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Responsible Tourism: Zion Canyon Shuttle System

2/16/2014

Anyone who has visited Zion National Park in the Spring or Summer will note the number of cars waiting to access the park. If you have visited the park during the peak season you will have observed the difficulty in finding parking spaces located along the narrow canyon road.

Beginning in 2000, the National Park System implemented a free shuttle system to eliminate the over-crowding within the 6 mile loop that provides access along the narrow canyon floor. Zion National Park welcomes over 2.5 million visitors every year, most of who arrive during the months of March through October.

Unlike many shuttle systems, visitors do not need to come to the main visitor center to board the shuttle system. The Zion Canyon Shuttle picks up at 6 locations within the town of Springdale, Utah and brings them to the Visitor Center. The visitors may then board the buses for the loop through the park after paying their admission fees to the park. Visitors may get on or off as many times as they like sightseeing at 8 key locations within the park.

The shuttle uses “clean fuel” to minimize air pollution. During the shuttle service season, private cars are not allowed within the park.

This effort is an illustration of the integration into Springdale’s local economy and the sustainable resource use. Additionally, the web site for shuttle system goes a bit further with encouragement for responsible tourism. Check out their recommendations at their website:

http://www.nps.gov/zion/naturescience/green-travel.htm

Zion National Park is an excellent illustration of the cornerstones for fair trade and responsible tourism.

Fair Working Conditions: The buses are accessible for people who are working within Zion National Park or in the town of Springdale without charge. Therefore employees do not have to drive their cars or block parking spaces that should be used by tourists visiting the area.
Fair Prices: Regardless of where a tourist stays within Springdale (campground or hotel), they are free to use the shuttle system at no charge.
Integration Into the Local Economy and Regional Development: The shuttle is not limited to within the park itself, but rather picks up and drops off tourists at numerous stops within the town of Springdale. This eliminates cars from driving from a local campground or hotel to the parking lot at the Zion National Park Visitor's Center. It also makes it more convenient to take the shuttle bus out to the restaurants and grocery stores within Springdale.
Fair Trade Partnerships Between All Actors in Tourism: Since the use of the shuttle buses does not require a fee or ticket, this encourages the tourists to spend their dollars at the local businesses.
Sustainable Resource Use and Environmental Justice: The shuttle buses utilize "clean fuel" this has improved the air quality in the canyon areas. The elimination of cars and their exhaust, has not only improved air quality but has improved access to the very popular sights within the park and encouraged visitors to stop at a variety of areas within the park. This has improved the overall tourist experience for everyone visiting the park.

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Please do not feed the wildlife!

1/31/2012

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How many times during your travels have you seen tourists feeding wildlifeeven though signs prohibiting these behaviors are posted near-by? Perhaps even you have fed a wild animal either in your backyard, a park, or near a historic monument. In my travels I have seen people feeding wildlife of every size, shape, and color. Even when signs threaten fines for feeding the wildlife, some people feel it necessary to feed chipmunks, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, a variety of wild birds, and even larger animals, such as deer, elk, wild donkeys, and monkeys.

Have you seen the signs? Have you heeded the warnings? When I have pointed out the signs or brochures on the rules, I have heard the following reasons:
**I just wanted to get a close-up photo.
**My children love feeding the chipmunks.
**The chipmunks looked too thin so they may be starving . . . I don't want them to die.
**It is getting close to winter so I wanted the animals to fatten up in order to survive the upcoming winter weather.

** The animals are begging for food, so obviously lots of people have fed them before we started feeding them.
**We have always fed the wildlife and never received a fine, so it must be okay.

Great excuses, but there may be some serious negative impacts that endanger the unsuspecting animal. Allow me to cover a few of the dangers.

Human food is not healthy for wildlife! Feeding chipmunks peanuts is not a naturally occurring food for chipmunks. Surprisingly to some, store bought peanuts can be treated with chemicals that are toxic to wild animals. Definitely unsafe foods are: unripe acorns (contain excess tannin), plum stones (contain cyanide), excessive peanuts (because they can swell inside the animal).

