edward
03-21-2010, 09:32 PM
The famous Grand Canyon mules could take another path.
A Grand Canyon Park Service management proposal released Tuesday dramatically cuts back the Phantom Ranch rides along the popular Bright Angel and South Kaibab trails and shifts the majority of rides to above the South Rim, rather than into the Canyon.
Overall, the number of rides, though capped, would allow commercial mule tours to operate at approximately the same levels as mule trains are more spread out and less concentrated, especially on the Canyon highway that is Bright Angel.
The Park Service's environmental assessment considered five options, including a "no-action alternative," which would have continued current mule operations stock use within the national park. The public has until April 30 to comment on the proposal. A final decision could be published as soon as June.
Under the "preferred alternative," up to 10,000 rides could take place annually along the South Rim and 8,000 from the North Rim. The previous plan had a daily restriction only, with no annual limit. However, the annual average has been 8,315 rides from the South Rim and 7,072 along the North.
RIM RIDES LESS STRENUOUS ON RIDERS
For Xanterra, the concessionaire that runs the mule rides on the South Rim, adjustments have already essentially taken place.
Under previous rules, the outfitter could run up to 20 rides to Phantom Ranch and 20 rides to Plateau Point daily on the Bright Angel, and up to 20 rides from Phantom Ranch daily along the South Kaibab (plus supply mules).
The proposed change halves the Phantom Ranch rides to 10 daily per trail, and completely cuts out the rides to Plateau Point. In exchange, it adds in up to 40 rides per day from the Yaki Point area east where there had previously been no ride.
Xanterra has already been following these guidelines, and although the company gave up popular rides in one area, made up for it in another, said Bruce Brossman, director of reservation sales for Xanterra's Grand Canyon Railway and a frequent liaison with the concessionaire's South Rim operations.
"One nice thing about the Rim rides is that people who are 225 pounds can actually do that ride," he said. "The Plateau Point ride was a pretty difficult, strenuous ride and often too long for people -- and also, at (a) 200-pound (rider) limit it's not hard to preclude somebody from taking that ride."
Brossman said Xanterra stays neutral on topics like this and adapts to changes as their Park Service superiors require. But despite dropping the Plateau Point rides, which often sold out, and scaling back Phantom Ranch rides, he said the company's business shouldn't be dented as the Rim rides can give visitors more opportunities to see the Canyon.
The concessionaire expects to keep its small crew of trail maintenance workers, Brossman said.
Jim McCarthy, a hiker and active Sierra Club member, said he was not familiar with all the details of the proposed plan, but said he was concerned that the trail maintenance would not be sustainable -- either financially or environmentally, given the potential amount of Canyon dirt that would need to be harvested to build up the trails.
McCarthy said the Sierra Club was hopeful that mules would be removed from either the Bright Angel or South Kaibab altogether, although he said he understood that wouldn't be likely.
The bigger-picture concern, he said, was national lands being taken over by commercial interests -- also a reference to Sen. John McCain's Canyon overflights amendment, also revealed Tuesday (see accompanying story).
AN ATTEMPT TO LESSEN IMPACTS
Rachel Bennett, an environmental protection spe******t for Grand Canyon National Park, said the Park Service wanted mule rides to continue but also lessen impacts. And their proposal would have the least financial impact on concessionaires -- especially for the smaller and more specialized Canyon Trail Rides, which offers easier and shorter trips on the more remote North Rim.
At the North Rim, there would be caps on rides to Supai Tunnel, on Ken Patrick and to Uncle Jim Point. Rides to Roaring Springs would be completely eliminated.
According to a press release issued Tuesday, the Park Service wants to address the following objectives with the management plan:
-- Provide opportunities for mule and stock use within Grand Canyon National Park to as large a cross section of visitors as practicable.
-- Establish appropriate levels and types of stock use, such as number of stock per day and group size, on park trails that will allow for improved maintenance and reduced resource impacts and costs associated with trail maintenance.
-- Through improved maintenance and operations, reduce conflicts between stock users and hikers on park trails.
-- Identify optimal stock facility locations, including infrastructure size and locations for improving health, safety and overall visitor experience.
Bennett said the park doesn't have a lot of data, but would track success of the next mule program. If the park still can't maintain trails, it could begin planning alternatives again.
"Our goal is to implement something and then monitor that and see if it addresses those concerns, specifically with the trail conditions and the amount of money they we need to spend to maintain them," she said.
TRAIL MAINTENANCE UNDERFUNDED
Conflicts between mule riders and hikers and wear and tear on the trails -- the latter especially, Bennett said -- prompted the Park Service to consider alternative mule and stock use plans for the Canyon.
On one hand, the mules are historical icons that help the less able-bodied see more of one of the world's natural wonders. On the other, hikers complain about the animals and their waste and other conflicts.
Park officials have said that each year, they receive numerous complaints regarding trail conditions and mule waste on the trails. Both stock users and hikers have expressed concerns regarding the safety of stock users, the lack of knowledge regarding trail etiquette from hikers and discourtesy from some stock users.
Additionally, the trails used by mules are in poor shape, with ruts up to three feet deep and secondary trails branching off where the ground has been too damaged to allow safe passage.
The agency has about $1.5 million annually for all trail work in the Grand Canyon. Park officials say they need twice that amount, and that the fees paid by mule riders to use the trails do not keep up with repairs.
On the main corridor, the Bright Angel Trail continues to deteriorate in part because of a backlog of trail maintenance across the park.
Bennett said she is hoping to hear some productive comments about the preferred management plan and that the park service is open to amending its proposal. That could mean changing course or doing a hybrid of plans.
"We need to maintain our trails for both hikers and stock users and we need to be able to maintain them with the amount of money that we have available to us to do that," she said.
