From NPT
Rick Smith
National Parks Traveler
Friday, August 16th, 2019
National Park Service Approves Plan For Historic Lake McDonald Cabins At Glacier National Park
A collection of historic cabins lining the shores of Lake McDonald at Glacier National Park that have come into National Park Service ownership over the years are set to be managed for their most practical use, although that could mean demolition for some, under a plan adopted by the Park Service.
Some of the cabins date to the early 1900s. Not surprisingly, many are in need of repairs. That could happen under a management plan that has been approved for the properties.
Under the plan, Glacier staff will use an adaptive decision framework to manage cabins and outbuildings around Lake McDonald that have come into NPS possession over the last decade. Most of the structures are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. A strategy is needed to guide the management of the properties and acquire funds for their preservation before the buildings deteriorate to the point where demolition and removal are the only available options, a park release said.
Among the cabins are some located in what's known as the Kelly Camp Historic District. This setting was homesteaded by Frank Kelly in 1894, and in 1905 he began operating a summer tourist cabin business.
The 6.5 acre historic district includes 12 rustic log buildings: the Big House served as the lodge, ten smaller summer cabins hosted individual families, and a small cabin was used as a wash house. The Camp Shop was used for cutting and stacking firewood. ... Unique rustic architectural features can be seen in the historic cabins. Log buildings rest on a banked foundation of doubled log piers. Outer piers support the log walls and inner piers support the floor system.
The cabins were constructed of unpeeled larch and fir logs with mud daubing from the lakeshore. They retain the Kelly signature of a decorative row of narrow-caliper unpeeled logs set in the gable end of the lakeside porch.
Greve's Tourist Cabins date to 1910, though most were built in the 1930s. They operated until 1978. "In 1984, NPS removed all of the frame cabins south of the main cabin and moved two cabins to Swiftcurrent in the Many Glacier Valley," a Park Service document said.
Other cabins covered by the management plan include the Wheeler Cabins at the head of Lake McDonald, Glacier Villias and McDonnell Cabin, Grist Road Cabins, and Grisley Cabin.
The adaptive decision framework includes five different management options: historic leasing, assigning to an interested concessioner, NPS administrative use (such as park housing or offices), stabilization, or removal. The park will use one of these five options to manage each property based on historic preservation and administrative needs and objectives, the condition of the structures, and feasibility.
If the preferred management option for a given property is not underway or cannot be implemented by timeframes specified in the planning document (generally ranging from one to two years), then other management options identified for each property will be triggered.
As historic leasing is the preferred management option for most of the properties, the Park Service decision now enables the park to develop a historic leasing program.
Rick Smith
5264 N. Fort Yuma Trail
Tucson, AZ 85750
Tel: 520-529-7336
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Email: rsmit...@comcast.net
Rick Smith
National Parks Traveler
Sunday, August 18th, 2019
Big Bend National Park Weighing Campground Reservations, Higher Fees
Big Bend National Park officials are planning to expand a campsite reservation system in the remote Texas park, and to slightly increase nightly camping fees, and are seeking public feedback.
Developed Campground Reservations
For developed park campgrounds, the park is proposing to significantly increase the number of sites available for reservation as well as the number of months when reservations are accepted. For many, this will greatly reduce the frustration of driving all the way to Big Bend, only to find that all campsites are full.
Backcountry Permit Reservations
Currently, backcountry permits are issued only in person at park visitor centers, and include primitive car camping sites as well as backpacking and river itineraries. During peak seasons, after a very long drive to Big Bend, visitors often encounter long lines to obtain camping permits and fully booked camping options. In order to better serve park visitors by decreasing wait times at visitor centers and to allow for more opportunities to plan ahead, park managers are proposing adding primitive campsites to the reservation system available through www.recreation.gov.
In January 2020, the most popular centrally located roadside sites and backpacking sites would become available for advanced reservations on www.recreation.gov. This initial group of 58 sites is estimated to save 4,000 hand-written permits per year from being written at visitor centers, allowing park rangers more time to provide ranger programs and visitor services. Following this initial phase-in period, additional backcountry sites will be added to gradually expand the sites available for reservation.
