Here is the letter of objection by the Zion Canyoneering Coalition to Zion National Park, August 19, 2006
August 19, 2006
Ray O'Neil
Dear Ray –
It has come to our attention that, sometime last fall, park management placed in Orderville Canyon, at the spot know as Veiled Falls, a sign stating that "Upstream Travel is Prohibited Beyond This Point".
We object.
Placement of such a sign in Orderville is inappropriate at this time, and we request that the Park remove it at the earliest opportunity.
This management action is inappropriate because:
1. Extremely Poor Timing: the park is currently developing a Draft Backcountry Management Plan, to be released this fall. The process of developing alternatives, presenting those alternatives to the public, discussing different management strategies and receiving comments from the public is an excellent opportunity for park management to discuss management actions such as this control sign. An active discussion about their appropriateness, whether they solve a problem that is in conflict with park goals, or whether such controls diminish the wilderness experience for too many visitors to justify their placement are appropriate topics for analysis and public comment in the planning process. The park should delay non-emergency unilateral action until it can receive input from the public.
2. No Public Involvement: in addition to avoiding the obvious public involvement of the Draft Backcountry Management Plan Process, park management also avoided many other available opportunities to discuss this management action with the public. Limiting the public's access to their park lands should be undertaken only when a serious problem can be solved in no other way, and certainly only after the public has been consulted. Park management has the names and addresses of at least several hundred visitors that are keenly interested in backcountry management issues – it should have consulted with the public before taking this kind of management action.
3. Natural Barriers in Orderville Canyon: management zone boundaries were established in the General Management Plan (June, 2001) and reflected, for the most part, established patterns of public usage at the start of the planning process, about 1995. The entire length of Orderville Canyon is zoned in the Primitive Zone. No change in zone status occurs at Veiled Falls, though this is the first of several natural obstacles that will tend to quickly diminish upstream traffic. Further natural obstacles at Corkscrew Falls and at The Guillotine are difficult to pass, and limit upstream to traffic to only the most fit and motivated upstream hikers. Management action is not necessary to decrease upstream traffic – the natural barriers in the canyon do so already.
4. Prohibitive Management Signing Diminishes the Wilderness Experience: "An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this Act an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation;" (source:The Wilderness Act of 1964, Public Law 88-577 (16 U.S. C. 1131-1136), 88th Congress, Second Session, September 3, 1964) Placing of such a management sign diminishes both the solitude clause of part 2, and is a confinement of the recreation, a diminishment of the primitive and unconfined clause.
5. Prohibitive Management Signing Diminishes Solitude: Solitude is more than a lack of social encounters. A deeper look into the meaning of solitude to Howard Zahnizer and the other authors of the Wilderness Act reveals that they were perhaps more concerned with psychological detachment from society and the pressures toward socialization of the individual, and that Wilderness would serve as the counterbalance for that. "If we are truly interested in providing solitude benefits, we should turn our management and research gaze away from crowding and encounter norms towards our own management tendencies to impose constraints on visitor freedoms and independence" (Source: Stewart, William P.; Cole, David N. 2001. Number of encounters and experience quality in Grand Canyon backcountry; consistently negative and weak relationships. Journal of Leisure Research 33(1): 106-120)
7. Park management lacks a mandate for limiting visitor access: without a public process, it is difficult to ascertain the reasoning behind management's action in this case, but a thorough reading of the General Management Plan and other relevant documents finds no justification for limiting visitor access in this manner.
8. An informative sign would address safety concerns better than a prohibitive sign. Park staff has indicated concerns about visitor safety associated with sliding and jumping at the Veiled Falls location, and resultant ankle and leg injuries. If the primary concern here is for visitor safety, then an informative sign (rather than a prohibitive sign) would more effectively warn visitors of the hazard (if desired) without so severely impacting the wilderness experience of all visitors to this amazing canyon.
The Zion Canyoneering Coalition is concerned that management actions like this sign substantially diminish the wilderness character of the Zion backcountry, with no appreciable gains, and we would appreciate removal of this sign in the near future, to restore the wilderness character of Orderville Canyon.
Sincerely –
Tom Jones (et al)
Plateau District Ranger
Zion National Park
Springdale, UT 84767
Visitors Bette Wise-Steffen and Jason Robertson from Salt Lake City, UT and Judy Seybold from Fort Collins, CO enjoy Orderville Canyon, July 2006. They had a permit to hike Orderville from the top. Click HERE for a larger image file. Photo copyright Tom Jones 2006. Fair Use accompanying article about use limits in Zion is expressly permitted.
Chairman, Zion Canyoneering Coalition
