Colorado River Management Plan www.nps.gov/grca/colorado/

sound•ing n. an environmental probe an act of measuring the depth of a body of water [often pl.] an exploratory sampling, as of public opinions.

Contents

Sounding Board
Revised Timeline
Update on Public Involvement
Permit Transfers
Test Winter Launch Increase
Winter Test Launch Statistics
Noncommercial Defined
Noncommercial Permit Program

Sounding Board

During the scoping workshops, participants posed a number of questions. This column answers them.

Q.	What are natural conditions?
	A.	Of all the concepts dealt with in conservation history, the term "natural" is one of the most difficult to address due, in part, to its cultural, aesthetic and spiritual significance. The fundamental condition of a natural area is its ecological integrity, a state of ecosystem development optimized for its geographic location, including energy input, available water, nutrients and colonization history. For national parks, this optimal state has been referred to by such terms as natural, naturally evolving, pristine and untouched. Ecological integrity implies intact ecosystem processes, both living and nonliving, unimpaired by human-caused stresses where viable populations of all native species live-in other words, natural. The Wilderness Act defines wilderness as an area "where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man," that is, not subject to human controls. Wilderness is "land retaining its primeval character and influence," an area which "generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature...protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions."

Revised Timeline

The timeline for the Colorado River Management Plan is being updated. The following elements of the planning process remain. The new schedule will be published in an upcomming issue of Soundings.

• Involve Public in Developing Alternatives (Currently in progress)
• Draft Alternatives from Workgroups submitted to Planning Team
• Draft Plan and Environmental Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Distributed
• Public Involvement on Draft Plan
• Release Final Plan

Update on Public Involvement

Thanks to those who attended the Distribution and Volume of Use Workshop held on February 27, 1999, at the Du Bois Center on the NAU campus. The Workshop included a presentation by the CRMP Team on the planning process, and on how the Grand Canyon River Trip Simulation Model (GCRTSim) will be used.

GCRTSim researchers demonstrated the Model to participants, and discussed further work needed before completion. Ultimately, the Model will run multiple river trip simulations to examine visitor distribution and volume on the river at any given time.

The Model will help planners test alternative launch scenarios to meet the goal of alleviating crowding and potential resource impacts during heavy use seasons. A similar presentation occurred at the spring 1999 Guides Training Seminar March 27 at Marble Canyon Lodge.

Soundings is published by Grand Canyon National Park. To get on or off the Soundings mailing list or for information on the Colorado River Management Plan process please contact: Grand Canyon National Park, PO Box 129, Grand Canyon, Arizona 86029.

Back to Soundings Archives