Campsite Fee Changes
To offset reservation service costs, more closely match other campsites in the area, and provide improved customer service, the park is proposing modest increases to fees for backcountry permits, developed campgrounds, and group sites. Revenue will be utilized to provide the contracted online reservation service through www.recreation.gov, improve camping and other visitor facilities parkwide, and reduce Big Bend’s $90 million backlog of deferred maintenance.
“We’ve heard loud and clear that people want us to expand the park’s reservation system, and I’m excited that we’re able to respond,” said Superintendent Bob Krumenaker. “This proposal benefits the visitor and will generate increased revenue for the NPS to reinvest in visitor services and deferred maintenance here at Big Bend. While we recognize that in a perfect world there’d be no need to increase fees, the new rates are based on analysis of the cost of camping permits at comparable sites. We’re confident Big Bend’s fees remain reasonable and will not create unreasonable hardship on our visitors. Camping fees remain a small percentage of the cost of a Big Bend vacation, and park visitors – almost 99 percent of whom were not local -- contributed almost $39 million last year to the regional economy of West Texas.”
A summary of the proposed changes are as follows:
* Chisos Basin Campground: increase reservable sites to 2/3rds (#1-40), reservations available year-round, up to 6 months in advance.
* Rio Grande Village Campground: increase reservable sites to 2/3rds (#1-60), reservations available up to 6 months in advance for the period of November 1 through April 15.
* Group campsites at each campground: reservations available year-round up to one year in advance (no change).
* Cottonwood Campground: will remain first come, first served (no change).
* Select backcountry campsites will be added to the reservation system starting in January 2020. The first 58 sites to pilot this change will include the popular, centrally-located primitive car camping sites and the designated backpacking sites in the Chisos Mountains. Reservations will be available year-round, up to 6 months in advance.
* Roadside sites to be included are those at: Grapevine Hills, Paint Gap, Croton Spring, K-Bar, Hannold Draw, Nine-point Draw, Nugent Mountain, Pine Canyon, Robbers Roost, and Twisted Shoe.
Camping fee changes (to begin January 1, 2020):
* Developed campgrounds: $16 per night, $8 with applicable interagency pass (currently $14 per night, $7 with applicable pass).
* Backcountry camping: $12 per night, $6 with applicable interagency pass (currently $12 per permit).
* Group campsites (currently $3 per person per night):
* Sites accommodating up to 14 people, $40 per night.
* Sites accommodating up to 25 people, $60 per night.
* Sites accommodating up to 40 people, $100 per night.
You can comment on these proposed changes at this site by September 15.
Rick Smith
National Parks Traveler
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Friends Of Virgin Islands National Park Want Caneel Bay Resort To Revert To Park
While Interior Department officials and CBI Acquisitions, LLC, outwardly appear in a standoff over the future operation of Caneel Bay Resort at Virgin Islands National Park, the park's friends group wants to see the resort property revert to the National Park Service as the late Laurance S. Rockefeller wanted.
Back in June the operator of the storm-battered resort said it would walk away from the resort if the government paid it $70 million and indemnify it from any liability related to environmental contamination of the 170-acre grounds the resort stands on. If the government refused to meet those demands, CBI said it would claim "all rights of ownership" over Caneel Bay Resort.
Gary Engle, president of EHI Acquisitions, LLC, as well as the authorized representative of CBI, laid out those terms in an April 30 letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
This week Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, in an op-ed published in the Virgin Islands Daily News, called for Interior to take back the resort in September 2023 as stated in the "retained use estate" Rockefeller signed with the federal government in 1983.
"The Friends believes it is vitally important to restore and reopen the Caneel Bay property as expediently as possible, in a manner that ensures long-term protection of a critically important part of St. John's economy," wrote Todd Sampsell, the group's president. "We also believe a community visioning process to discuss desireable amenities, public access provisions, and cultural and natural resource protections should be initiated as an important opportunity to engage the residents of St. John."
