Here in this country, all over this country, we are blessed with beautiful wild areas. Fortunately, we have a multitude of systems, which are in place to nurture this wildness. Our national parks and national forests are among them. Sadly, many of our national parks are overused — we love them to death — and, often, we abuse them.

In Yellowstone Park, our oldest and largest, established in 1872, in the northwest corner of Wyoming, one of the abuses suffered by visitors and the wild flora and fauna is the presence of snowmobiles in the winter and the abundance of pollutants they generate.

Our national forests, also, suffer from similar abuses. While this name might imply these forests to be set aside for the use of the general public as well as for conservation and preservation, this may or may not be the case. Often, these forests function as little more than “pet areas” set aside for certain companies to enter and clear-cut whole tracts at a time to satisfy obligations established with “politicos” along the way.

It is funny how many of these abuses occur as business friendly elements enter office. The most recent Bush Administration is a prime example of how pro-business people have an inclination toward turning their backs on the environment. They have a penchant toward disregarding rules and regulations that are meant to safeguard the environment.

The “no roads rule” is one such regulation which the Bush Administration seems willing to ignore. Basically, the rule applies to National Forest and Wilderness Areas, which disallows the building of roads into an area for deforestation. This should be simple enough: no road, no access. No forest is to be cut or otherwise abused. The area henceforth should remain relatively wild, but often this requires a fight.

Somewhere in north Alabama perched in the William Bankhead National Forest not far from the small town of Double Springs is the Sipsey Wilderness. Hidden within this wilderness stands a yellow poplar — some know this majestic beauty as the tulip tree — that is thought to be 500 years old. This particular tulip tree stands 150 feet tall and is 30 feet in circumference at its base.

The age and size of this tulip tree is evidence of the fight fought in the late 1960s and early ‘70s by Mary Burks and others to have this portion of the William Bankhead National Forest preserved as a Wilderness Area. At the time of this fight, a Wilderness Area was rigidly defined as an area that could support a pack mule trip for a two-week trip. Since this victory, a Wilderness Area has been redefined; the Sipsey can be covered in a two-day hike.

Mary Burks and those other members of the Alabama Conservancy ensured that these remaining wild areas remain just that — wild. Have you picked any fights lately?