Yosemite National Park - Environmental Education Campus (U.S. National Park Service)

NPS Photo

Crane Flat Campus

Project Status
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The following is a list of the various stages that occur during a planning process. Though there are added public involvement opportunities such as meetings and workshops throughout, this outlines the major steps. They include:

  Initial public outreach
  Technical Study/Report
  Public scoping (ended 11/14/02)
Plan development
  Public review & comment (EIS - 5/08/09 - 7/15/09)
  Produce final plan/report
  Decision document
  Implementation of plan/project

Yosemite Institute, a Yosemite National Park non-profit partner, aims to promote visitor understanding, stewardship, and appreciation of diverse park environments. The Yosemite Institute
operates an environmental education campus at Crane Flat under a cooperative agreement with the park. This campus serves both the park and Yosemite Institute by fulfilling their shared mission.

The campus at Crane Flat has served as an educational facility since 1971. The facilities are comprised of older buildings and structures that have been assembled over time and were not originally designed for educational purposes. To address this issue, the park and Yosemite Institute began planning for a new campus in 2002, including the preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Public scoping was completed in November 2002.

NPS Photo

Yosemite Institute Campus

The goals of this project are to:

Provide an environmental education campus location and program that serves the combined missions of Yosemite National Park and Yosemite Institute
Facilitate multi-day educational programs that complement California State Standards and offer opportunities for research and study of the natural world
Provide a campus facility that is sustainable in design and enables high quality, immersive, and safe educational experiences for students
Promote development of future stewards of the environment and the National Park system

Currently, the project team is collecting information on the new alternative site for the Draft EIS, and anticipates releasing the Draft EIS for public review in winter 2009. The proposed action for this project would be implemented after a Record of Decision is signed at the conclusion of the environmental impact analysis process.

Documents pertaining to the Environmental Education Campus:

YIEEC Participant Guide (832 kb PDF 5/09)
YIEEC Draft Environmental Impact Statement May 2009 (6.9 MB PDF 5/09)
YIEEC Draft Environmental Impact Statement May 2009 Appendices (4.2 MB PDF 5/09)
Environmental Education Campus Fact Sheet (123 kb PDF 3/09)
Public comments received during the scoping period (214 kb PDF)

Schematic Designs for buildings

50% Site Plan Henness Ridge 11x17 (2.0 MB PDF 7/08)
50% Site Plan Crane Flat 11X17 (1.9 MB PDF 7/08)
50% SD Cabin Elev (235 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Cabin Plan (34 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Classroom Elev (272 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Classroom Plan (35 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Dining Crane Elev (944 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Dining Crane Elev2 (163 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Dining Crane Plan (33 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Dining Henness Elev (3.2 MB PDF 7/08)
50% SD Dining Henness UPlan (37 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Dining Hennes LPlan (36 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Firehouse Elev (189 kb PDF 7/08)
50% SD Firehouse Plan (30 kb PDF 7/08)

Yosemite Institute group enjoying education outdoors in winter.

Yosemite Institute group enjoying education outdoors in the snow.