Draft Development Concept Plans Frijoles Canyon and Tsankawi, Bandelier National Monument

National Park Service

Facilities at Bandelier National Monument are not adequate to meet existing use levels. Increasing visitation threatens the monument's cultural and natural resources, affects the quality of the visitor experience, and highlights the inadequacy of the existing facilities. Insufficient staff and funds, the lack of baseline data on resource conditions, and resource degradation are issues at both the Frijoles Canyon unit and the separate Tsankawi unit. The protection of the cultural resources and the state's plans to widen the highway adjacent to Tsankawi (New Mexico Highway 4) are issues specific to Tsankawi. The action alternatives at both sites address the issues identified, but they are visitation-driven and not resource or goal oriented. A visitor experience / resource protection (VERP) study must be completed to determine the level of visitation that can be sustained by the monument resources so that the resources are preserved for posterity and a highquality visitor experience can be maintained. The preferred alternative for Frijoles Canyon addresses vehicular congestion in the canyon and on the mesa, the overcrowded visitor facilities in the canyon, and the lack of space for NPS staff and operations in the canyon. There would be a visitor contact station and parking area on the mesa top to provide orientation, information, and other visitor services. A visitor shuttle, boarded at the contact station, would operate during the peak season (currently April through October). A segment of the Frey Trail would be relocated to link with the new visitor contact station, and a new pedestrian trail would connect Juniper Campground loops and the contact station. There would be no new construction in the canyon except handicap-accessible restrooms. The CCC buildings would be used for interpretation. Most maintenance and administrative services would be placed on the mesa top in new headquarters and maintenance buildings. Minimal maintenance, law enforcement, and security services would remain in the canyon, along with a few staff offices and some housing. Implementing this alternative would (1) help maintain the integrity of the CCC historic district because only changes in use are proposed, (2) possibly create some negative impacts on archeological resources, (3) permanently compact 7.22 acres and temporarily disturb 6.51 acres of soils, vegetation, and wildlife habitat on the mesa top for structures, roads, and parking areas, (4) significantly reduce emissions and slightly improve the air quality in the canyon during the peak season, (5) reduce the noise level in the canyon, (6) improve visitor experiences by building a new visitor contact station, improving safety conditions, ending peakseason vehicular congestion in the canyon, expanding the interpretive program, separating NPS operations and maintenance functions from visitors, and removing concessions from the monument, and (7) change the visitor experience by using a mandatory peak season shuttle. The no-action alternative for Frijoles Canyon, provided as a basis for assessing the impacts of the preferred alternative, would not cause significant changes in monument management or resolve the issues identified. Under alternative A, the preferred alternative for Tsankawi, a new visitor contact station and 30-car parking area would be built. (The existing parking area will be removed by the state when NM Highway 4 is widened.) A staff n sidence and a trail between the contact station and the existing Tsankawi trail system would also be built. Two full-time rangers; would be stationed at the site, and management emphasis would be on interpretation and protection of resources. Implementing this alternative would (1) improve NPS presence and thus no source protection, (2) improve the visitor experience, (3) permanently disturb 0.88 acre and temporarily disturb up to 3.17 acres of soil, vegetation, and wildlife habitat for constructing the new facilities, (4) improve visitor safety by increasing sight distance at the parking area, and (5) make the visitor contact station accessible to visitors with disabilities. Alternative B is the no-action alternative for Tsankawi. This alternative, also provided as a basis for assessing the impacts of the preferred alternative, would not significantly change monument management. The state will still widen the highway adjacent to Tsankawi and remove the parking area. A new parking area would be built in the southwest comer of the Tsankawi unit. The existing trail from the current parking area to the visitor contact station would be removed, and a new trail would extend southward from the contact station to the new parking area. The visitor contact station would continue its existing function. Summer interpretive walks and talks would continue, and no employee housing would be added. Accessibility for visitors with disabilities would remain as it is now. Implementing this alternative would (1) improve visitor safety (as in the preferred alternative) with the improved sight distance to enter and leave the parking area, but (2) would not mitigate impacts on the resources.