Ballot Comments 2000

GOOD THINGS GCRG IS DOING
Quarterly newsletter, gts (on river), spring & fall meeting.
Adaptive management of the dam. It's critical to stay involved & provide insight and direction to that process. Also the gts & Adopt-a-Beach program.
Lynn Hamilton.
Boatman's Quarterly Review.
Keep Lynn Hamilton, she's great! Offering the gts land and river trip. Even though I haven't gotten a full time/part time guide position, I've learned so much on the trip.
Bqr, gts, participating in twg & amwg
Gts land and river.
Newsletter.
Gts, bqr, trying!!!
Everything! Keep it up. bqr is fantastic.
Bqr! gts!
Sharing information about the history, ecology, and political issues surrounding the Canyon. Providing a forum for guides. Advocacy.
Thank god for Lynn Hamilton and all the good work she does!!
Keep up the great work.
An outstanding newsletter! Great work! Great educational and historical work too.
Very fine newsletter.
Oral history/interviews. Keeping fairly unbiased considering all the opinions out there.
Everything! Don't stop!
Keep up the good work.
Grand Canyon Youth. Super quarterly reviews.
Quite a few; more than can be named here.
The bqr! The interviews! The photos!
Being positive about other Grand Canyon groups & supportive of so many different viewpoints. No mud-slinging is great!
The bqr! The gts!
Bqr. Trying to get the nps to see reason.
Ensure or work towards getting gcnp to hire a long-term Superintendent.
The old-timer interviews are awesome.
Newsletter. Keeping us updated. Allowing us to vote. History.
Improving communications between boaters
Most everything. Publishing the bqr.
Gts—but needs improvement. Supporting nps managers. Adaptive management.
Providing guides a “voice.” Brings us up to “snuff.” Guides training & oral history. Bqr is better than ever!
Keep up with the great quality in the bqr! Love the interviews.
Putting energy towards a special place.
Can't thank you enough for the bqr. It provides a very professional perspective – diverse outlooks/current and future management issues, but best of all, a historical and cultural record. In short, a historical and cultural record that is to become our heritage.
Bqr is awesome! Gts—keep it going. Letting everyone speak their minds.
Newsletter, oral histories
Continuing the tradition.
Gts trip this year was awesome!
MISGUIDED THINGS GCRG IS DOING
How about some women on the board?
Any support whatever for draining Lake Powell.
Ignoring the private demand for trip equality (i.e. access). It won't go away.
Not fighting illegal and unconstitutional drug testing. Not supporting wilderness. Not supporting a post-dam ideology.
Not doing more! Tho' it'd be tough to figure out how to squeeze it in. And don't bother scouting issues… Just run 'em!!
Not coming out strongly in favor of decommissioning Glen Canyon Dam.
Being anti-motor.
How can we get guides involved?
Being polite to Tom Martin—it's wasted on him and he's out to destroy us and everything we believe in.
Perpetuating the myth that the commercial/private ratio is somehow fair.
Not supporting an increase in the private river permit allocation: guides are private boaters too.
Not addressing the huge unfairness of access of private boaters in gcnp.
Entrenched in the current Canyon status quo. Not advocating for Wilderness designation.
Supporting science trips that are bogus science. Get rid of tamarisk? Please! 8,000 cfs so we can see if the chub do better? When we don't know how many there are to begin with? What's going on?
I do want Glen Canyon Dam and cold clear water and released lake with the run-off—like a river.
Do not become involved in adding certificates that cost money for river guides to obtain. Many river guides or guides in general make less money than I did in the ‘70s with no benefits.
Writing in the bqr is worse. Design, photography & graphics improved.
Not many.
Offering membership to the general public.
Supporting any changes to the current guide licensing procedures.
Decomissioning the dam? Aw… come on!

Outfitters ain't (necessarily) the bad guys.
Flagstaffcentric.
I am an oar-head but gcrg should not be opposed to motors as it splits the organization. Need to support all boatmen.
Going along with the Park Service too easily! We need to fight them on some topics that we know are misguided.
With so many opinions, when gcrg takes a stand on an issue, there will always be someone who unfortunately is offended.
Not bringing U.S. Federal Labor Laws to bear upon companies that compel guides to work for free before being paid. To not act on this existing law that forbids any company from forcing labor to work for free means that you, our representatives, are what?
Supporting changes in Grand Canyon wilderness that adversely affects continued use of motors. Support of any regulatory changes that only provide more hoops for the guiding community to jump through.

THINGS GCRG SHOULD BE DOING?
Fundraising from our loyal membership to support Adaptive Management. Develop a vision of how we want the river ecosystem to look in the future. Have serious discussions and build consensus on “who gets to go and how often.”
Continue conserving & protecting the Canyon and surrounding plateau lands.
Expanding the Boatman's Quarterly Review.
Be proactive in pushing for illegality of drug testing, heath insurance from outfitters.
More in-depth articles—look to cprg “Confluence” rag.
Encourage grumpy old boatmen to move on and make room for young enthusiastic guides.
Supporting wilderness.
Trying to restart (or resume) the crmp process.
Gcrg should support the lawsuit brought by gcpba and others demanding the park re-start the management plan process.
Accurate polling of membership to develop the organization's political positions. Advocate for Glen Canyon Dam decommissioning.
Conserving soil of the Colorado River watershed.
Gaining benefits and better pay for river guides.
Take a stand against nps helicopter rescues of incompetents. Help solve the waiting list.
Put pictures of the annual t-shirts on the website (nag, nag, nag).
Stronger promotion for de-commissioning Glen Canyon Dam. Letting the Park Service know that we know more about the Park.
Working to eliminate drug testing. Earlier mailings of the bqr. I get mine after the “upcoming” events have already happened!
Get me a job!
Convincing the nps they don't need jet skis in the Canyon. Even in emergency or rescue situations.
More for the guides: insurance, wages, guidelines.
Integration of private boaters into training. Stand up on issues. Don't waive.
Gcrg might want to do a strategic plan facilitated by a professional.
More philosophical/nature writings and art in the bqr. We need to keep working on keeping the gcpba (private boater) folks objectively enlightened.
Move the rubber magnet in Hance.
Fewer user days or hold status quo.
Accomplishing their goals.
Support planting of Fremont cottonwoods and hog wire them from beavers.
Continuing the fight.
More guide get-togethers throughout the year/season.
WAYS TO BE INVOLVED IN GCRG?
Speak, write, email, etc…
Attend meetings, write articles, vote down narcissists, vote in visionists, do away with dogma.
A couple of big mid-summer picnics when a majority of board and officers are off river. An email network.
Get to Flag more often.
As I don't live in the Flag area, submit to the bqr.
Living out of state it's hard, but I could do emailing or phone calling. I try to attend spring and fall meetings but would like to see a wider spectrum of the guide community there.
I don't really know how to be involved when I live in Moab. You'll have to let me know how. I do have plenty of room if guides are traveling and need a place to stay while in Moab.
I wish I could tell ya, but I don't know. You have an open platform and that's appreciated.
I am a long ways away and my involvement would mean more paper usage. Keep up the good work.
Attend Spring & Fall meetings.
Recruit more passenger members.
Call me!
Just doing the best I can!
Join and pay dues and read the bqr. Attend the gts.