Grand Canyon National Park to Celebrate "National Parks Day"

August 22, 2002 (NPS): On Sunday, August 25th, entrance fees to Grand Canyon National Park will be waived in celebration of National Parks Day.

August 25th is the anniversary date of the National Park Service which was established in 1916 to "promote and regulate the use of Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations...by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purpose of said parks, monuments and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

"In recognition of National Parks Day, entrance fees will be waived for visitors entering Grand Canyon National Park, except for commercial tour fees, recreation 'user fees' such as backcountry permits/impact fees, camping fees and other activities that are offered in the park," said Leah McGinnis, Chief, Branch of Fee Management. The free entrance permits issued on Sunday, are valid for seven days on both the North and South Rims, so visitors are reminded to hold on to their receipts.

Grand Canyon National Park, established in 1919, is one of 385 areas administered by the National Park Service. Last year over 4.4 million visitors from around the world visited Grand Canyon National Park. The National Park Service received more than 285 million recreation visits in 2001.

The National Park Service would like to extend a warm welcome to all visitors on this 86th anniversary of the establishment of the National Park Service.

Facts about Grand Canyon:

Grand Canyon was first set aside as a forest reserve in 1893 by President Benjamin Harrison (Presidential Proclamation #45). President Theodore Roosevelt established Grand Canyon National Monument by Presidential Proclamation #794 in 1908. Park administration was under the United States Forest Service until the establishment of Grand Canyon National Park on February 26, 1919 (40 stat 1175). The Grand Canyon National Park Enlargement Act, passed On January 3, 1975 (88 stat 2089) enlarged the park.

1,217,403.32 acres
1,904 square miles
277 river miles long
10 miles - average rim to rim width
South Rim elevation - 7,000 feet
North Rim elevation - 8,000 feet

The carving of the Grand Canyon by the Colorado River has taken place over the last six million years, exposing rocks at the bottom of the canyon that are close to two billion years old.

For more information on Grand Canyon National Park, visit our web site at www.nps.gov/grca and look for the 2002 Grand Canyon National Park Profile.

Grand Canyon National Park Extends Public Meeting Schedule In Revision Of Colorado River Management Plan

August 22, 2002 (NPS): On the heels of five successful open house meetings in cities throughout the West, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent, Joseph F. Alston, today announced the Park's intent to conduct two additional public meetings in the San Francisco/Oakland and the Washington, D.C./Baltimore areas. Meeting dates and locations are forthcoming and will be posted on the Colorado River Management Plan (CRMP) Web page (www.nps.gov/grca/crmp).

Meetings in Denver, Colo.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Las Vegas, Nev.; and Mesa, Ariz. were held during the first two weeks in August and drew attendance from approximately 850 people. To date the Park has received more than 3,000 comments via various public involvement venues, including the Internet, mail, hand-delivered letters and the open houses.

"We were very pleased with the attendance at the open house meetings," Alston said. "The format lent itself to helping everyone realize the complex issues we face as we prepare the draft environmental impact statement (EIS). There was a lot of discussion we hadn't heard in the public involvement phase before."

Alston said these meetings were added to give the public, interested organizations and agencies further opportunity to interface with Park staff, have their questions answered and submit comments.

"Many other governmental agencies work with the Grand Canyon National Park," Alston said. "The final results of this EIS could affect their dealings with the Park, so there is a lot of interest there."

In June the Superintendent announced the initial meetings, the first stage in preparing an EIS to update the CRMP for Grand Canyon National Park. The National Park Service (NPS) is preparing the EIS for the Plan under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

The purpose of this EIS is to update management guidelines for the Colorado River corridor through Grand Canyon National Park. Current guidelines can be found in the 1989 CRMP. A copy of this plan, as well as background information and public comments received from past CRMP discussions, can be found on the Internet at www.nps.gov/grca/crmp.

In developing a draft CRMP/EIS, the NPS seeks public input to reaffirm previously identified agency and public issues, and to identify any new public issues and concerns. Scoping information will also be used to help narrow and define the significant environmental issues and management alternatives to be analyzed in the EIS. Public input will continue throughout the planning process. The NPS will actively seek out and consult with all interested members of the public.

