wow, theyre getting serious.
i had once heard that the sequoia backcountry wilderness was unique in that, when it got established, the trails were left as corridors of non-wilderness. does anyone know if theres any truth in that, or where that may have come from? i thought that that was where the exemptions came from.
anyway i hope they get to stay, not that im a big fan of packers, but theyre pretty spread out back there- compared to say- the bright angel trail in grand canyon (yikes).
and anything that increases visitation to those parts im generally willing to cut some slack. as it is anything past monarch lake you can pretty much have to yourself all summer. also, just looked this up:
http://www.visitsequoia.com/bearpaw-closure-faq.aspx ---thats not cool!
as for stock and trails, my 2 cents, it was brought up in some of the other posts- yea they dont help matters but i wouldnt say its a type of situation where: stock deliver resupplys to the crews so they can build stock trails. the steps and waterbars do have to be a little bigger so as theyre not kicked out but i would think generally, just due to steepness and dusty soils, that they still wouldve needed to be installed... anyway thats my take on it, speaking with some experience.