Some employee housing in Yellowstone was deemed uninhabitable by the superintendent. "Employees lived here in 2018. I didn’t allow it last year," said Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly/NPS
With housing prices surpassing $500,000 in gateway communities and park housing uninhabitable in many cases, Yellowstone National Park officials are embarking on a multi-million-dollar project to provide adequate housing for their employees.
"Gardiner (Montana) has four homes for sale = $379,000 (1,172 square feet), $639,000, $695,000, and $725,000," Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly told the Traveler. "It’s a problem for many (in the park system), but this is a whole different level. Most parks don’t have the numbers of employees to house. We had nearly 500 employees in housing last year, which means 300 had to find housing outside the park. That’s getting to be impossible. That doesn’t include volunteers or other cooperators, they need housing."
To address the issue, Interior Department officials have dedicated "tens of millions of dollars" for Yellowstone to use to "demolish and replace trailers with high-quality modular cabins, upgrade aging utility lines, perform site improvements, including landscaping, and invest in other housing improvement projects" over the next two years.
"Anyone who thinks this shouldn’t be a top priority has no clue what they’re talking about," Sholly added. "Good talent won’t come to places that have poor housing."
The plan announced Wednesday points to four goals:
- Replace 64 outdated trailers with high-quality modular cabins. Yellowstone currently has 64 trailers, built between 1960-1983, that house 80-100 employees annually. The condition of each trailer is extremely substandard and immediate replacement is necessary. In 2020, the park will replace about 35 trailers at Old Faithful, Lake Village, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Bechler with high-quality modular cabins. In 2021, the remaining trailers will be replaced. All replacements will be in existing developed areas.
- Improve the condition of 150 non-trailer and non-historic housing units. Yellowstone is investing millions to upgrade dilapidated employee housing units between 2020 and 2023. Many of these units have not had improvements in decades. Planned improvements range from roofing and siding replacements, to major interior work including new flooring, better insulation, and improved heating systems. Over 50 improvement projects are scheduled for 2020.
- Rehabilitate deteriorating historic homes. The park intends to improve the condition of a wide range of historic housing structures, many that date back to the late 1800s in Fort Yellowstone, a National Historic Landmark, and in other areas of the park. The park is in the process of conducting necessary condition assessments, historic structure reports, and consultations to determine the funding needed and prioritization and execution timelines of this goal.
- Add new housing capacity. The lack of available housing in surrounding communities is substantially impacting workforce recruitment. Additionally, park visitation has increased 45% since 2000 and requires more staffing to manage park operations. For these reasons, the park is assessing the number of additional housing units that may be needed. New housing units would only be placed in existing developed areas.
Several designs have been prepared for new employee housing at Yellowstone/NPS, artist's rendering
"The goals we have outlined in Yellowstone’s housing improvement strategy work not only to replace trailers from between the 1960s and 1980s, but also to improve the condition of historic and other housing assets, while also looking for better ways to respond to the changing real estate markets in our gateway communities, which have limited private housing options for our employees,” the superintendent said in the release.
The exact cost of the building project remains to be seen and depends on the contracting process and ongoing condition assessment, according to park staff.
Historic military quarters at Mammoth Hot Springs are in dire need of maintenance/NPS
Comments
This is exactly the type of project and effort that demonstrates good things can still happen in the government and the NPS. Kudos to the Supt and the Secretary for pushing this effort forward and for the many people who I am sure are working hard to make it happen! This is the type of effort that will demonstrate the NPS can focus on a critical need and deliver. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come if the Restore Our Parks Act can get across the finish line. There seems to be bipartisan support for that - one of the few areas of common ground in Congress after the impeachment saga. I cant wait to see this transformation at Yellowstone!!
Overdue and important-I lived inone of those trailers almost 20 years ago-wasn't great then and is still in use. However-next step is finding a way to finance these type of improvements in parks which have neither the money nor influence of Yellowstone.
nice proyect in wanderful park
This is a much-needed step in the right direction. I fully support Yellowstone park officials that are currently working on the project to give employees proper housing. The article notes that most parks do not have to house the quantity of employees that Yellowstone does, as it is one of the most noteworthy parks in the United States. Reports assert that last year, five hundred employees, not to mention volunteers, had to find suitable housing outside of the park. I am excited to see the progress that is made with this plan and look forward to seeing it come to fruition, as it will provide better livelihoods for Yellowstone employees! This is indeed a top priority, because stellar employees will not want to work there if adequate housing is an concern. I love that the plan includes measures for not only replacing outdated trailers with cabins, improving housing units, adding new housing capacity, and is still respecting the historical integrity of structures, by rehabilitating deteriorating historic homes. Since park visitation is increasing, Yellowstone needs to have accommodations for the subsequent added number of employees as well. This is an exemplary way of how to treat your workforce. This project demonstrates the government working positively to assist its public employees, and I hope this sets an example to other parks and puts them at a higher standard of operating.