It is so important that public resources be open to the public, as well as keeping a balanced approach to protecting the natural beauty of places like Yosemite, or the Parkway.
We lean towards open access for day use, with the obvious restrictions on overnight camping, as it is the public who pays for the upkeep on natural resources and they need to be able to enjoy them as they are able, without additional restrictions, or fees if possible.
An excerpt.
Judge halts plans in park
Construction projects put on hold over fears about damaging Merced River.
By Mark Grossi / The Fresno Bee 11/07/06 03:48:21
In a clear victory for environmentalists, a federal judge has stopped nine construction projects in Yosemite Valley — including the $35 million effort to rebuild Yosemite Lodge — to protect the Merced River.
U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii late Friday ordered the National Park Service to rewrite the embattled Merced River protection plan, which the agency was required to finish more than 15 years ago.
Ishii in July rejected the park service's latest revision of the plan — a special document that guides management of the Merced under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The judge criticized the revised plan for not specifying limits on the number of visitors around the river, which has sensitive areas that might be trampled by crowds.
But until Friday, Ishii left up in the air whether construction could proceed on the Yosemite projects without an approved plan.
Ishii set a hearing for Jan. 9 to decide when the park service must submit a new plan, which park officials said may take two years to produce. It was the second time in the last two years that Ishii stopped valley projects because of river protection issues.
Environmentalists, led by Friends of Yosemite Valley, said Monday the judge's decision affirmed the role of small citizens groups that have been monitoring the park service.
"The park service recently grumbled that citizens are standing in the way of the agency moving forward in Yosemite. They're wrong," said Greg Adair, director of Friends of Yosemite Valley.
Disappointed Yosemite officials said they thought they followed the judge's orders two years ago when they revised the river plan. Now officials will consider appealing the new ruling, adding again that environmentalists have stalled good projects and raised the cost to taxpayers by millions of dollars.
