Federal Closure of the Forest

[joebartels]

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion.

Let's hear it!

[Mike]

Hey, at least Randy didn't call you a "young whippersnapper"!

50 is just a number, anyway. My goal is to still be as active, if not more, when I turn 50 many years from now. (Ok, not that many....) Randy & I have a friend in his early 50's who can hike all of our tails off. He's just plain amazing!

[azhiker96]

I think the forest service should invest in some fire towers. It shouldn't be too hard to make them fairly inconspicuous. At least then they'd have a chance of seeing the fire before it got too big. Closing the forests has not really been the answer. Fools and firemen will enter them anyway. Maybe the key is catching the fires early.

[Abe]

I like the pass idea. Actually seen it once while on Adak, Alaska. A requirement for those who wished to leave the confines of the base and step out on the other side of the mountains was to go through a basic survival course and you were issued a card. Really did no good though, during my year up there I was called out on six search and rescues, three of which were actuals. Nevertheless, the N.F. could hold courses, those who pass would be issued a card. Anyone caught in the N.F. without a card......BUSTED. In closing, even with this concept, you will have idiots out there stumbling around, I did once in Adak. Had a stupid attack!

[AZHiker]

I voted, reluctantly, for closing the forests. While option #2 is a good compromise at first glance, there is no way of either defining and identifying 'reponsible' people, nor is there a way of monitoring the trails. As somebody above posted, there are a lot of 'dumbasses' out there, and because of them, I am willing to forego hiking for a little while until we get some rains again. Think monsoon!