CarpeyBiggs
06-27-2011, 05:00 PM
From Rich Rudow - Comments are due tonight if anyone would like to submit.
Comments to the Grand Canyon Backcountry Management Plan (BMP) scoping
process are due by midnight tonight. This is the start of the process to update the
current plan which is now 23 years old. Technical canyoneering was unknown to
Park managers in 1988 when the current plan was written and old policies did not
consider canyoneers as a specific user group. The purpose of your comments are
to ensure policies necessary for technical canyoneering in Grand Canyon are
included in the planning process going forward. Public comment on specific
language in the BMP will be invited in future sessions. Essentially, if we
don't provide comment about what the BMP should cover, we could be excluded by
policy from doing those activities in the future.
Fortunately, we've been working with the Grand Canyon policy makers on specific
items required for technical canyoneering for several years. The Park has shown
great interest in canyoneering and has made a concerted effort to understand the
activity, its impacts, and needs in the BMP. The working relationship has been
outstanding and most Park managers already recognize technical canyoneering as a
user group. However, there are some policies that require fine tuning for us to
enjoy canyoneering in Grand Canyon. I submitted my detailed comments in the
files section of this Group as a Word document ( Backcountry Management Plan
Commets.doc ). There are a lot of details worthy of comment that have evolved
over a long period of time, but I'll boil it down to a few simple issues. I
would appreciate it if each of you would comment on these issues. There is no
need to get elaborate (as I have in the file post). It's just helpful if you
make the Park aware of the problem so it becomes part of the evolving solution -
a new BMP in 2013 where canyoneering is welcome. Here are the key items:
1 - pack rafts in Grand Canyon: The current rule is 5 miles of river travel
maximum on a backcountry permit. Five miles is insufficient to escape many
technical slots to places where you can hike back to the rim. If the five mile
rule holds, a number of stunning slots will be off limits on a technicality.
Please voice your view that the five mile rule is insufficient to allow
technical canyoneering in Grand Canyon. The rule instead needs to be tied to a
physical place where hiking exits are possible, not an arbitrary distance or
river travel.
2 - Access across tribal lands: The Havasupai and the Hualapai Tribes currently
block access to large parts of Grand Canyon National Park where incredible slot
canyons are located. The slots are on Park lands, but access to park lands is
blocked by the tribes. Please voice your view that an agreement with the tribes
allowing access to our public lands is essential. Right of way must be
provided.
3 - Technical Canyoneering is an appropriate use of the resource: In your
comments, please note that you are a technical canyoneer and that you believe
you should have the right to enjoy canyoneering in Grand Canyon with a
backcountry hiking permit, and that you support a low impact canyoneering
etiquette. The vast majority of Grand Canyon (over 1 million acres) is up for
Wilderness Designation and anchoring issues are a very hot topic right now. If
we can't do low impact canyoneering, we might not be able to do canyoneering at
all. I know ... we often argue here about what techniques are really low impact
(bolts Vs natural), but the Park already has decided that bolts are inconsistent
with Wilderness. We need to temper the "no bolt" cry a bit and show that we can
adopt natural anchoring - FYI.
4 - Permit access: please note that you would like to acquire Grand Canyon
backcountry permits online!
I apologize to the group for the late notice and I really appreciate the
support. Many of you have not had a chance to experience limestone slots like
those found in Grand Canyon. Todd Martin's new guidebook is at the printer and
the beta will soon be widely available. These slots are truly stunning and they
provide quite a contrast to the slots found at other places on the Colorado
Plateau. I know that many of you will find your way there one day to see for
yourself. Help ensure you have the opportunity to do so in the near future:
Please go here and comment in the convenient online form:
http://tinyurl.com/6e8evvp
Thanks!
Rich
Comments to the Grand Canyon Backcountry Management Plan (BMP) scoping
process are due by midnight tonight. This is the start of the process to update the
current plan which is now 23 years old. Technical canyoneering was unknown to
Park managers in 1988 when the current plan was written and old policies did not
consider canyoneers as a specific user group. The purpose of your comments are
to ensure policies necessary for technical canyoneering in Grand Canyon are
included in the planning process going forward. Public comment on specific
language in the BMP will be invited in future sessions. Essentially, if we
don't provide comment about what the BMP should cover, we could be excluded by
policy from doing those activities in the future.
Fortunately, we've been working with the Grand Canyon policy makers on specific
items required for technical canyoneering for several years. The Park has shown
great interest in canyoneering and has made a concerted effort to understand the
activity, its impacts, and needs in the BMP. The working relationship has been
outstanding and most Park managers already recognize technical canyoneering as a
user group. However, there are some policies that require fine tuning for us to
enjoy canyoneering in Grand Canyon. I submitted my detailed comments in the
files section of this Group as a Word document ( Backcountry Management Plan
Commets.doc ). There are a lot of details worthy of comment that have evolved
over a long period of time, but I'll boil it down to a few simple issues. I
would appreciate it if each of you would comment on these issues. There is no
need to get elaborate (as I have in the file post). It's just helpful if you
make the Park aware of the problem so it becomes part of the evolving solution -
a new BMP in 2013 where canyoneering is welcome. Here are the key items:
1 - pack rafts in Grand Canyon: The current rule is 5 miles of river travel
maximum on a backcountry permit. Five miles is insufficient to escape many
technical slots to places where you can hike back to the rim. If the five mile
rule holds, a number of stunning slots will be off limits on a technicality.
Please voice your view that the five mile rule is insufficient to allow
technical canyoneering in Grand Canyon. The rule instead needs to be tied to a
physical place where hiking exits are possible, not an arbitrary distance or
river travel.
2 - Access across tribal lands: The Havasupai and the Hualapai Tribes currently
block access to large parts of Grand Canyon National Park where incredible slot
canyons are located. The slots are on Park lands, but access to park lands is
blocked by the tribes. Please voice your view that an agreement with the tribes
allowing access to our public lands is essential. Right of way must be
provided.
3 - Technical Canyoneering is an appropriate use of the resource: In your
comments, please note that you are a technical canyoneer and that you believe
you should have the right to enjoy canyoneering in Grand Canyon with a
backcountry hiking permit, and that you support a low impact canyoneering
etiquette. The vast majority of Grand Canyon (over 1 million acres) is up for
Wilderness Designation and anchoring issues are a very hot topic right now. If
we can't do low impact canyoneering, we might not be able to do canyoneering at
all. I know ... we often argue here about what techniques are really low impact
(bolts Vs natural), but the Park already has decided that bolts are inconsistent
with Wilderness. We need to temper the "no bolt" cry a bit and show that we can
adopt natural anchoring - FYI.
4 - Permit access: please note that you would like to acquire Grand Canyon
backcountry permits online!
I apologize to the group for the late notice and I really appreciate the
support. Many of you have not had a chance to experience limestone slots like
those found in Grand Canyon. Todd Martin's new guidebook is at the printer and
the beta will soon be widely available. These slots are truly stunning and they
provide quite a contrast to the slots found at other places on the Colorado
Plateau. I know that many of you will find your way there one day to see for
yourself. Help ensure you have the opportunity to do so in the near future:
Please go here and comment in the convenient online form:
http://tinyurl.com/6e8evvp
Thanks!
Rich