Crossposted from UNBOSSED
Last summer, I attended a meeting of Forest Serice personel, anglers, local elected officials and residents concerned about the destructive impacts of Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs). A local woman, particularly upset with ORVs in her neck of the woods, explained, accurately, that ORVs rip off vegetation that holds the soil in place, they hardend the soil thereby increasing the speed at which water ran out of the forest further increasing erosion. The streams near ORV areas were being filled with sediment and local fish populations were being impacted. Some local homes were even in danger of flooding from the ORV use! She had much to add. It was clear that she had spent alot of time out on the land observing the very destructive erosive impacts of ORVs.
It was then that a member of the county commission make a shocking statement: "But...ORVs don't cause erosion. Water does!"
So, I found myself equally shocked the other day when I heard a man on the radio say that the destruction of the native midwestern ecosystem had nothing to do with the flooding.
'It's the water!!'
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