Got this on a national listserv and thought I'd pass it on. I am not familiar with Grand Teton NP, so don't feel like I can comment, but maybe others on the list can. The original message below came from the Exec Director of Wyoming Pathways, a biking and walking organization.
Note that they are especially interested in hearing from people not in the immediate geographic area of the park, so Wisconsin would certainly qualify. Robbie Webber Transportation Policy Analyst 608-263-9984 (o) [email protected] All opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer or any other group with which I am affiliated. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Tim Young <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 1:50 PM Subject: [People] National Park comments - asking for your help! To: Alliance for Biking and Walking <[email protected]> Hello fellow bike advocates, I'm writing to ask if you can help with comments on an EIS underway here in Grand Teton National Park. Please help make our national parks safer for bicycling and walking. More and more, Grand Teton National Park pathways are being looked at as a model, so its important for all cyclists to weigh in; its not just a local issue. The NPS is constantly reminding us Grand Teton is a "National Park", not a local park. So more comments from east and west coast help. Pasted below is draft text and links for public comment on the Grand Teton National Park EIS underway for Moose-Wilson. Comments are due Sept. 15th. Ideally we'd like help with comments from you, your organization, and friends. Thank you so much for your help. You are all invited to go ride this someday soon! Best regards, Tim 307-413-8464 [email protected] -- More information and a map is at the project website at: http://www.safeaccessgtnp.org --------- *Time is short –– Act Now <http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=60898> to help complete an important corridor that is a model for National Park Service and cycling access and safety. * *We need your help to ask the National Park Service to complete a 7 mile gap in a 30 mile grand loop for a complete, safe pathway system in Grand Teton National Park!* *Until September 15**th**, the Public Comment period is open for the Grand Teton National Park Moose-Wilson Road and Pathway. Help show the NPS that bikes and pedestrians are the solution for reducing traffic.* Please *comment* <http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=60898> *today* to *support public access* on the Moose-Wilson Road with reduced traffic, transit and *a safe pathway*. Thanks to many public comments in the EIS Scoping (the initial planning step) the National Park Service included open public access to the Moose-Wilson corridor and a safe pathway in one of the draft alternatives – Alternative D. *At this step in the NPS planning process, we need to request that Alternative D be studied as the preferred alternative.* *We need you to submit a comment for this next phase of the EIS by September 15 at the link below.* The Grand Teton National Park Pathways are unique in the National Park Service. They provide visitor safety and a signature experience outside of a vehicle to enjoy this wonderful national park. The pathways were meant as a model of multimodal transportation. A 7-mile gap on the Moose-Wilson Road is important to approve a pathway so the corridor is complete and traffic can be reduced with human powered solutions. Click Here to Comment <http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=60898> *This link is to the official NPS public comment site, which asks four questions. Please consider the following in your comments:* *1. What strategies do you like?* *We support Alternative D as a preferred, positive option because it reduces overall traffic in a way that is essential to preserving the Moose-Wilson corridor’s unique values, benefits area wildlife with fewer cars, and encourages diverse access for safely enjoying the corridor outside of the car. * *Gates and closures are bad solutions to traffic management. Instead, inspire and enable a shift of 10-30 percent of visitors to use bikes, walking or transit. * Park values are best protected under Alternative D, which recognizes that wildlife and park visitors can be thoughtfully managed together, the essence of National Park visitation. Under Alternative D, visitors experience this part of Grand Teton National Park in a way that is respectful of natural resources, informative, inspiring, and safe. Alternative D enhances the visitor experience in an environmentally responsible way – providing public access with reduced traffic impacts to wildlife, smart public transit and greater safety for the non-vehicular public on a needed pathway. *2. What strategies don’t work?* *Gates and closures (Alternatives B and C) don’t work. Gates and closures shift or increase the number of motor vehicle trips area wide. For visitors and locals alike under Alternatives B or C to get from the Westbank to Moose and back will be a 50-mile round-trip instead of 7 direct miles that could be experienced on foot, bike, transit or vehicle. Instead, we can help the National Park Service by innovating real solutions that a good for the environment* *– like multi-modal transportation and smart transit.* *The negative impact of shifted or increased traffic is bad for the environment and bad for wildlife*that lives outside the corridor, especially along area highways, including the main National Park route, which will inevitably see more traffic and wildlife collisions from cars re-routing from road closures to get to the Park’s entrance in Moose. The Moose-Wilson Road has no wildlife fatalities because it is wonderfully slow, narrow and rural – and should be kept that way with fewer cars, smart visitor transit and a pathway. *3. What other suggestions do you have?* *A separate Moose-Wilson pathway is a safety need, not a want, and it is imperative for the Preferred Alternative. It can be placed in an environmentally sensitive way to minimize impacts and close a dangerous gap, which will be even more apparent when the pathway from Jackson to Teton Village is complete by 2015.* *Please add public transit and commit the National Park Service to a community partnership as a way to reduce traffic congestion even more in the future.* *No action (Alternative A) is not the right solution because it does nothing to help wildlife by reducing traffic levels or manage traffic flow with adaptive strategies.* Decreasing the increased traffic volumes for the long term is the Park’s objective and that is possible only with Alternative D, which uses thoughtful, safer ways to get people out of vehicles and into the outdoors. Ask for Alternative D to help make meaningful traffic reductions and adaptations so that wildlife can thrive and visitors can have access to their national park. Click Here to Comment <http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentForm.cfm?documentID=60898> -- Tim Young Executive Director Wyoming Pathways [email protected] 307-413-8464 www.wyopath.org --
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