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Contact: Carla Beasley, (435) 781-7702
The National Park Service (NPS) is making available for public review the Draft Environmental Impact Statement / Assessment of Effects for the Quarry Visitor Center Treatment Project (DEIS) for Dinosaur National Monument. On July 12, 2006, the NPS found it necessary to close the QuarryVisitorCenter at Dinosaur National Monument due to structural instability, which resulted from construction on expansive soils. This DEIS for the treatment of the QuarryVisitorCenter evaluates five alternatives designed to address the structural shortcomings associated with the QuarryVisitorCenter. The preferred alternative would provide for a shelter and interpretive area at the fossil wall to protect the fossils and provide access to the public, either by rehabilitating the existing Exhibit Hall or constructing a new structure. The existing Administrative Wing, South Wing, and Serpentine Entry Ramp would be demolished and their functions would be relocated to new interpretive and administrative structures constructed at the shuttle staging area, which has a more consolidated soil. The existing facility at the shuttle staging area would be incorporated into the design to the extent practicable. The construction of a joint National Park Service/Utah State Parks curatorial facility and paleontology laboratory in downtown Vernal, Utah is a separate project and was addressed in an environmental assessment last summer. A Finding of No Significant Impact for that project was signed by the Regional Director on September 8, 2006. That project is ready to proceed as funding becomes available. “We welcome your input on the QVC project and are excited to be moving forward with this project,” stated Superintendent Mary Risser. “The DEIS is available for review on the park planning web site https://parkplanning.nps.gov (search for Dinosaur NM). Hard copies of the DEIS will be available for review at the Superintendent’s Office, Dinosaur National Monument and at the county public libraries in Vernal, Utah and Craig, Colorado. For your convenience, either a CD Rom or paper copy of the document is also available. If requesting a copy of the document, please specify whether you would like an electronic version on CD-ROM or a paper copy. Written requests for a CD Rom or paper copy should be mailed to Superintendent, Dinosaur National Monument, at the address below or at e-mail us. Public comments will be accepted until August 10, 2007. You may post your comments electronically at https://parkplanning.nps.gov or mail comments by this date to the following:
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Last updated: February 24, 2015