WEBVTT

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In October of 2015 Death Valley National Park

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experienced massive flash flooding.

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There were huge massive impacts to roads

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throughout the park as well as Scotty's Castle.

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It took out the water, sewer, electric, telecom,

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gas, all of the utility systems at the castle

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as well as impacting some of the facilities here.

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All of Grapevine canyon

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from Grapevine ranger station past

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Scotty's Castle all the way to the

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Nevada border that road has been

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completely annihilated.

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Not just like pavement fell off like it dug it out and

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washed it and flushed it out into the

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desert miles and miles you'll find

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pieces of road and other debris.

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Scotty's Castle is such an important part

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of the history of Death Valley National Park

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and when national parks are set

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aside they are set aside by Congress forever.

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It's meant that these places

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will be preserved for our children and

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our children's children to enjoy so when

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something impacts Scotty's Castle or any

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other part of the national park it's our

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job to assess how that would be best put

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in place for the future so that people

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can enjoy that forever.

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When this happened nobody questioned the investment

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that needed to be made to restore Scotty's Castle.

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Not one single time has

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anybody said to me maybe we should just

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leave it that way and just that's just

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what happens a flood comes in it it

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destroys a bunch of Scotty's Castle and

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we're going to leave it nobody has ever that.

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What they said it how can we

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get it fixed how can we get it fixed

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sooner how do we raise money to make this happen.

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I've been kind of blown away

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by both the public and within the Park Service

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in absolutely no hesitation

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supporting the restoration of Scotty's Castle

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and getting it restored and

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getting it back open to the public.

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The next steps for restoration of

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Scotty's Castle, once the immediate

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debris was shovel down and removed was

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to put together a restoration plan and

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recognize that the priceless museum

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collection that's typically stored at

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Scotty's Castle needed to be crated up

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and moved out to somewhere safe because

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the buildings and utilities have been compromised.

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W e're going to work on a

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permanent restoration to the power

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the sewer the water the telecom and the gas

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systems as well as the HVAC systems

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the heating and cooling all of six of

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them were completely destroyed by the flood.

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We'll be able to fix Scotty's Castle

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we will be able to fix the visitor center

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we will be able to fix the offices

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and get those restored and put back then

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we're going to move the collection back

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and we should be able to open it back up for tours.

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And we're thinking about three years.

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Obviously there's a lot of financial

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challenges with all of that but we have

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tentatively found a way to fund portions

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of it we have about one-third of the

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recovery will be funded by entrance fees

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that visitors pay when they come to

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Death Valley National Park specifically

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Death Valley entrance fees and in fact

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we got a special waiver to retain

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one hundred percent of those in the park for

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the duration of the recovery at Scotty's Castle.

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Scotty's Castle to me represents the

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spirit of Death Valley National Park.

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It's a unique interesting cultural

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resource but also when you look into the

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lives of Death Valley Scotty and the

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Johnson family it has all of the

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intrigue it deals with mining and with

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cons and with investments and the rich

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cultural history found in Death Valley

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National Park is represented here at

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Scotty's Castle.

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People love Scotty's Castle

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people love National Parks and people love

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Death Valley National Park and Scotty's Castle

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is an integral important part of

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Death Valley and Death Valley's history.