The long wait could be over. One component of the new Colorado River Management Plan is the end of the infamous Grand Canyon waitlist. The list that currently has more than 7,000 names waiting between 15 and 20 years for a trip down the Grand will be gradually phased out.

In place of the wait list will be a “hybrid” weighted lottery system. Once the current list expires, a single lottery will take place each year, awarding permits for private trips the following year. Chances in the lottery will vary depending on whether or not applicants have been on a Grand Canyon river trip recently.

Unlike some of the other proposals in the new Colorado River Management Plan, the new lottery system is being greeted with widespread skepticism. Willie Odem, of the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association, said that the new system may not be as fair as the old one.

“We have some misgivings about this,” he said. “Speaking personally, I’ve never gotten a trip in the Idaho river lottery system, and after 10 years, I just quit trying. Plus, it’s one thing to be on a list and say ‘I’m going to have a three-week Grand Canyon trip in eight years.’ It’s hard to get in a lottery and say ‘I might have to plan for a three-week trip next year.’”

Tom Martin, of River Runners for Wilderness, also objects to the new uncertainty inherent in a lottery system. “Access for the public who would like to do a river trip is made even more difficult with the park’s proposed weighted lottery-gambling scheme,” he said. “At least with the waiting list, you were assured of a trip, even if you were aged by the time you got it.”

Those who have aged over the last 15 to 20 years on the wait list will still get their Grand Canyon trips. The Park Service will phase out the current wait list over the next five years before moving into the lottery system.

-Will Sands