Last Monday, the National Park Service closed the Public Comment Period for the Yosemite National Park Visitor Access Management Plan. The preceding week, visitors bureaus and chambers of commerce from the major Yosemite gateway communities, including Visit Tuolumne County, issued media releases highlighting the flawed process and demanding a slowdown to examine relevant data from the full 2024 season before declaring a permanent solution to limiting public access to the park during the peak season. On September 24, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors issued Resolution 81-24 declaring no support for the NPS plan.
Following is the statement submitted to the National Park Service by this Chamber of Commerce on Monday, September 30, 2024.
The Yosemite Highway 120 Chamber of Commerce board of directors does not support the National Park Service’s Visitor Access Management Plan as presented in August 2024 with a feedback deadline that left two-and-a-half months remaining in the current pilot program. We believe the National Park Service is moving too fast to implement a permanent visitation system based on convenience for the park service; one which harms great numbers of visitors and the livelihoods of our gateway businesses.
We implore the National Park Service to implement Alternative A, taking us back to the basics while measuring the impact of 2024’s road and parking improvements and seeking a thoughtful, innovative, and low-impact and holistic approach that takes both the environmental and the economic ecosystems into account.
Further, we urge the National Park Service to take advantage of the many requests and offers from visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, and other gateway organizations to collaborate on a balanced approach. The Yosemite Highway 120 Chamber of Commerce stands ready to be part of the long-term solution.
コメント