Settlement Reached in Grand Canyon

River Management Litigation

January 17, 2002

The Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association joins with the National Park Service (NPS) and Plaintiffs to announce that a voluntary, negotiated settlement has been reached between the parties in litigation concerning future NPS planning for the management of the Colorado River within Grand Canyon National Park.

To view the text of the settlement agreement, please go here.

The parties to the settlement include the NPS (Defendant); the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association, American Whitewater, the National Parks Conservation Association, the American Canoe Association, and four private individuals (Plaintiffs); and the Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association (Intervenor Defendant).

The Hualapai Indian Tribe, whose reservation sits adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park and who currently conducts extensive commercial river running operations on the Colorado River in the lower Grand Canyon area, also participated.

"The Grand Canyon's professional river outfitters feel very good about this agreement," said Mark Grisham, Executive Director of the Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association, a non-profit trade group whose members include the sixteen river running concessioners licensed by the NPS to conduct public whitewater river trips within the Grand Canyon.

"We're looking forward to tackling longstanding issues and finding solutions," said Grisham. "It's time to move forward. This agreement is an example of what can be accomplished through constructive discussion. We hope the pattern of respectful dialog and mutual consideration can continue throughout the planning process."

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the NPS will, within 120 days, restart work on the Colorado River Management Plan (CRMP) revision process first initiated in 1997, but suspended by the agency in February of 2000.

The CRMP is the official NPS planning document that governs access to and activities within the Colorado River corridor within Grand Canyon National Park. The Grand Canyon river experience is one of the most renowned and sought after visitation opportunities available within the entire National Park system. Demand for the experience far outstrips the available supply, which is limited by the NPS to protect the resource and the quality of the trip. Each year, roughly 22,000 visitors enjoy a world class whitewater river adventure in this spectacular and unique area.

The settlement agreement further requires the NPS to implement a new Colorado River Management Plan no later than December 31, 2004. So that new river running concession contracts can be quickly issued that incorporate the outcome of the planning process, the NPS will extend the current contracts for up to three years past their original expiration date of December 31, 2002.

"This is a win-win-win situation for the parties involved directly and for the public," said Grisham. "While there are difficult and potentially contentious issues to address, this agreement represents a solid beginning for a process that will require the continued good faith and constructive participation of all the concerned parties and the public at large."

The central questions that the NPS must answer in the course of the upcoming river management planning process include:

• How can the resource best be protected and what is the appropriate level of visitor use for the Colorado River corridor within Grand Canyon National Park, given paramount resource protection requirements and very high visitor experience quality goals?

• How should the recreational river use made available be apportioned among competing user groups, including those who seek the services of a licensed river outfitter and those who wish to self-outfit, or conduct their own private Grand Canyon river trip?

• How should private river running permits be distributed? The current "waiting list" system has resulted in excessive and highly unpopular wait times for trip leaders seeking to obtain a permit for their private party. Should forced waits continue as the primary means used by the NPS to ration such permits, or is there a better way? The waiting list system and its attendant controversy are unique to the Grand Canyon. All other permitted rivers that support multi-day trips in the western United States use some form of a lottery system to distribute private river running permits.

• What is the appropriate spectrum and mix for the various river trip types or styles to be made available? To what extent should motorized river trips continue to be offered? Motorized trips have been publicly available in the canyon for over the past five decades. Three out of four of today's professionally outfitted river trip participants choose the motorized trip option.

• How should river trips be scheduled and otherwise directly managed to protect the resource and to produce the best possible on-river experience for the visiting public?

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