Yosemite National Park Announces the Release of the Replace Big Oak Flat Welcome Center Complex Environmental Assessment

Yosemite National Park announces the release of the Replace Big Oak Flat Welcome Center Complex Environmental Assessment (EA). The public comment period for the EA is open until December 20, 2018. The EA describes and analyzes one action alternative to improve visitor experience, address deferred maintenance, improve safety, and increase operational efficiency at the Big Oak Flat Welcome Center Complex. The preferred alternative would:

• Construct a new welcome center to unify visitor services to replace the modular building and trailer that currently house these functions
• Construct a new adequately sized comfort station to replace the aging, undersized one
• Construct a plaza to connect the new welcome center and comfort station buildings, and house visitor orientation information
• Reconfigure the existing parking lot to decrease vehicle-pedestrian conflicts and reduce congestion
• Construct a small, unpaved staff parking area along Tuolumne Grove Road to reduce congestion
• Install a sewer to connect the welcome center complex to the Hodgdon community septic system and decommission the aging septic system currently serving the facilities
• Provide the option for the addition of a water tank and access road at a later date

Yosemite will host a public meeting on December 5, 2018 from 3 to 5 pm in the Private Dining Room at the Rush Creek Lodge (34001 California Highway 120, Groveland, CA) to provide an opportunity to learn more about the project and environmental analysis. Yosemite will also host a webinar in mid-December (tentatively December 12, 2018 from 12 noon to 1 pm); please refer to the project website identified below for date confirmation and the link to register for the webinar.

Public participation is an important element of the planning process and we welcome your comments. Please share your written comments by December 20, 2018 via one of the following methods:

• Online (preferred method) through the Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/BigOakFlatEntrance
• You may also mail comments (post-marked by December 20, 2018) to:
  
  Superintendent, Yosemite National Park
  Attn: Big Oak Flat Welcome Center Complex
  P.O. Box 577
  Yosemite National Park, CA 95389

To request printed documents (available in limited quantity) call (209) 379-1221 or e-mail us. The park will review comments after the public comment period closes and draft a decision document after the conclusion of agency consultation. The final decision document is expected to be completed by February 2019.

Construction for the project is planned to begin fall 2019.

The public meeting scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday 12/5/18, for the Replace the Big Oak Flat Welcome Center Complex project and EA is cancelled due to the National Day of Mourning. It will not be rescheduled, however the park is hosting a webinar on Wednesday December 12, 2018. Please see the project website (http://parkplanning.nps.gov/BigOakFlatEntrance) for details on how to register.