This is a statement you will want to give to your staff person about the issue. It needs to be as personal to your facts as you can make it.
Background
The 2006 Record of Decision for the Colorado River Management Plan provided increased opportunities for noncommercial launch permits and a change in the procedures for scheduling noncommercial launches to reduce the excessive waiting times experienced by people on the waiting list. The longest waiting time on the list is currently 15 years.
The park instituted a two stage transition process to reduce the size of the waiting list, which includes about 7,000 permit waitlist holders. The waiting list was closed to new applicants in 2005 as part of the implementation of the Colorado River Management Plan.
The two stage transition process will reduce the size of the waiting list before going to an entirely new system of an annual lottery for launches one year in advance. In Transition Stage 1, people with waitlist numbers 1 to 1,500 were allowed to choose dates between 2007 and 2011. The NPS did not inform waitlist members which dates were actually available.
After awarding up to 600 launch dates between 2007 and 2011 through Stage 1, the NPS is beginning Stage 2. The NPS suggests that waitlist members band together, with preference given to the groups with the most years on the waiting list. Individual waitlist members who have waited longer than combined groups have been informed that the NPS predicts that "those who do not combine with others may not win through Transition Stage 2."
After Stage 2 launches are awarded, people on the waiting list who have not obtained a launch through Stages 1 or 2 will have to enter a lottery for any launch dates remaining. People will enter the lottery with as many chances as their years on the waiting list plus an additional number of chances depending on whether they have participated in a Canyon trip in the past 5 years. The stage 2 transition instructions state "because the new system is a lottery, some who apply might never win."
Explain Your Situation
I applied for a noncommercial launch permit in ____ and was assigned #ญญญ______ on the waiting list. By 2005, I had risen to #______ on the list and expected to be able to schedule in _____ for a launch date in ______ or ______, based on the instructions for transitioning from the old waitlist system to the new waitlist system under the new Colorado River Management Plan that stated "Our rough estimations predict that under the old waitlist and allocation systems you, ______________, would have reached the top 300 on the waitlist in ______ and scheduled that year for a launch in ____."
If you were in the top 1,500, the following text will appear: Under the new system, I applied for a permit under Transition Stage 1 and listed possible ______ launch dates. I was notified that none of my choices were available and received instructions for participating in Transition Stage 2.
Do you have another group to join? If not, the following text will appear: I do not want to join in Transition Stage 2 with unknown people for a trip that requires a great deal of coordination and cooperation to ensure the safety and enjoyment of the entire group. To join with other groups assumes we all are like minded, want to travel during the same time of year, and would result in my being unable to offer places on my trip to friends who would like to go on my trip as we all would have to share a fixed number of participants (16 maximum) among two or more groups.
If you are over 40, this text will appear: The NPS is allowing me to select launch dates as far out as 2011. When I joined the waiting list in _____, I was ____ years old. In 2011, I will be ____ years old. The majority of other members of my group will be over 50 by 2011; they were in their mid 30s when I got on the list. It has been a joke among waitlist members that you can grow old and die waiting to get a launch permit. In my case, it is true and I no longer think it's funny nor fair.
If you have participated in another trip while you waited, this text will appear: I participated in a noncommercial trip in _____. Because of permit restrictions, I can only participate in one trip while I am on the waiting list. We have turned down participating in trips because the other people in the group I represent are not on the waiting list and would lose their opportunity to participate in a trip together.
All of the roughly 700 launch dates per year allocated for commercial trips with park concessionaires for 2008 and later are set aside for marketing to commercial customers. None of these trips is booked at this time, and when open for booking, some of these trips can even be purchased through the Costco chain.
The NPS released a list of unavailable dates for noncommercial launches through 2011. By inference, the other dates must be available. I would appreciate assistance obtaining one of the noncommercial launch dates available between ____ and _________, or one of the dates reserved for the park concessionaires to sell to commercial customers during the same time period.
Thank you,
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