A federal appeals court threw a roadblock in the path of the government's restoration and development plans for Yosemite National Park on Thursday, ruling that the National Park Service has failed to take adequate steps to protect the Merced River.The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a federal judge's decision in 2006 that the Park Service had not adequately addressed limits on public use of the 81 miles of the river that wind through the park.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii blocked several construction projects after he issued his ruling, including repaving the heavily used Valley Loop Road and rebuilding some of the hotel rooms and campsites that were lost when the Merced flooded in January 1997. The judge gave the Park Service until September 2009 to come up with a new management plan.
In Thursday's ruling, the three-judge panel agreed with Ishii that the Park Service plan did not properly consider Yosemite's capacity to accommodate more visitors without damaging its environmental and scenic qualities.
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