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Congratulations are in order for everyone associated with yesterday's big win for
Yosemite National Park.
Yesterday, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeal dismissed the National Park Service's appeal of a 2006 decision that had found the agency deficient in their plans to protect, and appropriately manage, the Wild and Scenic Merced River. Quoting from the appended article as it appeared in today's San Francisco Chronicle,
[The plaintiffs were led by a local organization called Friends of Yosemite Valley, which said the government's plans would lead to commercialization of the park and turn it into a playground mainly for wealthy lodgers, people driving recreational vehicles and visitors arriving in tour buses...
The federal agency "has failed to take the steps necessary to make sure the river is given as much attention as the concessionaires' profits," said Peter Frost, attorney for American Rivers, a conservation group that sided with the plaintiffs.]
 Today's Park Service managers have come to see themselves as just another cog in the global tourism industry. They act as if charged with the task of facilitating ever-more commercialization, privatization and motorization of America's Crown Jewels.
The Park Service caters to the wants and whims of the travel industry, the recreation vehicle industry and commercial outfitters. They've done so for decades, and things have gone from bad to worse since Congress, in 1996, passed the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program and, by so doing, gave the Park Service financial incentive to harm the lands entrusted to their care.
The Department of Interior threw at this case every high powered lawyer at their disposal. Even so, a small group of magnificent grassroots activists and environmental lawyers prevailed. Their win is our win. They won this case for Yosemite, for you, for me and for future generations.
The court's ruling is available HERE.
Scott
"Yosemite should be a nature center, not a profit."
-David Brower
(a staunch supporter of Friends of Yosemite Valley
and of their efforts to protect the park.)
--- begin quoted ---
Court deals setback to Yosemite plan
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
March 28, 2008
(03-27) 12:23 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court threw a
roadblock in the path of the government's restoration and development
plans for Yosemite National Park on Thursday, ruling that the National
Park Service has failed to take adequate steps to protect the Merced
River.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a
federal judge's decision in 2006 that the Park Service had not
adequately addressed limits on public use of the 81 miles of the river
that wind through the park.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii blocked several construction projects
after he issued his ruling, including repaving the heavily used Valley
Loop Road and rebuilding some of the hotel rooms and campsites that
were lost when the Merced flooded in January 1997. The judge gave the
Park Service until September 2009 to come up with a new management plan.
In Thursday's ruling, the three-judge panel agreed with Ishii that the
Park Service plan did not properly consider Yosemite's capacity to
accommodate more visitors without damaging its environmental and scenic
qualities.
The plan violated federal law "by not requiring a response to
environmental degradation until it already occurs," Judge Kim Wardlaw
said in the court's decision. She also said the plan did not consider a
range of alternatives that would both repair damage and limit park use.
As examples of the "levels of degradation already experienced in the
Merced" and accepted under the Park Service's plan, Wardlaw cited
dozens of recreational facilities along the river, including swimming
pools, tennis courts, a skating rink, a golf course and assorted sports
shops, merchandise stores, restaurants and bars.
She did not say such installations should be eliminated or banned, but
suggested they did not meet the legal standards for promoting the wild
and scenic status of the Merced River, a designation that Congress
conferred in 1987.
The Park Service "does not explain how maintaining such a status quo in
the interim would protect or enhance the river's unique values,"
Wardlaw said.
The case split environmentalists. The plaintiffs were led by a local
organization called Friends of Yosemite Valley, which said the
government's plans would lead to commercialization of the park and turn
it into a playground mainly for wealthy lodgers, people driving
recreational vehicles and visitors arriving in tour buses.
The ruling requires the Park Service to "come up with some very clear
standards that deal with user capacity," said Sharon Duggan, the
organization's lawyer.
The federal agency "has failed to take the steps necessary to make sure
the river is given as much attention as the concessionaires' profits,"
said Peter Frost, attorney for American Rivers, a conservation group
that sided with the plaintiffs.
Other environmental groups, including Friends of the River and the
Wilderness Society, sided with the Park Service, saying Ishii's ruling
would hinder protection of the river by delaying implementation of a
management plan. Their lawyer, James Houpt, said Thursday's ruling was
disappointing.
His clients "were hoping that these projects could go forward," Houpt
said. "Many involve restoration and rehabilitation, and almost all of
those are stopped dead in their tracks."
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