Date: July 16, 2007

The combined draft environmental impact statement for these two plans is anticipated for release to the public in summer 2009. In the meantime, the Tuolumne Planning Workbook will allow park staff, the public, stakeholders, tribal groups, and other agencies to comment on the preliminary work completed so far, prior to entering into alternatives development for the Tuolumne River Plan later this fall. The workbook includes a summary of the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River values, management strategies prescribed for the river corridor, and a set of color-coded preliminary alternative concepts. Based on public comments received during last summer's scoping period, as well as a series of public workshops conducted last winter, these concepts present different scenarios for how the river corridor--and most specifically, Tuolumne Meadows--could be managed in the future.

This is a new step for planning in Yosemite National Park, and is in direct response to requests from members of the public to be allowed to participate in planning throughout a plan's development. The National Park Service is dedicated to providing regular opportunities for the public to not only get information about the Tuolumne planning effort, but provide input at key points in the process.

A public workshop to discuss the Tuolumne Planning Workbook will take place on August 11, 2007 from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm at Parsons Lodge in Tuolumne Meadows.

A total of 54 miles of the Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River flows through Yosemite National Park. In 1984, Congress designated the Tuolumne as a Wild and Scenic River to protect its free-flowing condition and the values that make it worthy of protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. In keeping with the Act, a management plan must be put in place to guide the long-term protection of the river.