Should the National Park Service allow a professional bike race to pedal through Zion National Park, up the steep, twisting Zion-Mount Carmel Highway and out the east entrance of the park?/Kurt Repanshek
National Park Service officials are evaluating a request to allow a professional bike race to launch its first stage with a steep climb out of Zion National Park in southwestern Utah.
It's months off, and details haven't been finalized, but organizers of the annual Tour of Utah bicycle race hope to start the week-long race through the park's red-rock canyon.
Professional bike racing and national parks long have been controversial -- years ago Yosemite National Park officials declined a request to run a race through Yosemite Valley, and more recently the Park Service declined a request for a pro bike race to weave through Colorado National Monument -- but the appeal of peletons streaming through the grandeur of a national park keeps race organizers coming back again and again to seek permission.
In the case of the 2016 Tour of Utah, organizers hope to start at Zion Canyon Village just outside the park's Springdale entrance, head through the park and the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, out of the park, and then north on U.S. 89 to Cedar City.
"We're not quite sure how we're getting [to Cedar] yet," Jenn Andrs, the Tour's executive director, said Thursday when the 2016 tour was announced. "We've worked closely with the national parks in the past, and we do have a good relationship there, so we're hopeful."
The tour has been somewhat controversial with its national park connections in the past. In 2013, the tour's decision to pedal along Utah 12 through Bryce Canyon National Park and Utah 143 through Cedar Breaks National Monument -- drew complaints from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The group's concern was that if the Park Service stood quietly back when it came to the Tour of Utah simply because the race will follow state-branded highways, would the agency permit a similar bike race down U.S. 191, which passes through a section of Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park, one through Great Smoky Mountains National Park via U.S. 441, aka the Newfound Gap Road, or around Acadia National Park via State Route 3?
At the time, the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks (then known as the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees), sided with PEER and wished out loud that, "it would have been helpful for the National Park Service to work with the race organizers to issue a clear public message regarding the Tour of Utah and why it is being permitted on roads in the two park units."
Intermountain Regional Director Sue Masica said Thursday evening from her Denver office that the Park Service was reviewing the request, but hadn't made a decision for or against the race rolling through Zion.
"What we’ve tried to have is a structured process by which parks go through and evaluate the potential impacts and look at what’s proposed. Each race is different, each park is different, and we try to work through the regulatory and policy framework as to whether those events would be appropriate for the issuance of a special use permit for the event to proceed," she said.
Zion Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh, in an email, said, "We have been working with them to clarify the planning requirements associated with this event, specifically those involving public safety and traffic management concerns, which require resolution before the process could move forward."
In March 2011, during a public debate over whether the Quiznos Pro Challenge could run a leg through Colorado National Monument, Park Service Director Jon Jarvis said such an event was "neither necessary nor appropriate" for a unit of the National Park System.
“Closing the park to accommodate the needs of a commercial bike race goes against our management policies, would adversely impact park resources, and would deny access to the park to other visitors,” said the director at the time. “Federal law and NPS policy restrict commercial activities in national parks to those that are ‘necessary and appropriate’ to park purposes. This bike race is neither necessary nor appropriate in the park."
Comments
Mark, the time impacts on the park I cited were spawned by the NPS saying a similar type of bike race through Colorado National Monument would require a 12-hour shutdown of the road through the park. So my estimate could be way short. Again, the park has to study all the factors and determine the answers to the questions I raised.
But here's a question for you: If what you're seeking is promotion of Kanab, Panguitch, etc, why not start the race in Kanab rather than Zion (which is world famous already) and stay outside the park entirely?
Mark, quick question: Are you this Mark Skarpohl, a member of the Flanders Cycle Elite Team?
MN Time Trial Champion 1991 1998
2006 Utah 35+Time Trial Champion
2007 Utah 45+ Criterium Champion, 3rd 35+
2010 Minnesota State Road Race 2nd 35+,
2012 35+ and 50+ Criterium Champion, 50+Time Trial Champion, 35+ Road Race Champion
5 time Michigan 24hr champion
To call this a commercial activity or commercial enterprise is something of a bugaboo, as each occurs in parks from time to time. What is most offensive about this concept is that a bike tour or race requires an exclusive use of park roads and facilities. Imagine being someone on a family vacation, expecting to complete a "grand tour" on an itinerary while being unaware (until you arrive) that a special event will keep you out of the park for a half or full day. It's just not right to allow a special event to override regular public access to a national park. There are plenty of open roads that can be used for bike tours in the USA. They should not need to trigger partial shutdowns of our national parks.
Anybody that "is unaware" by not checking park conditions ahead of time is a fool. Parks or parts there of could be closed for many reasons including special events, fires, wildlife migration, Presidential visits, road construction ..... I find this one of the weakest excuses to block the race.
I would have to disagree with you, EC. There's no need, reason, or justification to shut down the park for a bike race, especially a pro race. Sure, it'd be a beautiful backdrop. But the race goes against the Park Service's own Management Policies, against the stated mindset of the director of the National Park Service, and plays no role in the national park experience.
Plus, the timing of the race, in mid-August just about a week out from the National Park Service Centennial, itself is untenable.
Kurt, you make some good arguments, especially the case against the timing. I was merely pointing out that the "unaware" argument was not a good one. However, whilte "here's no need, reason, or justification to shut down the park" the same could be said for public highways yet they are closed for races and the public seems to think it is worthwhile to do so. I don't see a temporary "inconvenience" within a Park any more objectionable to one outside a Park.
EC, I'd disagree with your "inconvenience" comment. Parks are destinations, with (in the case of the entire park system) hundreds of millions of folks heading to them with a specific reason in mind: to vacation, to explore, to enjoy. Often they make reservations many months in advance and commit thousands of dollars to that vacation (though there are those who let the spirit move them with a little less organization).
In the case of the proposed bike race, what would you tell the thousands of folks who already have reserved rooms either at Zion Lodge or in Springdale for that period of time? "We're going to interrupt the vacation you've saved up for and planned for months for a few hours for a bike race revolving around 100 pro cyclists"?
With today's highway system, if you don't want to be held up by a bike race, there very likely is an alternate route you can take to detour around. With a national park, you can't always do that.
Kurt, you are using the "unaware" argument again. If someone is "planning" they certainly could plan around the event if they thought a few hours of a bike race would be disruptive to their vacation. The are many alternative Parks or days they could "detour" to. Here in Colorado, those highway detours would be hundreds of miles.