URGENT- Yosemite Climbing Threatened

[truthmiracle]

Please get a letter postmarked today or tomorrow. Thursday 2/4 is the deadline for public comment. (Wish I had known about this sooner...)

Access Fund site- Action Center

http://www.accessfund.org/site/c.tmL5Kh ... B/Home.htm

http://www.accessfund.org/c.tmL5KhNWLrH ... &aid=13676

[truthmiracle]

What happens in Yosemite may effect the Red River Gorge

"After several years and numerous rounds of litigation, Yosemite lost the lawsuit, with the courts ruling that the Park must prepare a new plan and establish a cap on visitor use in the Merced River corridor. In addition to ignoring the best available science for resource protection and visitor use, this expensive litigation (which cost taxpayers over $1.25 million) will also likely guide management policies in other wild and scenic river areas such as the Tuolumne River, Zion National Park in Utah, the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, and the Obed River in Tennessee."

Get every climber you know to write in. Thanks!

[gripster]

apparently these guys have never been to the Obed on a "crowded" day. restricting climbing access there would just be a joke.

[ynp1]

not el cap and half dizzle. but i think my camping spot will be okay...

[truthmiracle]

"You don't know what you got till it's gone."

[clif]

write your letter on a C note. Concessions have a dollar from everyone whose been there not climbing plus 2. Fire and Rain.

[captain static]

Just sent this off on RRGCC letterhead:

Don Neubacher, Superintendent
Attn: Merced River Plan
P.O. Box 577
Yosemite National Park, CA 95389

Via FAX

Dear Superintendent Neubacher:

On behalf of the Red River Gorge Climbers’ Coalition (RRGCC) I appreciate this opportunity to provide you with scoping comments on the Merced Wild and Scenic River Plan. I have personally enjoyed climbing in the Yosemite Valley and I am sure many of our members have also. The RRGCC represents over 1,000 rock climbers who enjoy recreating in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky. Like the Merced, the Red River is also a National Wild and Scenic River and the climbing in Red River Gorge is also intimately linked to the river and its processes. Thus we are concerned about the precedents that the Merced River Plan might set that could in the future impact access to rock climbing opportunities in Red River Gorge.

As a sister organization of the Access Fund we strongly encourage you to consider their points and comments concerning the development of a user capacity program for the Merced River planning area. Namely:

• Climbing Should Be Identified as One of the Merced River’s Outstanding Remarkable Values
• Yosemite’s User Capacity Framework Should Consider Climbing’s Unique Characteristics
• The Merced River Plan Must Allow for Access to Areas Outside of the Planning Boundary

Also like Yosemite, the climbing in Red River Gorge is a unique, rare, and exemplary recreational activity that attracts thousands of visitors regionally, nationally, and internationally each year. This provides a significant tourism and economic impact to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Thus as you move forward through the planning process, please consider the precedents that you will be setting that might affect other climbing areas in the U.S. It would be a tragedy if the precedents set by the Merced Wild and Scenic River Plan led to a loss of climbing access in Red River Gorge and created a negative impact on tourism and economic development in Kentucky.

Sincerely,




Bill Strachan, Executive Director

Cc: RRGCC Board
Brady Robinson, The Access Fund
The Honorable Hal Rodgers