Craters of the Moon Administrative History

Chapter 10:
CONCESSIONS

BLIZZARD MOUNTAIN JUNCTION: TESTING THE POLICY

In 1967, less than ten years after the monument's full-service concession ended, the idea of establishing a new concession operation was reconsidered, only this time the site selected lay outside of Craters of the Moon, on its eastern boundary at the Blizzard Mountain Junction. The idea belonged to Superintendent Paul Fritz, who broached the subject during his efforts to revise the 1966 master plan. [18]

The superintendent cited several reasons for his interest in developing a new concession. First, in an age of industrial tourism, the monument's 200,000 annual visitors saturated the existing services and burdened the monument's personnel. Second, larger numbers of monument visitors were "striving for...liquid refreshments, food, gasoline, and auto services, overnight accommodations, trailer hook-ups, and camping and picnic supplies." Third, reflecting his larger agenda of currying public support for the monument's expansion, Fritz advocated a multipurpose approach. The concession would serve well visitors to Craters of the Moon, the traveler along U.S. Highway 93A, and patrons of the Blizzard Mountain Ski Area. [19]

Finally, the proposed site was situated outside the monument boundaries. The superintendent opposed any new development inside the monument, which was constrained by the headquarters' restricted design and physical terrain. Thus the Blizzard Mountain Junction, two miles east of the headquarters and half a mile outside the area, was attractive because it was located on "generally flat terrain and not on fragile or high scenic geologic features." It was strategically situated near the monument, easily visible and accessible from the highway and secondary roads to the Pioneer Mountains and the Challis National Forest. In addition to the new concession development, Fritz planned to move the proposed group campground east, to the northern base of Sunset Cone, and construct a road from it to the Blizzard Mountain Road, north of the highway, thereby creating a self-contained camping and concession facility away from the headquarters area. [20]

In his negotiations with the Bureau of Land Management (under whose jurisdiction the Blizzard Mountain Junction fell), Superintendent Fritz found the agency amenable to his plan. In an August 22, 1967 memorandum, for example, the BLM offered an "equal" land exchange with the Park Service to allow the monument to obtain the proposed site, in effect transferring grazing for nongrazing lands, and modifying the boundaries for administrative efficiency. Hence, Idaho Falls District Manager Jesse Kirk suggested that the monument cede two parcels totaling 160 acres in the north end, believing they were better off under BLM management. A parcel of comparable size, contiguous with the monument and having little grazing value would be transferred from the BLM to the NPS. [21]

Over the next month the BLM tossed around several proposals for consummating the exchange. The first was formal legislation, with a special lease granted in the interim to enable the Park Service to begin planning and construction; the second means abandoned the first, however, and favored adding the lands by presidential proclamation, leaving the boundary adjustments intact. [22]

Even though Fritz had the support of the BLM, he could not convince his superiors in the regional office to alter the monument's concession policy. The 1965 master plan team concluded that no new facilities or boundary changes were necessary, and agency officials held firm to that decision. To no avail, Fritz argued that the proposed concession would be mutually beneficial, and in order to make it possible, the Park Service must enter into the land exchange, since the BLM apparently had no desire to operate a concession. [23]

Reiterating the Park Service's position, Acting Regional Director Raymond O. Mulvany told the superintendent that agency officials "do not share your enthusiasm for the development of a concession facility at Craters of the Moon." The costs were prohibitive, especially when "facilities are available within a 30 minute drive of the monument." And, the "prudence of adding lands to the monument" for the concession was questionable. Furthermore, Mulvany believed, the services of a concession should be left to the private sector to develop--outside of the monument--since, it was thought, nonmonument visitors would use the facility most. Thus, no matter the variations offered by Fritz, the agency held fast to the existing (1966) master plan and past policy, and considered the "matter closed until such time as a new master plan study is made at Craters of the Moon." [24]

In essence, the superintendent challenged the no-concession policy by attempting to remove the development from the headquarters area. But while that eliminated one problem, it failed to take into account that the Park Service would not manage a concession anywhere inside (or outside) park boundaries as long as nearby gateway towns or private industry satisfied visitor needs.

Rebuffed by Park Service officials, Fritz interested and then assisted local businessmen in their pursuit of developing a concession. He alerted Idaho Senators Frank Church and Les Jordan to the situation in early 1968, and with their influence and pressure from private interests, the BLM offered to lease or sell the site at Blizzard Mountain Junction under the Small Tract Act or Public Land Sale Act of 1964. In either respect, however, the bureau believed that commercial development would place it "in the 'town' business," a responsibility belonging to local government. Moreover, Butte County was not zoned. And federal law stipulated that public lands could not be sold without local zoning regulations to "control the manner and type...of commercial facilities." Thus, the responsibility and future of the concession fell to the Butte County Commissioners--and ended with them. In May 1968, they decided that it was not feasible to zone the county at the time, thereby terminating the proposal. [25]