There's a story in western Colorado involving Colorado National Monument that bears watching. The gist of the story is that some local community organizations are in support of redesignating the monument as a national park, but only if they can veto Park Service decisions on what uses the monument is appropriate for.
Onlookers believe that this ties in to past efforts to have a professional bike race -- the 2013 USA Pro Challenge -- course through the national monument along the 23-mile-long Rim Rock Drive. In the past, officials all the way up to the director of the National Park Service have said that would be an inappropriate use of the national monument.
Now, earlier this spring the West Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association passed a resolution in support of renaming the monument a national park. That resolution was similar to one adopted earlier by the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as one passed by the Grand Junction Economic Partnership. The kicker is that the groups want the legislation to give community stakeholders veto power over any Park Service decisions on uses the agency finds are inappropriate for the monument...such as a professional bike race.
Whether legislation will be introduced into Congress this summer by either U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton or U.S. Sen. Mark Udall to redesignate the monument as a national park remains to be seen.
Park advocacy groups, though, are keeping an eye on this issue and are stressing that the Park Service's hands should not be tied when it comes to what is appropriate for Colorado National Monument.
At the National Parks Conservation Association, officials have said it is good for the Park Service to meet with local stakeholders to discuss the future of Colorado National Monument. But David Nimkin, senior director for NPCA's Southwest regional office, has made it clear that NPCA strongly opposes a professional bike race through the monument.
Simply put, he says, the commercialization of the national monument is out of bounds.
Also watching the issue is the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, which also opposes a professional bike race in the monument. While that group believes it is doubtful that Sen. Udall would offer legislation that would provide local stakeholders veto power over the Park Service, the Coalition nevertheless has notified him of its position on the matter. If the senator or any other congressional representative offers legislation to rename the monument as a national park for the significant natural resources and history of Colorado National Monument, the coalition will offer its official position on the matter at that time.
Comments
Zebulon – as to "at which point will we get a real argument against that race?" I'd suggest one you've already discounted has been made.
You casually brush off the possibility that trips to Bryce Canyon and other destinations along the race route are likely to be seriously disrupted by saying "people who spend months planning their once in a lifetime trip apparently can't plan their trip outside of a 6 hour window...".
I believe you're wrong for two reasons:
1. People can't plan for interruptions if they aren't aware of them. I decided to simulate planning a trip to Bryce Canyon in early August (the time of the race), and used the same approach many others do these days. I Googled "Bryce Canyon National Park" and looked for information on lodging, campgrounds and things to do.
The following sites were the top Google "hits" for my search:
1. The park website.
2. Utah.com
3. Garfield County Office of Tourism ("Bryce Canyon Country.com")
4. "Visit Southern Utah – Heart of the Parks"
5. Trip Advisor.com
How many mentions of the upcoming race did I find during my "trip planning"? Not one. People can't plan around disruptions they don't know about.
2. It may not be your preferred way to travel (or mine), but the reality is quite a few visitors will have only one, or at the most two, days allotted to see parks like Bryce. Some will have only a few hours. No, I haven't taken time to dredge up independent data, but I'll base that opinion on 30 years of contacts with multiple thousands of park visitors at parks like Grand Canyon and Glacier, and I'll stand by it until proven wrong.
Itineraries to Bryce Canyon typically include nearby parks like Zion and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Prudent travelers to such destinations in early August make lodging and/or campground reservations months in advance, and by now, there's little or no flexibility to make changes in itineraries. For those visitors, I'd say a travel disruption of several hours or longer could definitely spoil a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
How long might traffic be tied up? So far I've been unable to find any reliable information about planning for traffic control. Given the nature of the road described in earlier comments and the lack of alternative routes for travelers during the race, my bet is on multiple hours of delays.
Is that adequate reason not to allow events such as this bike race? Local officials clearly think the answer is "no." Will those of us on this site disagree? Certainly.
An absolutely excellent post, Jim. But face it, you're battling an entitlement mentality. No way you can persuade a different point of view in someone whose total focus is ME.
Jim, I certainly agree with your point. The race should definitely be announced months in advance, so that would rule it out for 2013, but it could be planned properly for 2014.
When we visited Bryce (years and years ago), we indeed were there only for a few hours. Then again, there was no internet back then to do searches.
But people can do Google searches from now til next Sunday and the chance of noticing an announcement about a bike race are pretty darned slim. What would be needed would be a huge red-lettered WARNING - BICYCLE RACE notice. That might catch attention of some people, but I'd still bet very few would find it.
