Following our
discussion about jet ski and ATV use in the park, I stumbled across an article
on the Adirondack Almanac’s website entitled “DEC Readies ATV Use Experiment on
the Kushaqua Tract.” Published earlier this year, the article announces New
York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) proposed
experiment to combine ATV use and natural resource management along the
Kushaqua Conservation Easement tract. Just as the DEC proposed in the
mid-1990s, this proposal will open a number of roads to ATVs. However, the
experiment in the mid-1990s lead to extensive damage to roads, trails, and
natural resources, causing the DEC to retract its decision, and close these
roads to further ATV use. In Bill McKibben’s Wandering Home, he suggests that the fight against ATVs is crucial,
as he explains that ATVs are to blame for the deterioration of the phrase “Forever
wild.” He writes, “wild means a little less than it used to,” and “forever
seems somewhat shorter” (104). Personally, I stand against the use
of ATVs in the park completely. To me, the park is almost a sanctuary, a place
that is pure. When you introduce large, noisy, and destructive vehicles into
the park, the park somehow becomes impure. I understand the accessibility
arguments surrounding the use of ATVs in that ATVs allow individuals, who would
not otherwise be able to, to access, enjoy, and appreciate the park.
Nonetheless, it seems to me, and McKibben, that if ATV use increases to a point
where supposedly “preserved” forests are experiencing excessive damage, the
park will no longer obtain its wild, natural, or pure connotations. Rather, it
will be a park that sacrificed its unrefined beauty to meet the needs of
humanity. As we move forward, it is interesting to think about whether or not
we are going to have to continue to sacrifice the natural world to accommodate
the modern world. Should we continue to acclimate the modern society?
This is a particularly interesting argument because it seems that those who LIVE in the Adirondacks are pro-ATV, and they feel that any laws addressing ATV-use are outsiders trying to impose something they don't understand. As an outsider, I agree that ATVs are annoying and take away from nature, it's just an interesting issue within the park.
ReplyDeleteI like how big and broad your ideas became by the end of this post. I hope humanity doesn't decide to sacrifice the rest of the natural/pure world that we have left.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great topic since vehicle use has often been discussed in the history of all kinds of parks. Keep in mind that the ranger station on Avalanche Lake is resupplied in the winter by a helicopter which lands on the lake.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that, of the gasoline powered vehicles available for off-road and water use, ATV's and dirt bikes do the most damage. Snowmobiles do relatively little damage since they run on snow and often take measures to keep the ATV's off their trails. Nor are ATV's useful for much as they have no cargo area and aren't even road legal. They're basically expensive toys.
Also, riding around in the Adirondacks can't be that much fun: the trails are bumpy and barely wide enough for humans while nearly everything else is covered in impenetrable brush. ATV's, like most modern gas powered things, are cleverly designed to break once you take them past the warranty conditions. So why not build a much more fun area for them to ride in full of lakes and mud pits. Perhaps we could sacrifice a small piece to benefit the larger area of the park just as the 46 peaks take the brunt of hiking and leave the rest relatively unwalked.