Paying the Price of Preservation

After a trip to Ted Turner’s extravagant Vermejo Ranch in northern New Mexico, author Gordon Wickstrom presents the argument that the only sustainable outdoors experience may be one we have to pay for. If true, it doesn’t resolve class differences, and in reinforces the fact that our recreation is no longer a part of our sustenance. “The argument we have felt so deep down in our bones for so long, that the wilds are there to sustain us, is no longer tenable. Our fishing has become purely recreational, a diversion. Some will argue cheapened. And, hunting, only because the kill is always dead and must somehow be used, is not far behind. It’s all only recreation, no longer necessity.” In the Boulder Daily Camera.