Giant Forest Lodge Historic District

The Giant Forest Lodge Historic District in Sequoia National Park contains the remains of what was once a sprawling tourist complex for visitors of the park. The district was added in May 1978 in the National Register of Historic Places. The plant was located in the Giant Forest, a forest of giant redwood trees, but it was almost completely demolished by the National Park Service in order to minimize its influence on the growth of giant trees.

Development

The first development of the Giant Forests was held in 1899 as a tent camp was set up in the forest. A road was built in 1903 and subsequent development measures had a more permanent character. The first lodge was built in 1915. 1921 built the Sequoia and General Grant National Parks Company, the first log cabin settlement in the vicinity of the Round Meadow. This eventually was called the " Giant Forest Lodge ". In the same year Camp Kaweah was established to provide additional accommodation. As early as 1926 a study by the National Park Service that the development of the park had a negative effect on the growth of the trees. The following year, recommended that the top park rangers, Colonel John White, to undo the first time the development. The concessionaire intervened, however, the Director of the National Park Service and White was overruled. However, he was able to set an upper limit of the park visitors staying overnight, the first time that has been set by such a measure in a national park. Two reports reported in 1962 and 1965 indicate that the hydrology of the area was affected by the development. The fire prevention measures, which was required by the proximity of the buildings had created unfavorable conditions for the regrowth of trees. In addition, the Leopold Report criticized the development of the national park, which was written by the conservationist Aldo Leopold, especially the development in the Giant Forest. The General Plan of the National Park Service in 1971 demanded a reduction of human impact on the Giant Forest. A consensus on the relocation of recreational facilities was in 1980.

Dismantling

During the 1990s, the National Park Service had decided to remove the previous Erschließungsbauten; In 1990 the demolition. It was completed in 2000, when the buildings, roads and infrastructure of the Giant Forest Lodge has been removed. The development of measures were now concentrated around the Gilbert Stanley Underwood Giant Forest Village Market at nearby Camp Kaweah, where it was in 2001 and the Giant Forest Museum located. The device is connected by a shuttle bus to the Giant Forest.

The accommodation of the visitors was replaced by the Wuksachi Village, which is about eight miles to the north is of the giant trees at sufficient distance.

The demolition of the infrastructure in the Giant Forest is remarkable, as it illustrates the conflict of interest in the National Park Service is in other respects, as the role of the keeper of natural resources on the one hand and as an institution responsible for the preservation of the registered in the National Register of Historic Places properties, because he had to decide was the interest of greater importance.