Forwarded by AW affiliate GCPBA:
Fellow Boaters,
This is your last chance to meet face to face with all the NPS staff that will be deciding the contents of the CRMP as it affects all boaters wishing to float through the Grand Canyon. You will have the chance to talk directly with the Park staff including Superintendent Joe Alston, Deputy Superintendent Kate Cannon, and Senior Recreational Planner, Linda Jalbert, as well as the staff from the other departments involved in Canyon management.
This last meeting will be held in Oakland, California at:
Merritt College
Student Dining Hall (Bldg R)
12500 Campus Drive
The meeting will run from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. so be sure to attend sometime during those hours.
Additionally, there will surely be folks there from all the interested groups, Living Rivers, the outfitters, River Runners For Wilderness, the Hualapai Nation and of course numerous members of the GCPBA Board. Everyone will want to hear your opinion and most likely tell you theirs.
The GCPBA will be hosting a hospitality room somewhere at the meeting place. Be sure to look for this and meet with GCPBA President Richard Martin and fellow board member Tom Schiavone. There will probably be other board members there as well.
Here is your chance to make sure your thoughts are recorded and considered in the process of developing a new management plan. So be there—be counted!
Some questions that are being asked by the park administrators are:
- What do you like about the current waitlist and permit system? Why?
- What changes to the current system would you like considered? Why?
- Do you have suggestions for a different system that could work here, what are they, and why?
- If a new system is implemented, what should happen to the people on the current list?
- Aside from changing the allocation, should something else be done to limit the overall length of the wait list, and if yes, what?
- To what extent is repeat river use at Grand Canyon appropriate?
- How far before launch should start dates be reserved?
- What other permit system issues would you like to see addressed?
You can review them at:
www.nps.gov/grca/crmp/public/handouts/PermitSystemQuestions.pdfYour opinions in response to these questions are essential. This is your chance to address the issues specific to the current reservation system. Please take the time to write the CRMP with your views on these topics. NPS and GCPBA encourages you to consider these questions and submit your answers and ideas before November 1, 2002, by email to:
grca_crmp@nps.gov
or by mail to:
CRMP Comments
Grand Canyon National Park
PO Box 129
Grand Canyon, AZ 86023
If you’ve already submitted comments to the CRMP… great! If you haven’t, additionally, you might also want to comment on the following topics to be addressed by planners during the revision process:
- Appropriate levels of visitor use consistent with natural and cultural resource protection and preservation mandates
- Allocation of use between commercial and non-commercial groups
- The non-commercial permitting system
- The level of motorized and non-motorized raft use
- The range of services provided to the public
- The continued use of helicopters to transport river passengers near Whitmore Wash (in consultation with the Hualapai Indian Tribe and appropriate parties)