PARK PLANNING: MATHER POINT & CARS
Grand Canyon National Park and other parts of the National Park Service have been planning ever since the beginning. In the late 1960's, the work took on a new cast with the passage of NEPA and the introduction of public involvement in what had been surely thought of as an internal agency task and prerogative.
In particular, because of its overwhelming use, Grand Canyon Village is the prime target. In the early 1970's, the car became the symbolic problem: How to get people out of them and in touch with the real place, and what to do with the machines meanwhile. At the Grand Canyon, there was a master plan, a development concept plan, and a Village comprehensive design plan. These were discussed and debated throughout the 1970's. Decisions were made, but not made final by concrete and asphalt being put down until the late 1990's. The last step seems to have been taken in 2011 with huge new parking lots at the Mather Reception area and the rehabilitation of the Mather Point area.
EACH TOPIC IS PLACED AT THE LEFT MARGIN.
CLICK ON A TOPIC AND THE BLOG PAGE WILL COME UP IN A NEW WINDOW.
WHEN DONE, CLOSE THE WINDOW TO RETURN HERE FOR ANOTHER CHOICE.
1970's
Why the rim is so important; many views; keeping it natural
A review and preview of the planning for visitors at the South Rim
An NPS team tries to change direction; the public gets a chance to speak
A summary of my position statement
During 1974-6, ROMA, NPS, and advocates worked on aspects of Village & Mather
planning
NPS ended the debate by going internal, 1978-81. Some analysis and later tidbits
1990's to Today
In the 1990's, spurred by Interior Secretary Babbitt, the Park produced an entirely new
planning document, reviewed here
A summary from the inside: the story told by the chief of the Park planning team
What the visitors thought, 1977 & 2003
Two attitude surveys
What the visitors thought, 1977 & 2003
Two attitude surveys
A review of the questions involved, and several views of what is at Mather now
I spend a morning at the new Mather, from reception to rim, taking photos and
forming opinions
forming opinions
Another place with a friendlier approach; more illustrations
And in the end, you the visitor get to decide. It just takes a trip to the Grand Canyon.
