|
|
|
|
|
| |
|||
by Brian Melley,
Associated Press Writer
San Francisco Chronicle, March 27, 2002
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled in favor of Yosemite National
Park's disputed plan to protect the scenic Merced River.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii filed an 80-page decision March 22 that rejected most of the claims brought by two environmental groups that said the park was not doing enough to protect the pristine river that tumbles, swirls and roars through Yosemite.
The river is one of 160 nationwide that is protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which places river protection and restoration above all other considerations.
Friends of Yosemite and Mariposans for Environmentally Responsible Growth argued the park relied on improper data that resulted in a development plan not a wilderness protection plan. The park said it was trying to balance recreation with preservation when it released the Merced River Plan in 2000.
Lawyers on opposing sides said Ishii sided with the park on all counts except one. His ruling will require the park to amend or revise its 1980 management plan to adequately reflect the overriding status of protection for the river under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Robert Wright, who represented Yosemite, said the park won 99 percent of the case.
"I was terribly concerned that if the plaintiffs had won, agencies could put off these plans for years, if not decades, claiming they had to do more studies," Wright said. "You can always study something to death."
Julia Olson, an Oakland lawyer who represented the plaintiffs, said she would need to discuss the case with her clients before deciding whether to appeal.
If the environmental groups prevailed, the park's efforts to carry out its plan to redevelop and protect Yosemite Valley could have been jeopardized.
The park just got direction from the Interior Department to start the first phase of the $441 million valley plan. The first $105 million will be spent replacing employee housing, lodging and campsites destroyed when the Merced flooded in 1997.
The river plan
was completed in the wake of the flood and sets a corridor around the Merced
to guide future development.
|
|
|
|