Williams News Logo
Grand Canyon News Logo

Trusted local news leader for Williams AZ and the Grand Canyon

Changes to Grand Canyon's Backcountry Management Plan on the horizon

Grand Canyon National Park is accepting public comments regarding the Backcountry Management Plan over the next 90 days. Photo/WGCN

Grand Canyon National Park is accepting public comments regarding the Backcountry Management Plan over the next 90 days. Photo/WGCN

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. - As time goes on, many people would say the public has become increasingly adventurous, often seeking new experiences.

Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) officials call these sought after opportunities 'emerging experiences' and said they are one reason a revised Backcountry Management Plan (BMP) is needed.

"What we call it is emerging uses, things that we didn't think of in 1988 that visitors are experiencing now," said Dave Uberuaga, superintendent of GCNP. "Our two main missions are visitor experience and resource protection and how that equals out. Because you want to have all those people who want to have an experience but you want to have a quality experience and part of that is trying to say, 'how many is too many?'"

Grand Canyon's existing plan was completed in 1988. The park said it requires revisions to comply with current National Park Service (NPS) laws and policies and the 1995 General Management Plan. The plan encompasses over 1.1 million acres of backcountry, most of which are proposed for wilderness designation.

NPS began developing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the revised plan in 2011 in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

More than 580 public comments were submitted during the initial phases of the development of the DEIS.

On Dec. 2, Grand Canyon National Park kicked off a 90-day public comment period for the public to provide comments.

According to Linda Jalber, planner and wilderness coordinator with the park, the park expects a pretty hefty amount of feedback over the next several months.

"I anticipate that we'll get more, because now people have something to react to," she said. "Now we have some ideas, some alternatives out there - some that people like and some that people don't like."

The big question is what the revisions are and what areas of backcountry will be impacted. Uberuaga believes public comment and park transparency are both key components to reaching a viable solution.

"When you're doing something right and you clearly lay out everything you're doing and listen to the public the first round and not only listen to them but know through experience...there's this collective wisdom," he said. "Putting all that professional judgment into this, there really isn't a lot of change, because the 1988 version really works. You have the reservation system, the campsites, and the park zone - how many people should be out there? Very few of those are being tweaked."

One suggested change would be for day hikers and runners to obtain a day use permit for any long-distance hiking and running - primarily for those attempting to hike in and out in one day and rim-to-rim hikers.

"The biggest change, for me is for those people doing a rim-to-rim in one day," Uberuaga said. "That's the group that's going to be the most impacted. If you're a backcountry user and you're going anywhere else in the backcountry, you're not going to see any significant change, in terms of the numbers it is pretty static, there are (also) minor additional campground sites that are going to be put in."

In addition to obtaining a permit, Uberuaga said additional educational information would be provided to rim and extended day use hikers.

"For me, the day use people who want to come - 600, 700, 800, a thousand in a day - and want to do a rim-to-rim, which the whole system wasn't really designed for - those are the ones we want to begin to educate and to get a handle on it," he said.

Future rim-to-rim users may need to self-register online for a permit. Uberuaga said he believes this extra step will create a better experience for users.

"It's kind of like your check in for your boarding pass," Uberuaga said. "We may have a video on there that says here are the conditions, here's what the common problems are. People are going to change their behavior if they have the information to do so."

Another emerging use is that of River Assisted Backcountry Travel (RABT). RABT, or pack rafting, uses small inflatable rafts that have been packed in and inflated by hikers to float across the Colorado.

"It's an emerging use," Uberuaga said. "It's not like there is a lot of them, but there is a national pack rafting association that want to make sure they protect access to public lands. What we're trying to do is say that in that emerging use, here are the new rules that needed to be laid out in the draft so people can comment on it."

The plan also addresses some of the park's most remote backcountry areas, including Tuweep, located on the western edge of the Grand Canyon.

In 1995, the park established limits for the Tuweep area based on available parking. Todd Seliga, backcountry ranger for the Tuweep area, said parking can become congested, which has the potential to cause overcrowding. Seliga said the park wants to take a proactive approach to the situation.

"We've been reaching capacity at various times and we've been trying to maintain that. Going into the future, we're not having to have to catch up to that," Seliga said. "During busy periods, traffic can get backed up for one or two miles and it makes it extremely hard for anybody to get through there. Moving forward into the future, what we're trying to stress is just to get people to carpool, because a lot of the vehicles coming in are single occupancy. If more people can carpool, that allows more visitors to see the area and experience it without going all that distance and having to wait to get a parking spot or have a longer walk to get to the overlook."

The overlook at Tuweep is limited, allowing for around 12 to 16 full size vehicles in addition to the camping area.

"You go out there and it's two and half hours on a dirt road and you have your campsite there and you have whole bunch of people coming all day long and it does impact it," Uberuaga said. "Our original plan was, (because) it's very, very remote, 85 people a day would go out there."

During the public comment period, NPS plans to put on at least one webinar to reach the broadest range of stakeholders and interested public. Information about the webinar will be announced at a later date. Two open house meetings took place, one at the Grand Canyon Dec. 2 and another in Flagstaff Dec. 7.

All interested parties may submit comments on the Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website or via the U.S. Postal Service.

The PEPC database is the preferred method for submitting comments and can be accessed at www.parkplanning.nps.gov/grca. Click on the "Backcountry Management Plan" or "Open for Comments" tab on the left-hand side of the toolbar and then select the EIS link.

Comments can also be mailed to: Superintendent, Grand Canyon National Park, Attn: Backcountry Management Plan, PO Box 129, Grand Canyon, Arizona 86023.

More information about the Backcountry Management Plan and DEIS, public scoping, and public meetings will be posted on the PEPC site as it becomes available.


Donate Report a Typo Contact