QUOTE(4thgenFolsomite @ Apr 3 2008, 02:26 PM)
as our population continues to rise, isn't it important that we preserve wild spaces just for the need to have them? its important we protect and preserve the environment. that means we protect areas without roads. once they are gone, they are gone forever. protecting the national forest is protecting it for everyone. that doesn't mean you aren't allowed to go into it. it means you are restricted in how you access it. that may mean no motor vehicles. no one is stopping you from going in. its not a select few.
if we don't have some areas that are protected, then we lose more and more species as well. I would prefer to live in a state that I know still has wild and open natural lands, even if I can't drive in to see them. it makes me feel better just knowing they are there and that, hopefully, they will be there for future generations.
This is already being done by the Designated Wilderness Areas plus the backcountry in the National Parks.
To name a few in CA: Trintiy Alps Wilderness, Granite Chief Wilderness, Desolation Wilderness, Mokelumne Wilderness, Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, Hoover Wilderness, Emmigrant Wilderness, John Muir Wilderness, Golden Trout Wilderness.
Now for some parks, Yosemite, Sequoia National, Kings Canyon.
These are just the ones I've gone backpacking in myself so they all came from memory. Oops, that's a little misspeak, I've mapped routes in all of the above, but I haven't yet been to John Muir or Golden Trout.