ne way to allow the Grand Canyon Experience to remain unimpaired for future generations is for many of us so close to the place for so long, to step away enough for all to see the view. The canyon speaks many different languages, to people all over the world, at all times. The notion that there is an ideal experience narrows the focus of what the canyon can mean, or more importantly do, for all of us. More demand is a given. More access is not. Hundreds of thousands of individual lives have been touched in a positive way by accessing the river corridor. All this good-will was built by the place. It’s about the place. Not the boat I was in, the weeks, days, or hours I spent, or the talk I was given. It’s about the place. Connecting comes in many forms. Monitoring will be necessary, the private sector will grow, demand for commercial trips will continue to escalate. Given all this, we first must take care of the resource, it will take care of the experience.

   We should look at what is broken here and focus on a solution for that particular element. If the privates are backed up then the process used in accommodating them should be addressed first, not last. Extending the private season, spreading the commercial season, scientific monitoring done in winter months, educating the private wait-list about a system that allows many to see a private trip every year; these are a few inequities and ideas to consider. Personally, I don’t want the ceiling raised to expand use. I think science has to become more low key while maintaining high standards. The private sector has to come to terms with limits just as the commercial sector. All of us have to give more back to the place. Without question we all cause impact. Educating ourselves to this fact and assisting in the mitigation of that impact is tantamount to preservation. That’s everyone’s responsibility, not just that of the park service.