In 2010, Congress passed a law directing the Interior Department to weigh whether it was better to keep the facilities under the RUE or create a concessions agreement for the resort, which CBI Aquisitions assumed from the Jackson Hole Preserve in 2004. Three years later the Park Service, after studying which management approach made the most sense for the agency via an environmental assessment, recommended that the operating agreement be redefined as a long-term lease more in line with typical concessions agreements.
The resort occupies a relatively small footprint on a peninsula on the island's northwestern shore, an area rich in cultural and archaeological resources.
Until recently, CBI has fought to see the RUE extended by six decades, and has worked with U.S. Rep. Stacy Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, to land that extension. Engle has said a 60-year term is the minimal amount of time needed to "redesign and rebuild, and ... reestablish a resort in a highly competitive marketplace."
When Rockefeller structured the RUE that allowed the Caneel Bay Resort to be operated for private profit, among the provisions he inserted was a requirement that the operator use and maintain the grounds in a way that is "consistent with the preservation of such outstanding scenic and other features of national significance, and preseve the Premises to the extent feasible in their natural condition for the public benefit, enjoyment, and inspiration..."
Whether that has been done is questionable.
Initial documents Traveler obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request included a 2014 environmental assessment of the Caneel Bay Resort property that raised questions of contamination from SVOCs -- semivolatile organic compounds -- often related to pesticides, and arsenic. "In addition, there are concerns for leachability of SVOCs, arsenic and mercury to groundwater," the report noted.
The surveys also found concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbons and diesel-range organics above acceptable levels set by the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources.
While the assessment called for more extensive testing to determine the extent of these contaminants -- both across the ground surface and to determine depth of contamination -- records Traveler obtained said CBI had refused to allow a contractor for the Park Service to access the grounds to perform further testing.
Traveler continues to wait for the Park Service to completely fulfill its FOIA request, which was filed in March 2018.
Since September 2017, when hurricanes Irma and Maria pounded the resort, it has remained closed and in battered condition.
In his letter to Interior Secretary Bernhardt asking for the resort's operation to be resolved, Engle closed by pointing out CBI's ownership of the Caneel Bay marina, and that any other operator of the resort would have to negotiate to gain access to it.
Rick Smith
National Parks Traveler
Thursday, August 22nd, 2019
Historic Mount Rainier National Park Cabin Restored For SAR Use
Philanthropic dollars and muscle and sweat have restored an historic cabin in the Longmire District of Mount Rainier National Park, a structure that now will provide search-and-rescue crews with a place to eat and sleep.
Three years ago Mount Rainier was one of 20 national parks competing for grant funding from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Partners in Preservation: National Parks campaign, which awarded $2 million in funding to projects across the country.
Designated as a National Historic Landmark District, Mount Rainier has the most complete example of early National Park Service master planning and features nationally-significant examples of the “Rustic Style” architecture. The cabin selected in the park’s Longmire area was constructed by the Civil Conservation Corps in the 1930s, and had fallen into disrepair. This project restored it for use as a search and rescue volunteer bunkhouse.
Mount Rainier National Park receives nearly two million visitors annually. As a result, park staff and volunteers respond to more than 50 SAR incidents and more than 100 hundred emergency medical events across the park. Intense visitation, combined with the remoteness of the park and the frequency of SARs, leads to challenges with housing volunteers during searches. This cabin will improve the park’s ability to house volunteer staff to support an intense workload, and improve conditions for staff as well as outcomes for visitors who may require medical or SAR support.
Washington's National Park Fund, which supports all three national parks in Washington State, served to provide additional funding from REI and private donors to complete the preservation work. Laurie Ward, the organization's executive director, said the organization was honored to be a part of building support for this important preservation project.
“Mount Rainier National Park’s search and rescue rangers do so much with so little," she said. "During their missions, they often rely on volunteers from local Mountain Rescue teams to assist. This project will have a direct impact on those who serve injured or lost visitors.”
A celebration of the restoration work was held in the park on August 10.