[Awclist] [Fwd: RRFW Riverwire - GRAND CANYON LITIGATION UPDATE]

[Thomas Robey]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	RRFW Riverwire - GRAND CANYON LITIGATION UPDATE
Date: 	Thu, 13 Jul 2006 22:48:56 -0600
From: 	Riverwire <riverwire at rrfw.org>
Reply-To: 	<Riverwire at rrfw.org>
Organization: 	River Runners for Wilderness
To: 	<Riverwire at rrfw.org>



RRFW Riverwire - GRAND CANYON LITIGATION UPDATE
July 13, 2006

A scheduling conference was held Wednesday, July 12, 2009, between the
National Park Service and legal representatives of a coalition of groups
challenging the National Park Service Colorado River Management Plan in
court. The case was filed just days after the plan was finalized in March,
2006.

The case is being heard by David G. Campbell, U.S. district court judge for
the District of Arizona.

During scheduling, it was agreed that the case will be conducted in two
phases, the "merits" phase which will decide whether the Park Service
violated the law, and a "remedy" phase to decide, if the plaintiffs prevail,
what kind of relief should be granted.  

The Grand Canyon River Outfitters Trade Association has requested to legally
intervene in the litigation. The trade association's request will be
reviewed by Judge Campbell and he will decide whether to allow intervention
by the group.  

The groups challenging the park's plan include River Runners for Wilderness,
Wilderness Watch, Rock the Earth and Living Rivers. The coalition is seeking
to require the National Park Service to fulfill the park's mandate that the
Colorado River through Grand Canyon be managed as wilderness.

In addition, the groups seek to overturn the park's decision to perpetuate
the inequitable allocation of river running permits. The coalition contends
that the new management plan gives commercial users priority over the public
seeking opportunities for do-it-yourself rafting and kayaking in the summer.

The new river management plan is presently assigning self-guided river
runners winter launch permits as far into the future as 2011, while holding
thousands of summer trips open and as yet unassigned for the river's
concessionaires, who have not begun booking for 2008. In the new plan, the
astonishingly lopsided summer ratio of concessions passengers and crew is
seven to every one self-guided paddler. 

"It is scandalous discrimination against those choosing to do their own
trips.  While tourists can buy their way onto a high-priced summertime
concessionaire tour almost immediately, the do-it-yourself public suffers a
decrease in trip length, introduction of a highly limiting weighted lottery,
and draconian restrictions to visitation not seen in any other National
Park" notes Jo Johnson, Co-director of River Runners for Wilderness.
"Essentially all of the use gained by the self-guided in the plan is in the
chilly winter months," she adds.

A third concern of the group is the Park Service's failure to properly
address and mitigate degradation of the Grand Canyon's ecosystem by human
use and the ongoing depredations of Glen Canyon Dam, including the lack of
planning for lower river flows caused by the continuing drought.

The coalition is represented by Julia Olson of Wild Earth Advocates and
Matthew Bishop of the Western Environmental Law Center.

River Runners for Wilderness is a national non-profit grassroots
organization dedicated to the protection of wilderness quality rivers and
lands, including wilderness access issues. For more information see their
website at www.rrfw.org.

CONTACT:
Jo Johnson, Co-director
River Runners for Wilderness
303-443-1806
jojohnson at rrfw.org
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