Appeals court blocks Yosemite National Park renovation plan

A federal appeals court on Tuesday blocked plans to protect Yosemite National Park's scenic Merced River, immediately halting seven major projects already under way.

The decision should stop the entire first phase of a $441 million plan to restore Yosemite Valley by replacing employee housing, lodging and campsites destroyed when the Merced River crested its banks in 1997, said Greg Adair, founder and co-director of Friends of Yosemite Valley.

"The entire valley plan rests upon an invalid river plan. We don't think we should have to hear a nail, a hammer, a chain saw in the entire valley until there's a valid plan in place," said Adair, whose organization sued and won the order along with Mariposans for Environmentally Responsible Growth.

It would take at least a year to redraft the plan and hold proper public hearings, Adair estimated. But park spokesman Scott Gediman said the service hopes to resolve the issues quickly once the case is back before a federal judge in Fresno.

"We are disappointed in this order, and feel these projects are all projects that are protecting the resources of Yosemite National Park and providing for a better visitor experience," Gediman said. "We feel these projects represent the will of the American people and we are disappointed that we have to stop work at this time."

The plan sets guidelines for recreation, restoration and development along an 81-mile stretch of the pristine river, one of 160 nationwide protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Adair and the lawsuit asserted that what the park service presented as a protection plan "is actually a development plan."

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"There's a tremendous amount of logging going in the valley now," Adair said. "That has to stop. Those people have to go home. There has to be a legal and comprehensive management plan for the Merced River before that can proceed."

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A federal district judge approved the plan in March 2002, but in October the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled the plan invalid because it drew an improper river boundary and did not properly take into account visitor capacities.

The appeals court ruled Tuesday that a district judge erred in not stopping the project while the service revises or prepares a new plan.

On the Net:
Yosemite National Park: http://www.nps.gov/yose/
Friends of Yosemite: http://www.yosemitevalley.org/