Opinion ID: 3051488
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: verp

Text: [2] The district court correctly found that VERP does not properly address user capacities because, by not requiring a response to environmental degradation until after it already occurs, it is reactive and thereby violates 16 U.S.C. § 1281(a) and the Secretarial Guidelines, 47 Fed. Reg. at 39,458-59, interpreting the management principles of § 1281(a). NPS argues that the district court based its holding on a legally incorrect view that the WSRA does not allow reliance on a program that monitors particular indicators, such as VERP, because such a program is, by definition, “reactive.” According to NPS, that ruling is contrary to our holding in Yosemite I, where we held that NPS could address user capacities with a VERP framework that monitors and maintains environmental and experiential criteria. See Yosemite I, 348 F.3d at 796-97. NPS further contends that the district court’s ruling incorrectly requires NPS to set specific limits on the number of visitors, even though we stated in Yosemite I that a numerical cap is not required. NPS misreads the district court’s analysis, and its argument is therefore flawed. The 3 The Wilderness Trailhead Quota System imposes limits on the number of overnight users allowed within the wilderness segments of the river, which comprise 51 of the 81 miles of the Merced under NPS management. It has been in place since the 1970s. The Superintendent’s Compendium limits the time and location of specific activities, or imposes limits on the number of people allowed to engage in specific activities. For example it includes limits on overnight group size, day use group size, stock animals per group, stock animal travel areas and areas of non-motorized water craft use and fishing. FRIENDS OF YOSEMITE v. KEMPTHORNE 3079 reason the district court found that the revised VERP was reactionary was not because a framework that monitors and maintains is inherently reactive and thus can never be proactive. Rather, the revised VERP at issue was found to be reactionary, and thus responsive after-the-fact to already occurring degradation, because it does not “ ‘describe an actual level of visitor use that will not adversely impact the Merced’s ORVs.’ ” See Friends of Yosemite, 439 F. Supp. 2d at 10981100 (quoting Yosemite I, 348 F.3d at 797). NPS next argues the district court incorrectly stated that the VERP as set out in the 2005 Revised Plan “is not oriented towards preventing degradation.” It contends that the indicators and standards established in VERP trigger action prior to degradation of ORVs. In support, NPS asserts that (1) the indicators and standards are set conservatively so that, although management may not act before the indicators and standards are exceeded, action will be taken before there is degradation; (2) the text of the 2005 Revised Plan provides that “[i]ndicators, which are measurable variables, are determined first; standards quantifiably define the acceptable conditions (i.e., measured values) for each indicator. . . . [which] are set at a level that will protect and enhance the Merced River’s [ORVs]” (emphasis added); (3) NPS does not choose a particular indicator unless that indicator is “[a]ble to provide an early warning for resource degradation”; (4) management action may occur before a standard is exceeded because “[t]he process of monitoring and its relationship to management actions can be likened to a traffic signal . . . . A yellow-light condition occurs when monitoring shows that conditions are approaching the standard. This early warning sign may call for implementing proactive management actions to protect and enhance the [ORVs]”; and (5) the district court’s conclusion is at odds with this panel’s decision in Yosemite I. [3] That an indicator may be able to provide an early warning, does not mean that it does in practice. A standard must be chosen that does in fact trigger management action before 3080 FRIENDS OF YOSEMITE v. KEMPTHORNE degradation occurs. Also, that an early warning sign may call for the implementation of proactive management does not provide much assurance that such implementation will occur. Despite NPS’s statements to the contrary, in Yosemite I, we did not foreclose a later finding by the district court that the VERP system remains problematic even if VERP does not rely on examples instead of actual indicators and standards. Currently, VERP requires management action only when degradation has already occurred, and it is therefore legally deficient.4