Scotty's Castle Flood Rehabilitation Environmental Assessment

The National Park Service (NPS) is proposing to rehabilitate various historic and nonhistoric features in the Death Valley Scotty Historic District (Scotty's Castle or DVSHD) at Death Valley National Park (park). The proposed project is needed because buildings and facilities at Scotty's Castle were damaged by extensive flooding on October 18, 2015 following a major rainstorm and subsequent flash flood.

This Environmental Assessment (EA) evaluates two alternatives: a no action alternative and the NPS's preferred alternative. Under the no action alternative, the buildings and facilities at Scotty's Castle would be stabilized enough to prevent further damage, but not to the degree needed for public access. Under the preferred alternative, improvements would include repairing flood-damaged buildings and landscape features within DVSHD; replacing or
upgrading electrical systems, communication systems, water utilities, and climate control facilities; and improving safety and accessibility.

This EA has been prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to provide the decision-making framework that 1) analyzes a reasonable range of alternatives to meet the objectives of the proposal, 2) evaluates potential issues and impacts on resources and values, and 3) identifies mitigation measures to lessen the degree or extent of these impacts.

Resource topics analyzed in detail include cultural resources, special status wildlife species, floodplains and wetlands, and visitor use and safety. All other resource topics were dismissed because the proposed project would have little or no impact on those resources.

Document Content:

Final Scotty's Castle EA 10252017.pdf   (15.6 MB, PDF file) Final Scotty's Castle EA_Part1.pdf   (10.5 MB, PDF file) Final Scotty's Castle EA_Part2.pdf   (6.4 MB, PDF file) Death Valley news release _ Scottys Castle _ Bonnie Clare draft EAs 2 (1).docx   (404.6 KB, .docx file) Disclaimer: Links within the above document(s) were valid as of the date published. Note: Some of the files may be in PDF format and can be viewed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You may download a free copy of from Adobe Systems.