Cynthia Lummis, a Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, has introduced a bill that would allow recreational, human-powered vessels to travel down otherwise off-limits waterways in Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, .
The proposed Yellowstone and Grand Teton Paddling Act, dated February 13, would give the U.S. Park Service three years to study the potential streams that could be opened to paddle sports while explicitly preventing commercial paddling operations beyond what is currently permitted. The bill is a revised version of the River Paddling Protection Act, which Lummis , and which failed to move in the Senate over the summer, .
Both bills have been greeted with skepticism from conservationist organizations, which worry that opening up the waterways to greater recreation may open up the parks to greater abuse. They also say a three-year window isn鈥檛 enough time to study the effects of greater paddling permissions on the local ecosystem.
鈥淭he area of untouched rivers and streams that park managers would be forced to study is approximately three and a half times the length of the entire Mississippi River,鈥 Sharon Mader, Grand Teton program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), . 鈥淪uch heavy-handed efforts may prove costly and counterproductive to the protection of park resources and enjoyment for all visitors.鈥
As 国产吃瓜黑料 wrote last June, efforts to grant mountain bikers, kayakers, and other outdoor athletes greater access to the National Park system have often drawn the ire of conservation groups like the NPCA, many of which perceive recreationists as agents of the park鈥檚 destruction.
The conflict has pitted nature conservationists and adventure sports athletes鈥攖raditional allies in the fight against development鈥攁gainst one another, but Lummis believes her bill would lead both groups to a compromise.
鈥淚 took great care to preserve the discretion of park managers to actually manage paddling as they do any other recreational activity in the parks, and to ensure park managers have the time and resources necessary to go through the proper studies and analysis,鈥 she . 鈥淭he end result will be yet another way for the public to have truly unforgettable experiences enjoying the Wyoming treasures that are Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.鈥