To the editor:
Winter is a great time for enjoying the wonderful scenery and crisp clean air and many people take the opportunity to dig out the skis, snowshoes and, yes, the big sled.
The 108 has been set up with beautiful trails for snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. We have been enjoying the wonderful snow along the Walker Valley; skiing under the bent over trees full of snow is heavenly.
This paradise has been forever destroyed by some chainsaw happy idiots out to make a highway through the forests for their hobby – sledding. We have seen snowmobilers with chainsaws on the trail and other than our ski tracks, the rest of the tracks were from sleds.
Many trees on both sides of the trail were cut down, so, heaven forbid, they don’t have to go under a leaning tree or have one of the trees brush their machines as they went by. It is incredible to me that all this time other sledders were going under this beautiful canopy and then, all of a sudden, some group comes through and massacres the trail.
Do these people think this forest is theirs alone, to be destroyed?
Why didn’t they just save the trees by taking the time to shake the snow off?
It takes a number of years for a tree to grow to maturity and the loss to the environment is never regained.
I will probably be dead before some of these trees are back to the sizes that were cut down on Jan. 19. I hope they remember this date, I know that I will.
People driving around with chainsaws on the backs of their sleds should maybe stop and consider what they are doing.
Yes, if there is deadfall that needs to be cleared, clear it, but why not take the same time it takes to cut a tree down to give it a shake.
Len Aune
108 Mile Ranch
