At 06:16 PM 1/12/00 -0700, you wrote:
Native Americans were kindling understory fires in order to encourage an 
>abundance of plants and animals that were useful to them.  
        THIS IS THE ARGUMENT OF WILLIAM CRONON AND J. BAIRD CALLICOTT --
THAT INDIANS LIT BRUSH FIRES TO FLUSH GAME, SO THIS OUGHT TO JUSTIFY ANY
SCALE OF MANAGEMENT WE WISH TO INDULGE IN. IN FACT, THE AREA OF THE
CONTINENT IN WHICH LOCAL BURNS WERE NOT CARRIED OUT WAS SO EXTENSIVE THAT
THE INDIGENOUS PRECOLUMBIAN HUMANS LIVED IN WHAT AMOUNTED TO ISLANDS OF
HABITATION IN A MATRIX OF UNMANAGED WILDERNESS. LEWIS AND CLARK, FOR
EXAMPLE, FOUND ONE AREA OF THE YELLOWSTONE AND MISSOURI BASINS, AND THE
REGION BETWEEN, TO HAVE BEEN A BUFFER/WAR ZONE FOR SO LONG THAT THE
CONDITIONS THERE WERE AS IF HUMANS NEVER HAD NEVER BEEN THERE. IT WAS TOO
DANGEROUS FOR INDIANS TO HUNT THERE, SO NOBODY EVER ENTERED. THAT ONE AREA,
120,000 KM.2, WAS EXACTLY THE SIZE OF THE MODERN STATE OF MISSISSIPPI. SUCH
BUFFERS BETWEEN WHAT THE VARIOUS TRIBES CONSIDERED TO BE "THEIR" LANDS WERE
EXTENSIVE OVER THE CONTINENT, SO THAT THERE WAS A CONTINUITY OF WILDERNESS.
TODAY, BY CONTRAST, WILDERNESS IS IN SPOTTY, ISOLATED ISLANDS SURROUNDED BY
MODERN DEVELOPMENT. THE "INDIANS BURNED, THEREFORE..." IS NO JUSTIFICATION
FOR THE PRESCRIBED BURNS BEING PROPOSED FOR THE PITIFUL LITTLE FRAGMENT OF
THE CONTINENT DESIGNATED AS "WILDERNESS". 

 will ever be able to trust a 
>government agency to do prescribed burns that would truly benefit the 
>forest and would not be a cover for a salvage timber operation.  
       ABSOLUTELY NOT LOOK AT HOW BLM AND USFS ARE BEHAVING THIS VERY DAY
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS (PROBABLY NOT LEGAL, BUT WHEN HAS THAT EVER BOTHERED
THEM?), AND TO THE TOTAL EXCLUSION OF BOTH ENVIRONMENTALISTS AND PRESS, IN
PLANNING TO SERVE THE ORV INDUSTRY. EVERY FED. AND STATE LAND MGT AGENCY
I'VE EVER SEEN HAS BECOME AN EXTENSION OF INDUSTRY. THEY ROUTINELY IGNORE
FEDERAL LAW. A FORMER USFS EMPLOYEE HAS TESTIFIED UNDER OATH THAT USFS HAS
WORKSHOPS ON HOW TO IGNORE FEDERAL LAW UNLESS SUED BY CITIZEN GROUPS. IN 32
YEARS OF WATCHING, I'VE NEVER SEEN INDICATION THAT LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCIES
CAN BE TRUSTED. 

>	From a scientific standpoint, the best solution would be to 
>select certain wilderness areas in various ecosystems where prescribed 
>burns will be carried out, and to designate other wilderness areas in a 
>similar assortment of ecosystems where prescribed burns will be 
>prohibited but naturally occuring fires will be allowed to burn.  
>Perhaps other wilderness areas should be designated where prescribed 
>burns are not allowed, and naturally-occurring fires will be 
>extinguished. 
        THERE IS NO LONGER ENOUGH LAND ("WILDERNESS") IN WHICH SUCH
EXPERIMENTATION COULD BE MADE VALID. THERE IS A WORLD OF NON-WILDERNESS
PUBLIC LAND ON WHICH SUCH AN EXPERIMENT COULD BE CARRIED OUT. WILDERNESS IS
ABOUT WILDNESS, AND THAT MEANS INTERNAL PROCESS. WE HAVE PRECIOUS LITTLE
WILDERNESS. LET IT BE



Bill Willers
Biology Dept., University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
800 Algoma Blvd.
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, U.S.A. 54901
Phone: (920)424-3074
Fax: (920)424-1101
willers@uwosh.edu

SWAN's website:  http://www.superiorwild.org

	"Sanctuary is not sanctuary unless it is absolute."
						-Carl Akeley


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