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In the latter '90s, the National Park Service (NPS) in
Yosemite embarked on a series of development projects
without appropriate National Environmental Policy Act and
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act procedures. It was necessary to
resort to a
lawsuit to get the NPS to develop the twelve year delayed
Merced River Plan, which the courts deem still invalid.
Litigation is on-going.
In
2006, the U. S. District Court in Fresno found that the
National Park Service’s Comprehensive Management Plan for
the Merced River (CMP) is invalid. The court also ordered
an injunction on major projects until the plan is redone and
is found to comply with the stipulations in the National
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The National Park Service (NPS)
wishes to proceed with construction projects in and around
the Yosemite Valley and has appealed the injunction to the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
The
NPS established a 33-month time frame to develop a new CMP.
This would produce a plan by September 2009, 19 years later
than the law required the NPS to finish the plan.
We
had hoped to avoid further litigation and expense, but are
determined to assure that the CMP is protective of the
Merced River and that the resource is preserved for future
generations.
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