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Posted by: thepinetree on 11/20/2009 10:07 AM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 11/20/2009 12:27 PM
Expires: 01/01/2014 12:00 AM
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Attack on the Monte Wolfe Cabin! Letter to the Editor ~By Eric Jung
Bear Valley, CA...Personnel of the Amador Ranger District, USFS, went to the Monte Wolfe cabin in the Mokelumne Wilderness area last month. They removed the door and the flue pipe, leaving two big holes and making the cabin much more vulnerable to weather and other intrusion. They may have broken the law as well as violated their own policies. A group of interested citizens is looking into it and may pursue a lawsuit. Regardless of whether this action was legal and duly authorized, a lot of us feel that it is contrary to the interest of the community in a singularly important historic resource...
Under Wilderness rules, no one is allowed to maintain or improve a cabin like this, even if it's an official Historical Resource. On the other hand, that doesn't make it right to hasten its destruction. A group of wilderness purists has been asking for the destruction of this cabin for some time, and a few USFS personnel favor this and were looking for a chance to help it go away. Susi Lewis looked into the reasons for the action. She was told that the locks on the door were proliferating and there were signs of other uses at the cabin which were in violation of Wilderness rules, USFS rules, or an agreement with the Linford family who have been keeping an eye on the cabin for many years. And the USFS was reportedly concerned about fire danger from the flue pipe.
These reasons are debatable at best, and there were other lesser remedies available to the USFS which would not have compromised the cabin so much. Even without active maintenance, this cabin should outlive all of us. But with the active neglect of the USFS, it could be gone in a few years.
Several of us are writing directly to Congressman Dan Lungren to ask that we do whatever is necessary to protect Monte Wolfe's cabin, and even authorize preventive maintenance, to hold it as long as possible in a state of suspended animation for future generations to enjoy. The USFS must be given a clear directive that, if they don't want to help preserve it, they should at least not hurt it.
Congressman Lungren's fax number is 916-859-9976, or you can email by going to his website at www.lungren.house.gov. I encourage everyone who is interested in Monte Wolfe and our area's history to take a little time to write to the Congressman and ask his help in preserving the Monte Wolfe cabin.
Thanks!
Eric Jung
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