Backpacking & Environmental Links Backpacking Backcountry Safety Princeton University has an excellant site called Outdoor Action that is worth thoroughly examining. I chose two areas to highlight here. One is Wilderness Safety & Emergency Care which needs greater consideration than most of us care to admit. Check out their Wilderness First Aid Resources section. They offer a guide to other internet resources along with their own articles on hypothermia, heat, and altitude illnesses and injuries. The other area that I suggest you look at is Winter Camping. It has great suggestions/reminders on how we might have a more enjoyable stay in the backcountry during winter. The site offers information on food balance and what to eat for heat. Proper dress such as layering, or types of materials in clothing is covered. There are travel tips about snow shoes, selecting routes for ice crossings, and other unique winter hazards. How do you set up camp in winter? Is it different than summer? You bet, and Outdoor Action covers that also. I can go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Princeton's Outdoor Action has all the links you will ever need for safety in the backcountry, so I'm not going to bore you anymore with Idiot BoB's Favorite Links to Safety crap. Appalachian Environmental Issues The West Virginia Highlands Conservancy was formed in 1967 to preserve the natural beauty of West Virginia's Highlands. It is the state's oldest environmental advocacy organization. The WVHC has been instrumental in creation of the Monongahela National Forest Wilderness areas and in preventing the destruction of Canaan Valley. Logging the Virgin Forests of West Virginia is a great page to get a historical perspective of the impact logging -- specifically clearcutting -- has had on the existing forests in the east. Did you ever wonder what the original virgin forest of the Alleghenies must have looked like? Could you possibly envision walking through miles and miles of spruce forest with trees growing to a size difficult to comprehend? What would it have been like to camp in these hollows and flats filled with massive trees and extensive laurel and rhododendron thickets, where in places the cover was so thick that sunlight never reached the ground? What would you feel standing next to a poplar soaring 140 feet into the sky? For the most part, virtually any forest hike in the east is in new growth forest. It is a rare experience to hike in an old growth virgin forest environment. West Virginia still has two virgin stands left. The Gaudineer Knob Scenic Area is 900 acres and Cathedral State Park is 133 acres of virgin forest. If you are interested in other environmental issues such as Mountain Top Removal, then you will want to visit a couple of sites regarding this controversial practice and the environmental impact of such practices. Check out the Environmental News Network and the Charleston Gazette Online. Why not read a few articles on the issue of MTR? It's food for thought. Take me back to the ECT Main Page This page hosted by Geocities. Get your own Free Home Page |