[Awclist] [Fwd: RRFW Riverwire - PARK SQUANDERS OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVED MANAGEMENT]

[Thomas Robey]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	RRFW Riverwire - PARK SQUANDERS OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVED 
MANAGEMENT
Date: 	Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:16:03 -0700
From: 	Riverwire <riverwire at rrfw.org>
Reply-To: 	<Riverwire at rrfw.org>
Organization: 	River Runners for Wilderness
To: 	Riverwire at rrfw.org



RRFW Riverwire – PARK SQUANDERS OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVED MANAGEMENT

November 18, 2005

The newly released Final Environmental Impact Statement/Colorado River 
Management Plan missed a terrific opportunity to manage the Colorado 
River through Grand Canyon National Park as the American treasure it is. 
The new plan does nothing to improve management of the river and 
actually makes matters worse by allowing critical issues to fester from 
now until the next CRMP. This very flawed plan:

- Ignores relative demand between different user groups for access to a 
scarce resource.

- Ignores the impact of increasing recreational use of a fixed resource 
in light of a just released 13-year study of best available science 
showing recreational river use is already too high (USGS Circular 1282, 
seen at http://www.gcmrc.gov/products/score/2005/score.htm ).

- Ignores the preservation of America’s vanishing Wilderness resource.

- Ignores how recreational use will be decreased in the event use must 
be cut back to preserve the resource.

- While summarily rejecting an all-user reservation system (as is used 
in Boundary Waters and on the Deschutes) as an undue burden for the 
concessionaires and too complicated, the park adopted a weighted lottery 
system that appears to be very complex.

- Ignores massive public comment and forces one user group to race 
through Grand Canyon without addressing how the loss of two to five days 
in trip length will affect safety margins, congestion, and visitor 
experience.

- Applies this new lottery system to only one user group.

- Increases campsite competition.

- Ignores any semblance of justice and burdens one user group with 
4-year visitation restrictions.

- Ignores natural soundscapes and allows more helicopters on the river 
at Whitmore Wash.

- Increases the number of people a day launching at Diamond Creek to 
600, while ignoring the Park’s own data indicating this use level will 
adversely impact the resource and escalate take-out problems at Diamond 
Creek.

- Ignores the 5,000 or so folks who have patiently waited on the waiting 
list for a date certain and who are now thrown into a lottery, where 
chances of actually getting a permit are uncertain.

- Ignores the NEPA requirement for public comment on necessary and 
appropriate commercial services, continuing to cater almost exclusively 
to a small subset of wealthy individuals (2003 GCNP Commercial River 
Visitor Study).

The purpose of a River Management Plan is to identify issues and solve 
them in ways that protects the resource while providing for recreational 
value to the river running visitor. For the resource and river runners, 
this plan falls far short of reaching those goals. The Park’s solution 
of simply increasing access in the spring, fall and winter is a band-aid 
solution to an extraordinarily complex and contentious problem.

River Runners for Wilderness is exploring legal options to protect the 
Grand Canyon’s incredible river and gain fair access on behalf of the 
noncommercial river running community. Please support our effort with a 
generous donation to us at: PO Box 17301, Boulder, CO 80308 or at our 
website at www.rrfw.org/store.php <http://www.rrfw.org/store.php>. We 
deeply appreciate the response we have so far received from our supporters.

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RIVERWIRE is a free service to the community of river lovers from River 
Runners for Wilderness. Membership is FREE! Send your e-mail address to 
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RRFW is a project of Living Rivers. 
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