Arizona

The Colorado is one of the world's great rivers. It travels from mountain, across plateau and desert, and finally to the sea at the Gulf of California, a distance of over a thousand miles. Over the millennia the river's tumbling torrent has carved the magnificant, 277 mile long and one mile deep chasm that is Grand Canyon. Calling it "absolutely unparalleled," President Teddy Roosevelt declared the canyon a national monument in 1908. Eleven years later it became a national park, giving it full wilderness status to protect it from the heavy hand of man.

It didn't work. More than seven million people visit the canyon each year, making it the second most popular park in the country, and the world for that matter, after the Great Smoky Mountains. This volume of foot and auto traffic has wreaked havoc on plants, wildlife, and natural features, which is inconsistent with the mission statement of the National Park Service-"to preserve the parks in a state of wilderness."

A new and experimental phase of preservation is currently on the drawing board for Grand Canyon National Park. For the first time in its long history the NPS has mandated that visitation be restricted in one of its parks. This will be done using several innovative methods, and hopefully serve as a model for other parks in the future. The goal is to provide a more quality experience for people to gaze nearly a mile down at the roily river, to hike in solitude along backcountry trails, or to feel humbled while shooting the rapids of the mighty Colorado.

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The Colorado is one of the world's great rivers. It travels from mountain, across plateau and desert, and finally to the sea at the Gulf of California, a distance of over a thousand miles. Over the millennia the river's tumbling torrent has carved the magnificant, 277 mile long and one mile deep chasm that is Grand Canyon. Calling it "absolutely unparalleled," President Teddy Roosevelt declared the canyon a national monument in 1908. Eleven years later it became a national park, giving it full wilderness status to protect it from the heavy hand of man. It didn't work. More than seven million people visit the canyon each year, making it the second most popular park in the country, and the world for that matter, after the Great Smoky Mountains. This volume of foot and auto traffic has wreaked havoc on plants, wildlife, and natural features, which is inconsistent with the mission statement of the National Park Service-"to preserve the parks in a state of wilderness." A new and experimental phase of preservation is currently on the drawing board for Grand Canyon National Park. For the first time in its long history the NPS has mandated that visitation be restricted in one of its parks. This will be done using several innovative methods, and hopefully serve as a model for other parks in the future. The goal is to provide a more quality experience for people to gaze nearly a mile down at the roily river, to hike in solitude along backcountry trails, or to feel humbled while shooting the rapids of the mighty Colorado.

© Danny Kimberlin 2015