Position Paper:
Management of Technical Backcountry Canyons
December 12, 2002

The backcountry in Zion National Park is extraordinary. The geology and climate combine to create a unique environment - a grand sweep of steep cliffs and deep, narrow canyons that require the use of ropes and special techniques for canyoneers to descend. The unique nature of the Zion Backcountry calls for special understanding and management to preserve its unique qualities, while allowing for recreational access.

The Zion Canyoneering Coalition is an organization of visitors to this unique environment that believe recreational access and preservation of wilderness qualities are compatible. The ZCC lobbies for management solutions that make sense for the unique geologic and social situations found in the technical Zion Backcountry.

One unique aspect of the Zion Backcountry is its technical nature. The Zion Backcountry breaks easily into two zones - "hiking areas" that are accessible via trails and foot travel without technical equipment; and "technical areas" that are accessible only by using ropes and other gear, and special canyoneering techniques. In no other National Park is there such a small proportion of hiking areas and a large proportion of technical areas. This creates a unique social condition - visitors utilizing the technical areas tend to be a separate and distinct body of users from the visitors utilizing the hiking areas. The visitors to the technical canyons are known as canyoneers.

Canyoneering is a primitive and unconfined form of recreation. Canyoneers enjoy the spirit of exploration found in the canyons, where turning any corner can be a new experience. While technical canyons are found elsewhere on the Colorado Plateau, nowhere else is there the combination of water, lush canyons and large vertical drops in an amazing concentration of technical challenge and extraordinary beauty. This is what draws canyoneers from around the world to visit America's premier canyoneering resource.

A new General Management Plan for Zion National Park was developed from 1996 to 2001. The GMP speaks in general terms about the management of the backcountry, with the details to be worked out after a Visitor Experience and Resource Protection survey in the development of a Wilderness Management Plan. The Zion Canyoneering Coalition was formed to represent canyoneer's interests in the development of the Wilderness Management Plan. We believe:

1. That the fragile canyon environments must be conserved, and their wild and natural qualities preserved.

2. That management of the backcountry via permits and use limits is appropriate and necessary for the Park Management to control impacts in the canyons.

3. That interim Use Limits should be developed in a public process with the input of the canyoneering community. Interim Use Limits should be set with regard for historical popularity.

4. While solitude is a desirable quality in the canyons, it is not a primary value for most canyoneers, and the technical backcountry areas should not be managed primarily for solitude to the exclusion of other values, such as an untrammeled and unconfined visitor experience. Managing for solitude may be appropriate for some areas of the Park, but should not be the primary management focus for the vast majority of the backcountry.

5. Inclusion of the very popular routes Mystery Canyon and Behunin Canyon in the Pristine Backcountry Zone was inappropriate to the definition of that zone, and should be rectified by designating them corridors of special use within the Pristine Zone.

6. While control of crowding is a desirable management objective, some crowding should be expected to occur on popular routes on weekends in the summer. Elimination of crowding is not possible without an undesirable limiting of visitor access.

7. The Visitor Experience and Resource Protection study mandated by the General Management Plan:
· Must be conducted under conditions of some crowding to be scientifically valid; and
· Must account for differences between technical and non-technical backcountry visitors.

8. The permit and quota system developed to enforce Use Limits should be visitor friendly, and should hold 50% of permits available on a walk-up basis. The permit system should not become an undue burden on the backcountry canyoneering visitor or for the Park to manage.

9. The scientific literature makes it clear that "zero social encounters" is not required for visitors to experience solitude in the backcountry. If the Park chooses to impose solitude on the canyoneering visitor, this should be informed by the latest research and visitor experience information, along with measurements of actual social encounters under different permit group, total number and group size plans. Only in this way can the Park balance the two objectives of providing solitude while avoiding exclusion of visitors.

1. Conduct development of Interim Use Limits and the Permit System in the full light of public view, especially in the full public view of those visitors most affected.

2. Until the VERP study is conducted, impose Interim Use Limits only to preserve the canyon environment and prevent gross overcrowding, not to artificially impose solitude as a primary value on canyons.

3. Allocate sufficient funds and resources to put in place a workable, easily managed permit system that will not impose an undue burden on visitors wishing to recreate in Zion's technical backcountry.

4. Reconsider reducing the maximum group size in the Pristine Zone canyons to six or eight. Research indicates that large groups have a disproportionately large impact on the experience of solitude by other visitors.