🚀 go-pugleaf

I readily confess that I am a neophyte to the intricate world of the
newsgroups. But what I have to tell you here is so important that I must
risk going astray of formal etiquette. This message is crucial. I do not
stick my neck out on a whim. If I offend, I beg your forgiveness. Sending
precisely this sort of message, however, is what empowers you and I via
the Internet in the face of everything that is removing our humanity.

I recently met a fellow named Richard Leo. He's a person who walked off
(way, way off) into the woods fifteen years ago and just now wrote a
little book about his experiences. Richard moved from New York City to the
middle of nowhere in Alaska a decade and a half ago (so far out in the
middle of nowhere, in fact, that he actually homesteaded). I didn't even
think it was still possible to homestead in this country. ...Lest any of
you folks think about trying this, though, you better like cold arctic
nights. Try 100 degrees below zero and hardly any daylight for a long
wintry season. Then try a six mile dogsled ride to the nearest road (and a
dirt road at that... buried under about 10 feet of snow). Richard is one
hell of a unique feonterey area a few days ago. He was down on a short
book tour. I'd even venture to say that his little book is the best book
I've read of this sort since Walden. (The title of his book appears
below.)

The reason I'm posting this note is because Richard told me something that
made me absolutely sick. He said that the government up there in Alaska
wants to turn the Denali area where he homesteaded into a big tourist
area. All the details are in the next section. If you care anything at all
about preserving the final wilderness areas in this country, I beg you to
please write a letter to the government people up there in Alaska and tell
them to leave the Denali area alone. All the info you need is in the next
section. 

Thank you, thank you for your help! And please pass this along if you can
to anyone else who might be able to help. Thank you!

-------------------------------

   YOUR LETTERS ARE NEEDED !

Concerning one of the last remaining wilderness areas in America...

     The National Park Service in Alaska is pressuring the State Park
Service at Denali to open up its wilderness area to tourists. The Denali
Park area is governed in two parts, one large northern section governed at
the national level, the other southern section governed at the state
level. The State Park area is completely raw wilderness. ...For an amazing
description of the area read Richard Leo's book "Way Out Here," just
published by Sasquatch Books. Richard homesteaded in the State Park
fifteen years ago. He is one of the few human beings in the entire area...
The National Park Service in Alaska wants the State Park at Denali to
build a massive tourist center (up to 13,000 sq. feet) with trails to be
cut all through the park. If you read Richard's book you'll get a sense of
what a disaster this would be. Human interference in the Denali Park must
be avoided at all costs. It is critical that this area remain free of
human contact as much as possible. The great value of the Denali Park lies
entirely in the fact that it is one of the few remaining untouched
wilderness areas in the entire United States. The intrusion of mankind
into the park would wreck that. We have plenty of other places that we've
turned into tourist attractions. It's time to put a check on human
selfishness and leave the Denali area alone, if for no other reason than
to preserve a special area (a laboratory perhaps) containing a wilderness
untouched by man.

     Please write to the Superintendent of the Denali National Park in
Alaska stating that you "oppose the Proposed Action for the State Park."
(Even a postcard would do!) All comments to the National Park Service will
be accepted and heard regarding the proposed development of the State
Park. You do not need to be a resident of the state of Alaska to be heard
on this issue. All letters from U.S. citizens are being read. The
deadline, though, for your comments is June 5th. Please hurry! Also please
send a copy of your letter to Governor Tony Knowles in Alaska. He is
currently supporting the development proposal. It is critical that he
hears from you as well.


The two addresses you need are:

Superintendent
Denali National Park
P.O. Box 9
Denali Park, AK 99755

Governor Tony Knowles
P.O. Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811


Thank you for your help! And, if you can, please help spread the word!

...even if you get this message on the very day of the deadline (June
5th), please go ahead and write! ....Write, write, write! Every little bit
will help. Thank you!

The main info for this message was obtained from the Alaska Center for the
Environment (907) 274-3621. This message is a condensed distillation of
their 3 page flyer on the issue (which is a bit too overly detailed to be
easily sent!)


-------------------------------

Below, I've typed in a few paragraphs from the end of Richard Leo's book:

     "As both government and private sector proposals to alter the valley
ebb and flow (but the level of the swell always increasing), the
insistence to do 'something' with the land is becoming overwhelming.
     Denali State Park, like Denali National Park (like the packaged
tourist industry, like local 'entrepreneurs'), has a scheme to increase
its 'user days.' I asked one of the state's planners, 'Isn't it curious
that the land in the park is treated as a commodity to be developed,
marketed, and then, of course, consumed?'
     The official smiled warmly. 'That's just like Mother Nature,' he
said. 'She's an economist, too. Nature preserves resources the way
interest on principal is spent without using up the principal. We're just
managing the resources the way nature would.'
     This view is, of course, lunatic.
     The mechanisms of life both in the valley and on the planet do not
work like the Federal Reserve Bank. Fitting the natural world into
simplistic human metaphors ignores the truth that humanity is a part of
nature, not a peer, not a supervisor. We've 'managed' the grizzlies in
Yellowstone to the brink of extinction, 'preserved' the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge by clamoring for oil wells.
     Hubris is a kind of naive arrogance. Hannah Arendt said that the
greatest evil is the most banal, seemingly innocuous, mindless, not
consciously malicious.
     Hubris is a former governor of Alaska exclaiming 'We can't just let
nature run wild!' "...