Rescuers speak out over green lane damage

[Evan G]

Rescuers speak out over green lane damage
By Newsdesk

Link: http://tinyurl.com/3a22sb

OFF-ROAD enthusiasts churning up green lanes are making life difficult for the Cave Rescue Organisation, it was claimed this week.

Steve Finch, of the Clapham-based organisation, told the Herald: "There have been a number of times when we have had to carry somebody an extra mile because we can't get as close as we used to.

"Damage to green lanes can impact on the speed at which we can rescue people.

"On some occasions we can get the helicopter in, but it's not always available.

"There are two or three places where it has become very difficult to get our vehicles as close as we would like to for the benefit of the patient," he added.

"We can still rescue them on foot, but it is more uncomfortable for the patient."

Mr Finch said the Cave Rescue Organisation had a policy of causing as little damage as possible and avoided areas where their vehicles would cause problems.

Cont.: http://tinyurl.com/3a22sb

[Ralph E. Powers]

Yeah it's a shame alright. I recall the road to one cave was a simple two lane track with weeds growing out in the middle... now it's about as wide as a five lane highway in places and ruts well over 4 feet deep.

Green lanes are being torn up by those same type of folks that vandalize caves and close camping areas and generally ruin it for the rest of us. The type of people who-just-don't-give-a-damn.
You can plea, (attempt to) reason, beg, threaten whatever with these people and they'll just pay you half attention and then give you that lop-sided grin that says what a loser they think you are and shrug their shoulders and may (or may not) tell you to go screw yourself and continue on doing what they do best... ruin it for the rest of us. I mean dammit they're out to have fun... not follow a bunch of anal retentive rules that just make an otherwise cool kick-ass day into a boring day in the park.
A couple of them... a COUPLE of them might... MIGHT have a change of heart whenever they're rescued and have to suffer the inconvience and discomfort of being hauled overland by foot rescuers instead of a soft ride in the back of an ambulance. But that's only maybe.

So close the green lanes down, gate the caves, bar everyone from ever having a sense of true concern and conservational minded ethics from enjoying the wilderness as mother nature intended because you never know which of us is going to be one of those geehaws tear-em up gettin loaded to the gills and leave it all behind kind of folks.

[paul]

The original post is about Green Lanes in the Yorkshire Dales, UK, by the way, which are ancient tracks which criss-cross the countryside and were made to carry pack-horses and pedestrians as opposed to motorised traffic.

Apparently the CRO (the "Cave Resue Organisation", which covers Cave and Mountain Rescue in the Yorkshire Dales) are being called out more and more to folks in 4-wheel drive wehicles who get themselves stuck while having a try at "off-roading" usully in places where they shouldn't be.

The story I have heard (I don't know if it is true but it sounds like it should be!) is that where there were kids involved, they give them a lift back to "civilisation" - but the adults got themselves stuck so they can get themselves "unstuck"...

They are unlikeley to get into a lot of trouble as they can always walk a few miles to the nearset town or village.

[LifeOnALine]

For all the non-Brits it'd help to explain how their 4x4 access works, as there's no concept of 'backcountry' as there is in the US. Every square inch of GB is owned by someone and apart from the public highways, nobody can take a vehicle onto land, even if it looks like a trail, without permission from the landowner. You don't get to point your fender at "Utah" and hit the gas...

Public highways are not just metalled roads - each county keeps an official map showing these public 'rights of way' and which are footpaths, bridleways (feet, horses but nothing with a wheel) or byways (open to anything that can fit). The 'green lanes' in this case are byways without a maintained surface and are usually bits of ancient road or track where there's a proven record of use going back centuries, but nothing at the end worth a 'proper road'. Many run across farms or open moors, and 4x4 drivers look em up on the map and pootle off in a posse, looking for Raw Manly Adventure and Rugged Fun. Some days one remembers a winch. The 4x4 drivers say that they actually keep the trails clear by driving them, as they'll cut back brush and move stones that nobody else will. The enviro-lobby say anyone in a Jeep should be slowly eaten by rabid squirrels.

The CRO's issue is not with the access itself (a lot of times we the same byways to go caving, not just for rescue!) but in some areas of the Dales particular tracks have become so popular there's a queue at each end. Since nobody 'official' maintains the ground, trails can become impassable within days and the CRO's headache is that if they *think* a track is OK, set off and find it's not, there's usually no way to turn round - they often run in deep gorges between fields, with fences and trees each side.

I understand both sides but let's face it - if the trails are legal, a few thousand drivers aren't going to change their ways because of three white Landrovers they probably never knew existed. Being able to park beside an entrance is great but caving and cave rescue are tiny compared to the other uses for a rural area, so sometimes we gotta put up.

~DM~ (drives a Jeep, fears squirrels)

[paul]

The CRO's issue is not with the access itself (a lot of times we the same byways to go caving, not just for rescue!) but in some areas of the Dales particular tracks have become so popular there's a queue at each end. Since nobody 'official' maintains the ground, trails can become impassable within days and the CRO's headache is that if they *think* a track is OK, set off and find it's not, there's usually no way to turn round - they often run in deep gorges between fields, with fences and trees each side.

I understand both sides but let's face it - if the trails are legal, a few thousand drivers aren't going to change their ways because of three white Landrovers they probably never knew existed. Being able to park beside an entrance is great but caving and cave rescue are tiny compared to the other uses for a rural area, so sometimes we gotta put up.

~DM~ (drives a Jeep, fears squirrels)

On the other side of the coin, it isn't necssarily the case that driving on all Green Lanes (or tracks on open countryside which appear to be "Green Lanes" is legal).

Some of these byways have existed for centuries and can be changed from pleasant, grassy, somtimes paved with cobblestones, sometimes paved with stone from Roman times, routes across open countryside to deep-rutted quagmires in an afternoon never to be the same again.

Sure, we all have to share the limited resources available in the Countryside but there are certainly places where motorised vehicles should never be, especially for fun and pleasure.

Any way, now back to caving...