Let me say that if you give 10 people the same materials to complete a spoken objective, I guarantee you'll get 10 variations on a theme.
I built a shelter in a wood 3 and a half years ago, this spring past. The frame is of coppiced hazel which I cut myself and tied in with hazel/willow withies and hemp twine, because I'm too lazy to make cordage (so I'll give you that one). It's roof is of woven hazel, which I cut personally, and leaf litter. It has a hearth of built up earth and boulders. I've been aware for some time that another is using my shelter, but that's cool as they've shown due respect. There are no plastic bags, old barbecue trays, and the pile of garbage you assume someone like me would be too lazy to carry away with them.
My shelter is still standing and still in use. I hope to use it this coming winter and in the years to come, so by the time it does collapse it will be like the mythical 15 year old workshop sweeping-brush which has only had 6 shafts and 30 heads.
About 6 months ago, and almost by accident, I got in touch with a local guy who runs traditional woodcraft courses for children. He's doing great work with disabled, disadvantaged and troubled kids for the Local Authority, (Unfortunately, due to "the current economic climate", the future is now one of our lowest priorities!), and I discovered it was he who had built a 5X5 mtr, open sided woodsman's workshop/hut with shingled roof and telegraph post pillars, and he who coppiced the woodland for the purpose of conservation... and his own use.
"Almost by accident" I say, because the reason for my phoning him was to ask who the owner of the land was, as I wanted to report to him that someone had recently gone into the wood with a chain saw and cleared a trial for motorbikes. The owner was most pleased that someone had taken the time to pass on this information. I freely admit that I didn't want the blame and my interest was entirely self-interest! It turned out that the owner of the land had known about my shelter for some time and had gone there on occasion just to enjoy his woodland, though it wasn't he who was overnighting there.
My point in giving you this waffle, is to enlighten you to the fact that you're missing cultural differences by a long mile, both within the UK and in Europe, with regard to the separate concepts of land-ownership and land-use. The reason that there has never been a Mass-Trespass in Scotland, such as that on Kinder Scout, is precisely because of those cultural differences. Oh, we've had our moments, like The Seven Men of Knoydart, who came back from WWII with the misconception that they'd earned the right to plant potatoes and earned themselves jail sentences, but the right to go from A to B has rarely been in question, even if it means sheltering yourself from the weather at night!
I realise how lucky I am not to be living in a densely populated area, in fact I find the scenarios described on this thread to be horrendous and would run screaming into the distance if confronted by such around "my neck of the woods", but it wasn't always the tranquil rural escape it is today. I grew up surrounded by pit bings and running down industry, and not 1/4 of a mile from my cosy shelter in the wood was a lime-works until the late 1970's and the coppiced wood I've described exists only because of C17th and possibly earlier quarrying and lime burning. In the 70's and 8o's it was the garbage strewn eyesore you describe seeing today, and I'm still staggered at how it's recovered in the last 20-30 years.
The only explanation I can come up with regarding the disrespect shown in the past compared to the apparently pristine woodland I see today, is that kids don't go into the woods now but sit at home playing computer games, and a shift in perception that this is no longer a wasteland. The chap teaching traditional woodcrafts is trying to change the minds of video whizz-kids by enticing them back to the woods (that sounds wrong!). And good luck to him!
The behaviour your describing, cbr6fs, is to my mind unacceptable anywhere, so find something very odd about the fact that you object to abandoned shelters and garbage strewn camps in Britain or Europe (and I'd be interested to know just where in Europe), but seem to think it's acceptable in the wildernesses of Canada or Russia.
I have no intention of getting myself into the fankle of "You said something bad about my hero.", but it's patently obvious that the TV Woodcraft/lore Gurus have got a lot to answer for, You Tube is full of "woodcraft", and the idea that it's educational depends largely on the mindset of the beholder!
Cheers,
Pango.