What seems to be happening around here at least, is that bike race organizers are able to convince local governments and others to allow the race, but when the governments learn first hand how disruptive the races are and how little benefit it produces, they pull the welcome mat back inside. Maybe the bike race organizers need to learn to work more carefully on minimizing those disruptions lest they find themselves locked out of almost anyplace.
I am a hard working family person who pays my taxes. I get 2 weeks vacation/year plus holidays. I have to schedule my vac at beginning of year and work around others' schedules, not to mention job activities that preclude my being gone at certain times. I have very little flexibility and am not wealthy enough to do what I want, when I want. I live in st. Louis, and my family has picked 2013 to go to Bryce, Zion, and grand Canyon. Would love to get Arches and more in there but time is limited. I only have 9 days because my other vac days are used for personal things. I have reservations at the lodge on the North Rim which were difficult to get (1 year in advance) and so I plan everything around that. I have 1.5 days at Bryce, 2 at Zion, and 2 at GC. This gives me decent time to explore the parks, plus make the haul from STL out west. This is absolutely once in a lifetime for my family. Maybe years later my wife and I will be able to return, but no way my entire family at this time in our lives. I only get to take big trips like this every other year because the cost is too much and time is incredibly difficult to set aside. I take my family camping in the Ozarks the other years. My work is so stressful I often feel I can't handle it. I am so frkn excited about this trip I can't describe it. So ready to relax and spend some time with my family doing something positive and learning more about our Parks, natural areas, wilderness, history.....America. I have reservations at the Best Western at the threshold of Bryce. I plan on getting to Bryce in the mid-morning, explore, and check in later. At roughly 9am I am pulling onto hwy12. Red Rocks gets everyone so excited...and we are not even to Bryce yet. And bad news....we aren't going to be in Bryce for a loooooong time because we are stymied by a bike race. We try to make the best of the situation, but let's face it I am really, really ticked off. I start to reach for my gun which I was looking forward to carrying around Bryce so I could pretend I was a cowboy. Maybe if I wave it around people will clear out....maybe fire a few shots in the air. But common sense, thank goodness, made me leave my guns at home where they wait for hunting season (weekends only since no vacation left).
As I sit and wait, I almost feel like I'm going to break down. So much put into this trip...and yet somehow I screwed it up. A passerby blows an air horn in my face and yells something about their favorite team. A small crowd starts singing some soccer-ish team song; as if I were in Europe. Throngs of people are partying, having a great time, and hooting and hollering. I guess since I am only in the National Forest at this point I should accept that. It's not like I should be expecting some pseudo-nature experience until I am in the Park. And maybe I am even wrong about that. After all what is "nature" and "wilderness" except some stupid, liberal hippy's take on a mythical idea that has no real meaning in our world. If anything, a bike race up to Rainbow Point that entertains so many would be even more real and beneficial to more people.
A helicopter hovers overhead. I roll up the windows and turn on the ac so we can sit there and be more mad about the situation and still be able to hear. A microbrew beer bottle careens off my bumper and shatters. Boy I could use one of those right now.
Life sucks. Deal with it you whiner.
Excellent post, Scott. You probably expressed the sentiments that will be shared by hundreds of frustrated travelers trying to make the run between Capitol Reef and Bryce during the race. And unfortunately, your last line also captures perfectly the entitlement mentality that seems to infest too many Americans when their pocketbook or favorite project encounters some opposition from others.
Just one suggestion -- if you really want to shoot at something, shoot at a yellow traffic sign. In Utah, those are acceptable targets to practice your Second Amendment rights.
I love the national parks - and I love bike racing. So this is a perfect combination for me. Unfortunately my trip to the US this year starts only at the end of August...
However, i think people here exaggerate the effect the race will have. Six hour closures? Not even at the Tour de France they close roads for that long. Maybe two, three hours, not more. And in the meantime people headed for Bryce can try out Cedar Breaks instead, Capitol Reef-bound travellers may explore Canyonlands etc. - those unexpected side trips usually are the best.
Gila,
Posters tend to exxagerate the potential impacts to make their points. Odds are that impacts would be minimum. It's primarily a sensitivity issue more than anything else. National Park lovers on the NPT board tend to abhor any use of the park that is not a contemplative hike a la John Muir. Anything short of the foregoing is not pure enough. It's a bit weird, but one gets used to it over time.