddleWise and hope everyone hangs up their paddle.  I also don't see any 
point in fretting about how many people have or are going to pick up 
paddles.  How do you propose to stop it?  I find it arrogant for anyone 
to think they are within the manageable range while all who came after 
them should put away their paddles or stay out of their favorite paddling
spots.  I'm sure there are a number of those out there whose idea of 
limiting paddlers came sometime prior to when you and I took up paddling.

> What are the answers?

Education.

> Limits?

Regulations?  Who decides the limits?  You or me?

> Restricted publicity?

Censorship?  You aren't really serious about this are you?  No more
trip reports, maybe?  

> Concentrating paddlers in one area (viz. Brokens) to avert crowding in another
> (viz. the Deers)?

More regulations?  Who will you put in charge of that?  How much money
do you want to pay to run that program?  

> Guidebook authors with sensitive scruples?

Who draws up the guidelines for that and by whose ethics?  More censorship?

> Fewer "dramatic" rescues widely bandied about the paddling community?

How is that going to reduce the number of paddlers?  Maybe by talking
less about rescues and how to stay safe, some of those ignorant paddlers 
will decrease the paddling population by drowning?

> Hook's out Doug ... chomp away.

Nah, I'd rather try to educate.  I find it doesn't hurt my teeth as
much.

Jackie
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