Yellowstone launches housing replacement plan
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. (KIFI/KIDK)-Yellowstone National Park says it will spend tens of millions of dollars over the next 24 months to demolish and replace trailers used for employee housing with high quality modular cabins. The work will also include utility line upgrades, site improvements, landscaping, and other housing improvement project investments.
The National Park Service said the work would replace 64 outdated trailers with high-quality modular cabins. The trailers, built between 1960 and 1983, house 80 to 100 employees each year. The park plans to replace 35 trailers at Old Faithful, Lake Village, Mammoth Hot Springs, and Bechler this year. In 2021, the remaining trailers will be replaced.
150 non-trailer and non-historic housing units will be replaced between 2020 and 2023. That work will include roofing and siding replacements on some, to major interior work, including flooring, insulation, and heating systems. Over 50 of those projects are planned this year.
Some housing projects date back to the late 1800's in Fort Yellowstone and in other areas of the park. Condition assessments, historic structure reports, and consultations are underway for rehabilitating those structures.
In addition, the park will address an overall lack of available housing in surrounding communities to meet workforce needs. That shortage has impacted the park's workforce recruitment. Given the growth of park visitation, officials say more employees and housing for them is needed.
"Our ability to attract and retain talent in Yellowstone is strongly tied to the availability and affordability of housing options in and around the park," said Superintendent Cam Sholly. "Thanks to the support of Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and the National Park Service, we now have the funding and support needed to help us begin addressing one of the biggest issues facing Yellowstone's workforce. The goals we have outlined in Yellowstone's housing improvement strategy work not only to replace trailers between the 1960s and 1980s, but also to improve the condition of historic and other housing assets, while also looking for better ways to respond to the changing real estate markets in our gateway communities, which have limited private housing options for our employees."
Right now, about 50% of Yellowstone's 800 employees are living in park housing. Deferred maintenance in Yellowstone now exceeds $500 million.
