No disrespect to snakes or the author himself, but if you get the Audubon's publication, Sanctuary, read the snake article by Karl Meyer in the Spring Break issue. He is obviously very well learned in the subject of our fine-scaled friends...and while he admits that humans have coexisted with snakes for a very long time, he lumps us in a sentence that asks for "an absence of ridgetop houses, ATVs, mountain bikes, and poorly chosen windmill sites with attendant road networks. It may mean leaving the dog at home"
The sentence preceding saying that "copperheads, timber rattlers, and rat snakes may require relatively untrammeled tracts of hundreds -or even thousands- of acres to continue into the future"
This might work in huge 'wilderness' areas, but our suburban/urban parks were designed with human use in mind. And what doesn't he get about bikes that is really that different from walkers? After all he is a cyclist...
If you can get a copy of the mag(the article is not online), please read, and email him respectfully with comments. In fact, email the Audubon and ask them why they even print words like that.

Suggested sentence:

"We love the outdoors, and none of us goes out to destroy our natural habitats. We are non-intrusive, generally quiet, trail users. We do not go off-trail, and in fact, try to share our joy of being on the trail with everyone we meet".
Or something like that. PLEASE try to be upbeat.
SC