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Comments to Yosemite’s Merced River Plan due Tuesday April 30

Reminder – Comments for the Merced Wild and Scenic River Draft Comprehensive Management and Environmental Impact Statement (MRP) close at midnight April 30. There are some major changes proposed. I emailed 2 pages of comments. Don’t complain when they yank out the raft and bike rentals, etc if you don’t participate.

The Planning Group has spent a lot of time and energy to develop the 5 Alternatives. Over 100 people contributed to the development of the 2,000 page MRP. I got a hard copy and it’s the same size as 3 big city phone books. I doubt that nay single human has read all those pages.

The Park has received thousands of comments to date. Hard to believe, but it shows that many care about this huge effort. It will take decades to implement the final solution – and over $100M to complete.  The final plan has to be presented to a judge to satisfy a lawsuit that originated after the 1997 flood. The plan and process how to comment are on the Park Website.

 

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “Participate, don’t spectate.” – Burning Man motto

MrHalfDome™ – …

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Yosemite’s Merced River Plan (MRP) comments now due April 30

Yosemite National Park has extended  the public comment period for the Merced Wild and Scenic River Draft Comprehensive Management and Environmental Impact Statement (MRP) until Tuesday, April 30.

The park has received about 25,000 comments so far. That is a very heavyu burden. In a way that pays tghem back for releasing a 2,000 page plan on us in January. The Summary Guide is only 18 pages. Start (and end) there.

You can get a PDF copy of the plan with all alternatives, at www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/mrp.htm.

The plan has to be signed off by the end of July 2013 to satisfy a lawsuit that the park appealed twice and lost. Many things will change if the preferred altternatinvbe is slelcted. No ice rink, no raft rentals, no horsey rides, etc. But if approved it will take up to 20 years to implement.

 

Unrelated thought worth quoting: “You just slip out the back, Jack.
Make a new plan, Stan. You don’t need to be coy, Roy. Just get yourself free. Hop on the bus, Gus. You don’t need to discuss much, just drop off the key, Lee and get yourself free.” – Paul …

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Yosemite’s Merced River Plan Funding and Schedule

The March 4 blog generated some comments. My words came out wrong. I meant to say for the MRP, the Yosemite Conservancy YC) will be one source of the funds needed to execute the selected alternative. YNP gets about $29M a year from the Feds to run the park. They actually spend much more…like $80M. The Yosemite Conservancy is one of the sources of the additional funds. Bequeathments, donations, fund drives, etc. provide additional money. In 2011, YC provided the park about $9.3M. The current concessionaire, Delaware North Company, gains revenue from managing much of the physical plant and services. Much of that gets back to the Park.

The Merced River Plan is expected to cost $235M over the 20 years for implementation. That will be funded by a combination of their portion of the concessioners revenue,  some from the federal highways administration, their Congressional funded budget and the largest contribution will be from the recreation fees or a percentage gate admission fees. Keep in mind that the current sequestration crisis will cut 5% ($1.4M).

The park has until July to have an acceptable plan that passes muster with the …

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