John, I think I can help here. I agree that the wording is at least ambiguous and could have been better. But it is certainly not a sham: it is an attempt to keep a window open that is about to shut. If it were being taken by the government agency, I agree it looks more like an attpt to stonewall, but it is not: it is a sincere attempt by John Ladd, a respected leader in the JMT community, to get Yos to listen better before it acts.
I am interpreting it as a call for members of the group to weigh in, not the group, as a single entity, to adopt a position. Most of them, after all cannot: they are not legal entities but an association of individuals. WHA ironically is incorporated and theoretically could make a decision as an entity, but even for us I treat it as a call for individual opinion, not actual group action.
If the poll is a problem, I would skip it and make direct comments, while we can, to the Yos administration. They do not intend any public comment period at present, and plan instead to submit draft language for discussion and the signature of the Superintendent tomorrow.
They can do this because the proposed rules are within the Superintendent's discretionary authority, and do not expect them to grant any request for an open comment period, but there's a chance.
So if the issue is of interest to you, I would urge you to make your views known, both on the comment period and the underlying rules, without delay, to
Don L Neubacher
Office of the Superintendent
Yosemite National Park
209-372-0496
YOSE_Superintendent@nps.gov Kevin Killian
Chief Ranger
Yosemite National Park
209.372.0211(O)
209.631.7748 (C)
"Kevin Killian" <
kevin_killian@nps.gov "Mike Gauthier" <
mike_gauthier@nps.gov Ed Dunlavey
Wilderness Manager
Yosemite National Park
W-209-372-0501
C-209-201-7846
Ed_Dunlavey@nps.gov 
