A recent news story caught my eye and I wanted to pass it on.
Beetle-ravaged forests prompt campground closures in Rockies is the title and it starts like this:
Vacationers will have fewer places to pitch their tents this summer in Colorado and Wyoming, and they can place the blame on bugs.
The U.S. Forest Service has closed some popular campgrounds in the two states because of concern that trees killed by the bark beetles that are ravaging forests across the West could topple onto unsuspecting visitors.
I certainly wasn’t surprised to see the Feds passing the buck on this one—again—for it seems that federal officials never take the blame for anything.
In my not-so-humble opinion, we’re blaming the wrong bugs. I don’t find fault with those that gobble up wood. Instead, I’m pointing a finger at that particular species of leech that gobbles up tax dollars and locks the public off our lands—again.
Expect to see additional closures as time goes on.
Excerpt:
“I would think that we would have more in the future just because the trees that have been killed are getting older, and as they get older there’s more of a chance that they will fall down,” said Mary Ann Chambers, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Region.
Ya think!?
I have a suggestion.
Cut down the dead trees.
Yes, yes, I know… that borders on blasphemy to all the tree-huggers that are currently running our country… but hear me out.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been spending tax dollars to start a new program called Let’s Go Outside. The program is designed “to encourage a new generation to learn the wonders of nature”.
As the policy wonks at USFWS have put it, they want to “combat nature deficit disorder”.
It would seem that USFWS and the Forest Service should be at odds on this particular decision!
So here’s the deal, save some taxpayer money by cutting down trees that are closing our campgrounds, sell the wood to tourists for use in their campfires and pass the money along to USFWS to spend on all those poor folks who aren’t smart enough to figure out, without government assistance, that going outside is good for them.
I think its a perfect plan.
Campgrounds could stay open.
Trees wouldn’t fall on unsuspecting tenters.
Kids could go outside.
And the Feds could continue flushing dollars down the toilet without having to take them out of my pocket first.
But who am I kidding?
That makes entirely too much sense…
