Zion National Park bans riding inner tubes beginning next year

Wednesday, July 21, 1999 | 10:14 a.m.

Park officials cited safety and resource concerns.

"It was a tough decision, but one we feel comfortable with," said Assistant Superintendent Eddie Lopez.

Springdale resident Larry West, landlord of Scenic Cycles, which rents inner tubes, said it is "virtually going to put tubing out of business.

"A lot of people are going to be upset," he said. "I saw this coming, but I can't believe the public would let the park get away with it."

Bill Jackson, St. George city park planner who has been tubing for 10 years, said the decision makes him sad.

"I feel bad for the campers, the people who look forward to that. We've even devised our own paddles to tube."

Lopez said a new visitors' center will be on the same road that inner tube riders now use to reach the river.

"With the amount of traffic we have, we just don't have a good place to allow them to do it. We'd have a use that wouldn't be compatible with our visitors' center," he said.

Noise from inner-tube riders would also interrupt presentations at an amphitheater now under construction, Lopez said.

"We felt there would be a very high possibility of a conflict there," he added.

Max Barker, owner of Scenic Cycles and president of the Hurricane Valley Chamber of Commerce, said, "We have over 10,000 people a year, or 150 per day.

"A lot come from Las Vegas, and we have repeat customers. The bulk of our income is derived from tubing. It's a very popular business. We'll wait and see what, if any, options we have," he said.

On July 8, park Superintendent Donald Falvey attended a Springdale town council meeting and went over an outline of the management plan, which included banning inner tubing, and there was no opposition, town manager Glenn Hill said.

"I know some of the property owners (in Springdale) are not happy with tubers," Hill said. "We're trying to find a way to make everybody happy."

Lopez said the park will continue to issue permits for kayaking because those are very limited.

Lin Alder of Grand Canyon Trust said that is discriminatory.

Denny Davies, park public information officer, said the Virgin's streambank is being eroded by "all of these thousands of feet gaining access to the river."

"There's a lot of soil loss," Davies said. "Trees will lose their root system."

Barker said one flash flood can change the whole river.

"That will create more damage than any tubers," he said. "I don't see that as (any more) of an issue than hiking and biking. That's a national park. This is (Springdale's) way of dealing with it. They're making the park the bad guy. Our access is the park."

"Our intention is to keep people safe," Davies said.