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ORDERVILLE, Kane County — Zion National Park's east boundary is growing, and as such, leaders of its nonprofit partner opted for a different approach to celebrate the beginning of construction of a new discovery center planned for the area.
Volunteers, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, gathered near the entrance Tuesday afternoon to plant the seeds of six native flower species and celebrate the project's "bright future" over a more traditional groundbreaking.
The 22,000-square-foot Zion National Park Discovery Center, to be located on a 19-acre property just outside of the park's east entrance, will feature all sorts of "immersive" educational opportunities for all ages when it opens in 2025, according to Zion National Park Forever Project.
"I stand here with such immense pride and gratitude as we go on this journey of continuing to enhance the natural and cultural wonders of Zion National Park," said Natalie Britt, CEO of the nonprofit, before volunteers got to work.
"Nature heals like no other," she added. "This will be a place of therapy, healing and magic."
The nonprofit started working on growing the eastern entrance in recent years to help spread out visitation across Zion National Park, which experienced a spike in visitation over the past decade. About 4.7 million people visited the park last year, up 58% from 2012. It also drew nearly 2.7 million people in the first seven months of this year, close to its entire 2008 visitation, according to park visitation data.
However, most visitors swarm the park's western entrance in Springdale and the outdoor recreation attractions nearby. Zion Forever Project officials unveiled their plans to balance out visitation in 2019, including new facilities, development and trails just outside of the national park.
"It's really easy to get in that scarcity mindset and think, 'We need to keep this just for ourselves.' We see that overcrowding that happens in our parks and we hate it because they're not our parks anymore," Cox said, referencing the project's need. "The good news is there is so much more we can do here to share with each other."
That includes the forthcoming discovery center, which will focus on spotlighting the region's ecology, as well as its history from Indigenous times up until more recent agricultural uses. It represents a "new chapter" for the park, Britt said.
"This space, I believe, will set a national precedent for experiential and immersive learning — a place where children are going to be able to feel the freedom of climbing on a rock and getting their hands and feet in the dirt," she said. "We're going to get them away from the digital world, those devices and pressures of social media."
The facility will be built on land that Kevin McLaws, a resident in the area, donated to the project. Zion Forever Project officials add that the new center will also become a "transit hub into the park" with more than 70 miles of new trail systems around the eastern perimeter.
The Utah Department of Workforce Service's Permanent Community Impact Fund Board approved a $15 million bond that funded most of the project, while the Utah Department of Transportation invested $10 million toward the necessary road system for it.
"We must ensure the integrity of cultural, natural and recreation resources in perpetuity," said Zion National Park Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh. "We are so fortunate to have many willing public land partners here in Utah ... this new discovery center and its related facilities are (a) tremendous example."
