OPTION D    Management accommodates large increase in users by developing the “Front Country” use at Powerdam and Potato Salad Hill areas. Keep the areas beyond the dam wild.

 

In Option D, use is focused around the Powerdam and Potato Salad Hill area through increased infrastructure, with permits required for any upstream access to keep the areas above Powerdam primitive with minimal infrastructure.  The Powerdam/Potato Salad area is developed into a concentrated picnic area that invites visitors to stay near the trailhead with established infrastructure such as paved pathways, paved parking at Powerdam and Potato Salad Hill, picnic tables, toilets, and shade structures as well as a paved path across a bridge. In addition to paved parking at Powerdam and Potato Salad Hill, part of the old landfill is developed as a parking area.  Fee booths are located at both access points and Powerhouse Lane and the road to Potato Salad Hill are paved in full.

 

Stream crossings above Powerdam to the North Fork falls and Cowboy Jacuzzi may be hardened with stone or other methods.  In addition to informational signage at all trailheads, informational signage may be added at key locations in the canyon such as the falls, or at frequently damaged rock art sites. Increased patrolling and enforcement in parking areas in town and the county, as well as in BLM areas, including upstream of Powerdam and during spring and fall there is no access above Powerdam without a permit. 

 

No significant changes occur in other parts of the canyon beyond monitoring for increased impacts.