Letter: Wildlife Range not for everyone

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Friday, Dec. 17, 1999 | 9:10 a.m.

I was puzzled by the recent assertion that there is a problem with the Desert National Wildlife Range because few people visit this gorgeous place. Somehow the whole point was missed. It is a refuge for the wildlife. The restrictions on human activity are reasonable given the aims of the range.

I have visited the range many times to take photographs and observed city dwellers with out-of-control dogs and children expressing puzzlement that they can see no wildlife. I would suggest they visit a zoo. The Desert National Wildlife Range is not for everyone and rightly so.

I am from the United Kingdom, where the most conservative estimates are that man has destroyed at least half of the bio-diversity in the last 30 years. Here there is still a chance to avoid the kind of overdevelopment and wanton destruction that has afflicted Europe. I am no tree-hugger, but for the sake of the local wildlife, I suggest that the Desert National Wildlife Range beef up its fences and keep a low profile.

STEVEN POTTER