Canyon tourism, conservation complex issues

Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2002 | 9:51 a.m.

When a federal agency proposes a plan to manage nature, it often seems as if it's a choice between wilderness and commercial tourism.

The National Park Service asked people in Las Vegas Tuesday about how many visitors should be allowed to go into the Grand Canyon and about their activities while there.

Comments in colorful markers on white pads in a conference room at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas ranged from those advocating a ban on all helicopter tours over the canyon to others willing to turn the Colorado River into a motorized caravan of rafts and boats.

Many people attending the open houses see everything in black and white, bringing one or two issues and an inflexible attitude, said Jeff Cross, Grand Canyon Science Center director. Then they have a chance to talk to tour guides, environmental scientists, cultural resource directors and resource managers at a session.

"By the time they leave," Cross said, "they tend to see how complex the issues are."

Take the Colorado River as an example, he said. It connects Indian tribes such as the Hualapai, who have lived in the canyon for up to 14,000 years, to today's boaters on Lake Mead.

"We don't call it an area of dispute," Cross said of the blended societies and cultures living along the river today. "We call it an area of cooperation."

In order to manage millions of visitors attracted annually to the icon of the Southwest, the Park Service has to strike a balance between preserving and protecting Grand Canyon's natural resources and providing visitors an experience that captures nature, culture and sensitive social issues, Cross said.

The struggle has been complicated by the sheer number of tourists.

From John Wesley Powell's 1869 trip down the river in wooden boats until 1950, fewer than 100 people rafted down the Colorado, Cross said. Between May 1, 2001, and April 30, 2002, the number of people who made the trip was 18,723.

Besides rafting, people fly in helicopters, ride mules and hike trails leading through the canyon that ancient people walked on more than 10,000 years ago.

"It's amazing," Cross said. "We tend to use the same trails, the same residential sites and the same meeting places as former civilizations."

Since the environmental movement has gone mainstream, more people arrive at the canyon with better equipment and some of them happen to come on walkers or in wheelchairs.

So many people want to visit the canyon that reservations to hike or raft on the Colorado have to be made in advance.

Purists wanted to lock out motorized craft and helicopters from the canyon in the '90s, Hualapai Nation Vice Chairwoman Carrie Imus said. Yet the Hualapai, who do not own or operate casinos, have invested in tourism and don't see transportation such as helicopters as a threat to nature, she said.

"It should be for everybody," Imus said of the Grand Canyon, "not just for the physically able."

For Las Vegas tour operator Donna Tryon, group visits prevent random destruction caused by many people who are ignorant about the desert's fragile environment, such as the faint trails, charcoal pits, grinding stones and other ancient sites preserved in the canyon.

"Tour operators are interested in keeping the environment as pristine as possible," Tryon said. Under-educated individuals spray-paint petroglyphs painted on rocks, knock down cacti and cut down trees, she said.

While an Indian would lead a hike down the 21-mile Diamond Creek trail that features special plants, animals and sites used by a tribe, Tryon said a group tour rides down to the shores of the Colorado in air conditioned comfort.

"That way, Grandma can see the Grand Canyon, too," Tryon said.

Private boaters and rafters, however, are concerned about the canyon's future as a public place. For instance, a self-guided paddler could face a waiting list 20 years long.

"At this rate, folks applying this year for a self-guided permit to raft the Grand Canyon should put it in the name of their unborn grandkids," said Don Hoffman, executive director of the Arizona Wilderness Coalition.