"Teacherjh" wrote in message
...

and then how the forest
rebuilds itself and life goes on in a miraculously short time; then they
tell you not to walk off the trail or pick up rocks because the ecosystem
is
fragile.


That's actually not so crazy as it sounds. Remember, tourists have a big
impact on an ecology, just because there are so many of them.

And besides, the ecology never gets a chance to recover from the tourists.
The eruption happens, wipes everything out, and then things can gradually
come back. But to do so, they need to be left alone. Unlike the damage
from the eruption, damage from tourists happens every day, and the ecology
never gets a break.

Reminds me of our visit to Death Valley, where we stopped to look at some
salt pools, the edges of which teemed with very tiny microscopic life.
Signs everywhere implored the tourists to stay on the path, and to not walk
up to the pools, since a single step can wipe out millions of the creatures
and render the area under the footprint sterile for years, maybe even
decades.

More tourists completely ignored the signs than made any attempt to comply
with them. And yes, you could see the left-over footprints everywhere.

Pete