Bill Mooz
private boater

   River Experience and Equity

   Everyone making a Canyon river trip deserves an experience meeting his or her expectations, and everyone who wants to make this trip should have an equal opportunity to do so.

   Take RIVER EXPERIENCE. There are river runners who go with a commercial outfitter, and non-commercials who “do it themselves”. Non-commercials have the river experience they want, since they completely control their trip. Those going with a commercial outfitter are probably less familiar with the canyon and river. For this reason, I favor the creation of a descriptive brochure explaining what can be expected on the various types of commercial trips. This brochure should be objective, and descriptive in generic terms. With it, a person wishing to make a commercial river trip should be able to understand the differences between a 5 day trip and a 7 day trip, between a trip taking out at Phantom Ranch, and one taking out elsewhere, and understand the differences between oar and motor trips. It should be written by a group such as the Constituent Panel. NPS should send it to any person applying to take a commercial trip.

   I believe that EQUITY in running the river means that everyone who wants to make a trip should have an equal opportunity to do so. If there is a waiting list, it should be no longer or shorter for a commercial passenger than for a non-commercial passenger. Present data do not allow an idea of whether there are any differences in these waiting times. NPS keeps data on non-commercial applicants, but not for commercial applicants. I favor the creation of a system administered by the NPS which puts all applicants on an equal basis. Each person, regardless of how they go, should have an NPS permit similar to the present non-commercial permit. When the permit is sent, a copy of the above brochure should be included. This system would allow the NPS to measure the demand for each type of trip, and adjust the distribution of user days between commercial and non commercial trips annually so that the queue was equal for everyone.