Hillary Davis can be reached at hdavis@azdailysun.com or 556-2261
A Grand Canyon Park Service management proposal released Tuesday dramatically cuts back the Phantom Ranch rides along the popular Bright Angel and South Kaibab trails and shifts the majority of rides to above the South Rim, rather than into the Canyon.
Overall, the number of rides, though capped, would allow commercial mule tours to operate at approximately the same levels as mule trains are more spread out and less concentrated, especially on the Canyon highway that is Bright Angel.
The Park Service's environmental assessment considered five options, including a "no-action alternative," which would have continued current mule operations stock use within the national park. The public has until April 30 to comment on the proposal. A final decision could be published as soon as June.
Under the "preferred alternative," up to 10,000 rides could take place annually along the South Rim and 8,000 from the North Rim. The previous plan had a daily restriction only, with no annual limit. However, the annual average has been 8,315 rides from the South Rim and 7,072 along the North.
RIM RIDES LESS STRENUOUS ON RIDERS
For Xanterra, the concessionaire that runs the mule rides on the South Rim, adjustments have already essentially taken place.
Under previous rules, the outfitter could run up to 20 rides to Phantom Ranch and 20 rides to Plateau Point daily on the Bright Angel, and up to 20 rides from Phantom Ranch daily along the South Kaibab (plus supply mules).
The proposed change halves the Phantom Ranch rides to 10 daily per trail, and completely cuts out the rides to Plateau Point. In exchange, it adds in up to 40 rides per day from the Yaki Point area east where there had previously been no ride.
Xanterra has already been following these guidelines, and although the company gave up popular rides in one area, made up for it in another, said Bruce Brossman, director of reservation sales for Xanterra's Grand Canyon Railway and a frequent liaison with the concessionaire's South Rim operations.
"One nice thing about the Rim rides is that people who are 225 pounds can actually do that ride," he said. "The Plateau Point ride was a pretty difficult, strenuous ride and often too long for people -- and also, at (a) 200-pound (rider) limit it's not hard to preclude somebody from taking that ride."
Brossman said Xanterra stays neutral on topics like this and adapts to changes as their Park Service superiors require. But despite dropping the Plateau Point rides, which often sold out, and scaling back Phantom Ranch rides, he said the company's business shouldn't be dented as the Rim rides can give visitors more opportunities to see the Canyon.
The concessionaire expects to keep its small crew of trail maintenance workers, Brossman said.
Jim McCarthy, a hiker and active Sierra Club member, said he was not familiar with all the details of the proposed plan, but said he was concerned that the trail maintenance would not be sustainable -- either financially or environmentally, given the potential amount of Canyon dirt that would need to be harvested to build up the trails.
McCarthy said the Sierra Club was hopeful that mules would be removed from either the Bright Angel or South Kaibab altogether, although he said he understood that wouldn't be likely.
The bigger-picture concern, he said, was national lands being taken over by commercial interests -- also a reference to Sen. John McCain's Canyon overflights amendment, also revealed Tuesday (see accompanying story).
AN ATTEMPT TO LESSEN IMPACTS
Rachel Bennett, an environmental protection spe******t for Grand Canyon National Park, said the Park Service wanted mule rides to continue but also lessen impacts. And their proposal would have the least financial impact on concessionaires -- especially for the smaller and more specialized Canyon Trail Rides, which offers easier and shorter trips on the more remote North Rim.
At the North Rim, there would be caps on rides to Supai Tunnel, on Ken Patrick and to Uncle Jim Point. Rides to Roaring Springs would be completely eliminated.
According to a press release issued Tuesday, the Park Service wants to address the following objectives with the management plan:
-- Provide opportunities for mule and stock use within Grand Canyon National Park to as large a cross section of visitors as practicable.
-- Establish appropriate levels and types of stock use, such as number of stock per day and group size, on park trails that will allow for improved maintenance and reduced resource impacts and costs associated with trail maintenance.
-- Through improved maintenance and operations, reduce conflicts between stock users and hikers on park trails.
-- Identify optimal stock facility locations, including infrastructure size and locations for improving health, safety and overall visitor experience.
Bennett said the park doesn't have a lot of data, but would track success of the next mule program. If the park still can't maintain trails, it could begin planning alternatives again.
"Our goal is to implement something and then monitor that and see if it addresses those concerns, specifically with the trail conditions and the amount of money they we need to spend to maintain them," she said.
TRAIL MAINTENANCE UNDERFUNDED
Conflicts between mule riders and hikers and wear and tear on the trails -- the latter especially, Bennett said -- prompted the Park Service to consider alternative mule and stock use plans for the Canyon.
On one hand, the mules are historical icons that help the less able-bodied see more of one of the world's natural wonders. On the other, hikers complain about the animals and their waste and other conflicts.
Park officials have said that each year, they receive numerous complaints regarding trail conditions and mule waste on the trails. Both stock users and hikers have expressed concerns regarding the safety of stock users, the lack of knowledge regarding trail etiquette from hikers and discourtesy from some stock users.
Additionally, the trails used by mules are in poor shape, with ruts up to three feet deep and secondary trails branching off where the ground has been too damaged to allow safe passage.
The agency has about $1.5 million annually for all trail work in the Grand Canyon. Park officials say they need twice that amount, and that the fees paid by mule riders to use the trails do not keep up with repairs.
On the main corridor, the Bright Angel Trail continues to deteriorate in part because of a backlog of trail maintenance across the park.
Bennett said she is hoping to hear some productive comments about the preferred management plan and that the park service is open to amending its proposal. That could mean changing course or doing a hybrid of plans.
"We need to maintain our trails for both hikers and stock users and we need to be able to maintain them with the amount of money that we have available to us to do that," she said.
Hillary Davis can be reached at hdavis@azdailysun.com or 556-2261