Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan / DEIS 3-1 

3. MERCED WILD AND SCENIC RIVER BOUNDARIES 

AND SEGMENT CLASSIFICATIONS 

RIVER CORRIDOR BOUNDARIES 

The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (WSRA) requires federal agencies to establish legal boundaries for each 

federally administered river in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The boundary for a Wild and 

Scenic River establishes the area that will receive the greatest resource protection efforts. In accordance with 

WSRA (section 3[b]), boundaries may include an average of not more than 320 acres of land per mile, 

measured from the ordinary high-water mark3 on both sides of the river. The National Park Service (NPS) 

used U.S. Geological Survey 7.5-inch topographic quadrangle data to calculate a Wild and Scenic River 

corridor boundary that encompasses all land within a quarter-mile of the ordinary high-water mark of the 

Merced River, the maximum area allowed under WSRA4. This includes the land below the ordinary highwater mark, which is not included in the acreage limitation. The NPS applies this boundary consistently to the 

Merced River in Yosemite National Park and the El Portal Administrative Site, including the main stem 

Merced River, South Fork Merced River, Red Peak Fork, Merced Peak Fork, Triple Peak Fork, and Lyell Fork 

tributaries. 

The NPS presented and refined the boundaries and classifications of the Merced Wild and Scenic River 

throughout the legal and planning history of the Wild and Scenic River. Early in the litigation over the 

Merced River Plan, some of the segment classifications were challenged in court. These challenges were 

reflected by the courts, and the segment classifications have remained consistent over time. However in 

2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the 2000 Merced Wild and Scenic River 

Comprehensive Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement was deficient with regard to the 

river boundary in the El Portal segment, which was delineated as the 100-year floodplain along with 

adjacent wetlands, or a 100-foot buffer from the ordinary high-water mark, whichever was greater. The 

court found that this river corridor did not fully account for the location of river values in the area, and 

directed the NPS to “reevaluate the river corridor boundary based on the precise location of outstandingly 

remarkable values.” 

The 2005 Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact 

Statement revised the corridor boundary in El Portal to include all land within a quarter-mile of each side of 

the river, consistent with the rest of the river corridor. This Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive 

Management Plan/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Merced River Plan/DEIS) establishes the same 

river corridor boundary for the Merced Wild and Scenic River that encompasses a quarter-mile of land 

measured from each side of the river’s ordinary high-water mark throughout all segments of the river 

(Figure 3-1). This action is common to all alternatives proposed in this plan. 

 

3 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers defines the ordinary high water mark as “ that line on the shore established by the 

fluctuations of water and indicated by physical characteristics such as a clear, natural line impressed on the bank, 

shelving, changes in the character of soil, destruction of terrestrial vegetation, the presence of litter and debris, or 

other appropriate means that consider the characteristics of the surrounding areas.” 4 This acreage designation does not limit the protection of river values, which must be protected whether they are 

inside or outside the corridor boundary. 
MERCED WILD AND SCENIC RIVER BOUNDARIES AND SEGMENT CLASSIFICATIONS

3-2 Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan / DEIS

Figure 3-1: Merced Wild and Scenic River Segment Boundaries and Classifications 

WILD AND SCENIC RIVER CLASSIFICATIONS 

WSRA (section 2 [b]) directs managing agencies to classify and administer designated rivers as one of the 

following, depending on the type and intensity of development: 

Wild: Rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundment and generally inaccessible except by 

trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and water unpolluted. These represent vestiges 

of primitive America.

Scenic: Rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments, with shorelines or watersheds still 

largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads. 

Recreational: Rivers or sections of rivers readily accessible by road or railroad, may have some 

development along their shorelines, and may have undergone some impoundment or diversion in the 

past. 

A Wild and Scenic River may be divided into segments to aid in classification (DOI 1982). This plan divides 

the Merced River into segments, and classifies each segment as Wild, Scenic, or Recreational as portrayed in 

Figure 3-1 and Table 3-1. This classification system is common to all alternatives proposed in this plan. If 

the NPS removes the Wawona Impoundment from the river channel at some time in the future, Segment 6 
Wild and Scenic River Classifications 

Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan / DEIS 3-3 

would be reclassified as Scenic, based on the change in the level of development and enhancement of the 

river’s free-flowing condition. 

The classification of a river segment provides a general framework for the type and intensity of land 

management activities that may take place in the future (IWSRCC 2002). A comprehensive management 

plan may allow different levels of use and development based on how a segment is classified. The 

classifications of each river segment guide the range of actions proposed in this plan. All proposed actions 

were analyzed to ensure they are compatible with the classification for each river segment. 

TABLE 3-1: SEGMENT CLASSIFICATIONS FOR THE MERCED WILD AND SCENIC RIVER

Segment Classification Location 

1 Wild Merced River Above Nevada Fall 

2A Recreational East Yosemite Valley: Top of Nevada Fall to Sentinel Beach 

2B Scenic West Yosemite Valley: Sentinel Beach to junction of El Portal Road and Big Oak 

Flat Road 

3 Scenic Merced Gorge: Junction of El Portal and Big Oak Flat Roads to western 

Yosemite National Park boundary at parkline 

4 Recreational El Portal: Western Yosemite National Park boundary at parkline to El Portal 

Administrative Site boundary 

5 Wild South Fork Merced River Above Wawona: Headwaters to top of pool at 

Wawona Impoundment 

6 Recreational Wawona Impoundment: Top of pool at Wawona Impoundment to 200 feet below 

dam 

7 Recreational Wawona: 200 feet below Wawona Impoundment to Squirrel Creek 

8 Wild South Fork Merced River Below Wawona: Squirrel Creek to western park 

boundary 
MERCED WILD AND SCENIC RIVER BOUNDARIES AND SEGMENT CLASSIFICATIONS

3-4 Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan / DEIS

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