Curry Village Tent Cabin Bear-Proof Food Locker Replacement

Guests staying in Curry Village tent cabins cannot have food or other bear attractants in their tents. Bear-proof food lockers discarded by the NPS have been installed along the parking lot to allow visitors to remove food from their cars and store it safely away from bears. As a result, bear damage to vehicles at Curry Village has declined greatly, and fewer bears are being exposed to human food. Over the years, however, the lockers have been falling apart, undermining this service to visitors, and the safety to both visitors and bears. This project address both health and life-safety concerns by providing a safe place for visitors to store their food from bears and other wildlife.

This project would provide new bear-proof food lockers for tent cabin guests. Each of the 429 tent cabins will have its own locker. Lockers will be placed in the front or on the side of tent cabins and either bolted to the tent frame or anchored to the ground with a metal post, placed 20 inches beneath the ground. The post is approximately 3.5 inches diameter and will aid in leveling the lockers in situations that will not allow the locker to be bolted to the tent frame. There are 170 tent cabins within 1/4 mile from the Merced River. The lockers at these cabins will be installed by bolting them to the tent cabin frame to avoid any type of ground disturbance. To minimize the visual impact of the lockers on the Cultural Landscape, the lockers will be painted green (non-glossy finish) to match the tent platforms and custom sized to be compatible with the two existing tent sizes.The final placement of lockers will be done in consultation with the Historic Architecture and Landscape staff. Photo documentation in accordance with Stipulation VIII A (b) of the 1999 PA will be conducted prior to any project implementation activities by in-house HAL staff.