| February
21, 2007
Tuolumne Planning Workshops
Next Planner-for-a Day Workshop:
Saturday, February 24 from 9 am to 4 pm in
the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center Auditorium. RSVP is requested.
View
the draft agenda [31 kb PDF].
For more information, contact Kristina Rylands, Tuolumne Project Manager
at kristina_rylands@nps.gov.
The purpose of the Tuolumne public planning workshops is to provide interested
participants with an opportunity to engage in various planning milestones--largely
choreographed to coincide with the NPS Planning Team's process. The idea
is that the public is invited to grapple with the same aspects of plan
development that the NPS Planning Team must face. Ideas that emerge from
public workshops will be taken to the NPS team for consideration as the
planning process moves forward, step by step.
February
10 Workshop UPDATE
On Saturday, February 10 a group of 8 hale and hardy participants braved
a stormy day in Yosemite to participate in the first-ever public Tuolumne
Planning Workshop in support of the Tuolumne River Plan and Tuolumne Meadows
Plan process!
In the morning, participants were immersed in the multitude of public
voices that emerged from last summer's public scoping process. With 23
posters lining the room filled with over 400 concern statements, workshoppers
took part in an exercise to identify the range of issues expressed and
got a feel for the complexity of ideas and opinions that must be considered
in planning.
Linda Dahl, Yosemite's Chief of Planning, also presented the group with
an overview of why we do planning in the NPS. In short, she posed the
question, "Were the 'good ole days' really all that good for Yosemite
resources?" She shared photos of people feeding bears for entertainment
and wall-to-wall car-camping in Valley meadows to underscore how management
practices have shifted, largely to protect park resources and provide
a better experience. Good planning takes into account what is in the best
interest of Yosemite, while considering the purpose and significance of
why this special place was set aside for future generations.
In the afternoon, participants also took part in an exercise to define
what are known as "desired conditions" for the Tuolumne River
corridor. This information will be shared with the NPS Planning Team at
their next core team workshop on February 21.
The February 10 event was videotaped and the NPS team hopes to post it
to the web soon.
For more information on this and other Yosemite projects, visit online
at www.nps.gov/yose/planning.

Participant at Feb. 10 public
workshop presents possible planning sideboards as part of group exercise.
Photo by Jen Nersesian
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