wilderness act

Vintage crosscuts that were made between 1880 and 1930 are often the tool of choice for trail workers who maintain the country’s roughly 112 million acres of protected land. That’s ahead of chain saws and newly made crosscuts. And the reason this old tool has stuck around so long -- even in an age when there’s a newer, better gadget coming out every year -- it goes way beyond the physical saw itself. The rise, fall, and unexpected second life of the crosscut saw is also the story of how America created the very concept of wilderness.

The Wilderness Tool

In this episode I speak with Christopher Ketcham, author of This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism and Corruption are Ruining the American West. We talk about Senate Bill 1695 which would amend the Wilderness Act to allow for mechanized recreation (mountain bikes) in designated Wilderness, the recreation industry's grip on self-professed environmental groups, the Wilderness Act and the ban on mechanization, impacts of mountain biking and other recreation on wildlife populations, allowing mountain bikes in Wilderness as a slippery slope, recreation capitalism, recreation as a distraction and cultural pacifier and fighting for wilderness values.

This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism & Corruption are Ruining the American West