Grand Canyon National Park stirs images of wide expanses, steep cliffs, travertine waterfalls, and the wild and tumultuous Colorado River a mile below the rim of the magnificent canyon. The River has unsuccessfully been proposed for wilderness designation several times. Current
management planning will decide the fate of the river for decades to come.
For several decades, the National Park Service (NPS) has allowed motorized raft use on the Colorado River and has permitted helicopters to ferry commercial boating passengers in and out of the canyon. Under the current management system, 80% of all river access is reserved
for commercial boating companies, while the self-guided paddler has to wait up to 20 years for a permit to float the river (NPS forecasts).
Protect Wilderness First
The Wilderness Society strongly believes that such recreational and commercial activities should be managed in a manner compatible with protecting the wilderness character of the river. To achieve this, we recommend the phase-out of the recreational use of motorboats, helicopters and other motorized equipment on the Colorado River in accordance with the Wilderness Act.
We also want to see a better balance of use between the general public, education, community services, and commercially-assisted trips, a balance that is fair and equitable.
A new management plan that accurately reflects the Park Service's wilderness recommendations would include a decision to stop the current large-scale motorized rafting
and helicopter operations that have become the dominant river use.
Further, we recommend the determination of an allocation system for use between the general public, education, community services, and commercially assisted trips that is fair and equitable.
What We Are Doing
The Wilderness Society has teamed up with a coalition of local and national environmental groups, called the Grand Canyon Wilderness Alliance, to guarantee designation of the Colorado River, as it runs through Grand Canyon National Park, as wilderness. This initiative will restore the wilderness qualities of the river by converting river trips from motors to oars.
Our coalition has submitted scoping comments to the Park asking, among other things, to phase out the use of motors. We also collected 7,510 public comments supporting this position and submitted those to the Park Service. All is now under consideration by the Park Service
About the Grand Canyon Wilderness Alliance
The Alliance is a group The Grand Canyon Wilderness Alliance (GCWA) is a group of 23 organizations whose mission is to preserve the wilderness character of the Grand Canyon for future generations by protecting its ecological integrity and providing opportunities for a
wilderness experience.
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