[Geysers] Re: Mountian Bikes in Yellowstone : Commercially guided day trips.

[Robert C. Johnson]

Dear Bob,
 
   Yes, one of the main concerns regarding the situation in our location is the physical size of the groups. 
 
  While an argument could be made that having 20 people show up one at a time is no different than having 20 show up in one big wad, our experience has been that large numbers of people together in a group have a larger overall environmental impact than smaller numbers of individuals spaced out over a period of time.  Granted, our area may be more sensitive than the Park, but all one has to do is take a tour of our lake to notice the degradation that has come about since the introduction of these tours.
 
   And you are probably right in thinking that esthetics is part of the concern as well.   Again, the quality of one's experience in nature is a subjective thing, so I suspect there will always be personal answers to a question like this.
 
  At our lake, the commercial outfit often advertises its' massive canoe outings as "Brews and Canoes" where they fill the clients up with beer before sending them out on the lake.  While not all outfits take this approach, it's probably fair to say that commercial outfits often attract a type of clientele that might not otherwise have come to the area, on top of contributing to larger numbers of people in any given area.
 
   At the same time you may also be right in thinking that there could be a hidden benefit to putting more people into an area, in that some of them may indeed come away as active advocates for the resource. 
 
    Overuse is a subjective thing I suspect, and you would be right in thinking that I'm a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to what seems to be a trend towards our nature resources being peddled, for private profit, as Disneyland-type "action" attractions.  Our local experience has been that the emphasis seems to be on maximizing profit when it comes to such operations, rather than resource preservation.
 
   Perhaps this is just the direction things are going, and a younger generation will take it in stride.
 
   Whatever the case may be, the point I wanted to make is that large commercially guided bike tours, if allowed, *will* have a noticeable impact, and that if the topic increased bike access comes up in any official forum, it would be a big mistake to exclude their possibility from the discussion.
 
  Robert Johnson
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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