[cdt-l] paving a National Scenic Trail of good intentions... Re: Mt. Taylor

[Sloetoe]

--- Bruce Ward <bruce at cdtrail.org> wrote:
> ...The posting below
> is very unfortunate and not at all in the spirit of
> those of us who are trying to get local communities
> along the CDT to become more enthusiastic about
> helping.

### Bruce, drop your agenda for a second. Imagine that
you are not a highway developer surveying land for an
interstate highway, but are instead a resident of the
rural lands across which the highway is aimed. The
highway promises development[!], jobs[!], quick travel
over vast distances[!]. The rural residents seek to
maintain a rhythmed way of life laid out on the
integral fabric of the land. Loud sales talk of the
highway may drown out locals' concerns, but in the
end, regions are cut in half, integrated
costs/benefits of regional travel become polarized and
prohibitive towards anything off the highway, and ways
of life are ruptured.

### The Appalachian Trail was a cultural, geographic,
sociological tour de force in 1979. Now, with the best
of *stated* intentions, it is a McTrail -- a
monotonous, engineered, bridged, tube of unnatural
Nature from Georgia to Maine. Your language proposes
the same "development" for the CDT as hit the AT/ATC
in the 80's. PLEASE don't expect to make big fans
among users who don't want what you're selling.

sloetoe

Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.