Proposed change would make it easier to visit Arizona tourist magnet Wave

PHOENIX – A federal agency that oversees a rock formation in Arizona so popular visitors are chosen by lottery planned to loosen up its rules of admittance.

The Bureau of Land Management proposed a change Wednesday that would increase daily visitor limits from 20 people to 96 people at The Wave, near the Arizona-Utah border.

Permits to hike The Wave at Coyote Buttes North at the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness have been hard to come by.

Less than 5% of the 150,000 who wanted to hike the trail last year were actually able to do it, according to federal data.

Applications for permits have soared as photos of the colorful, wavy sloping bowl-like sandstone basin have gone viral over the past few years.

Travel + Leisure has called the site one of “strangest natural wonders on Earth” and one of the most colorful places in the world.

In addition to a monthly online lottery, which requires four months’ advance notice, there are daily walk-in drawings at the Kanab, Utah, visitor center for a $7 per day permit.

The BLM planned to hold three open meetings in early June to hear public concerns about resources, access, recreation and anything else that could be relevant to the proposed change.

A letter from bureau laid out issues that have affected the wilderness area, including physical damage to geologic features from hikers, human and animal waste left behind, and heat-related illnesses among visitors.

“Increasing the number of permits available would increase the likelihood of getting a permit, increase the number of encounters with other visitors on the trail, potentially decrease opportunities for solitude, and potentially increase impacts to other resources,” the letter read.

Last summer, a Belgian tourist died of heat-related causes while hiking there.

Final Scoping Letter 5-8-2019 on Scribd

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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