{"id":76347,"date":"2019-07-23T22:45:09","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T04:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=76347"},"modified":"2019-07-23T22:45:09","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T04:45:09","slug":"two-infestations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/two-infestations.html","title":{"rendered":"Two infestations?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>
Johnston Canyon, in Alberta\u2019s Banff National Park
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shockingly, it has been nearly a quarter of a century since we\u2019ve visited Glacier National Park and Banff.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I do notice changes, though.\u00a0 And they\u2019re worrisome.\u00a0 The sheer number of people and the crowding are much higher than I recall.\u00a0 Where, on that previous visit, we could always find parking at places like the Avalanche Lake trailhead and Logan Pass, doing so this time was difficult to the point\u00a0 of impossible unless we came in the late afternoon or early evening.\u00a0 (I suppose that early, early in the morning might work, as well.\u00a0 But we didn\u2019t try that.)\u00a0 We had driven several miles down the road to Many Glacier when we met a Park Service ranger directing us to turn back unless we had reservations at the lodge there.\u00a0 The parking lots were all full.\u00a0 The same has been true here in Banff.\u00a0 Finding parking at Lake Louise is essentially impossible after the very early morning until mid-afternoon or beyond.\u00a0 More and more, inevitably, these parks will be moving toward timed tickets, reservations, and shuttles.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As I write, I\u2019m looking across a valley near Johnston Canyon in Banff, contemplating a densely forested ridge that stands before a looming granite peak still bearing traces of winter snow.\u00a0 The forests here are much more uniformly green than those around Lake Macdonald in Glacier.\u00a0 There, successive forest fires and perhaps also some diseases have left many of the trees dead and bare.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just after crossing the border into Canada (where we encountered a very surly and unsmiling Canadian border officer, an older lady who seemed clearly bored with her job and determined make us pay the price for her boredom), I noticed a sign announcing that wood bark was not permitted to enter Canada.\u00a0 I assume that they\u2019re trying to avoid admitting the bark beetle.\u00a0 I certainly hope so.\u00a0 That noxious little pest has done enormous damage to the forests of southern Utah.\u00a0 (I\u2019ve especially noticed it along the road from Cedar City to Cedar Breaks National Monument.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an article on the topic from clear back in 2008:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBark beetles are feasting on Utah forests\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m told \u2013 how accurately I cannot say \u2013 that the Forest Service has simply stood by and permitted the bark beetle infestation to do its work in Utah, on the grounds that such is the natural cycle of life in the woods.\u00a0 Perhaps so. \u00a0And I get it.\u00a0 The forest will, yes, eventually regenerate itself, in some form or other.\u00a0 But not in my lifetime.\u00a0 And not in my children\u2019s lifetime.\u00a0 And perhaps not within the lifetimes of my grandchildren.\u00a0 That saddens me deeply.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Canmore, Alberta, Canada<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Shockingly, it has been nearly a quarter of a century since we\u2019ve visited Glacier National Park and Banff. \u00a0 I do notice changes, though.\u00a0 And they\u2019re worrisome.\u00a0 The sheer number of people and the crowding are much higher than I recall.\u00a0 Where, on that previous visit, we could always find parking at places […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo infestations?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Shockingly, it has been nearly a quarter of a century since we\u2019ve visited Glacier National Park and Banff.   I do notice changes,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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