A group I’m associated with, the Oldman River Chapter of Trout Unlimited Canada, is like a lot of others in Southern Alberta who work to conserve land that needs protection or rehabilitate habitat that has been abused.

We know first hand about Bubba.

On a couple of stretches of the Crowsnest River, our group has taken on stewardship of the land adjacent to the river to make sure what happens there doesn’t adversely affect the river’s fish habitat. The group has 25-year leases at Burmis and Hillcrest with the province to clean up and take care of the Crown land.

It’s a no-brainer that vehicular traffic and attempts to re-establish vegetation that will help control erosion are incompatible. So, the chapter installed signs and gates to discourage vehicle use and encourage public foot or equestrian traffic.

The appeal seems to have worked at Burmis. But at Hillcrest, along the river just below the town’s sewage lagoon, attempts to stop vehicles have been met with Bubba’s active resistance. TU has spent the past year and a half, $12,000 and much volunteer labour cleaning up, preparing, and planting grass seed, clearing weeds, installing a gate and large rocks to deter traffic, built a parking lot and provided a bear-proof bin.

Bubba doesn’t seem to care. He continues vandalizing public land with his off-road vehicle. He or his father may be the one who knocked down the first gate installed by the province after its $1.5 million attempt to rehabilitate the old mine-tailings site in the 1980s.

This is one example of where Bubba and the Tree-huggers have drawn their lines in the land.

But, you’ll find conflicts throughout the mountains, where some random campers insist they have a right to squat on public land for an entire summer with their elaborate campsites, rather than move on after 14 days as the regulations require and as many do.

Even in some formal campgrounds, you’ll find clashes between those who appreciate the solitude they expect in nature and those who believe they have a right to party loudly, drive their dirt bikes throughout the campground and poach cutthroats in the nearby Castle, Carbondale Livingstone, Lynx, Racehorse or Dutch.

So, the provincial government has a philosophy that we as citizens should know the laws and act responsibly. It provides for regulations (perhaps not enough) that help us determine where the limits are to our behaviour. We have parents, churches and an educational system that help teach responsibility. Then, there’s a judicial system, including enforcement but probably not enough, to deal with those who choose not to be responsible.

Simple enough.

But, in the case of Bubba and the Tree-hugger, Bubba may be inclined to ignore the limits and Tree-hugger may expect too many.

Most Albertans act responsibly when they understand what’s expected. They also likely agree that if it’s not broken don’t fix it, but if it’s not working, do something about it.

If the masses continue in relative silence, those who should start solving problems can assume everything is OK the way it is.

But, I think both Bubba, deep down, and the Tree-Hugger know it really isn’t.