Yosemite National Park Announces Merced River Plan Public Scoping Meetings

Date: May 16, 2007

Yosemite National Park managers invite the public to participate in public scoping meetings for the Merced River Plan. Those attending will have the opportunity to interact with park managers and planners and to share their ideas and suggestions for the management of the river. The public meeting schedule is as follows:

• May 16, 2007, in Mariposa at the Masonic Hall from 4pm to 8pm. (5145 Jones Street, Mariposa)
• May 17, 2007, in San Francisco at Fort Mason from 4pm to 8pm. (Bay & Franklin Streets, 1st Floor Conference Room in Building 201)
• May 30, 2007, in Yosemite Valley at the park's monthly Open House from 1pm to 5pm. (Yosemite Valley Visitor Center Auditorium) Park admission fee will be waived for those attending.

In 1987, Congress designated 81 miles of the Merced River, including the South Fork, as a Wild and Scenic River in Yosemite National Park and the El Portal Administrative Site under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. In August 2000, the National Park Service completed the Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (Merced River Plan), and its subsequent revision in 2005, to guide future land managers in the protection and enhancement of the river's "Outstandingly Remarkable Values" (ORVs). The Merced River Plan defined boundaries, classifications, ORVs and a user capacity management program for the river. However, due to ongoing litigation, the U.S. District Court in Fresno ordered the National Park Service to complete a new Comprehensive Management Plan for the Merced River. This new planning process will take approximately 33 months, with a final Record of Decision anticipated in September 2009.

The Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Merced River Plan was published in the Federal Register on April 11, 2007. The public scoping period for a new Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (MRP/EIS) began on March 30, 2007 and will run until June 9, 2007. Written comments must be postmarked by June 9, 2007.

If you submitted scoping comments for the two previous MRP/EIS efforts, your comments will be incorporated into this latest process. You can submit new scoping comments to us:

• In person at public meetings
• Fax: [phone]
• Email: [e-mail]
• Mail: Yosemite National Park Superintendent
  Attn: Merced River Plan
  P.O. Box 577
  Yosemite, CA 95389

For information on this and other planning efforts in Yosemite National Park, or to subscribe to our Yosemite National Park e-newsletter and/or the Planning Update newsletter, go to www.nps.gov/yose/planning.