Enough Wilderness Areas

In case you don’t know Wilderness Areas are federal lands that are off-limits except to hikers, boaters and horse riders. If you have a physical disability, tough, no access for you. Only those with the best genes in the prime of fitness are allowed in. Sounds discriminatory to me. But probably not to those want a private experience on public lands.

Few movements are better funded and coordinated or more messianic than the environmental left.

Wilderness Areas are very popular with the greenies. Many are established by You Sue, We Settle technique. All you need are folks who want to control access to federal lands managed by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, etc. A suit is filed to restrict access to the land. The agency agrees and settles.

There are also Wilderness Study Areas. These are BLM lands that someone wants to put off-limits to the unwashed - those who are not able to hike. They make their case to the BLM who thinks it's a great idea. BLM erects signs announcing it's now off-limits to vehicles. Congress is not involved. It's done by administrative fiat.

Here is a pissed off disabled woman being denied access to hoodoo's in southern Utah. Too bad she can not handle the 7.2 mile round turn hike. See the tire tracks that remain from decades of access.

Since mechanized vehicles are not allowed into WA’s, there is no need for roads. Fires in Wilderness Areas cannot be fought with mechanized means. Many Wilderness Areas border on National Forest and Parks, so fires easily spread from one to another.

It's not just land, some of the most scenic rivers are off-limits to mere citizens. You can raft the Colorado and Yampa rivers, but you will have to go with a guide who has a permit. No way you can get a permit. This is a most effective way of preserving the rivers as the Feds need only to control a few guides who are responsible for controlling you.

How much land is already designated as Wilderness Area’s? This 2004 map is the latest one I could locate and so it’s out date. The more saturated colors are Wilderness Areas. See legend.

Blow up the map in Colorado and see how effective the Greenies are there.

Here is a list by state. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Wilderness_Areas

Colorado has a nifty deal. You can apply for a grant from the revenue collected from marijuana sales to purchase public lands and have your own wilderness area. Just you and your best friends behind a gate.

Outdoor equipment companies support Wilderness Areas big time as the people that can hike them buy their expensive equipment to be able to fully enjoy their experience.



Sarah Margaret "Sally" Roffey Jewell is a British-American politician and businessperson who left REI to serve as the 51st United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President Barack Obama. 

The lovely Rose Marcario is the CEO of the outdoor apparel company Patagonia. The company is suing Trump over the administration's reversal of making half of southern Utah a part of the already existing Bears Ears National Monument. [You may recall that monuments are birthed by the President signing a paper] Obama pissed off the local Indians by making it a monument. But, you would not think that to be the case for the Indians supporting it were from California.