Quite a few years ago in Colorado, many 4WD roads were closed because of irresponsible drivers. If opening the forest to road construction brings back the mass wasting of pristine forest, then I say keep them closed.
What did they do, drive on them?
"If opening the forest to road construction brings back the mass wasting of pristine forest, then I say keep them closed."
Forests need thinning. Pristine = ready to burn to the ground. - My land is ajacent to the national forest; I want 2/3 of the trees removed to preserve the rest. Thank God you have nothing to say about it. Klinton's forest rules cost us more lumber in fires than we had used for construction or paper products since the country was first occupied.
I hunt elk in those so-called "printine forests". The Forest Circus is guilty of massive mis-management of our natural resources.
I hunt down by Tin Cup, Colorado. I can tell you from vast experience in the woods that they are a tinderbox waiting to explode. We MUST log our forests in order to keep them. I'm afraid of a fire down there, it would burn from Gunnison to Vail with no way to stop it. The roads have been closed and tank trapped, so there is no way in to fight the fires.
The timber where we hunt is so thick in places you can't get through it. Ever been in the black timber? There are areas so overgrown up there even the elk avoid it. Perfect habitat for massive forest fires.
(Rant over, no personal attack intended, just making a point).
"Pristine forests" ? ? ? ? ?
All of North America was fire managed by the indigenous peoples. P.S. Martin wrote about this at length.