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Mules In Grand Canyon National Park: Should They Stay?

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Grand Canyon National Park officials are asking for public input on the continued use of mules in the park. NPS photo.

Mules in Grand Canyon National Park. They can be a bane, and they can be a beast of burden that makes your trek down into the chasm somewhat easier. Now park officials want to know if mules should continue to be utilized in the Grand Canyon.

Folks who have more than a few hikes down into the canyon can speak harshly of mules, largely for the mess they make with their urine on the trails but also for the spacing of steps in the trails to accommodate the beasts. But mules no doubt have made the canyon accessible for folks who otherwise wouldn't have ventured down the trail.

So what do you think? Grand Canyon officials are now accepting comments on mule operations and stock use in the park as they begin to develop an environmental assessment. The presence and use of mules in and around the canyon is a long-standing tradition and one that the park would like to continue.

But park officials also are interested in continuing to provide opportunities for stock use in a manner that is sustainable. This planning effort will address the following management objective identified in the park’s 1995 General Management Plan: “Where livestock and visitors share the same trails and areas, minimize conflicts and resource impacts, and enhance safety.”

The planning process will consider the following:

* Commercial and private stock use (including horses, mules, and burros) throughout the park.

* Appropriate levels of stock use on park trails.

* Appropriate locations for stock use in the park, which may include: keeping commercial stock use on the North Kaibab Trail down to Supai Tunnel; moving stock use to one of the South Rim corridor trails (Bright Angel or South Kaibab); keeping stock use on the Uncle Jim Trail, Whitmore Trail, and select corridor trails; initiation of a concession-operated day ride on the South Rim; the need for new stock facilities or modification to existing facilities on the North and South Rim, including compliance with laws and regulations for mule health and safety.

The Park Service encourages public participation through the National Environmental Policy Act (commonly known as NEPA) process during which the public has two opportunities to formally comment on the project – once during initial project scoping and again following release of the EA which is expected this fall. The NPS is currently in the scoping phase of this project and invites the public to submit their comments in a variety of ways during the next 30 days.

Three open house meetings are scheduled in June where Grand Canyon National Park staff will be available to answer questions and take comments on stock use in the park. Meeting dates and locations are as follows:

June 2, 4-7 PM (Arizona Time) – Flagstaff Public Library, 300 W Aspen Avenue, Flagstaff, Arizona

June 3, 4-6 PM (Arizona Time) – Community Building, Room B, South Rim Village, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

June 4, 4-7 PM (Utah Time) – Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Kanab Visitor’s Center, 745 East Highway 89, Kanab, Utah

You may also submit written comments on this web site or by mailing them to: Steve Martin, Superintendent, Grand Canyon National Park, Attn: Mule Operations and Stock Use EA, P.O. Box 129 (1 Village Loop for express, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023 by June 22, 2009.

The park expects to prepare an EA this summer, with a decision document for this project anticipated in December, 2009. Additional information about this project can be found at this web site or by contacting Rachel Stanton, Project Planning Lead, at (928) 774-9612.

Comments

I have hiked the Canyon numerous times over the years. I do consider the mules and their mess to be a great inconvience. However, they are not going to go away. Over the years I have decided that the corridor trails (aka: the freeway) are occassionally useful to connect to other trails. I have no problem with maintaining the status quo re: the corridor, as long as it prevents the concessionaires from using other trails for mules. I strongly oppose expanding use of stock on any trails other than the corridor. There are alternatives for serious canyon hikers that are mule free as well as very little contact with the hordes of people who utilize the corridor. Leave the corridor and the South Rim for the tourists. That makes the areas that require more effort (e.g. the North Rim, Tanner, Nankoweep, Red Canyon, Tonto, Point Sublime and etc.) freed up for those of us who are more willing and capable of making the extra effort.


