[Awclist] [Fwd: RRFW Riverwire - GROUPS SUE TO PROTECT GRAND CANYON]

[Thomas Robey]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	RRFW Riverwire - GROUPS SUE TO PROTECT GRAND CANYON
Date: 	Tue, 28 Mar 2006 14:55:25 -0700
From: 	Riverwire <riverwire at rrfw.org>
Reply-To: 	<Riverwire at rrfw.org>
Organization: 	River Runners for Wilderness
To: 	Riverwire at rrfw.org



*/Groups Sue to Protect the Grand Canyon/*

/Coalition effort to improve management of the Colorado River/

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

/ /

*(Denver) *A coalition of groups has announced their lawsuit challenging 
last Thursday’s National Park Service decision to continue to allow 
commercial motorized rafting tours and helicopter passenger exchanges 
through Grand Canyon National Park. Since Grand Canyon’s recommendation 
for formal wilderness designation three decades ago, the Park has 
neglected to remove motorized tour boats and helicopters, that, by the 
Park’s own admission, do not conform to legal wilderness standards.

The groups, Rock the Earth, River Runners for Wilderness, Living Rivers 
and Wilderness Watch, are defending this crown jewel of the National 
Park system and every visitor’s right to a pristine wilderness 
experience in the backcountry and on the river. The coalition is 
represented by Julia Olson of Wild Earth Advocates and Matthew Bishop of 
the Western Environmental Law Center.

“After consulting with a number of partners and citizen groups, we feel 
that the recent park service ruling fails to properly fulfill the 
National Park Service mandate that the Colorado River through Grand 
Canyon must be managed as wilderness,” states Rock The Earth Executive 
Director Marc Ross, “We’re fighting to make sure the National Park 
Service does the duty all Americans entrust them with: protecting this 
beloved natural treasure.”

In addition to the Park Service’s failure to remove motorized tour boats 
and helicopters in a qualifying wilderness area, the agency’s decision 
to perpetuate the inequitable allocation of river running permits is 
also at issue. Currently, commercial tours receive priority over public 
opportunities for do-it-yourself rafting and kayaking in the summer.

“The distribution of use is so skewed that public river runners have 
little or no chance of ever gaining a permit through the proposed 
lottery. It is scandalous discrimination against those choosing to do 
their own trips while tourists can buy their way onto a high-priced tour 
almost immediately,” notes Jo Johnson, Co-director of River Runners for 
Wilderness.

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.

“Dangerous national precedents for the commercialization and 
privatization of public lands and wilderness areas are at stake here,” 
said Julia Olson, lead attorney. “We hope they finally address these 
vital concerns now that we’ve filed notice.”

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 <http://www.rrfw.org/>.

CONTACT:

Jo Johnson, Co-director

River Runners for Wilderness

303-443-1806

jojohnson at rrfw.org

Marc Ross, Executive Director

Rock the Earth

303-454-3304

macr at rocktheearth.net

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