Yellowstone to build new youth campus
Yellowstone National Park plans to construct a new youth campus at Mammoth Hot Springs.
It will replace and improve the park’s existing education facilities. The project was approved by National Park Service Intermountain Regional Director Sue Masica on October 4, 2017. It is expected to be completed by 2022, Yellowstone’s 150th anniversary.
The current campus was built in 1978 and is now considered “functionally out of date”. The new campus buildings will be designed and constructed to meet green building certification with a sustainable design framework.
Superintendent Dan Wenk said, “The youth campus will be funded through a combination of philanthropic donations received by our non-profit partner, Yellowstone Forever, and federal support. The campus we build together will teach sustainability. It will facilitate high quality learning experiences and inspire students to be life-long learners and stewards of Yellowstone long into the National Park Service’s second century.”
A portion of the campus will be built on a previously disturbed site. The development will allow for overnight stays for up to 140 students at a time, which is more than double the capacity of the current facility.
