National Park Service News Release
Record of Decision Signed on Revision of Colorado River Management Plan for Grand Canyon National Park

March 23, 2006

Grand Canyon, AZ – The National Park Service (NPS) announced in the Federal Register today the availability of the “Record of Decision” (ROD) for the revision of Grand Canyon National Park’s Colorado River Management Plan (CRMP).

The ROD, signed by Intermountain Regional Director Mike Snyder, is the latest step of a multi-year effort to complete the revision of the CRMP - last revised in 1989. The CRMP is a visitor use management plan which specifies actions to conserve park resources and the visitor experience, while enhancing recreational opportunities. The life of the plan is intended to be at least 10 years, and it will also establish management goals and objectives for a longer timeframe.

Grand Canyon National Park began this latest process to revise the CRMP in 2002. The Hualapai Tribe, which shares a common boundary with the National Park Service (NPS) along 108 miles of the Colorado River, was a cooperating agency in the preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement, prepared under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act. Meetings were held throughout the country to identify the kinds of issues the public thought the NPS should consider in developing a long-term management plan. Major issues and concerns regarding resource protection, visitor experience and services raised during the public process included:

· Appropriate levels of visitor use consistent with natural and cultural resource protection, visitor experience goals, and wilderness character
· Allocation of use between commercial and noncommercial groups
· Noncommercial permit system
· Appropriate levels of motorized and nonmotorized boat use
· Determination of the range of public services
· Levels of helicopter use to transport river passengers to and from the river
· Appropriate levels and types of upstream travel from Lake Mead
· Quality of river trips including crowding, trip length, group size, and scheduling issues
· Administrative use

For purposes of the Environmental Impact Statement, the Colorado River in the park was divided into two geographic sections that recognize the different management zones on the river, and a specific set of alternatives were developed for each section. The first section of river is from Lees Ferry (River Mile [RM] 0) to Diamond Creek (RM 226). The second section is from Diamond Creek (RM 226) to Lake Mead (RM 277). In developing the plan, NPS considered eight management scenarios for the first section of river and five management scenarios for the second section of river. Each scenario was analyzed for its impacts on the environment and for how well it complies with federal laws, regulations, policies, previous planning decisions, the park’s vision, and other mandates for the management of recreational use on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park. The ROD adopts the NPS preferred alternative for each section of the river.

For the first section of river from Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek, the ROD calls for a mixed motor/no-motor alternative with 5.5 months of mixed use occurring from April 1 through September 15, and 6.5 months of non-motorized use from September 16 through March 31. The decision also calls for smaller group sizes and fewer daily allowable launches except during winter months, and allows for a moderate increase in estimated yearly passenger totals. Passenger exchanges at Whitmore will be allowed only during the mixed-use period, April 1 through September 15, with a time-of-day restriction, and in the non-motorized season only for those trips launching during the mixed-use period.

The ROD calls for use limits and a redistribution of Hualapai River Runner (HRR) operations for the section of river from Diamond Creek to Lake Mead. Peak daily use for commercial day trips launching from Diamond Creek will be comparable to current conditions, with smaller maximum group sizes, while commercial overnight trips could increase from a current average of three launches per month to up to three launches per day. The number of pontoon boat passengers in the Quartermaster area will be capped at 480 per day, but could increase to 600 per day based on favorable performance reviews and resource monitoring data. No jet boat tours will be allowed, and upriver travel will continue to be allowed up to River Mile 240.

A No Action/Split Allocation system will continue to allocate use between the commercial and noncommercial sectors in a ratio that is reflected in the preferred alternative and will remain the same for the life of the plan.

A “hybrid” weighted lottery system for trip leaders will be implemented as the noncommercial permit system for Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek river trips. Each year a single lottery will take place and result in the initial awarding of the following year’s noncommercial launch opportunities. Chances in the lottery will vary depending on whether or not applicants had been on a river trip recently. A three-stage expedited transition system will be instituted for those people currently on the noncommercial waitlist to transition to the hybrid-weighted lottery system.

The NPS will develop an implementation and monitoring plan that outlines how it will implement the provisions specified in the ROD. The final CRMP, including the implementation and monitoring plan, will be published and made available to all interested parties.

A complete copy of the ROD and associated information will be available on the park’s Web site at www.nps.gov/grca/crmp. Written requests can be sent to CRMP Team at P.O. Box 129, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023.

