Off-Road, Unhappy

These two images, in essence, represent a 20,000-word essay advocating off-road driving stupidity...

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The picture of an American Expedition Vehicles Jeep and a neatly dressed driver that appears on the cover of your fall 2013 Montanan taken on the undisturbed grass hillside of Mount Sentinel overlooking the UM campus is appalling for reasons that should be apparent. The off-road image in Costa Rica is equally ridiculous. These two images, in essence, represent a 20,000-word essay advocating off-road driving stupidity with no apparent reason behind it but fun and adventure.

UM’s conservation ethic that I embraced in the 1960s seems to have given way to more short-sighted gains. What a shame.

I am sure there is more to this story, but as presented it raises many red flags about UM, the AEV business adventure that appears to be bent on ruining more undisturbed lands and habitats, and unbridled machismo.

Kit Walther ’66, Redmond, Wash.

(Editor’s note: We received numerous letters and phone calls about the image on the cover of the fall 2013 issue. The vehicle was driven to the spot along the fire road that traverses Mount Sentinel, where the photo was taken with one tire off of the road.)

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