Back Country Horsemen team up with Wilderness Society

I was first a backpacker and still am, but I am also a horse owner who loves to ride my horse on the backcountry trails. I ride my horse as lightly loaded as possible with the gear I use for backpacking and seldom take a pack horse. I am well aware of how some backpackers regard me with hostility so I try and minimize my impact and always thank them for moving out of the way. I'm sorry they are so offended by horse poop!

Most of the negative comments about horses in the Wilderness are referring to commercial packing operations; and I agree that they are often over-the-top high impact and not always very courteous even to other non-commercial riders. Maybe it's time to look into their right to use the Wilderness for profit. That being said, they to allow individuals who would never hike into the Wilderness the opportunity to experience it in relative comfort--maybe too much comfort!

Michelle Schmitke, DVM, member BCH of Washington State

I hope you'll indulge a separate comment. I didn't want to make the previous one too long.

Perhaps someone from the Wilderness Society will shed light on what seems to be a supreme irony. The article says that the Wilderness Society "hope[s] to educate public lands agencies and the recreating public about the historical and traditional use of horses and pack stock on public lands and to increase the substantive and ideological support for maintenance of this use."

It's well known that horses and packtrains tear up trails, denude areas around campsites, attract flies, and litter routes with continual piles of droppings that others have to walk through, mile after mile. I assume they also disrupt stream habitats, trample vegetation, annoy wildlife under some circumstances, and cause other problems. Horses aren't even native to North America, if I recall correctly; they're an exotic invasive species. Why is the Wilderness Society so enthusiastic about perpetuating the impact on Wilderness of large nonindigenous mammals, while at the same time so adamant about opposing (as I assume it does) much more environmentally benign things like snow-kites, hunters' game carts, mountain bikes, and even federal agency wheelbarrows? The Wilderness Society's apparent enthusiasm for the agencies' mountain biking prohibition seems particularly peculiar, even in absolute terms but especially in light of its embrace of horse and packstock operations. Where's the environmental congruity in this?

I've pulled some commercial pack outfitters' trip descriptions off the Internet in the last few years and would like to quote from them so people get a sense of how far removed some trips appear to be from the Wilderness visionaries' idea of self-reliant and rugged travel, ideally accomplished under one's own power. (Some of these materials are now missing from the Internet, while others could still be found the last time I checked.):

• “Travel from yesteryear, luxury from today. A trusty horse will be your companion for the duration of your roving pack trip. . . . [¶] You’ll sleep under the stars at the confluence of luxury and wilderness. All guests stay in spacious high-grade waterproof tents with feather beds and pillows. And as for dining, our experienced cooks turn a rain fly and propane into a buzzing professional kitchen that rivals most big-city restaurants. The results? Exquisite cuisine you’ll remember almost better than the scenery.”

• “By virtue of the Wilderness Act of 1964 this area has been set aside as a place where the only possible means of transportation within are by foot or upon a horse. . . . [¶] . . . This is the land of many famous Mountain Men and many Indian tribes—an America[n] past. But, unlike its predecessors, you’ll enjoy the Wilderness in near luxury; clean, dry, spacious tents, warm soft sleeping bags, hearty and varied campfire cooking . . . .”

• “[T]he camp is very comfortable. Hearty mountain cooking is prepared at the camp’s cook tent and enjoyed in the adjoining lining tent or around the campfire. Sleep in roomy guest tents supplied with a wood burning stove for heat, and cots and pads. Or grab your sleeping bag and sleep under the stars. [¶] This is the perfect way to enjoy the backcountry wilderness without the hardships of backpacking.”

I noted with interest this quotation in the article: " 'None of us imagined that later generations might question our privilege to enjoy [Wilderness],' said Mike Reedy, past Chairman of Back Country Horsemen of America. 'But that’s the situation we find ourselves in more and more often.' "

Here's an example of why some might question the desirability of horse and packstock use in Wilderness, particularly commercial operations that ferry people around in luxury. An Idaho backpacker wrote this (the source will follow):

"My trip to Stanley Hot Springs was full of surprises. This was my first trip into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, which was the 1st Wilderness Area designated in Idaho and one of the first of the entire United States. It lies directly north of the massive Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, and is separated from the Frank by only one road, the Magruder Road.

"We broke camp at Wilderness Gateway Campground at 4am in an effort to beat the heat. We were unfortunate to arrive during a week-long heat wave of mid-90s to 100+ temperatures. The last part of the hike down to Rock Creek was rough. There was little water, the trail was thrashed and loaded with horse poop due to extreme outfitter activity—in many places it was like hiking up jagged stairs. And, horse traffic on the trail proved cumbersome as the heat ratcheted up.

"Horses have the right-of-way here, so every time they are encountered backpackers and hikers have to get off the trail, approx. 5-6 feet below the horses and crush beautiful foliage as a result while the horses pass and kick rocks and dirt all over the party below. This makes for slow going, and if you have heavy backpacks on can really suck. We had to do it 4 times. Some of the outfitters were actually upset at having to deal with us backpackers, I think it was because our dogs spooked their horses and one of them spilled their beer. All in this particular party were drinking beer and smoking cigars while on the trail."

Source: http://www.idahohotsprings.com/destinations/stanley/index.htm