Feeding the wildlife may create aggressive behaviors. The wild burros of Custor State Park are feral but have been habituated to accepting food from tourists. In fact, they can be aggressive and create wildlife jams along the roads as tourists feed the animals through their car windows. Unfortunately, the burros can get hit by cars & become dangerous pests. Human food is not always nutritious or beneficial to the wild animals. Processed foods that humans eat do not offer a healthy diet for wild animals.

Just like humans who eat snack foods that are not healthy for us, so do wildlife when you provide these unhealthy options. Yes, these wild creatures may readily consume foods like popcorn and bread, but these carbohydrates do not provide sufficient nutrition while these processed food items will disrupt their digestive system. Further, as wildlife become reliant on the food provided by tourists, they stop feeding on the natural foods in their local area. These locally found foods provide the nutrition needed for their health and continued survival.

Contrary to popular belief Cheetos, potato chips, breath mints, and chocolate are not suitable food sources for wildlife. Fed animals may become more agressive with each other or with tourists. If an area is a 4 season destination, then reliance on an abundant artificial food source may result in the animals not migrating during the proper time, or a failure to stock pile natural foods neccessary for survival over the harsh winter season. Further over-feeding may result in over-population of the species in an area which leads to greater incidence of diseases or insufficient local food for the population to survive when tourist numbers are low or infrequent due to the winter or low tourist season.

Over-feeding or feeding in a specific area where humans gather will change animal behaviors. Typically, wild animals naturally disperse across the landscape, but artificial food sources promotes the
concentration of animals into a small area increases the incidence of feces, saliva, and urine, which easily harbor infectious disease-causing
micro-organisms like bacteria, viruses, or fungi. Further if food is not consumed fully, the remaining rotting food will attract mice and insects. This increases the potential for the spread of disease .

Feeding chipmunks at Bryce National Park and Zion National Park has increased the number of chipmunks hit by automobile traffic as they have lost the fear of humans. The chipmunks can be agressive with humans and frighten small children. It is not surprising to see an increase in the number of animal bites reported by unwary tourists who ignored the signs.

Please be a responsible tourist by refraining from feeding the wildlife. Encourage other tourists to avoid feeding the wildlife. I remember seeing a sign that read "A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear!" Perhaps we should say a fed wild animal is a dead animal.

To summarize allow me to present the key points presented by Acadia National Park on the subject:

**Wildlife feeding threatens human and animal safety.
**Wildlife feeding my lead to over-abundance or over-concentration of a species to an area.
**Wildlife feeding can promote the spread of diseases.
**Wildlife feeding may cause malnutrition in wildlife.
**Wildlife feeding leads to the unnatural behavior of wildlife.
**Wildlife feeding is prohibited by law in many states and/or countries. (For example, "Feeding wildlife is punishable with a fine of up to $5000.00 and/or 6 months in jail!")

The raven appears to be destroying the sign . . . perhaps to remove the fine printing below the sign: "Feeding wildlife is punishable with a fine of up to $5000.00 and/or 6 months in jail!"

A very clean appearing sign at a state park.

A sign observed in Canada

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Zion National Park Narrows

9/17/2011

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Guest Blog by Carrie Gruwell (University of Utah Graduate Student in Parks, Recreation and Tourism

For those of you who have never heard of a famous hike known as "The Narrows", this hike is 16 miles in length and took 12 hours to complete, going down a riverbed, http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-narrows.htm.
It was a completely grueling, yet rewarding experience. I am going to share my experience and well as a few tips I learned by not being prepared.
5:00 AM - We, (Brent, Rachelle and I) awake in St. George and do our final preparations.
5:30 AM- We leave St. George and drive to Zion's.
6:30 AM- We arrive in Springdale at Ashley's house.
7:00 AM- We leave Springdale and have a friend drive us to Chamberlain Ranch. TIP: 4WD vehicle required.
9:00 AM- We arrive at Chamberlain Ranch and begin our journey. TIP: Wear socks with your water shoes, or better yet, rent shoes from one of the many outfitting companies located in Springdale. This is what Ashley did. I recommend Zion's Adventure Company at http://www.zionadventures.com/.
12:00 PM - Enter the beginning of "The Narrows" , at this point we are actually back inside Zion National Park. Our feet start numbing and the water is running at 55ccs. TIP: It is not nerdy to use a walking stick... I don't realize this for another 4 hours... :(

