🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <pjc.130.2EA357E4@aloha.net> pjc@aloha.net (Patrick J. Chicas) writes:
>In article <37v48b$blb@mizar.usc.edu> mankin@mizar.usc.edu (Eric Mankin) writes:
>

##If you're talking about use of ORV's truly offroad, I've gotta say it makes
##me nervous. As someone pointed out, dry washes aren't much of a concern,
##but hillsides are. 
#
#Dry washes, river beds, lava beds, rocky terrain etc.  Do you know what
#percentage of the desert is represented under the "unbroken crust" label?

I don't know that people drive rocks that much. I do know that most of those
big, inviting valley floors are very fragile.

##If you want to talk carrying capacity, I don't think
##the carrying capacity of the desert in terms of density of true ORV use
##is very high. 
#
#As I have said, from my extensive experience in the Eastern Mojave. I never
#encountered traces of my tracks after an absence of 60+ days.

Were you on foot, or on a bike? As I say, when I'm there, I don't have
trouble seeing signs of wheels running, sometimes seemingly quite long
ago.

#
##I'm not a geologist, but I can picture a situation twenty
##years from now where uncontrolled ORV use in the Mojave created dust storms
##that blotted out the sun for 100 miles downwind. And I'm not sure what
##you could do about this in the way of mitigation.
#
#Jeezuz Eric! Is the sky falling too, impending ice age or global warming?
#The largest turnout of the Barstow to Las Vegas race with 8000+ riders created 
#no such cloud as compared to the one you have visualized. Neither does today's
#huge off-road car races such as the Baja 1000.  Damn, this pisses me off!
#You can't wait to restrict my lifestyle because of some wild scenario you've 
#concocted in your head with Zero research or scientific study. 

Patrick, this is exactly the kind of thinking that has created disaster
after disaster. There were billions of buffalo, there were clouds of passenger
pigeons covered the sky, the codfish used to be so thick at Grand Banks
you could almost walk on the water. It all seemed so inexhaustible that
nothing a few humans could do would make a difference. I really think
you are letting your enjoyment get in the way of your critical thinking
on this. I also don't think you need a doomsday cloud to worry about the
impact of thousands, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands
on the desert: just look at an ORV free fire zone to see the result.


##As far as trails go, that's another story -- but as far as I know, there will
##still be a lot of trails to a lot of different places after the new
#
#Interesting, at least your not the extremist that Mikey Vandeman is.
#
##New EM area is created, and there's still a chance to work to get trails
##unjustifiably closed reopened. I am glad the bill passed.
#
#You hie nail on the head!  I expect countless lawsuits. 
#Patrick

And you might even get me joining in some of them, to open some trails.
 Eric Mankin