Wednesday, Mar 5, 2008
The National Park Service hosted a user capacity symposium in the park over the three day period from February 6th through February 8th. User capacity refers to the types, locations, and extent of visitor and other public use in parks and other protected areas. It also addresses the positive and negative impacts associated with such usage.
The purpose of the symposium was to further the understanding of and explore approaches to addressing user capacity in national parks and other public lands, including Yosemite National Park, by engaging public land managers, researchers, elected officials, tribes, and the general public in an open dialogue.
More than 130 people from around the country participated in the event, representing these various interest groups. Of special note were the more than 50 local stakeholders and members of the general public – a testament to the interest this topic generates. As Linda Dahl, the park’s chief of planning, noted in her opening address, “We expected 50 people to come – we are genuinely surprised at this level of interest!”
The symposium was facilitated by a neutral party, Mary Orton from The Mary Orton Company, LLC, an environmental and public policy mediation and facilitation firm. During the course of the symposium, experts presented diverse viewpoints about user capacity as well as real-world, on-the-ground case studies about how user capacity has been addressed across a variety of public lands. Question and answer sessions allowed stakeholders to air their concerns and ask difficult questions in a public venue. Additionally, roundtable discussions allowed for members of the public and other stakeholders to sit around the same table with experts and land managers to engage in more focused discussions. The final day involved field trips in Yosemite Valley led by park staff to further discuss user capacity issues as they affect the Yosemite National Park.
Feedback has been very positive. In fact, several participating experts called the symposium a “watershed event” in the study of user capacity. Park staff are hopeful that this symposium will prove to be a key step in an on-going, open dialogue about user capacity and related issues affecting Yosemite and other public lands. A summary report and other materials from the symposium will be available on the Yosemite website at www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/symposium.htm .
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