Schmaltz, with all due respect in my personal opinion you are a little off the mark.
On what? My first point is that there is a documented decline of interest in our natural areas in younger generations? Do you have any documentation that points to the contrary?
Sure, there will always be some level of interest. According to research, the amount of it is declining.For one, there will always be an interest in preserving and exploring nature with or without the internet, tech, guides, hell even maps.
Just looking at the mountains stirs the soul.
Maybe. Let's also take into account that the original westerners who entered the Sierra pillaged the land for as much profit as possible. I see that as the default perspective in our society.
Because it is a real experience, and the internet is just words and pictures on a screen, and simply BECAUSE there is a mystery. I could just as easily surmise that "virtual trammeling" is indeed just that as the mystery and discovery instills a respect not found otherwise. Using social media, and the internet is definitely a double edged sword, and something I have conflicting opinions on. Sometimes knowledge is power, and sometimes no knowledge is power. Not knowing what lies beyond is powerful and a feeling that is dying in the information age. All things in moderation at the appropriate time, in the appropriate place, ya dig?
Okay, now I'm not even sure how to respond to this. I guess you don't like social media, despite being here which is basically an extension of that? The entire purpose of HST is to give us information about what lies ahead in the Sierra.
Back in the day, John Muir used newspaper articles and Ansel Adams published his photos in magazines. That was the "social media" of the 19th and 20th centuries, and it did a remarkable job at jumpstarting the environmental movement and getting the Sierra all of the protection it enjoys today.
Assuming that conservation is a concern of the past and that modern photography and writing doesn't help in this service is I think misguided. Just recently Congress passed measures which contain language that opens up the sale of national forest and federal wilderness to private owners. Now, I realize that that particular example will most likely result in nothing, but there is definitely a constant pressure among business interests in this country to reclaim protected land. Making the public continue to care about these places is the best thing we can do to protect them. Ya dig?