Ed Cannady

What is unique about the Boulder-White Clouds?

“To me, one of the greatest resources here, one of the things that are in shortest supply, is the silence…It is just a place that allows you to set a different pace to your life as long as you can be here. And I think that’s really important. I think that it is really important to people. As our population grows, I think it will become increasingly important. There will be a scarcity value to places like this that will make them absolutely priceless to the American people.”

What are some of the user conflicts in the Boulder-White Clouds?

“That’s the hardest part of my job. It’s the root of the problems that we have managing this place, not all of them, but most of them. A big problem is just the crush of use overall. A lot of people are coming here. The more people you have visit, the more impacts you are going to have. Some uses are more impactful than others. We try to have a nice mix, in the summertime, of trails that are open to motorbikes and trails that are closed…All to often we find ourselves reacting or responding to changes in recreation use. It is really hard to stay ahead of the game because we don’t know what the next form of access is going to be. Mountain bikes are a good example. We would like to be able to anticipate some of those things. I think that most certain change that we can anticipate is that use will continue to grow. We will continue to have to assess how we are doing at providing people with the kind of experiences that this place ought to offer. If the motorized and mechanized use continues to grow that affects the hikers and horseback riders. We have to either try to mediate discussions between those groups, and help foster understandings between the groups. And have them help us determine what the specific areas are best suited for, or do that ourselves. It’s a tough road if we do it ourselves. We really want to have that growing user group involved in the discussion. But it’s going to be hard. It’s hard to fit more people into a wild area and keep it wild.”

What do you value in the Boulder-White Clouds?

“Coming to the White Clouds has literally changed my life. And I want other people to have that opportunity as well. For me, it is important to enable people to come enjoy this place. I came here, spent the time with this place and asked myself those questions. Am I the kind of man that I want to be? And all too often, there was a real question there. So it gave me the opportunity to find those answers. Where do I want to be with my life? Not what is the meaning of life. What is the meaning of my life? Is it where I want it to be? And if not, what do I do to change so that it is? Again that’s probably the essence of where I am in my life today is the things that I learned spending time in this place. I would like for people to have that opportunity.”