During this process, the NPS will develop and evaluate alternatives to address resource protection issues, potential resource impacts, user capacities, and mitigation measures necessary or desirable to achieve the NPS mission. The NPS will review some key resource issues outside of the park's boundaries that affect the integrity of the Grand Canyon and will consider alternatives that include no-action (the status quo), no motorized use, and varying levels of motorized and non-motorized watercraft use.

Issues to be addressed in the EIS will include, but are not limited to:

• appropriate levels of visitor use consistent with natural and cultural resource protection and preservation mandates;
• allocation of use between commercial and non-commercial groups;
• non-commercial permitting system;
• level of motorized versus non-motorized raft use;
• the range of services and opportunities provided to the public; and,
• in consultation with the Hualapai Indian Tribe and other appropriate parties, the continued use of helicopters to transport river passengers from the Colorado River near Whitmore Wash.

Information about this planning effort and how the public can be involved throughout the process can be found in Soundings, a newsletter available on the Internet at www.nps.gov/grca/crmp. Due to the public interest in this planning process, the NPS has decided to extend the public comment period until November 1, 2002. Comments can be submitted by any one of the following ways:

• mail to CRMP Project, Grand Canyon National Park, P.O. Box 129, Grand Canyon, Arizona 86023;
• send by electronic mail to grca_crmp@nps.gov;
• hand-deliver to Grand Canyon National Park; or
• provide at one of the public scoping meetings to be announced.

Completion of the EIS process will fulfill an agreement reached through a negotiated settlement of recent litigation between several organizations and individuals and the federal government. The settlement requires the NPS to complete this EIS by December 31, 2004. The NPS plans to restart the process to review and revise the park's 1988 Backcountry Management Plan subsequent to the completion of the CRMP.

For further information on this planning process, please contact Jeffrey Cross, Director, Grand Canyon Science Center at 928-638-7759.

Editors Note: To be placed on the park's CRMP Newsletter mailing list, please send your request along with your email address to: grca_crmp@nps.gov.

Fire Danger Level Climbs To "Extreme" At Grand Canyon National Park, But The Park Remains Open!

August 15, 2002 (NPS): Unprecedented drought and unusually low rainfall totals during this monsoon season have created extreme fire danger conditions throughout Grand Canyon National Park. Beginning at 8:00 AM on Friday, August 16, Grand Canyon will enter Fire Danger Level 5, or Extreme as it is more commonly known. This increase in fire danger DOES NOT involve any temporary restrictions or closures at this time.

Fire officials ask all Grand Canyon visitors and residents to be extremely cautious with fire. Cigarettes need to be disposed of in ashtrays. Barbecues and campfires in designated fire rings should never be left unattended and must be extinguished thoroughly. As always, fireworks are prohibited on Federal lands at all times.

Grand Canyon National Park is OPEN! All roads and backcountry trails are OPEN. Visitor Centers, campgrounds, hotels and restaurants are OPEN.

For information about fire restrictions at Grand Canyon, please call 928-638-7819 (recorded message). For information about backcountry travel, please call the Backcountry Office at 928-638-7875, Monday - Friday, 1:00-5:00 PM. For information about fire closures and restrictions on public lands in Arizona and New Mexico, please call (toll free) 1-877-864-6985.

Falling Fatality Along Havasu Creek in Grand Canyon National Park

August 12, 2002 (NPS): Grand Canyon, AZ - Sabra L. Jones, 44 years old, of Gallup, New Mexico, died this afternoon of injuries sustained in a 25-foot fall along Havasu Creek about three miles from its confluence with the Colorado River.

At 3:00pm, the National Park Service received a satellite telephone call reporting that someone had fallen in the Havasu Creek area. National Park Service rangers responded by helicopter to the site, a remote area in the inner portion of Grand Canyon in a side canyon of the Colorado River. First bystanders and then responding rangers provided emergency medical assistance; however, Jones died at the scene.

Ms. Jones was a crew member on a commercial river trip conducted by Tour West, Inc., one of sixteen outfitters that provide raft trips on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park.

The Havasu Creek area is a popular attraction on Colorado River trips, known for its blue-green water and options for hiking and exploring.

The National Park Service and Coconino County Sheriff's Office are conducting an investigation.

