A few miscellaneous thoughts on 'access' impacts of various desert users that look for a middle ground between wilderness preservation and respectful human use - in areas that are historically multiple use.
Knee jerk preservation efforts are counter-productive and divisive to human society - perhaps intentionally so. Respectful use of wilderness is as important to healthy human communities as it is to wilderness ecosystems. Making all outdoor areas the exclusive domain of the uber-fit yuppie is not a good thing, and politically may well create a justified response that in the long run is counter productive.
Make no doubt, I'm not a wilderness opponent, but we do have lots of it already in the West - if anything there is marginally too much public land. I'm not opposed to creating additional wilderness areas on a case by case basis either - but you've gotta make that case, in a full, public, and accessible debate over an appropriate amount of deliberative time.
Consider, to start, 4 wheel drive vehicles and mountain bikes. A so-called environmentally friendly mountain bike effectively creates as much damage as one side, one 'track' of any sort of vehicle. A double 'track' mountain bike route created by a 4x4 - or an ATV - has benefits to the rider as well.
Disabled outdoor access is another factor - many folks would not have the ability to have an experience of 'exploration' without a motor vehicle. Personally, I'm not fully physically disabled, but I do have issues and being able to drive closer to a scenic, and rough, area rather than spending hours, or days, trekking across waterless and hot desert is a big plus, and a safety factor as well.
Safety for all is a big plus for multiple uses - any type of vehicle, or body, can breakdown and any user, regardless of mode can be a lifesaver.
Last, but by no means least, is the human value of coming together in the outdoors in a way that includes all elements of our society, not as an isolated sub-group, whether or not protected under discrimination law. These informal encounters in the Wilderness will build the informal fabric that may well save this Country - and the Planet.
