|
|
COLORADO RIVER MANAGEMENT PLAN, PHASE I 
After settling a lawsuit on the planning process, Grand Canyon National Park embarked on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the revision of its 1989 Colorado River Management Plan. The Park anticipated that this process would surface several contentious issues where stakeholders' positions had become polarized.The Park retained The Mary Orton Company to develop and implement a public input process - including scoping meetings and draft EIS meetings - that would increase confidence and trust in the Park, enhance relationships with and among stakeholders, and produce the necessary information for making rational choices in the development of the Colorado River Management Plan. The process also had to conform to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Mary Orton Company planned and implemented seven scoping meetings, one each in Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Flagstaff (Arizona), Las Vegas, Baltimore, Oakland, and Denver. Another series of public meetings to receive comments on the draft EIS will be conducted in the fall of 2003. Mary developed the plan in consultation with the various stakeholder groups, as well as with the Colorado River Management Plan planning team. The Mary Orton Company also publicized the meetings, informing a wide variety of potentially interested parties, and framed the process in such a way as to encourage balanced media coverage. The meetings successfully reduced the level of contentiousness in the process, and produced many useful scoping comments for the Park. Click here to visit Grand Canyon National Park's website for more information about the Park's revision of the Colorado River Management Plan. |
©2001-2012 The Mary Orton Company, LLC |