WB is 100% correct about how the process works (or doesn't work). I'm a solutions guy. I tell it like I see it and I solve problems. I think I've laid out a good foundation for moving forward, but someone else with a lot more time, patience, connections, and money needs to guide this through the planning process.

This sounds dumb, but there has to be a well defined problem to justify action. The status quo wins by default unless people organize and demand something different. As far as I can tell most people think the wag bags are not solving the problem. Some people think they can change human nature to make it work. The Sierra Club is probably in this camp, but I can't say for sure. They should be outraged at the way the NEPA process was circumvented. If that process happened on a project they were involved in, there would be lawsuits without a doubt.

Based on the comments submitted for the Environmental Assessment, the local hiking groups seem to want lower quotas regardless, and new solar toilets would not help them with that goal. So they may never come around.

The Rangers are on record stating that picking up wag bags is, "job security." They seem to think their previous bad experience with toilets is the only possible outcome, which is just not true. But their opinion matters a lot, even if a private company is contracted to do toilet maintenance.

So it seems to be a mixed bag of opinions out there, which plays into maintaining the status quo. It really depends on how the problem is defined, does the water have to be polluted to show there's a problem, or does the hiker experience matter at all? Will hikers organize and sustain a long term effort? These questions need to be addressed and a consensus needs to be built to move forward. Paraphrasing Bee, it could happen quickly once things line up, but it may take a lot of time and effort behind the scenes to get things to line up.

Edited to add some thoughts as I found time this morning.