Big Government thinks that every problem can be solve with money, more bureaucracy and a big hammer, which is what they are about to employ to the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness area to control campers.
Those 181,000 acres and hundreds of campsites aren’t big enough for the 17,000 folks (less than 50 a day, 100 when snow isn’t packed on the ground) that passed through the area two years ago.
So, the Forest Service has decided that permits will be required, and money must be paid to contain these problems: off-leash dogs, on-ground poop, building campfires and not keeping food in bear canisters.
We’re not sure what the reasoning is for their solution of camping fees and permits to enforce poop clean-up and keeping dogs on a leash in a wilderness area.
Not storing food in bear canisters is just idiotic.
The simple solution would be education for campers, but that wouldn’t create the money-making opportunity the government so eagerly covets.