Mount Rainier National Park View and Vista Management Plan
Moss S, Hawkes M, Piona A, Stromberg J. 2015. Mount Rainier National Park View and Vista Management Plan. Cultural Landscape Management Plans. MORA 105 129926. National Park Service. Mount Rainier National Park
View and Vista Management Plan for Mount Rainier National Park. The Park Roads Standards (1984), which provides guidelines for road design and building within the NPS, recognizes that, "Park roads are often an end in themselves, rather than just a means to an end, in contrast to a more conventional highway system." The roads of Mount Rainier National Park in Washington were thoughtfully designed to showcase the dramatic scenic resources of the park. These roads are contributing components of the Mount Rainier National Park National Historic Landmark District (NHLD), exemplifying early NPS park planning and the use of naturalistic landscape architecture. Active preservation of views and vistas along Mount Rainier National Park's roadways is an important way to preserve the integrity of the landmark district and to provide visitors with the experience that early park planners intended. National Park landscape engineers developed a cohesive style for the park's design in the 1920s, following from the principles that the landscape should be preserved and the built features should blend harmoniously with nature. The roads were intended follow the contours of the topography, keeping the traveler in a state of expectancy and awe. This View and Vista Management Plan document is organized by road, beginning with Nisqually and moving counter-clockwise through the park. Originally intended as a series of loop roads encircling Mount Rainier, the park's road system is composed of five major roads: Nisqually Road, Steven's Canyon Road, East Side Highway, Mather Memorial Highway, and Yakima Park Highway. Each section of this document contains a brief history of the road, an overview map of contributing views, and documentation for each view. View documentation consists of location information, aerial maps, description of existing views, treatment recommendations, and photo documentation. The report was created during the summer of 2015 by a team of three National Council for Preservation Education interns, under the direction of Mount Rainier National Park's historical landscape architect, Saylor Moss.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Moss, Saylor; Hawkes, Miranda; Piona, Amber; Stromberg, Jennifer
- Date of Issue
- 2015-09
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- MORA , PWR
- Keywords
- east side, Landscape architecture, Management Plan, Mather Memorial, National Historic Landmark District, Naturalistic, nhld, Nisqually, park development, Park Planning, pullout, road system, Stevens Canyon, Thomas Vint, view, view documentation, Vista, Yakima Park