"Mike Vandeman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:At 07:25 PM 4/6/03 -0700, Zac Mowery <[email hidden]> wrote:
And yet, this appears in the paper this morning. I'm sure all those hikers walking over the
Sequoia's root system were probably just Mountain Bikers at heard and that's what really caused
the damage.
I'll throw some bullets for those who don't want to read the whole article
It's possible that foot traffic around the base of the trees and erosion along the creek damaged
their shallow roots.
It's also possible that a trail built more than 50 years ago (my comment here, i'm sure the trail
was cut over 50 years ago by renegade freeriders) diverted too much water toward the trees,
loosening the soil.
I'm especially fond of this quote by Michelle Jasperson, associate director of the National Parks
Conservation Association's Pacific regional office. "But what can we do, fence off every park?
That's just not logical."
Visitors may have doomed 2 giant sequoias
Foot traffic among reasons cited for fall
By Brian Skoloff ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 6, 2003
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK - Standing upright, they reached 30 stories into the sky. For more than 1,000
years, the two giant sequoia trees thrived in the Mariposa Grove along Yosemite National Park's
southern border.
When they fell several weeks ago, a hole the size of a jetliner opened in the forest canopy.
It may be months before park biologists determine what did in the trees. It appears that one sequoia
growing near a creek collapsed and toppled the other.
It's possible that foot traffic around the base of the trees and erosion along the creek damaged
their shallow roots. It's also possible that a trail built more than 50 years ago diverted too much
water toward the trees, loosening the soil.
"We just don't know yet," said park ranger Deb Schweizer.
Park officials have tried to protect the big trees, fencing off some of the larger sequoias. Long
gone are the days when a truck-sized hole could be carved through a living sequoia, such as the
grove's Tunnel Tree, which collapsed in 1969. Rangers now know that even a hug leaves acid from
human hands that can eat away at the bark.
"We just need to find a balance," Schweizer said. "We may be loving them to death."
Between 1855 and 1864, about 653 people visited the grove. Now, more than a million people each year
walk among the world's oldest and largest trees, which grow naturally only on the western slopes of
California's Sierra Nevada.
Though more visitors means additional tourist dollars, park managers here and elsewhere struggle to
find a balance between protection and exploitation. Managers say that task has been tougher since
the September 2001 terrorist attacks because resources have been diverted from wild land stewardship
to homeland security.
In Yellowstone National Park, it's the fight over snowmobile access to the backcountry. Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, the nation's most visited with 9 million tourists annually, sits in a haze
of air pollution, in part because of all the vehicles on park roads. Managers at Virgin Islands
National Park struggle to protect fragile coral reefs, while in Alaska's Denali National Park and
Preserve, some fear degradation from motorized access.
"It's really a fine line," said Michelle Jasperson, associate director of the National Parks
Conservation Association's Pacific regional office. "But what can we do, fence off every park?
That's just not logical."
Last year, 277 million people visited the National Park Service's 388 parks, monuments and historic
sites. In 1960, there were just 80 million visits.
"You end up with a conflict between the philosophy of preserving things versus providing more
recreation," said David Barna, the park service's top spokesman in Washington. "Our dream is that
everyone in America can stand on this mountain and see this beautiful scenery, but our worst
nightmare is that everyone decides to do it on the same day."
The challenge for park managers, he said, is to learn from the past and understand the
changing future.
Rangers used to feed bears in front of the tourists at Yellowstone, where Old Faithful Inn, a
national historic landmark with 327 guest rooms, was built near the great geyser in 1903.
"If we were doing it over, we wouldn't do that," Barna said. "We say we'll preserve these places for
future generations and provide for visitor use and access, but those two things conflict. Any time
you want to build a parking lot in a park, you're satisfying half the needs, but you're also
impairing the resources."
In many parks, officials are taking steps to reverse the human impact.
The controversial $441 million Yosemite Valley Plan calls for, among other things, reducing parking
spaces and improving a shuttle bus system. Officials say it would ultimately result in a park with
fewer facilities but a better visitor experience.
At Zion National Park in Utah, a plan put into place four seasons ago to reduce traffic by providing
shuttle buses has led to the return of abundant wildlife in the upper canyon. A mountain lion with
three cubs was sighted recently in an area once busy with automobiles.
Beginning next winter in Yellowstone, snowmobile users will have to get reservations to enter the
park and most will have to be accompanied by commercial guides. The plan also sets daily limits,
along with noise and emissions standards.
"It strikes a balance between phasing out all snowmobile use and unlimited use as we've had in the
past," said park spokeswoman Cheryl Matthews.
In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which suffers some of the worst pollution in the park
system, managers are considering a plan to use shuttle buses in the popular Cades Cove area, where 2
million tourists a year drive the 11-mile scenic loop.
At Virgin Islands National Park and Coral Reef National Monument, where more than a million visitors
a year explore the underwater ecosystem, boaters dropped anchor wherever they liked until a few
years ago, often damaging the fragile reefs. The park has since spent several hundred thousand
dollars - raised by private foundations - to install 215 moorings.
"Now we're watching the sea grass beds come back," superintendent John King said. "It's helping
reverse the trend of declining resources."
Another stress on park resources is the need for additional security measures to protect against
potential terror attacks. Visitors are screened at seven park sites, from the Washington Monument to
New York's Federal Hall, where George Washington was sworn into office. Eleven park sites are along
international borders, which must be monitored.
Responding to the increased security measures, required under federal terror alerts, costs the park
service about $2 million a month, Barna said.
Back on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, Yosemite ranger Schweizer stands at the base of one
of the fallen giant sequoias and marvels at how their weaknesses, in fact, saved them from the ax
more than a century ago.
When logging companies began to cut sequoias in the 1860s, they discovered that the wood was so
fragile that the trees splintered as they fell. Sections were used for grape stakes, pencils,
shingles and toothpicks, but loggers stopped cutting them by 1900.
"They're pretty noble things, pretty impressive," Schweizer said. "And there is just something about
people that makes them want to connect with these trees."