-NPS-

Grand Canyon River Groups Achieve Historic Breakthrough Settlement and Offer Joint Proposal on Key Colorado River Management Issues

January 25, 2005

GROUPS FORMERLY AT ODDS SETTLE DIFFERENCES

Flagstaff, AZ – Today, leading Grand Canyon boater groups that represent both professionally-outfitted and self-outfitted recreational users of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park announced an historic agreement to work together to resolve long-standing river management controversies at the Grand Canyon.

The coalition of participating groups, including the Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association, the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association, American Whitewater and the Grand Canyon River Runners Association, has filed a set of joint management recommendations with the National Park Service regarding how best to revise and update the Colorado River Management Plan.

View the groups' joint recommendations here.

"A lot of people have worked very hard for many years to achieve this historic breakthrough,” said Richard Martin of the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association. “This is a major achievement that we hope will help bring about real and lasting solutions to some very difficult problems that Grand Canyon river lovers on all sides have wrestled with for years."

The groups' core recommendations are for a small number of important modifications of the National Park Service river management proposal currently open for public review and comment. The groups are building on the NPS proposal, not proposing an entirely new plan or concept. The recommendations include equal annual allocations of commercial and non-commercial use, support for the park's proposal to continue with an appropriate type and level of motorized use, seasonal adjustments that would result in fewer river trips happening at one time, and improvements to the non-commercial river trip permitting system.

"This effort succeeded because people on all sides wanted to move past endless controversy and divisiveness to find real solutions to real problems. It's time to heal and reunite the Grand Canyon boating community," said Jason Robertson of American Whitewater. "To do that, each of the groups has been willing to compromise and look at issues in new ways. There's still a long way to go, but we're excited because we think we're off to a good start."

The groups' joint recommendations filed with the NPS state in part: "The joint recommendations are the product of what we regard as a major and historic achievement, the coming together of Grand Canyon river user groups that traditionally have been embroiled in deep conflict regarding core Colorado River management issues. We have worked very hard to move beyond past differences. Our united purposes are to constructively participate in and support the NPS in its effort to advance Grand Canyon river management and, most importantly, to meaningfully resolve major outstanding controversies. Our shared focus is on problem solving and the implementation of sound, responsible and lasting solutions to outstanding issues."

"We hope very much that the NPS will take a good hard look at our proposal," said Pam Whitney of the Grand Canyon River Runners Association. "We've worked hard to respond not only to the issues but to all of the NPS laws and policies that govern how the river in Grand Canyon National Park is managed. We’ve taken these matters very seriously, and we believe we’ve come up with a very responsible set of recommendations."

The groups' joint Colorado River management recommendations document is available on each of the participating groups' websites. The website addresses for each are listed below.

The Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association (www.gcroa.org) is a non profit trade association whose membership consists of the sixteen independent river-running concessionaires who make available to the public professionally-outfitted and guided Grand Canyon whitewater rafting trips, while working in partnership with the NPS to help conserve and protect the resources of the Park. Each year, the Association’s member companies assist roughly 19,000 people experience the Grand Canyon by river.

The Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association (www.gcpba.org) is a non-profit public interest group formed in 1996. Its purpose is to represent and advocate for the interests of recreational river runners in regards to management issues surrounding the Grand Canyon. More than one thousand river runners have joined the all-volunteer organization, which played a key role in NPS decisions to resume river management planning after the effort was first cancelled in 2000.

American Whitewater (www.americanwhitewater.org) is a non-profit public interest group that works to conserve and restore America’s whitewater resources and to enhance opportunities to use and enjoy them safely. American Whitewater represents nearly 8,000 members worldwide and an additional 80,000 boaters through its 115 local or regional affiliate canoe and kayak clubs. Many of its members have visited or seek to visit the Colorado River within the Park and are currently on the non-commercial permit “waiting-list.”

The Grand Canyon River Runners Association (www.gcriverrunners.org) is a non-profit public interest group committed to the protection of the Colorado River corridor within the Grand Canyon in an unimpaired condition while preserving public access to the Grand Canyon river experience for those who rely on professional river services. Because both are necessary to appropriately respond to the public’s diverse needs, this all-volunteer organization with 1,800 members supports both motorized and non-motorized Colorado River trip opportunities.