Infrastructure Changes are NeededMost of the visitor infrastructure at the park was designed and built in the early 90's when visitation was less than 1 million visitors per year. Today, park visitation is over 3 million visitors and existing infrastructure needs to be updated and expanded, and new infrastructure is needed to help disperse visitors to other parts of the park. And, as is the case with the Construction of the New West Entrance Station, staff facilities need to be addressed as well.Visitor Use Management PlanningAnd, with the sharp increase in visitors, the park needs to develop visitor use management plans to ensure the resources of Joshua Tree National Park are left unimpaired for future generations. The best example of visitor use management planning is the Climbing Management Plan that is currently under development. Much more visitor use management will be happening in future years such as Overnight Use Plan, Backcountry Management Plan, and New Lands Plan. All visitor use management planning takes a lot of time, effort, and public involvement. These planning efforts are multi-year and are unlikely to be done concurrently with other visitor use plans.Archived Newsletters
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Last updated: September 3, 2024