Horse packing in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National
Parks is on hold because a San Francisco judge says the parks are
violating the federal Wilderness Act. The issue percolated for
years before exploding last month, leaving packers one chance in May to
forestall a ban that many say will cripple their industry. Wednesday,
Rep. Devin Nunes stoked the fire by blaming the Obama administration
for caving to environmentalists and not pushing for a compromise. Sequoia
& Kings Canyon Superintendent Karen Taylor-Goodrich wrote in a
March 12 letter to 16 pack stations that no permits would be issued
until the matter is resolved in federal court. More than two dozen
other businesses that operate within the park are also affected. These
include back-country trips booked through REI, Outward Bound or any
other commercial guide services. The park's action came as a shock to pack station owners just as
their phones are starting to ring from customers interested in booking
summer trips. "It's pretty distressing," said Woodlake-based Horse
Corral Pack Station owner Charley Mills, who estimated wilderness trips
comprised 90% of his business."We're on pins and needles about this summer." Whether
horse packers will be allowed to continue services into the parks'
wilderness areas will be determined in a federal courtroom. U.S.
District Court Judge Richard Seeborg, presiding over a 3-year-old
lawsuit between the High Sierra Hikers Association and the National Park
Service, has set a May 23 hearing to determine the next step. On
Jan. 24, Seeborg ruled the National Park Service violated the Wilderness
Act because its 2007 general management plan for Sequoia & Kings
Canyon does not specifically determine to what extent commercial stock
are necessary in wilderness areas. More than 97% of Sequoia &
Kings Canyon's jointly managed 865,964 acres are designated wilderness
and thus protected from development and overuse by the Wilderness Act of
1964. Last spring, the parks began preparing a Wilderness
Stewardship Plan that will establish the extent that commercial services
such as pack stock belong in wilderness. That plan probably won't be
set until 2015. Pack station owners are hoping for quick
resolution at the May 23 hearing, but it's unclear whether the judge
will require further deliberations...
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Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/04/04/2788652/national-parks-horse-packing-on.html#storylink=cpy
1 comment:
I guess it is O.K. for the backpackers to be there. People who are the same as cattle in that they poop where they sleep.
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