[quote=Steve C]DBD, why should collecting a couple of ounces of twigs and burning them in a wood gas stove be forbidden while the parks and national forests are finding now how detrimental the past 100 years of fire suppression has been to the forests?[/quote]
The region of concern in the regulations quoted above are areas that lack developed soils or have been abused already. We're not talking about regions where there is plenty of carbon. The first line of my first post was about "places that don't have carbon to spare".

[quote=Steve C]That seems a bit out of balance when you consider how much "harm" was done by actually building the trail.[/quote]
We build and maintain trails to concentrate the damage to limited areas to minimize damage. I haven't suggested that people should not visit, only that they shouldn't rob carbon from marginal and already abused areas.

[quote=Steve C]"stupid" is pretty harsh when you look at the bigger picture.[/quote]
It is the right word for demands to freely abuse naturally limited or already overused areas. The use of wood elsewhere in the "bigger picture" isn't under question.

Dale B. Dalrymple