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Thomas To Dedicate New Canyon Visitor Center
Marks 90th Anniversary of Park Service along with Kempthorne, NPS leaders |
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| U.S. Senator Craig Thomas shares a laugh with Dirk Kempthorne after a visit with the senator April 3, 2006. Thomas will host Kempthorne on a tour of Casper, Pinedale, and Yellowstone National Park on Aug. 23, 24, 25. |
August 24th, 2006 - YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – U.S. Senator Craig Thomas will dedicate the Canyon Visitor Education Center at 10 a.m. Friday, the 90th Anniversary of the National Park Service, joined by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and numerous National Park Service leaders.
Senator Thomas’s Recreational Fee Demonstration program authorized in 1996, paved the way for a significant amount of funding for the new visitor education center.
“Part of the vision for the parks-only fee program was to bring funding back to the park where the fee is collected,” Thomas said. “The new visitor center is a great way to give back to the visitors and to enhance their experience in the park.”
The original Canyon Visitor Center was constructed in 1957. Structural problems and the inadequacy of the facility for accommodating interpretive and educational exhibits for the public were recognized in the 1970s, but lack of funding put the project on hold.
With the advocacy of Thomas, Congress approved the use of Fee Demonstration monies for the project in September 2000. Construction began in June 2004.
Meetings with park staff and outside consultants began for the center in 1998. In the spring of 1999, the project was approved by the NPS Development Advisory Board.
The grand opening of the new Canyon Visitor Education Center marks the first major visitor center development in the park in three decades. The new facility will serve more than 600,000 visitors a year.
Out of the $10.5 million used to fund the project, $8.6 million came from entrance fees collected from the 20 million people who visited the park between 1997 and 2005. More than $1 million was donated by the Yellowstone Association. Other important contributors to the project include the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation and Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Thomas established the National Parks fee demonstration program. He is expected to laud the new center as an excellent example of how private donations and recreation fee dollars can be used for park enhancements.
The center will tell the complete geologic story of Yellowstone. Interactive displays will describe the park’s geothermal features, eruptions of the large active volcano beneath the surface and ongoing research by the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
NPS 90th Anniversary
The dedication ceremony in Yellowstone comes on the 90th Anniversary of the National Park Service.
“As America’s first national park, Yellowstone is a particularly special place to celebrate this anniversary,” Thomas said. “Yellowstone’s designation precedes the creation of the National Park Service by 44 years. The natural wonders here are like no other place in the world.”
A release of Thomas’ statement about the center and about the 90th Anniversary will be made available Friday on his web site at http://thomas.senate.gov. Thomas is the Chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee and an original author of the national parks recreation fee demonstration program.
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current Press Release |
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