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Hi Pinecricker,
There was one more thing you raised that I sort of missed in that last post.
"This is not really indicative, to me, of some one who is looking out for private boater interests."
By defending the CRMP in court against the RRFW lawsuit, GCPBA (geez, is that enough initials for the day, or what?) defended many things that were in the interest of private boaters, including:
A doubling in the number of launches for private boaters
Parity in user-days with commercial passengers
Substitution of a lottery for a 20+ year waiting list
A guarantee that un-used launches and user-days won't be reallocated to the outfitters
A shorter motor season
These are among the many things in the new CRMP that an incrementalist would see as beneficial now, and also as providing the basis for further changes in the future. It's only if you take the view that all the desired change must come at once, that these kinds of things lose their clearly beneficial aspect for private boaters.
As to representing private boaters, GPCBA regularly meets with the Park officials directly involved in managing the river program, and even the Superintendent. In those face-to-face meetings -- as well as in regular correspondence and phone contacts -- we do provide direct representation for private boaters. And we report on those meetings via emails and list postings.
One more thing in closing. We recognize all too well that there is not just one kind of private boater. We all have different points of view, backgrounds, interests, abilities, and priorities. Rafters and kayakers want different things. As an old guy rafter, I want different things than my kayaking son in his 30's. We have motoring private boaters, and strident anti-motor folks (a split that is very much evident on our Board). People living in the West have a different take on things in some cases than those living in the East. Some private boaters have been commercial guides or passengers, and some have not. Some have a very basic river-running background and others have a vast range of experience. Some are strongly motivated to pursue access issues, others are more oriented toward wilderness issues.
GCPBA is well aware that there are many aspects to the private boating community, and we do our best to represent them as effectively as we can.
Have a good one.
Rich Phillips
VP, GCPBA
gcpba.org |
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