Trails are used to access the wilderness areas, and were built and maintained by the USFS for years. One storm comes along and now you just abandon that area? Seems like a waste of resources for all of those years prior to the storm, doesn't it?

Should a fire start in the area blocked off by the no longer usable trail, the loss of additional forest would occur. Also, since this wilderness area backs up to private property, the opportunity for greater damage to more of these property owners exists, as the fire/fires would have an opportunity to grow larger in size because the lack of trail access for the firefighters to get the fire.

It also makes it a more dangerus situation for smoke jumpers, as their avenues of escape have a greater chance of being blocked when trail maintenance is not allowed by any other means than human powered hand saws. Chainsaws are not allowed unless you go through a years long permit process.

Abandonment is not wise use. Conservation is.