My wife and I have been to the Grand several times and we have ridden the mules to Phantom Ranch and we have hiked rim-to-rim. For us, both experiences were uniquely memorable and profound beyond the justice that any written word can bring. The mule trip to Phantom Ranch was later gifted to my mother and sister as a Christmas gift because I discovered the experience to be so very profound. Upon the completion of their trip, they couldn't have agreed more. For many, the mules offer the only way to reach the inner depths of the canyon, and anyone who has been there learns immediately that one cannot truly appreciate the overpowering beauty and majesty of The Grand from behind the railings on the rims. On our rim-to-rim hike, we, of course, encountered several mule trains, and this was expected. Encountering the mules on the trails was just another part of what experiencing The Grand is all about. Never did we feel the mule’s presence as undesirable. On the contrary, the presence of the mule trains only enhanced our overall experience. As time goes by, the mules remain one of the few aspects of a Grand Canyon experience that reflect the history and heritage of the visit in a truly hands-on way. One hundred years from now, portions of a mule ride to the bottom of the canyon will feel just as they felt in the early 1900's. The day will likely come when a mule ride into the depths of the Grand is the only remaining experience that represents the historical heritage of the Grand. The hands-on, sometimes-dirty, dusty, hot, sweaty, uniquely beautiful and spiritual experience, that is accessible to the many, that is remembered for a lifetime, should certainly be preserved.


Yes, mule use should continue. It's a unique historical aspect of Grand Canyon NP. And, sustainable use is sensible. The problem lies in a definition of sustainable. Rafting through the canyon seems to be an appropriate analogy for sustainable use. Some kind of lottery system may be needed.

rob
--
Executive Director,
Crater Lake Institute
www.craterlakeinstitute.com
Robert Mutch Photography


I agree that mules provide accessibility to those who wouldn't otherwise have it; and I also understand that Phantom Ranch could not exist in its present form without mules (even removing the tourists - the ranch has to be supplied with food, tools, etc.); and the Park Service could not do their work without mules (trail construction supply, inner-canyon ranger station supply, etc.).

However, we have to remember that as mentioned in the article; we taxpayers are incurring the cost of damage and repairs to the trail, caused in large part by mule traffic. What we need to decide is how much use are we willing to pay for a commercial operator to make money at Grand Canyon? Are we taxpayers willing to spend a multi-million dollar per year maintenance cost so that Xanterra can make money? Are we happy to spend our tax dollars on trail maintenance so that someone else (the relatively few who get reservations for a mule ride) can have that experience?

Removing the mules would dramatically reduce the maintenance cost on trails maintenance. Without mules, these trails could last decades and have a relatively low cost of maintenance. With mules, Americans are paying millions per year for relatively few to enjoy the experience and so that one single company can make a profit.

Things to think about. Mules = great cost to the taxpayer, less mules = less cost to the taxpayer.

I believe we need a balance. Trips as are should be limited because of the huge price tag and the continual need of repairs, and the general overall condition of the trails do largely to mule traffic. But I don't think they should be eliminated completely. How about continuing the overnight trip but discontinuing the plateau point trip? How about an alternate rim trail being constructed? I don't want to remove mules from Grand Canyon, but I also don't think the price we are paying for it right now is fair.


My 10yearold son and I have ridden our own mules to phantom ranch three times in January and February.
This time of year the trails at the top are frozen with thick ice. There are not many hikers on the trail.
But at phantom ranch the temperature is pleasant. Also reservations are easier to get. Maybe they should do the majority of the rides in the winter months. It would break my heart if the mules where removed from the canyon because my son would not be able to take his son or daughter.


As a former grand canyon mule packer and trail guide, with 20 years of experience every day in the Canyon on a mule, I would like to offer perspective. First, it should be pointed out that there are over three hundred miles of trails inside grand canyon, and every single mile of trail was built originally for stock use. Over the past 100 years, stock has been resriticted to less than thirty miles of trails to use, while the rest remains open to hikers. If a hiker wants a mule free hike, they should have no trouble making that happen.
The mule operation makes between 300,000 and 500,000 a year, and from this revenue about 100,000 a year is guven to NPS for trail maintenance. They pay their share. For the past 15 years, NPS trail maintenance crews have squandered the money they have received for trail work. They have built bike paths to nowhere on the rim, they have gone on river trips that last weeks (on the clock) but they rarely are at work on trails in the canyon. In fact, if anyone has seen work being done on the Bright Angel or Kaibab trail in the last ten years, chances are these were mule hands, trying hard just to keep the trails passable and stay in operation.
A trail is a linear absence of vegetation, and in the desert this amounts to a wash. These washes (trails) are on grades up to 20 %. The trail damage has been caused by the effects of erosion. NPS used to fix this damage right away, but not anymore. They have dropped the ball, and now they seek to pass the buck and blame mules.
I have never understood why some hikers resented sharing the trails. The mule folks have always been happy to share the trails they built and maintained with hikers. Seems like one sided decency to me....


What would the mules like to do?


ditto, Bonnie.


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