I have struggled with this in the past. I’ve loved the outdoors since I could walk and grew up in the PNW where logging and fishing were very important industries. In some areas, your impacts as an individual are pretty minimal; where we did a lot of outdoors activities in Texas and more arid environments, your impacts can be visually seen for years. There is a balance and we should be good stewards of our immediate environment and we owe it to ourselves and future generations to be knowledgeable of our impacts with regards to our activities. I grew up where logging was a heavily disputed industry. Clear cutting was a big eyesore and created a lot of protests. I believe there is a balance; selective clear cutting is healthy for some environments as long as it doesn’t lead to erosion. It opens up large areas for vegetation needed by many different species of fauna. Just as a wildfire is an eyesore, it’s often a healthy cycle in many forested areas. Arborists are true stewards and they often trim, cut and manage smaller areas and individual trees; their knowledge and experience are vital to healthy environments. Even our wildlife management and hunting has come a long way to both manage the health of the game and provide opportunities to enjoy hunting and fishing. Without replacing the predatory animals that have greatly diminished, we need to ensure game populations don’t explode which leads to increased environmental devastation from over grazing/feeding or having diseases breakout due to over population. Even though we can mess up the natural balance, we do pretty well at simulating and managing that balance through hunting and fishing…just my opinion based on research and living in those areas.
I’ll credit my Infantry background where I learned “leave no trace”. Doing small unit patrolling where you simulate being behind enemy lines forces you to always minimize your presence and covering your tracks…this is specifically true regarding trash, garbage, damaged or marked vegetation and even a small patrol base, aka camp ground. I strictly enforce this with my children and always teach them to use dead or downed trees/wood before harming anything green as well as keeping any fires small enough to use and easy enough to disperse and cover up. I especially make sure they don’t needlessly harm live/green vegetation.
Some environments are extremely sensitive, such as deserts or very arid areas. We were not even allowed to use downed or dead scrub for fires; in fact open fires were banned completely most of the year. Erosion, damage from fire, sensitive water sources can easily destroy some environments and that’s where education and knowledge is important when visiting areas you’re not accustomed to.
There is some debate on whether you should use an established camp ground site. I personally don’t believe most amateur recreationalists have the discipline to police up their camp site and it’s much easier to consolidate their presence in one spot. Trash is always an eyesore and distasteful anywhere you see it; however, I to see the destructive aspects of “wilderness” graffiti where people chop at live trees or carve their initials in the bark. Many people just don’t have the respect of the outdoors nor take the responsibility serious enough to camp anywhere with a LNT discipline. Campsites are needed for people that fall into that category otherwise you would have trashed, ad hoc camp sites all over which would have some negative impacts on the immediate environment.
Where I currently live in the SE, vegetation is often my enemy!!! I can’t cut it back fast enough
I do wage constant war on beavers in my pond that will cut down trees or worse, partially chew through them. There are some invasive species that need constant trimming and removal…bamboo, scotch broom, kudzu, etc…not to mention the blackberry bushes/vines that I struggle with weekly. Being a good steward must include balance and discipline. I also agree with Mt. Warden that this topic is always good to revisit in this community and your local community…our species is inherently lazy, selfish, greedy and with short memories…that can quickly become destructive to our favorite outdoors havens be it a local park, private or public area.
ROCK6
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