National Park Service Yosemite National Park U.S. Department of the Interior Draft 2010 Outstandingly Remarkable Values Report for the Merced Wild and Scenic River Draft 2010 Outstandingly Remarkable Values Report for the Merced Wild and Scenic River Report to the public, June 2010 Yosemite National Park, CA National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Contents Introduction 05 Criteria and Process 06 Outstandingly Remarkable Values 07 Segments and Classifi cations 08 Meadow and Riparian Complexes 10 Recreation 13 Geologic and Hydrologic Processes 18 Scenery 20 Cultural 23 Cover: Merced Lake. Merced River List of Contributors 26 Wilderness Above Nevada Fall Segment. NPS Photo. Comment 27 Introduction A critical fi rst step in planning for wild and scenic rivers is defi ning what the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act calls the outstandingly remarkable values (ORVs). This Draft 2010 Outstandingly Remarkable Values Report for the Merced Wild and Scenic River represents the collective knowledge gained from public comment, scientifi c information, subject-matter expertise, management input, and expert guidance from other wild and scenic river professionals. These values will serve as the foundation of the Merced River Plan and will guide the future management of the river. This draft report is available for review and comment through July 2010, after which time, the NPS will bring comments into the next steps of the planning process. ~ In 1968, Congress passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to preserve some of America’s rivers in a free-fl owing condition. According to the act, It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreation, geologic, fi sh and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-fl owing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefi t and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Merced River and South Fork Merced River in California were designated wild and scenic in 1987. Most of the Merced Wild and Scenic River is in Yosemite National Park (81 miles), with the remainder in U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands west of the park. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act stipulates that federal land managers must protect and enhance1 the values that merit a river’s designation as wild and scenic. There are three sets of such values: the river’s free-fl owing condition, its water quality, and its other outstandingly remarkable values, which are the unique characteristics that make a river worthy of special protection2. To protect and enhance these values, the act directs managers to prepare a comprehensive management plan for each wild and scenic river. The plan must address resource protection, development of lands and facilities, user capacity, and other management practices necessary or desirable to achieve the act’s purposes. A foundational element of a comprehensive management plan is identifi cation of the river’s outstandingly remarkable values. Left: El Captain refl ected 1. The Interagency Wild and Scenic Rivers Coordinating Council (Interagency Council) defi nes protect as in the Merced River. eliminating adverse eff ects, while enhance is defi ned as improving conditions. Yosemite Valley 2. “Wild and Scenic River Management Responsibilities,” 2002 Interagency Council Technical Report, p. 2, available Segment. NPS Photo at http://www.rivers.gov/publications/management.pdf. Draft 2010 ORV Report for the Merced Wild and Scenic River 05 Criteria and Outstandingly Process Remarkable There are several criteria that guided the development of the ORVs contained in this report. The NPS began the process of reevaluating the Merced’s ORVs in winter 2010.1 Using the Two of the most important criteria are contained in a technical paper on the river study process Values criteria identifi ed above, the NPS reviewed the ORVs that were developed for the Merced in issued by the Interagency Wild and Scenic Rivers Coordinating Council1. To be outstandingly its previous river plans (2000 and 2005), along with the draft ORVs prepared in 2008. During remarkable, a value must meet two criteria: the review process, the NPS also consulted a wide array of baseline data and monitoring information related to conditions of resources within the river corridor. • It must be river related or dependent. This means that a value must: Beginning in January 2010, the agency conducted the following ORV internal workshops to • Be located in the river or on its immediate shorelands develop the Merced’s ORVs: (generally within ¼ mile on either side of the river); • Contribute substantially to the functioning of the river ecosystem; and/or • Owe [its] location or existence to the presence of the river.2 Date January 2010 Participants Merced River Plan steering team and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act specialists AND Outcome Produced fi rst new set of draft Merced ORVs • It must be rare, unique, or