1:00 PM - I lose my balance in knee-deep water and get soaked up to my chest, I should have had a walking stick.
1:30 PM- We reach camp #2 and eat lunch while under the false assumption we are halfway through. It starts to thunder, which causes my best friend to panic a little. TIP: Just because you have this insane canyoneering friend who made it through the canyon in 7.5 hours, doesn't mean you are going to.
2:30 PM- We reach camp #12, after this point there is no more high ground and it starts to rain big heavy drops. TIP: Next time I do this hike, I will do it in 2 days because the rest of the hike is the best part but we are exhausted and getting impatient.
3:00 PM- Brent is forced to get wet and swim in the river... he has made it 6 hours without getting his clothes wet. TIP:Now is also the time we realize it is best to pick one wall of the canyon and stay on it rather than try to cross the riverbed back and forth. This is also when Ashley, who had the amazing shoes and walking stick, leaves us behind.
4:00 PM- I suck up my pride and find a stick for assistance... it's about time! TIP: Not only are dry bags awesome to keep your food and warm clothes dry, they also provide buoyancy. You can sit back and let the river carry you to get a break from walking. Our bodies are numb so the freezing water isn't so bad. :)
6:00 PM- We encounter some hikers from the bottom and I ask "How much longer?", response being: "We've only been going about 2 hours". I tell them, "When, my friend behind me asks "How long?", tell her one hour, please?": We have been going down the water bed for three straight hours convincing ourselves..."it's just around the corner"! TIP: It's not just around the corner, unless you mean about 60 corners...! At this point Brent takes Rachelle and escorts the rest of the way down the hike, while I go ahead a speculate their path.
6:15 PM- We reach Orderville Canyon which means the end of the "scary-no-high ground and flash flood zone". Once again, I lie to Rachelle and tell her we are 1 hour away. This isn't true, we are still 2 hours and 15 minutes until we exit the water. TIP: White lies are sometimes necessary to keep people moving.
6:45 PM- We encounter another couple hiking from the bottom and I once again ask them to tell Rachelle 1 hour. We feed her energy blocks and lied again that we were almost there.
7:30 PM- Brent asks me, "Is there anything we can do to speed her up?". Then Brent mentioned to me that that it was starting to get dark. I didn't believe him and said "It won't be dark until 9!". Then he so intellectually notified me that it was September, and it would be dark within the hour.
7:31 PM- Holy Sh--! "I thought it doesn't get dark until 9:00 pm!" TIP: It is September, and it starts to dusk around 7:45 PM.
7:35 PM: I tell Rachelle... "We have to rush!..... NOW...it's getting dark!" . And we start to haul because we are full of adrenaline We are ready for this adventure to end!!! TIP: Bring a headlamp.
8:10 PM- I am ahead of Brent and Rachelle and encounter more hikers from the bottom. I ask them in a desperate way, "How much longer?" I am told "You got it girl... seriously 10 minutes!)!!! TIP- The only reason I actually believed her is being she was wearing jeans and no shoes! I knew it was really only going to be 10 more minutes.
8:30 PM - We arrive at the top of the Riverwalk and it's pitch dark, but we are out of the water! Ashley, who left us hours earlier, has been waiting for an hour and a half. I change into my dry clothes and and take my painful shoes off!!! There is only half a mile to the bus stop! TIP:Bring a change of clothes. I was so cold and tired and thankful to take my swimsuit off and put on a dry alternative.
9:00 PM- The shuttle arrives and we are done.
Prologue: I fell asleep from exhaustion! TIP: I couldn't walk the next day or days to come, I should have taken the time to ice down my muscles and stretch my muscles before climbing to bed.

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Responsible Tourism: Zion Canyon Shuttle System

Please do not feed the wildlife!

Zion National Park Narrows

Author: Linda Ralston

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