 A mule train meanders through the rocks and meadows of the Sierra Nevada. A court order limiting the amount of trips backcountry packers are allowed is, reportedly, hurting business for outfitters . Photo courtesy of Rock Creek Pack Station By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
11-13-2008 Business is going downhill for many backcountry packers. The increased price of gas and a spike in feed and hay costs are hurting them, but decreased business is mainly being blamed on new quota guidelines, a sluggish economy and, maybe, a lack of interest.
Both Rainbow and McGee Creek pack stations have decided to stop much of their advertising, locally or otherwise, because of a lack of business, and, ironically because there may be too much business.
Ruby Allen of Rainbow Pack Outfitters said that a recent court order has reduced the amount of “service days,” or numbers of trips that an outfitter can take in a season.
According to a wilderness advocate closely following the proceedings, put simply, the court order stems from a lawsuit by a nation-wide wilderness advocacy group that sued the Forest Service for allowing excessive commercial stock use that violated wilderness laws. The group won the suits, and now the packers must abide by the new quotas that, according to Craig London of Rock Creek Pack Station, cut service days for some outfitters to half of 2001 levels.
Allen said this new limitation has forced them not to advertise as they only have so many days to accommodate for trips, and so they’re afraid to advertise something they may not have available.
The choice to stop advertising is also a result of a 5 percent reduction in operations for 2008, Allen explained. She said this is creating a “vicious cycle” wherein Rainbow will rely on repeat patrons and “word of mouth” in lieu of advertising, to keep business going. However, the lack of advertising equals a lack of exposure, and hence, less people will know that their services are available, and business will probably drop further, Allen forewarned.
She added that there is a little known obligation to keep backcountry packing going. She explained that each individual packing station working in the Sierra Nevada has been, “made eligible for preservation status as a historical resource, in writing, from the California State Historic Preservation Office.”
She explained the argument for preservation status is that the “packing culture” is a unique and key element to California history, such as the gold rush and the development of pioneer towns and cities.
Allen added that backcountry packing is exclusive to the western U.S., but that culture is shrinking.
The Forest Service would be the agency to foot the expensive bill of “officially nominating” the stations for preservation status, Allen explained, but that’s not what she’s after.
Allen said what she would like to see, is for the Forest Service to treat the pack stations as the historic resource it is, as the eligibility from the Preservation Office ascertains.
She said if the pack stations continue losing service days and access to trails, the whole packing industry will be “dismantled.” She added that the pack stations need support and ‘x’ number of service days to preserve the service by keeping it viable.
“This entire culture is slowly being destroyed,” Allen said referring to the lawsuit that mandates the new quota system, “by radical environmentalism.”
Jennifer Roeser of McGee Creek Pack Station said that she would not be able to advertise in The Inyo Register’s “2009 Vacation Planner” and that the pack station has cut advertising in almost every medium.
She said in an e-mail, “I feel compelled that people in this community need to know the decline of some pack stations is due to radical environmentalist lawsuits against the Forest Service who has had no choice but to determine management plans that reduce service to the public drastically even though there has been no verifiable ‘damage’ to Wilderness caused by pack stock. Our business has been reduced by 70 percent since 2002.”
London of Rock Creek Pack Station said Tuesday that business was down a little this year and that he had to add to the fees to make up for the new quotas.
London said the new quotas will reduce his service days to 1,600 for the upcoming 2009 season, down from 3,500 service days allotted in 2001. To make up for the loss in days, Allen said she’s had to raise prices, from $35-40 per person per day, to $120 per person per day.
From his observations, London said that the demand for going into the wilderness, “the desire to go camping” seems to be dropping, and he’s seeing less and less hikers and campers in general. London attributes this to people not being exposed to the backcountry.
London added that there has been a recent perception that the wilderness and backcountry are over-crowded and over-utilized. “Who wants to go if there’s so many people?” he said.
“It’s become so controversial, its affecting people’s desire to go (into the backcountry) – they feel uncomfortable,” which is not what people usually want in a vacation, London added.
London says this perception has been spread by advocacy groups and agencies, including the Forest Service.
He said that with the increased prices for trips, he’s seen a shift in the kinds of people that go on trips and the kinds of trips people are taking.
“Spot trips” where loads are packed in and dropped off at a designated location for people on a long trek are, “down dramatically,” London explained. But there has been an increase in the more expensive “full service trips” that include the pack in, setting up camps and even prepared meals for the clients.
London said the new, higher price tags, necessary to keep business afloat because of the reduction in service days, are starting to marginalize the kind of person that can afford to go on these trips.
“What we’ve been seeing over the past 10 years,” London explained, “is the elimination of the middle and even upper-middle class clientele, and seeing a lot more investment bankers.”
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