exemplary at a comparative regional or national scale. As expressed Date February 2010 by the Interagency Council in 1999, this means that such a value would be one that is a Participants Yosemite National Park natural and cultural resource experts conspicuous example from among a number of similar values that are themselves uncommon Outcome Reviewed and refi ned of draft Merced ORVs or extraordinary.3 Date February 2010 In addition to applying these two criteria in developing the draft outstandingly remarkable Participants Consultation with Interagency Wild and Scenic Rivers Coordinating Council values for the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, the Interagency Council also suggests and NPS staff that agencies clearly defi ne ORVs. Through this exercise, agencies are able to identify ORV Outcome Critically reviewed ORV criteria and draft Merced ORVs baseline conditions, a process that in turn helps guide future ORV management. This ORV Report represents the NPS’s eff orts to more clearly defi ne the components of each Merced Date February 2010 River ORV; it also responds to public comments heard during public scoping process for the Participants Merced River Plan core team, environmental compliance contractors, and plan requesting that the NPS more clearly defi ne the ORVs. user capacity experts Outcome Reviewed and refi ned draft Merced ORVs and reviewed public input from Another factor relevant to the ORV refi nement process is a settlement agreement that the NPS MRP scoping regarding ORVs entered into in September 2009. After years of litigation over earlier versions of the Merced River Plan, the settlement agreement outlined the overall process for completing a new plan. Date March 2010 With regard to ORVs, the settlement agreement provides that: Participants Yosemite National Park natural and cultural resource experts Outcome Critically reviewed and refi ned draft Merced ORVs • The NPS shall defi ne ORVs in accordance with all legal requirements and guidance, including but not limited to the language contained in the 1982 Secretarial Guidelines and the reports of the Date April 2010 Interagency Wild and Scenic River Coordinating Council; Participants Yosemite Management Team review Outcome Provided approval of draft ORVs and determined appropriate way to solicit • The NPS would involve several user capacity experts in defi ning the Merced River’s public input outstandingly remarkable values; and Date June-July 2010 • The NPS will provide one or more public workshops to consult with individual experts and Participants Public, academic, and professional organization review, and local, state, and representatives from academic institutions, tribal governments and local, state and federal federal agency review government agencies on protecting and enhancing ORVs. Through these public workshops, NPS Outcome Critically review and refi ne draft Merced River ORVs, provide specifi c will gather information and advice relevant to ORVs from these experts and other individuals locations of ORVs, and discuss condition of them. identifi ed by Plaintiff s, within their individual areas of expertise. 1. Congress establishes the ORVs for a river upon its designation. In the case of the Merced, the NPS fi rst considered its ORVs in 1982 as part of the Nationwide River Inventory. In 1986, the U.S. Forest Service determined the river’s eligibility and suitability for designation by establishing ORVs as part of the Sierra National 1. “The Wild & Scenic River Study Process,” December 1999, available at http://www.rivers.gov/publications.html. Forest Draft Land and Resource Management Plan. The NPS further defi ned the ORVs in the 1996 NPS Housing 2. Ibid. Plan and the 2000 Merced River Plan. 3. Ibid. Note that NPS defi ned “regional” to be the Sierra Nevada within California. 2. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1271-1287) - Public Law 90-542, and amendments thereto. 06 Draft 2010 ORV Report for the Merced Wild and Scenic River Draft 2010 ORV Report for the Merced Wild and Scenic River 07 Segments and According to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Classifi cations Section 3(b): Tioga Road Yosemite Valley Yosemite The agency charged with the administration Falls North of each component of the national wild Ribbon Dome Half Merced Fall Dome Lake B Tamarack Creek Fall and scenic rivers system […] shall […] ig Vernal O El Capitan Sentinel a The Cascades Fall ed establish detailed boundaries therefore k Rock Merc Riv F Wildcat Glacier Bunnell er la t Fall Point Point (which boundaries shall include an average R Sentinel Fall o Washburn a Cathedral Nevada of not more than 320 acres of land per d Stanislaus Bridalveil Rocks Fall Lake National Forest ARCH ROCK Fall Illilouette mile measured from the ordinary high Fork ENTRANCE Fall yell water mark on both sides of the river); and Merced River Wilderness Above Nevada Fall L determine which of the classes […] best fi t rk o the river or its various segments.