winter 07-08 / 20:4 - Grand Canyon River Guides

The First Year—CRMP Implementation:
A View from Resource Management
Although the planning process was completed
and the Record of Decision signed in 2006, the
National Park Service remains busy with
Colorado River Management Plan (crmp) related activities.
The Park has now entered the implementation
phase of the plan. Some of the implementation work has
been completed, some has been initiated and is ongoing,
and some projects are planned for the future. Information
about this work has been and will continue to be
provided to the public via the National Park Service
website and email communications. There are and will
continue to be many opportunities for the river community
to be involved with the implementation and to
provide feedback to the nps.
The crmp monitoring and mitigation program has
been developed to determine and address effects of the
2006 crmp recreational use limits and launch patterns
on park resources and visitor experience. The program
has four major components: a Visitor Experience Monitoring
Plan (vemp), an interdisciplinary resource monitoring
program, a mitigation/site restoration program,
and an education and outreach program.
Visitor Experience Monitoring Plan
The National Park Service (nps) worked with Bo Shelby
and Doug Whittaker, through a cooperative agreement
with Oregon State University, to develop a plan to assess
key indicators of visitor experience. In February, 2006 a
public information meeting was held in Flagstaff to talk
about the plan. The meeting was well attended and
notes from the meeting are posted on the crmp website,
www.nps.gov/grca/parkmgmt/crmp07rmm.htm.
As a direct result of public feedback received in that
meeting, the park began providing comprehensive
monthly river calendar information, including a Lees
Ferry launch calendar, a Phantom Ranch exchange
calendar, a Whitmore exchange calendar and a
Diamond Creek takeout calendar. The calendars include
all trip information available at the time they are generated,
including non-commercial, commercial, nps, and
research trips. Because trip plans inevitably change up to
the actual launch, it is difficult to provide flawless trip
information. The nps will continue to work to improve
the accuracy of the calendars. Calendars will be generated
between the months of March and October 2008.
Several other projects were initiated this year to
monitor the effects of the new plan on visitor experience.
Attraction site monitoring was conducted for five
to seven days in June and October 2007 from the corner
overlook at Deer Creek. The two time periods were
selected to provide data about the high use season and
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the shoulder use season. An observer also collected Deer
Creek data in June 2006. Recorded observations
included when trips stopped, how much time trips spent
at Deer Creek, how many boats were on the trip, how
many people hiked, where people were hiking to, and
camp occupancy. Comments from boaters regarding
their trip were also recorded and are being used to shape
the 2008 attraction site monitoring schedule.
As a result of data collected and comments received
in June, a visit to Havasu was planned for late July.
Because of monsoon storms the trip was shifted to Whitmore,
where flight data, camp occupancy and river travel
pattern information was collected. The pre-ten a.m.
Whitmore exchange requirement may be influencing use
patterns upstream at Havasu and Deer Creek. The Park
will be working with guides and outfitters in 2008 to
evaluate how the new requirement is impacting
upstream visitation at attraction sites.
Additional site observations are planned for
Nankoweap, the Little Colorado River, Deer Creek,
Havasu, and Whitmore between March and October in
2008.
The data collected will provide the park with a better
understanding of how the new use levels and patterns are
affecting popular river stops. The National Park Service is
grateful to the river community for their support and
assistance at the observation sites, and in particular for
their insights and comments. A report generated with
data and early findings from the 2007 observations will be
posted on the crmp website in November 2007.
The nps has also developed a trip log to record where
trips are camping, hiking, having lunch etc. Trip logs were
recorded on most nps river trips in 2007. The helpful
volunteers of Grand Canyon Youth also completed trip
logs. This information will, over time, provide the park
with another snap shot of river use patterns.
Additional components of the vemp will be implemented
in 2009. For more information about the vemp,
as well as updated results from early research, please visit
the nps crmp website.
Integrated Resource Monitoring Program
This annual monitoring program will provide the park
with long-term data on how Grand Canyon resources
are being affected by Colorado River use. An interdisciplinary
group of park staff collects natural and cultural
resource monitoring data at a rotating set of campsites in
the Colorado River corridor. The campsites being monitored
are a mix of high, moderate and low-use sites;
some camps are monitored on a rotational basis and
some are visited every trip. The nps team monitors
grand canyon river guides