KANE COUNTY, Utah — Big changes are coming to Zion National Park in southern Utah, but most are on an often-neglected side of the park.
"I think when you come into the visitor center in the main canyon, that's where the shuttle brings people down Scenic Drive, and it's a busy center. This space is being designed to slow visitors down," explained Natalie Britt, CEO of Zion Forever Project.
Britt is talking about the Zion Discovery Center, the centerpiece of a decade-long project to boost the profile of the less-visited east side of the national park.
Locals got a good look Friday at the nearly 18-acre site, with vertical construction just about complete. While the visitor center on the west side gets people into the park and keeps them moving, park officials hope the Discovery Center will be the place to slow down and understand it.
"It's pushing people outside into the landscape to have that incredible opportunity to slow down, interact with somebody in the green and gray, and all of a sudden, when they don't have phone service, connect with the landscape," Britt said.
"It's really important for kids to get that exposure to, 'Hey, I can build this fort out of wood. I can wade in the stream and discover frogs and tadpoles and all those kinds of things.'" added Zion National Park Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh.
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Angels Landing and the scenic shuttle on the west side of Zion get much of the glory, but the part of the park on the other side of the Mount Carmel Tunnel isn’t without its own majesty, including Checkerboard Mesa and the Overlook.
The Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians played an active role in developing the new center.
"This property could have been sold for development, and instead we're seeing developers meet at that intersection of commerce and conservation," said Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians Chairman Roland Maldonado. "So they're catching up with what we've always known for thousands of years in practice.
"If this can plant that seed, then our future is brighter because of it."
