Three Idaho National Park Service sites set for restoration and repair projects

BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun)

— Three National Park Service sites in Idaho have been selected for new renovation and repair projects paid by federal funds through the Great American Outdoors Act.

On Friday, officials conducted groundbreaking ceremonies at Minidoka National Historic Site east of Twin Falls to kick off the restoration and repair projects.

Minidoka National Historic Site preserves an American concentration camp where 13,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II.

Minidoka National Historic Site is undergoing a multiyear renovation that will preserve the Block 22 Barracks, the mess hall and root cellar buildings.

“These improvements will allow visitors to step inside history, helping them better understand the lived experiences of Japanese Americans incarcerated at the Minidoka Relocation Center during World War II,” officials said in a press release announcing the projects.

In addition to renovating and preserving the historic buildings and sites, crews will build a new maintenance facility at Minidoka National Historic Site that will house offices, work stations, a carpentry shop and equipment repair bays, officials said. 

Renovations planned in southern Idaho

Other projects are also in the works at National Park Service sites in southern Idaho. 

The Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument is having fire protection systems installed to protect some of the monument’s fossils, officials said. 

Additionally, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve’s historic Mission 66 utility building will undergo an adaptive restoration project designed to restore a feature of the monument’s historic district, officials said. 

Funding for the projects comes from the Great American Outdoors Act’s Legacy Restoration Fund, which provided up to $1.3 billion per year for five years for overdue maintenance and repair projects in the National Park system.

“These projects will significantly enhance the visitor experience, not only through visible improvements like expanded programming, education, and interpretation, but also by investing in critical behind-the-scenes work that keeps park facilities safe and functional,” Wade Vagias, superintendent of the south Idaho parks, said in a written statement. “We are deeply grateful that these high-priority infrastructure projects were selected for Great American Outdoors Act funding, as they might otherwise have remained out-of-reach.”

The Great American Outdoors Act was passed by Congress and signed into law in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term in office. 

After five years, the Legacy Restoration Fund is set to expire today, and the National Park Foundation said legislation is needed to extend it to continue protecting national parks for future generations. 

Since the Great American Outdoors Act was signed into law, the Legacy Restoration Fund has invested a combined total of $82.9 million for 16 different projects in Idaho. Officials said the funding was used to rehabilitate recreational facilities and operations buildings and support water infrastructure and other utility projects.

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