"Climb the Mountains and get their good tidings." -John Muir
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." -John Muir

 (Looking out at angels landing, Zion NP).

This fella was on to something, I believe. Furthermore, he witnessed the changing landscape and felt a need to do something to preserve what he and many others see as a holy place.

"The gross heathenism of civilization has generally destroyed nature, and poetry, and all that is spiritual."

-John Muir

Although the above quote is a bit more abrupt and accusatory than I would usually put things, it pulls at a place in my heart. The world's forests and wild lands are changing drastically for the "good" of man, and have been for quite some time. John Muir was a preservationist, meaning he believed that there were places man should just stay out of. While I agree with him in some regard, I do believe that man is a part of the ecosystem in which we live, and has been for a very, very long time. For example, fire has been a part of the southeastern USA landscape for over 10,000 years, primarily through the controlled burns of natives.  These fires provided opened tree canopy, increased food and habitat for wildlife, and increased productivity of the land. Private land owners and federal agencies are now resuming this practice in many areas. We can live in harmony with nature, using the knowledge we gain from local land owners and scientific exploration.

I believe as a whole human kind is well meaning, but that the private interests of relatively few land owners have had negative effects on nature that will outlast both the lives of you and myself. People want to live in nature, people want to be comfortable, and the developers of mountain resort communities are filling a demand for vacation and retirement homes with great views. The development happens fast, the homes are large, the forests are overcut (for the view), and there is limited regulation to control runoff. along with homes comes the golf courses (pesticides and fertilizers), Ripley's Aquarium, Dollywood, steak houses, strip malls, Tanger outlets, casinos, and massive amounts of impervious surface. Our mountain home is changing, and people are benefiting from this change economically. That's great, but is it costing us more in the long term than we are gaining in the short term, and who really is profiting most from the economic benefit?

The cost of this development, and urbanization in general, is immediate and long-term in regard to biodiversity, ecosystem health, and water quality. People want to live in Nature, but at some point, when is it no longer nature? Can we not move to the mountains, and expect that because we live in remote areas we just don't get strip malls and excessive amounts of shopping? Why must we cut the forests and destroy the streams we came to enjoy, so that we can buy and do things we could do at any major city? Do the resort homes need to be so large even when people are only in them part of the year? I believe people mean well, and want to enjoy nature, but just don't know about the issues that come with exurban development.

(Exurban neighborhood development outside Highlands, NC.) 

(Pigeon Forge, TN. Photo courtesy of Smoky Mountain Mall. Development primarily associated with exurban housing, condos, and tourism. This type of mountain development is less dense and more sprawling, exhibiting similar habitat and water degradation to larger, more dense cities. This type of development is also in steep areas with much rainfall that experience a significant level or erosion and pollutant runoff after urbanization has occurred.)

The drivers of how and where development happen are very complex,too complex for this post. Take a drive through Pigeon Forge, TN and try telling me that's what that extremely productive and picturesque valley was supposed to look like. Can we work as people to go to the mountains for just that, the mountains and what they have to offer us? Our friend John Muir and many like minded people realized the value of the mountains, and the wisdom they offer. I'm not arguing to cease growth or jobs in the area, I'm just trying to show with my research that we need to plan development around how to preserve these ecosystems we are drawn to in the long-term. We need to think about who is really profiting, is it the locals? Is it outside investors? Is it big real estate agencies? That way our kids get to keep going there and enjoying the same wild areas like we did!

I leave you with one final quote. Take a walk in the wilderness, find yourself, find a connection, and find something you want to hold on to in this changing world. Do we want our grand children to ask why we were so short sighted? We look at our ancestors and wonder how they just dumped toxins into the Cuyahoga River. Will our children ask us why we thought a carnival ground was more fun than a healthy stream full of trout and good tubing opportunity, or why a mansion was better than a cabin in the woods? Why the strip mall where you can buy an air brushed shirt that says "best friends" was better than a great hunting spot you could share with your best friend?

"Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you." -John Muir