[Paddlewise] Paddle the Plan

Hi all, thought you might be interested in reading this. Cheers, tom

 

RRFW Riverwire - RIVER RUNNERS INVITED TO PADDLE THE PLAN 

Release Date: October 24, 2004

 

On October 1, 2004, Grand Canyon National Park released the long awaited
Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Colorado River Management Plan (CRMP).

 

The Draft was given a flat "F" by River Runners for Wilderness (RRFW) the
day the plan was released. 

 

Attempting to keep a sense of humor about 8 years of work and millions of
dollars spent for so little, River Runners for Wilderness announces the
Paddle The Plan, or PTP, program. 

 

Here's how it works. Just for the asking, you get a free CRMP T-shirt and
you get to reserve a wooden paddle for your comment to the park. 

 

The dark blue T-shirt, with the RRFW logo and the words "Human Powered
Wilderness, Not A Motorized Theme Park" is for you to proudly wear at a
scoping meeting near you (for time and location, see below), or when
visiting with your elected officials about the CRMP mess. 

 

River Runners for Wilderness will hand-deliver the 40 inch wooden paddles,
with your name, address and CRMP comments on them, directly to the Park.

 

Yes, that's right. Both the shirt and paddle are free for the asking. It's
fun, it's easy, and you can send a message loud and clear to the good folks
at Grand Canyon National Park that the Colorado River and the river runners
who travel on its waters demand a real change in management of this precious
wilderness paradise. 

 

To participate, choose just ONE of your comments about the released CRMP,
visit www.rrfw.org/ptp.php by November 17, 2004 and fill out the PTP form
along with your full name and address, and T-shirt size. We have kid's
sizes, too, because wilderness is for their future as well as ours. All
T-shirt orders will be filled first come first serve, while supplies last.

 

RRFW encourages you to participate in the CRMP. Your comments count. Once
you've captured all your comments to the park in your own unique words,
choose one for your paddle-see the samples below for ideas

 

Your comments should have a specific "ask" to the park that relates to one
of the alternatives, the proposed permitting system, the waiting list
transition or something the park omitted entirely from the plan, like
managing for wilderness character. Avoid broad generalizations and vague
complaints. 

 

Here are some concrete examples of the type of comments the park is looking

for:

 

"A common pool system (Option B) should be phased in over 5 years: 20% of
total allocation converted each year until all the use has been converted to
a non-allocated permitting system, within alternative C."

 

 "Do not decrease trip lengths for noncommercial trips. Shorter trips and
drought-caused lower flows will be a hardship for visitors, will expand
noncommercial use of motors and will degrade wilderness character. A
modified alternative C would accommodate the present trip lengths, would not
expand non-commercial motorized use, would accommodate drought caused
low-water conditions, and would preserve wilderness character."

 

"The DEIS has no justification of the park's position of continued refusal
to phase out motors, even though this phase out was proposed by the park
itself in 1979. Begin phase out immediately in alternative C." 

 

"There is no justification for bunching launches in the summer season, as is
proposed in the preferred alternative. I support spreading launches out in
all seasons and distributing launches using a non-allocated system to end
access discrimination against lower income and non-commercial visitors."

 

"A weighted noncommercial lottery for launches by groups, as suggested, is
burdensome and will be unworkable for the park and the applicants.  A
non-allocated system is inherently fair and must be adopted instead, as
suggested in option B."

 

CRMP Public meetings will be held at the following cities from 4:00 pm to
8:00 pm:

 

Monday, November 8, 2004

 

Denver, Colorado

Arapahoe Community College Cafeteria

5900 S. Santa Fe Drive, Littleton

www.arapahoe.edu/aboutacc/maps/index.html

 

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

 

Salt Lake Community College-Miller Campus Karen Gail Miller Conference
Center 9750 South 300 West, Sandy www.slcc.edu/miller/MAP/

                                 

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

 

Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel Ballroom

1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington

HYPERLINK
"http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage/WASGW"http://marriott.com/propert
y/propertyPage/WASGW

 

Thursday, November 18, 2004

 

Henderson Convention Center Ballroom and Sierra A & C 200 Water Street,
Henderson Nevada www.visithenderson.com/index01.html

 

Monday, November 22, 2004

 

Coconino Community College Administration Building - Commons Area 2800 S.
Lone Tree Rd.

Flagstaff, AZ

www.coconino.edu/campuses/lonetree.html

 

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

 

Glendale Community College Student Lounge 6000 W. Olive Avenue, Glendale
Phoenix, Arizona www.gc.maricopa.edu/map/

 

Thursday, December 2, 2004

 

The Presidio of San Francisco Presidio Officers' Club 50 Moraga Avenue, San
Francisco, California
www.presidio.gov/Visiting/DirectionsShuttle/OfficersClub.htm

 

You can make a difference! Join us in paddling the plan. Your tax-deductible
donations to support this campaign are gratefully accepted. Go to
www.rrfw.org/store.php to donate by check or credit card. Thank you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RIVERWIRE is a free service to the community of river lovers from River
Runners for Wilderness. Membership is FREE! Send your e-mail address to
riverwire_at_rrfw.org and we'll add you to the RRFW RIVERWIRE e-mail list. To
join, visit our website at www.rrfw.org and click on the "membership" link.
RRFW is a project of Living Rivers.
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