Posted by Mel on Saturday, July 03, 2004 at 11:11AM :
In Reply to: Private Property May Become Communal Property posted by Will (in MI) on Thursday, July 01, 2004 at 2:49PM :
It's been happening for years, although quietly and behind the scenes. For a good read, just type "Wildlands Project" into your favorite search engine and see what the the extremely well organized, funded, and entrenched eco-wackos have been up to while we play with our toys. I work for a helicopter company as a flight instructor. A very large part of what we do is to provide mountain flying courses to Canadian, US and foreign military, public and private agencies, and have been doing so for about 50 years in this same area. Our traditional training area has progressively been whittled away, and permitted away with the creation of parks, protected areas, areas of concern and other such devices to the point where it's getting hard to fly without fear of offence. A few years ago, there was an organization, the Land Conservancy, that called us up to insist that we stop flying in "their" airspace. They are buying up private land with donations and grants, picking up grazing leases, and "managing" it for our common good. Just before the last session of our legislature closed for the summer, our provincial government (British Columbia) created 34 new class A parks, and expanded 37 others, at a time when they are struggling to pay for the ones they already have created. It's a monster, fostered in part, I think, by the common misconception that parks are created for the enjoyment and use by people. A glance at the Parks Act soon clears up any confusion there. Better take lots of real good pictures of your Power Wagons on mountain trails, because soon that's all you're going to have if these folks have their way.