Electronic Newsletter, February 21, 2007

Participant at Feb. 10 public workshop presents possible planning sideboards as part of group exercise.

Photo by Jen Nersesian

February 21, 2007

Tuolumne Planning Workshops

Next Planner-for-a Day Workshop:
Saturday, February 24 from 9 am to 4 pm in
the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center Auditorium. RSVP is requested.

View the draft agenda [31 kb PDF].

For more information, contact Kristina Rylands, Tuolumne Project Manager at e-mail us.

The purpose of the Tuolumne public planning workshops is to provide interested participants with an opportunity to engage in various planning milestones--largely choreographed to coincide with the NPS Planning Team's process. The idea is that the public is invited to grapple with the same aspects of plan development that the NPS Planning Team must face. Ideas that emerge from public workshops will be taken to the NPS team for consideration as the planning process moves forward, step by step.

February 10 Workshop UPDATE
On Saturday, February 10 a group of 8 hale and hardy participants braved a stormy day in Yosemite to participate in the first-ever public Tuolumne Planning Workshop in support of the Tuolumne River Plan and Tuolumne Meadows Plan process!

In the morning, participants were immersed in the multitude of public voices that emerged from last summer's public scoping process. With 23 posters lining the room filled with over 400 concern statements, workshoppers took part in an exercise to identify the range of issues expressed and got a feel for the complexity of ideas and opinions that must be considered in planning.

Linda Dahl, Yosemite's Chief of Planning, also presented the group with an overview of why we do planning in the NPS. In short, she posed the question, "Were the 'good ole days' really all that good for Yosemite resources?" She shared photos of people feeding bears for entertainment and wall-to-wall car-camping in Valley meadows to underscore how management practices have shifted, largely to protect park resources and provide a better experience. Good planning takes into account what is in the best interest of Yosemite, while considering the purpose and significance of why this special place was set aside for future generations.

In the afternoon, participants also took part in an exercise to define what are known as "desired conditions" for the Tuolumne River corridor. This information will be shared with the NPS Planning Team at their next core team workshop on February 21.

The February 10 event was videotaped and the NPS team hopes to post it to the web soon.

For more information on this and other Yosemite projects, visit online at www.nps.gov/yose/planning.