At  11:38:45 5/21/02 -0700, Scott Wood wrote:
>
>>In my opinion, the ban on entry to national forests should only apply
>>to people in vehicles, and those intending to stay overnite.  Day hikers
>>should still be allowed in, perhaps with their packs being searched,
>>and having them "sign in" and "sign out" at the trailhead.  There is no
>>threat of forest fires from nonsmoking day hikers, even with the
>>tinder-dry conditions we have right now.
>>
>>Mike (Malthusian)
>
>Isn't that sort of an elitist attitude about the forest?  What evidence do 
>you have that people who drive vehicles into the forest are causing 
>fires?  I can understand the overnight campers are more likely to have a 
>fire, but I fail to see why simply driving a vehicle makes you undesirable 
>to be in the forest.  Also, why is it better to be a non-smoking day hiker 
>instead of a non-smoking vehicle driver?
>
>I don't know if it was intended or not, but it seems like your belief is 
>that your use of the forest is ok, but others that want to use the forest 
>in a different way is bad.
>
>Personally I don't want to see any closure of the forest.  I can understand 
>the reason why they want to do it, but I still don't agree with it.
>
>
>Scott
>Team My Blue Heaven
>www.myblueheaven.com/geocache
>
>
I will state again that it is EXTREMELY unlikely that a nonsmoking
day hiker walking thru a national forest would ever cause a forest 
fire.  When people come in in vehicles, they just have a lot more
combustible "stuff" with them.  A spark or heat from the pickup truck
or SUV itself could start a fire.

A day hiker is limited to a day pack, water bottles, and a few other
items.  Again, I'd like to know of a specific instance where a day
hiker started a forest fire.  If no one can cite any such instances,
I'll assume that means "no contest" from everybody.

In general, almost all the people who are irresponsible are non-hiking
people.  These are the types that built the illegal campfires in
Prescott National forest.  Have you noticed that you see trash along
the trail close to a trailhead (maybe for the first 1 or 2 tenths of
a mile), then everything is clean after that?  Why is that?  This is
not an "elitist attitude", this is based on 25+ years of objective
observations on my part.

Mike