[Jared Infanger] Look around, soak it up.
Youâre standing in a relocated forest.
Over a century ago, the Silver Forest
where trees were burned, were harvested and relocated
to Paradise and the logs were used to construct the Paradise Inn.
So the question was how do you
compete subalpine meadows filled with wildflowers or contend
with awe-inspiring power of an active volcano and its
glacier-covered slopes? This was the question facing builders
over a century ago. The simple answer was: you donât.
The builders of the Paradise Inn didnât look to
compete, but to connect. They built something
that complimented the landscape.
They used local materials.
The foundation and chimneys that you see are made of local stone.
The beams and posts are cedar logs.
The large windows provide views of the subalpine meadows
and blooms and mountain slopes
and connect visitor with the landscape. âPARKitectureâ
as this architectural style has come to be known,
is seen in many of Americaâs national parks.
PARKitecture connects us to place
and the park. From park to park it connects us across
the American landscape. It connects us to others and provides
A common point of reference though which we can
Celebrate Americaâs greatest idea. The investment in restoring
the Paradise Inn is a component of years of targeted investments
and plans for future projects to restore Paradise and protect
and conserve this place for future generations to come and connect.
[Dr. Allyson Brooks] Somebody asked me yesterday,
well why would we spend money
historic structures like this? Why should we spend our tax dollars?
and I thought
Why wouldnât we spend money on our own American history and the
places that weâre apart of and the story of us as Americans
and how we are related to our landscape.
As stated earlier, it is places like Paradise
Inn that give us access to the beautiful landscape
of the United States that is symbolized
by the incredible Mount Rainier or Olympic national park.
People come from all over the world to see these places so
I really gotta give kudos to the National Park Service
for putting funds in
to restoring the Paradise Inn.
[Ray Todd] This project demonstrates
the importance of and commitment
to addressing the large maintenance backlog
facing by nearly every park across the country
with us project we remedy more than
five million dollars in maintenance
backlog needs. Some key project components included
upgrades to the fire suppression system
that are crucial to protecting guests
structural and seismic improvements
and various energy efficiency changes that will result in cost
savings and reduced environmental footprint.
The National Park Service has served the American people
for more than a century because of its
employees and its networks of allies, advisors, and partners.
As a matter of fact, our parks and programs
were built on partnerships to do just that.
One of the things that stands out about this
Inn and made this project possible is that the most recent
restoration phase leveraged funding from various sources such
as federally appropriated funds, park entrance fees,
franchise fees paid by the park concessioner,
and partnership donations.
[John Korsmo] So I think that this project, this project
alone is a great example, I think itâs an excellent model
but for what could be taken across the country
to continue to fund and preserve our national parks
you know our buildings, our pathways, our trails,
the resources that we have in our national parks,
and support our
national parks going forward for many, many more years.
Weâre also very successful in meeting
and exceeding in some of the project goals here.
Over 90% of our contractors that worked on this job
met the goals of being a small business, and being a small
local business. And the out of those businesses, a third
of those contractors met goals to be disadvantaged
type firm requirement and/or were
veteran owned or disabled veteran owned businesses
that were up here working on this project.
And weâre very proud of the fact that weâre
continuing to work with those firms and working on them with
existing projects and future projects as well.
[Gerald Gabrys] Because at the end of the day
thatâs really what itâs all about. Itâs concessioners
and the National Park Service working to provide
the best possible experience for our visitors
coming to these national parks. And when you
enjoy the beauty of Mount Rainier, whether you actually
climb to the summit, or hike some of the amazing
trails, or walk through the wildflowers
at Sunrise, or whether just enjoy sitting
on the rocking chairs on the porch at National Park Inn,
when youâre finished you deserve the right
to come back and have
a tasty meal and a comfortable room,
and thatâs what we want to make sure you have.
So weâre proud to be involved in this
great accomplishment but we look forward to many, many more
in the future. Thank you.
[Drumming; word-less singing]
âªAhh, ahh, uh. âª
âªUhwee-uh ah-ah uh-ahâª
âªuh-ah oooo Hoaoh...âª
[singing repeats, some in the Nisqually language]
âª