I don't know if you guys have heard about this, but apparently there was a lot of vandalism in the eastern Sierra - Big Pine and Bishop area over the Labor Day weekend (while we were there) - the Visitor Center at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest was destroyed by fire (suspected, but not confirmed vandalism), a high-elevation research center was completely trashed, and many vehicles parked at campgrounds and trailheads had their windshields and windows smashed. A lot of people seem to think that it's in protest over increasing the designated wilderness areas up there. I'd really hate to find out that this is coming from the offroad community because it really doesn't help our case. Stupid people! All this is going to do is increase the level of animosity between the two groups. I hate stupid immature idiots.


A couple of articles from the Inyo Register:

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/115766/27/

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/115529/1/


Sad times.

 

Not good.......

 

Ya that's not good at all, hopefully they will catch them.

 

Idiots!!!!!!!

 

That just sucks!

 

My guess is it's the wilderness people, they'd do anything to get their way as has been proven many times over the years.

All the same its sad to hear about. I find it hard to believe that anyone in this community would even think about such things.

If you are attending the meetings there, please be sure to protest horses or mules as a means of transport if they limit access. Those animals are not indigenous to the Americas, they destroy trails, pack down the ground real hard which makes water run off trails and no one ever carries out their excrement. The stuff the animals leave behind is full of seeds from other areas and not native to the environment.

Lastly, ask for equal rights for the elderly or handicapped to be able to drive or otherwise gain access to the areas that anyone can hike to. rant off

Anyhow, when was the last time anyone heard of Jeepers or off-roaders trashing a place in protest, I personally don't even remember a 1st time for that happening, but I sure do remember protestors trashing businesses like hummer dealerships, and OHV's because they hate them and or "gas guzzlers".

 

One way to stop this wilderness area nonsense is to change the law so that no human access is allowed in wilderness areas. All trails in wilderness areas should be closed and returned to a natural state. No research access, no earth mother worshipper access, no stick boy walkabout access, no firefighting access, nothing. When the wilderness advocates can't access their private playgrounds where they can be far from people who aren't exactly like them, then maybe they'll loose interest in keeping the rest of us off "their" land. There are plenty of wilderness areas now. These urban wingnuts who support this stuff think the dirt lot along the 405 needs to be a designated wilderness area. They're perverting the intent of the wilderness act by trying to get wilderness designation for huge tracts of land that aren't wild. Not to protect endangered unique pristine areas from exploitation, but to keep out other user groups from areas that they have been using for decades.
As far as these yahoos committing vandalism, it sounds like someone has started the scorched earth revenge a little early. It wouldn't surprise me if it's the tree huggers doing it to get sympathy for their position.

 

That is what they are striving for, mankind is evil!

Few are the hikers willing to do the strenuous stuff and really pack out what they brought in.

 

Well, all I can say is people suck.

Here is a set of photos I took at the visitor center when my Wife and I went up to patriarch grove this summer.

Here is a cool one, of course this piece of wood no longer exists...

Look how tight the rings are. (click the image for the full size)

You know what bugs me, these ass***** are whining about the wilderness and its' sanctity what if the fire got out of control and burned down those trees in that grove.

We are talking about the oldest living thing on the planet. If that one particular tree burned down then there would be blood on their hands.

 

Thats weird I was up there fishin for the labor day weekend and never noticed anything different. It was hella windy though. I almost got blown into the river while standing on a log. People are getting very lazy up there too. I noticed alot more trash and abuse near the camping grounds. Still these acts of vandalism do not justify that and they should be caught those cowards.