Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis announced today that the Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI)/Decision Notice for the Mammoth Housing Plan and Environmental Assessment (EA) was signed on June 20, 2003. The project was on public review for a 30-day period that ended on November 4, 2002. Twelve written responses were received.

The National Park Service (NPS) is proposing construction of new employee housing units and renovation of buildings for use as housing by NPS employees , concessioners, and cooperating organizations in Yellowstone. The proposed development sites are located in Lower Mammoth and at the Young Adult Conservation Corps Camp (YACC Camp), 1.2 miles south of Mammoth Hot Springs. Housing is also proposed on 6 NPS-owned lots in Gardiner, Montana.

Under the preferred alternative, seventy-five housing units would be constructed or adaptively used. Proposed housing development would take place in small increments, as funding becomes available. Existing National Park Service and concessioner housing would be retained, and trailers and other substandard housing would be removed as new units are built to replace them.

The first phase of housing construction is scheduled to begin in late 2003, and includes construction of three units on the NPS-owned lots in Gardiner, Montana, and an eight-plex at the YACC Camp. Copies of the FONSI/Decision Notice and a summary of comments received during public review of the project and the National Park Service response to those comments will be sent to everyone that commented. The EA and FONSI are posted on the Internet at www.nps.gov/yell/technical/planning and are also available upon written request to:

Planning Office
Mammoth Housing Plan FONSI
PO Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 82190