National Park Service Announces a Finding of No Significant Impact for Research on Wildfire Hazard Reduction in Ponderosa Pine Ecosystems at Grand Canyon National Park

August 5, 2002 (NPS): The National Park Service has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Research on Wildfire Hazard Reduction in Ponderosa Pine Ecosystems at Grand Canyon National Park project. Intermountain Regional Director Karen Wade approved the FONSI based on the environmental assessment/assessment of effect (AE/AEF) recommended by Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Joseph F. Alston. With the EA/AEF completed, work on the project should begin later this summer.

Of the three alternatives considered in the EA/AEF, the approved action (preferred alternative) is a research project that proposes to complete experimental treatments on a total of 160 acres (80 acre blocks on both the North and South rims of Grand Canyon National Park). Each 80-acre block will be divided into four 20-acre experimental units. Experimental treatments would be assigned randomly within the units on these sites and would include:

1. Intermediate thinning and burning treatment - Under this treatment, most trees less than five inches diameter at breast height (dbh) would be cut. The thinning would be followed by prescribed fire treatments.
2. Minimal thinning and burning treatment - Under this treatment, thinning of small trees would be targeted around individual older trees (generally 120 years old or more). Small trees with a dbh of five inches or less, within a predetermined distance around the older trees would be cut. The thinning would be followed by prescribed fire treatments.
3. Burn-only treatment - Under this treatment no trees would be cut, except when required to mitigate specific hazards to safely burn. The units would be treated with prescribed fire.
4. Control - Under this treatment no trees would be thinned, and fire would continue to be excluded from the unit.

The South Rim experimental site is located in the Grandview area east of the Grand Canyon Village. The North Rim site is located on Swamp Ridge northwest of the North Rim Developed Area. These two sites represent different forest types within the Park; the South Rim site is primarily a ponderosa pine/oak type, while the North Rim is a pine/fir type. No mechanized equipment would be used for thinning on the North Rim site, which is located in a proposed wilderness area. All thinned material will be left on-site and would be broadcast burned or burned in piles, eliminating the need for any skid trails, landings or additional roads. Prescribed fire activities would occur when conditions allow.

Results of this research would be used to evaluate and refine techniques for reducing hazardous fuels for wildland-urban interface fuel treatments; preparation of defensible perimeters for burn units; reducing wildfire spread beyond Park boundaries; and protection of sensitive and cultural resources.

For additional information regarding this project or to obtain a copy of the FONSI, contact Don Bertolette, Project Leader at (928) 226-0165. The FONSI will also be available on the Park's website at www.nps.gov/grca/compliance.

National Park Service Investigating Outbreak of Gastrointestinal Illness on the Colorado River

August 1, 2002 (NPS): The National Park Service is currently investigating nine cases of gastrointestinal illness reported on the Colorado River early this morning. The illnesses were reported by a river guide on a commercial trip camped at Hells Hollow at River Mile 183 near Whitmore Wash. Two of the nine individuals, a 47 year old male and a 16 year old male, were transported to the Grand Canyon Clinic on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park where they were treated and released. The remaining seven passengers who reported symptoms planned to complete the last two days of their eight-day trip.

Between June 1 and 14 of this year, 59 persons participating in five separate rafting trips on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park developed gastrointestinal illness. Passengers reported flu-like symptoms consisting of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The symptoms reported this morning are similar. Evidence from stool specimens taken from those affected by the illness in June indicated that a Norwalk-like virus had caused the outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to confirm the illness by genetic sequencing, and should have the results later this summer. Results from initial environmental tests taken in June and an epidemiology study comparing individuals who became sick with individuals who remained healthy are also pending.

The National Park Service continues to work with the United States Public Health Service, Coconino County Department of Health Service, Arizona State Epidemiology Office, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine a cause and source of the illness. Specimens collected from individuals in this latest group who became ill will be analyzed and compared to results from those tested in June to help determine if there are any common point sources of the virus.

River and backcountry users are reminded to be extra vigilant with their sanitation practices. Drinking water obtained from the Colorado River or side canyons should be filtered and treated with iodine or chlorine, then allowed to rest before consumption. An alternative method is to boil all drinking water. Frequent hand washing and careful food preparation helps to control the spread of the illness from person to person. River guides who develop the illness while on a trip should not participate in food preparation.

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