I'm usually supportive of spreading the word on special places in Canada simply because exploitation, be it industrial or recreational, will come about sooner or later, and when it does, I'd rather it be recreational as the lesser of many evils. Quite simply, strong public participation is required for protection from or mitigation of logging and mining. This involvement can usually only be found if enough folks are aware of the special places in the first place. Think of it as triage. Save as much as possible from the worst exploitation. Yes, this occasionally leads to areas being loved to death, but even then it is usually a lot easier to deal with recreational over-use within a protected area than it is to deal with industrial exploitation in unprotected areas. The alternative, to not spread the word, means that fewer people would be involved, fewer areas would be protected, and those few protected areas would still be at risk of being over-used because they are the areas which would draw the people. A lot comes down to coalition building, which to work requires compromises. A handful of environmentalists against an industrial concern will seldom be successful. A coalition of environmentalists, recreationists, first nations, and local business and political interests collectively negoiating with an industrial concern will be more likely to be successful. When entering into such a deal with the devil, you have to know precisely what you need to accomplish and what you are willing to trade away, and you need to have as strong a power base as possible so that you do not become overwhelmed by your parters within your own coalition. It's a bit difficult to develop a power base if no one has heard of or visited the area you are attempting to protect. Cheers, Richard Culpeper, Environment North ______________________________________________________________________ Richard Culpeper E-mail: culpeper_at_tbaytel.net Website: http://www.tbaytel.net/culpeper "Hour after hour, day after day, far from sight of shore, We laughed and sang and slept under the hot sun on the northern ocean, Wanting never to return." -- Kimosippi '95 -- ______________________________________________________________________ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat May 06 2000 - 08:10:10 PDT
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