Re: [Paddlewise] Saturation Point

I have not snipped Richards post below, in case anyone missed it. Some of
you may be "saturated" with this thread by now, but I just wanted to thank
Richard for his thoughtful words. As for Richard's wisdom, I shall attempt
to incorporate it into my thinking more fully.

BC'in Ya
Doug Lloyd 

At 10:37 PM 9/23/99 -0400, you wrote:
>In my area, northern Ontario, land use is quite an issue.  In short, unless a
>serious effort is made, land gets logged over and water gets dammed up.  Road
>access brings development of various types.  It takes a great deal of work
by a
>great many people to protect wilderness.  Where do we find these people?
Among
>others, we draw on outdoor recreation oriented groups -- hikers, birders,
>paddlers, climbers, etc.  I submit that there is a direct correlation between
>interest in paddling and interest in wilderness protection.  Obviously not
all
>paddlers are environmentalists, but many are.  More importantly, many people
>become environmentalists after their awareness of environmental issues has
been
>raised through their participation in paddling.
>
>As pertains to sea kayaking in particular, let's take a look at Lake Superior
>in the Thunder Bay, Nipigon, Rossport, Terrace Bay shoreline area.  Most
of it
>is pristine, and it is an international destination for sea kayakers.
Much of
>it is being designated as a National Marine Conservation Area.  Without
paddler
>involvement in the designation process, this probably would not have happened
>at all, and certainly would not have encompassed as great an area as is
>expected to be covered.  Yes, this will lead to even more paddlers,
opening up
>the problem of the area being loved to death, but this is a far easier
problem
>to deal with than the pressing problem of resource extraction and
development.
>It is relatively easy to institute a permit system when compared against
>stopping the logging industry or the mining industry.
>
>We live in an era of extinction -- right up there along with the top half
dozen
>historic extinctions, including the Cretaceous, Permian, Ordovician,
Devonian,
>Triassic, and Pleistocene.  The overall extinction rate is somewhere about a
>hundred times over background, and in specific areas (e.g. invertebrates in
>tropical rainforests) the rate is about a thousand times over background.
>Protecting significantly sized tracts of land, and corridors between these
>tracts, will help slow the extinction rate.  Doing this requires public
>recognition of the problem, and public participation in the solutions.
How do
>we educate people as to these problems and then motivate them to act?  One
way,
>among many, is through participation in paddling.  Think of paddling as an
>entry point into environmental awareness and activity.  The more people who
>flow through entry points into the world of environmental awareness and
>activity, the better chance we have in slowing the extinction rate.
>
>Yes, it is theoretically possible for paddlers to love an area to death, but
>before backing off on the promotion of paddlesports, lets take a cold hard
look
>at both where the most devastating environmental impacts are coming from and
>where the solutions are coming from.  Yes, whale watching in the St. Lawrence
>has been associated with negative impacts on the whales, but this is trivial
>compared to what pollution in the seaway has done to the whale
populations, and
>public interest in protecting these whales has gone a long way toward
reducing
>levels of pollution.  Yes, paddling has had a negative effect on parts of the
>Colorado in the Grand Canyon, but without public activism the canyon was
>scheduled to have been dammed over.  Yes, hiking in Yellowstone has slightly
>affected Grizzly populations, but the problem is insignificant when
compared to
>the long term impact due to lack of corridors outside the park, and only
public
>interest will help change this.  And back here in northern Ontario?  Yes, sea
>kayakers can have a negative impact on caribou breeding grounds (e.g. islands
>at the south end of Pukaskwa, a national park on the north shore of Superior
>just to the east of the proposed National Marine Conservation Area).  Yes,
>hikers and shoreline campers can have an impact on cougar populations (which
>may be extinct locally, though there are occasional unconfirmed sightings).
>But these impacts are easily dealt with through limiting access where
>necessary.  More importantly, these impacts are trivial compared to the
impact
>of logging on a massive scale over millions of hectares.  If promoting
paddling
>can help people become aware of and involved in helping the environment, then
>let's keep on promoting.
>
>Let's promote paddling hand in hand with promoting the environment.  Let's
>educate new paddlers as to the impact they are making in their activities,
and
>then broaden this out to education on the primary impacts on species
isolation
>and extinction, namely massive land use changes.  As environmentalists,
>paddling offers a powerful tool for us to capture people's hearts and minds.
>Let's not miss the boat.
>
>Cheers,
>Richard Culpeper
>Environment North
>
>
>
>Doug Lloyd wrote:
>
>> I spoke with a dealer at the PT Symposium who was elated at their sales
>> this past year, and all the new paddlers at the symposium showing interest
>> in his boats. I said that was "too bad".
>>
>> "Excuse me", came the reply, "What do you mean by that?"
>>
>> I said that means more people on the water, more impact. Does anyone think
>> there are too many people participating these days? Who's worse,
>> recreational paddlers or guide outfits (there was an earlier post on this)?
>> Should we all stop encouraging new growth, boycott symposiums, stop
>> teaching? Any thoughts, or is this not a valid question in the kayaking
>> community, yet?
>>
>> BC'in Ya
>> Doug Lloyd
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