November, 2003. Author Tom Martin will be in Durango at the Abbey Theater at 6:30 p.m., Nov. 30, to update local boaters on the controversial Colorado River Management Plan (CRMP) now in progress for Grand Canyon National Park, and how this plan will affect the boating public. Tom will illustrate his talk with a slide show on the Grand Canyon based on his book, Day Hikes From The River: A Guide to 100 Hikes from Camps on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park.
The highly controversial CRMP, which was stopped by the Park in 2000, was restarted as part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit filed by river running groups and individuals. The public comment period during the past summer gathered over 50,000 comments. "The wait for do-it-yourself river runners is so long, those at the bottom of the list will wait an incredible 20 years to get permission to run the river" said Martin, who notes that "you can book a commercial trip tomorrow for next summer, if you can afford it. This process is of vital interest to all Colorado boaters, as more Coloradoans are waiting for a permit to boat the Colorado River in Grand Canyon than river runners from any other state."
The free slide show will be open to the public and features beautiful vistas illustrating Grand Canyon hikes you can do from the river and exciting river running shots. Tom will be signing books, the sale of which will benefit River Runners for Wilderness, a non-profit group which is sponsoring the event. RRFW represents the interests of the boating public. Taxpayers for the Animas River and the Weminuche Group of the Sierra Club are co-sponsoring the event locally.
Following the slide show, there will be an 8:30 p.m. screening of the movie, "The Same River Twice." This award winning independent film is about a group of friends who re-ran Grand Canyon 25 years after their first trip. There will be an admission charge for the movie.