National Park Service to assess management options for Zion in upcoming public meeting

File photo of vehicles at Zion National Park’s South Entrance, Utah | Photo courtesy National Park Service, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Next Wednesday, the National Park Service will host a public meeting to share a variety of management options and concepts designed with the intention to improve access from Springdale into Zion National Park. This area is more commonly referred to as the South Entrance of the park.

Large lines of people await the shuttles inside Utah’s Zion National Park, June 3, 2021 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

The park service will share design options to improve transportation links, simplify navigation and provide pedestrians and bicyclists more dedicated space and infrastructure away from roads, according to a press release issued by the National Park Service.

“This is the first part of a multi-step process to determine how we should plan for the future of Zion National Park’s South Entrance and South Campground,” said Jeff Bradybaugh, Zion National Park superintendent. “We consider this project part of our larger, ongoing visitor use planning effort. It builds on our collaborative planning process giving park visitors, neighbors, and other stakeholders an opportunity to learn and provide important information for our decision-making process.”

Some of the improvements the park service is considering include: 

  • Defining the Zion Canyon Pedestrian Entrance.
  • Realigning the roadway accessed from the South Entrance Fee Station to the Zion Canyon Visitor Center.
  • Expanding the shuttle maintenance facility to accommodate electrical vehicle charging.
  • Reconstructing the South Campground to meet current accessibility and safety codes.
  • Installing intuitive wayfinding pedestrian trails and improving accessibility in the South Entrance Area.

Public comments

Public commentary is an essential part of this process. As such, citizens are encouraged to learn more and share comments by:

Attend a virtual public meeting

The park service will host a live, virtual public meeting on Wednesday at 6 p.m. MDT. Attend the meeting for free online or call to listen in by phone. Get information about the meeting and phone numbers online. Attend the meeting by Zoom at this link.

A recording of the meeting will be shared on the National Park Service Planning, Environment and Public Comment website.

Share comments 
Public participation is vital to the planning process. You can share your comments and ideas through June 17. To share comments online and learn more about the project, visit the National Park Service website. Mailed comments must be postmarked by June 17.

Mail comments to:   

Superintendent
ATTN: Zion Canyon South Entrance Redesign
Zion National Park
1 Zion Park Blvd
Springdale, Utah 84767

Planning for the future 

This project builds on past work to relocate the entrance monument and improve the fee booths at the park’s south entrance. The National Park Service is proactively working to identify other opportunities to improve visitor services in the park. Zion recorded about 2.8 million visits in 2011 and more than 5 million in 2021, the news release states.

As the number of people who visit Zion continues to rise, the park service is preparing a plan to sustain high-quality visitor experiences and sustainably manage park resources. The park service plans to share an update on the plan and ask for further public feedback about it later in 2022.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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