Spiritual recreation
Comments submitted by David Gaines on Scenic Area management
from the Newsletter archives
Editor’s
Note: In 1986, when debate over how to manage the
then-new Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area was
underway, David Gaines wrote down his thoughts on
appropriate recreation at Mono Lake. As cofounder of the
Mono Lake Committee, his ideas helped shape management
strategies that are still in place today. But policies
change, and as issues like the development of South Tufa
arise, it is worth revisiting the ideas that shaped the
Scenic Area in its founding years.
At the public workshop, we generally viewed visitors as a problem: how can we accommodate tourist hordes without degrading the Scenic Area’s pristine qualities? This is a vital concern, and I don’t mean to slight it. But a positive view of the visitor is also essential. We need to envision the experience we would like the visitor to have, and facilitate that experience through appropriate design and management.
Gray Brechin writes, "Mono endows its friends with awareness, for we have all had to learn from it. Mono has taught us to see the world anew, to accept and perceive beauties we had been unaware of, and to ask questions whose answers may be far from simple or comfortable. On the solitude of its beaches, we have learned to listen and to watch and to live quietly with ourselves."
We cannot force visitors to get out of their cars and have the sort of experience Gray describes. But we can encourage it and afford the opportunity even at the visitor center site.
I call this experience, for lack of anything better, spiritual recreation. It’s what John Muir had in mind when he said, "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings ... cares will drop off like autumn leaves."
That’s what Mono can teach us: to listen, to watch, to live quietly, to see the world anew "while cares drop off like autumn leaves."
How can we encourage spiritual recreation?
We can start at the visitor center, for there the majority of visitors will begin their exploration. The center itself could be a portal leading from the sterile, asphalt environment of the parking lot to the living, dynamic environment of Mono Basin. It could be an invitation to learn and discover.
Here are more thoughts on facilitating spiritual recreation:
1) The visitor center, interpretive displays and naturalist walks should stress, not what to see, but how to see.
2) Visitors should be lured away from their cars.
3) The pristine, natural qualities of the Scenic Area must be preserved and enhanced.
4) Man-made noise, buildings, power lines, fences, signs, livestock, etc. must be eliminated, minimized or rendered unobtrusive.
In contrast with spiritual recreation is what I call "industrial recreation": ORVs, snowmobiling, boating, hunting and other activities that require hardware. I don’t wish to demean these activities, for they have their place and give people pleasure. But the emphasis in a "scenic" area should be on spiritual recreation rather than on activities that can be pursued in other, less unique settings.
The Scenic Area should also avoid the kind of "industrial tourism" that colors the visitor’s experience in places like Yosemite. I’m thinking of commercial businesses, restaurants, sightseeing buses and their ilk. I’m thinking of paved roads and parking lots to "main attractions." I’m thinking of paved trails lined with metal signs, like the path to Vernal Falls.
We should challenge the visitor, at least a little, and not render everything too easy and comfortable. We don’t need to pave a road because someone complains about the dust.
I don’t mean to sound elitist. We should encourage people to come here, but not to race around to "see the sights", or to test their ORV s, or even hunt or fish.
Rather, we should encourage an attitude of reverence for what, after all, is one of America’s grandest natural treasures.
Return to Summer 1999 Newsletter
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