Zion National Park officials are trying to figure out how to replace their aged fleet of shuttle buses/Kurt Repanshek file
After 19 years driving up and down Zion Canyon, it should be a surprise that the shuttle bus fleet at Zion National Park is beyond its expected life. What also shouldn't be surprising is that replacement parts for the fleet are getting harder to find, and funding to replace the buses is also hard to come by.
"At some point things need to get replaced, so we’re working on that, but it’s a big price tag," Zion Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh said. "We’re trying to get funding through various grant sources and things like that.”
The fleet of 39 buses has provided a great service the past two decades for the park and its visitors, navigating the tight and narrow two-lane road that runs up Zion Canyon to the final stop at the Temple of Sinawava, where the Virgin River flows out of a slot canyon. It's taken countless private vehicles off the road, shuttled hikers through the canyon, and allowed visitors to sit back and relax while gazing at the towering sandstone cliffs.
While the contractor that manages the fleet for the park has done an incredible job maintaining the buses so far, said Bradybaugh, there's only so much mechanics can do with the well-aged fleet.
"We’re going to start running into problems," the superintendent predicted during a recent phone call. "For example, wheelchair lifts. We’ve discovered because one or two broke down that those lifts are no longer, that particular lift, is no longer manufacturerd. And there’s not replacement parts. So we have to find something else and retrofit.
"The engine on the propane buses is no longer manufactured, and hasn’t been for quite a while," added Bradybaugh. “By law, the manufacturers have to produce replacement parts for a period of time. That perod is now coming to an end, so we’re scrambling around buying up all the replacement engine parts we can find. It’s just time. They’re well beyond their life cycle for the type of bus that we’re talking about. The life cycle is about 12 years. Obivously, we’re six or seven, eight years beyond that."
A new fleet won't come inexpensively. Bradybaugh said current estimates for 29 new buses run close to $23 million, while installing 10 electric shuttle charging stations would add another $1.5 million to the bill.
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Because Mather brought it up.
Perhaps leadership in DOI and Utah should spend political capital on this effort rather than ripping up boundaries of national monuments.
Shrinking the size of Bears Ears hasn't exactly done anything to change the budget or funding. Mather Forever is talking about spending political capital.
ebuck, as y_p_w correctly points out, Grand Staircase/Escalante and Bears Ears are BLM managed and administered. Theyre not part of the NPS. They are part of DOI obviously but not NPS specifically.
The problem I have with the diminishment of those NMs by the POTUS is that, at least in the case of Grand Staircase, legally speaking, it appears that Congress has affirmed its creation by adjusting its boundaries after Clinton designated it. Congressional action recognizing its existence and then adjusting its boundaries creates a legal murkiness on Trump's ability to legally diminshing it. Bears Ears is another matter.
However, all of those lands currently excluded by Trump's revisions are still being managed by the BLM as special management areas. Hopefully, the courts will weigh in and clarify the issue.
I am in favor of breaking Bears Ears into seperate NM units and National Conservation Lands and wilderness areas, not an entire landscape protected as a NM as was done by Obama in 2016. There are areas there that I would favor as NMs incuding the already existing Natural Bridges, as well as Canyon Rims Recreation Area as a National Monument and the East and West Bears Ears as a seperate NM. Also, there are a few archaeological areas like Alkali Ridge and along Comb Ridge that could be protected as National Conservation Lands under BLM. Grand Gulch Primitive Area existed for years and should be a part of perhaps another NCL or NM along with a seperate Valley of the Gods NM.
I'm not a big fan of BLM managed NMs but it is what it is. If I had my way, I would have all National Monuments under NPS management(except for a few currently inside US Fish and Wildlife refuge lands.
Anyway, the funds for a shuttle replacement fleet are already moving for the NPS in Zion. Washington County, Utah has already committed 100k towards its replacement and upgrading. Now Congress just needs to step up and stop using the maintenance backlog as a political football and fully fund it. Our parklands are gems and shouldnt be continuously treated as secondary issues. For many rural communities at their gateways, those parks are their lifeblood.
It is what it is. For the most part they don't seem to want to change the management structure of existing federal lands if they don't have to. At least where I've been, Forest Service managed national monuments are still allowed to have uses that would violate most NPS policy such as collecting, snowmobiles, hunting, etc. I think there's a place for those activities, even when an area has been designated a national monument.
And Mather's big point is that there's been a lot of lobbying going on to shrink Bears Ears in Utah to appease many of the extractive industries that fear losing access to them. But then they might be paying short shrift to the shuttle bus system at Zion, where the tourists are very important to the local economy.
Yes, I agree with MatherForever that it wasnt wise for Trump's first big action out of the gate was to diminish Bears Ears and Grand Staircase. Should have come in and tackled more bipartisan conservation issues that a majority would support.
As for who manages the NMs, yeah the USFS does a fine job with their NMs. I see why they do it as it's more practical for an agency with that tradition of managing those lands for years to essentially just upgrade the facilities and interpretative exhibits and resources. I can see why they do it. Many of those NMs also had multiple uses graduated into their NM status like Grand Staircase. The NPS doesnt really have that same multiple-use tradition and it would violate their policy as you stated. But, being the obsessive compulsive person I am, I cant stand having all of these national monuments scattered across all these agencies. I need organization. No one ever accused me of being Mr. Practical. I have this vision for a larger NPS but it is up to you folks in the agencies to make it a reality...or not. :P
Then you're going to start running into interagency rivalries. Might make DoD rivalries look tame.
Really though, my example would be Giant Sequoia NM, which is firmly entrnched as a part of the Sequoia/Kings Canyon area. I remember before they had the NM status it did seem like a place that was managed similar to the way NPS would do it. The last time I was there I saw that FS had their rangers doing interpretive work in NPS visitor centers. They spent a lot of effort trying to make it seamless.
But even then there were differences, and it was a bit difficult to figure out where you we on a map. However, with modern GPS I think many people can determine location better. I remember seeing someone carrying collected pine cones, which were legal if it wasn't on NPS land. And even without national monument status, crossing agency borders is pretty commonplace. I mean - most of the western national parks are surrounded by national forests.
Just a tidbit that shows how stretched thin the shuttle service is today:
When it was unveiled in 2000, the bus service was built to handle 2.4 million visitors per year. Last year, it handled roughly 4.5 million with the same buses.
Lee, do you live in Utah? Just curious if you are a fellow Utahn watching some of our local politicians. The BLM tracts you mention are largely landlocked and isolated, meaning it would require additional roads and rights of way to access. As you stated, additional funds would likely be required for new roads while SR 9 running through Springdale and Rockville alreayd provides the access into Zion. That is why the locals were looking into transferring the land there not elsewhere.
Washington Co. has also recommitted 100k towards replacing the shuttle fleet too. They see its importance and recognize what Zion means to tourism. Now, if Congress will just step up and fully fund the maintenance backlog over several years(hopefully 2+ billion annually for several years) then the NPS can start chipping away at their backlog.