In The Name Of Progress

© By Othmar Vohringer

On the Backwoods Drifter blog I read about Denny’s one-man battle against mountaintop removal. He has dedicated many posts to the destruction of America’s mountaintops through surface coal mining.

According to the 700 Mountains.org

“Mountain top removal (MTR) coal mining already has devastated hundreds of mountains and surrounding areas in America - destroying the landscape, poisoning streams and rivers, crushing entire ecosystems and making life a living hell for nearby communities.”

Denny’s blog has a respectable list of blogs and websites that oppose mountain top removal, in his post Blogging for Appalachia he asks for additional support from us the outdoor bloggers.

Sometimes we forget, or shall I say overlook, the fact that hunters and fishers are also stewards of our natural resources and environment. To be a steward should include not only concerns about hunting and fishing but also the destruction of nature in the name of progress. The destruction of nature adversely affects our hunting and fishing opportunities, wildlife, environment, our health and quality of life .

Daily hundreds of thousand of acres of pristine nature disappear forever to make room for housing development, shopping malls, mining and other so called progress. Sadly, more often than not building and industry development happens without a shred of concern for environmental and wildlife concerns.

Just one such example became very obvious a few years ago in our former hometown where a once diverse natural habitat consisting of forests, streams and small farm holding was completely destroyed within four years. Thousands of acres where once wildlife and small farms coexisted in a healthy natural balance and that was home to some of the endangered raptors such as the Bald Eagle, Spotted Owl were bulldozed to make room for thousands of compact living townhouses.

Here is what our neighborhood looked like before the bulldozers moved in. A landscape with meadows, woodlots, ponds and streams that has been...
















...turned into this!












This is what it looks like today after the town granted developers permission to build over 5000 compact townhouses. Compact means no green spaces, no playgrounds, nothing just house, after house, after house for miles. What once was a peaceful area is now rated the area with the highest criminal activity in the township.

It is also an area of an environmental hazard waiting to happen. Flooding after heavy rains, which are very common here in BC, is already happening. Earth slides on the hills that could take down houses with them are predicted for the future after a few minor slides occurred this past year.

When this developing craze went on I watched in disgust as a pristine natural environment disappeared literally under my feet but I didn’t do anything about it. When I witnessed displaced wildlife running around on the highway and the loss of quality living in our neighborhood combined with the daily howling of police sirens it was too late to do something about it.

While we can’t stop progress we should do all we can to make our voices heard and demand that in any industrial and developing activity environmental concerns have to be addressed and solved before it is to late. With that said I hope that you will take the time and support Denny at Backwoods Drifter in his one-man battle against mountaintop removal.

Environment,Mountaintop Removal, Backwoods Drifter, Appalachia