The Bay Trail -- A Disaster for Wildlife
Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D., wildlife activist
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
September 21, 2003
No wild animal nor plant was invited to any of the public
hearings on plans for the Bay Trail. They are never invited to any
public hearing. Humans frame the discussion, carry it out, and make
the decisions. Even though it is very easy to do, no one takes the
point of view of the wildlife. In this version of "The Emperor's New
Clothes", not even a child notices that the Emperor is buck ****d.
The results are predictable: yet another park development for
pleasuring humans. It's a fallacy as old as the Bible: if a piece of
land is not being used by humans, it is going to waste. Roderick Nash,
in Wilderness and the American Mind, described the long evolution
toward the idea of wilderness, where wildlife take priority. But
recently we have regressed, and wilderness is now considered primarily
a human playground.
Most species don't like having us around. There are, of course
a few, like the mosquito, that like us, and a few others that are
willing to tolerate us -- up to a point. But, as every child learns
when he or she tries to get close to an animal, it invariably runs
away. A good summary of research on the impacts of human presence on
wildlife, for example, is Wildlife and Recreationists (Knight and
Gutzwiller, eds.): "Traditionally, observing, feeding, and
photographing wildlife were considered to be 'nonconsumptive'
activities because removal of animals from their natural habitats did
not occur.... nonconsumptive wildlife recreation was considered
relatively benign in terms of its effects on wildlife; today, however,
there is a growing recognition that wildlife-viewing recreation can
have serious negative impacts on wildlife" (p. 257).
So what does the Bay Trail attempt to do? Take 450 miles of
shoreline wildlife habitat and make it more accessible to people!
Humans are suckers for people who tell them what they want to hear,
and the Bay Trail lobbyists tell us that our presence won't negatively
impact the wildlife. (But just to be sure, "studies" will be done.)
Not only will everyone be allowed closer than ever to a lot more
habitat, but long-distance modes of trans****tation such as roller
blades and bicycles will be accommodated, letting people impact even
more wildlife.
In order to facilitate all these hordes of people, veritable
human "freeways" 8-10 feet wide will be constructed, requiring the
clearing of up to 16 feet of right-of-way (see
www.abag.ca.gov/bayarea_info/baytrail/baytrailplan.html)! In some
cases, habitat has been destroyed to build these trails, and in other
cases, new pavement has been laid.
The worst excesses (especially paving!) are due to the desire
to accommodate vehicles, such as skateboards, roller blades, and
bicycles -- with the excuse that there are "user groups" that need to
be accommodated. Actually, they are all human, and have the same needs
as everyone else -- which do not include travelling on wheeled
vehicles. Only the disabled can truly be said to have such a need, and
they can be accommodated on much simpler and narrower trails.
Anyone who wants to bicycle has hundreds of miles of paved
roads on which they can do so. If motor vehicles are a problem, then
they should be eliminated. But "solving" that problem by destroying
more wildlife habitat is not acceptable. Wildlife have already lost
some 95% of their habitat, and can't afford to lose any more. Instead
of creating islands of habitat in a sea of humanity, we should be
doing just the opposite: providing continuous wildlife travel
corridors linking adequate wildlife preserves (as described in Saving
Nature's Legacy: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity, by Reed Noss
and Allen Cooperrider, and as embodied in The Wildlands Project).
It's obvious that we need to experience nature in order to
appreciate it. But it's equally obvious that we need to stay out of
it, if it is to survive. It is the latter that is most often ignored.
The goals of the Bay Trail are good (protection and respect for
nature), but they can be had without the trail!
References:
Boyle, Stephen A. and Fred B. Samson, Nonconsumptive Outdoor
Recreation: An Annotated Bibliography of Human-Wildlife Interactions.
Wa****ngton, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife
Service Special Scientific Re****t -- Wildlife No. 252, 1983.
Ehrlich, Paul R. and Ehrlich, Anne H., Extinction: The Causes and
Consequences of the Disappearances of Species. New York: Random House,
1981.
Foreman, Dave, Confessions of an Eco-Warrior. New York: Harmony Books,
1991.
Grumbine, R. Edward, Ghost Bears. Wa****ngton, DC: Island Press, 1992.
Hammitt, William E. and David N. Cole, Wildland Recreation -- Ecology
and Management. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1987.
Knight, Richard L. and Kevin J. Gutzwiller, eds. Wildlife and
Recreationists. Covelo, California: Island Press, c.1995.
Liddle, Michael, Recreation Ecology. Chapman & Hall: London, c.1997.
Life on the Edge. A Guide to California's Endangered Natural
Resources: Wildlife. Santa Cruz, California: BioSystem Books, 1994.
Myers, Norman, ed., Gaia: An Atlas of Planet Management, Garden City,
NY: Anchor Books, 1984.
Noss, Reed F., "The Ecological Effects of Roads", in "Killing Roads",
Earth First!
Noss, Reed F. and Allen Y. Cooperrider, Saving Nature's Legacy:
Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity. Island Press, Covelo,
California, 1994.
Stone, Christopher D., Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights
for Natural Objects. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc.,
1973.
Vandeman, Michael J., http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande,
especially
"Wildlife and the Ecocity" and "Rethinking the Impacts of Recreation".
Ward, Peter Douglas, The End of Evolution: On Mass Extinctions and the
Preservation of Biodiversity. New York: Bantam Books, 1994.
Weiner, Douglas R., A Little Corner of Freedom. Russian Nature
Protection from Stalin to Gorbachev. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1999.
"The Wildlands Project", Wild Earth. Richmond, Vermont: The Cenozoic
Society, 1994.
Wilson, Edward O., The Diversity of Life. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1992.
--
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are
fond of!
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
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