News Release

General Management Plan and Environmental Assessment

News Release Date: July 6, 2020

Contact: City of Rocks Superintendent, 208-824-5911

National Park Service to release General Management Plan and Environmental Assessment for City of Rocks National Reserve

City of Rocks National Reserve, Idaho – The National Park Service (NPS) will release a revised General Management Plan (GMP) and Environmental Assessment (EA) for City of Rocks National Reserve on July 6, 2020.

The general management plan and environmental assessment provides broad guidance for the management of the park over the next 15 years and beyond. The plan outlines several actions that reserve management will take, including:

• Reconfiguring camping in the Reserve, with no net loss of camp sites, to address resource impacts and visual and safety issues based on the recommendations of the Rim Development Concept Plan.
• Development of an equestrian staging area on the west side of the reserve,
• Exploring new trail connections,
• Focusing visitor services, interpretation, and education on supporting more self-directed opportunities for visitors.

“We truly appreciate the caring people who have participated throughout the entire general management planning process,” said Wallace Keck, superintendent of City of Rocks National Reserve. “This revised plan expresses our shared vision and is responsive to public feedback.”

In 2015, the National Park Service released the City of Rocks National Reserve Draft General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement. After thorough consideration of the potential for environmental impacts and the comments received, the NPS determined a full environmental impact statement (EIS) was not needed and has replaced it with a shortened plan and environmental assessment.

The shortened document does not consider actions outside of the Reserve boundary and dismisses some alternatives previously described and analyzed.

On July 6, 2020, the full document will be posted to the project website at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/cirogmp.

City of Rocks National Reserve was designated as a unit of the National Park System on November 18, 1988. It is cooperatively managed with the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. The reserve comprises an area of 14,407 acres. Of that total, approximately 9,680 acres are in federal ownership, 4,087 acres are in private ownership, and 640 acres are owned by the State of Idaho.

To learn more about City of Rocks National Reserve, please see the unit website: www.nps.gov/ciro.

View the ful General Management Plan and Environmental Assessment here.