ARRA Funded West Pinnacles Visitor Contact Station Nears Completion

A new West Pinnacles Visitor Contact Station at Pinnacles National Monument is slated for completion just after the new year, replacing the existing flood prone Chaparral Ranger Station. The state-of-the-art contact station is one of 800 National Park Service projects receiving funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Approximately 150 local construction jobs were created as a result of ARRA stimulus funding.

Commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act,ARRA is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama .

The West Pinnacles Visitor Contact Station is among several other improvements set to open on the west side of the Pinnacles National Monument. Additional facility upgrades include housing for park staff, a maintenance building with an emergency operations center and an entrance station.

Anderson-Burton Construction, Inc. was awarded the contract to build the west side facilities using “green” designs. The monument expects the new facilities to earn a platinum rating, the highest rating from the U.S. green building council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design(LEED)program.

The design of the visitor contact station answers National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis’s latest initiative,A Call to Action. First, by Going Green in an eco-friendly building that is expected to reduce the Pinnacles carbon footprint through the use of renewable energy sources and Out with the Old,installing interpretive media that can offer interactive experiences and are accessible to the broadest range of the public.

Pinnacles will be making the transition into the new facilities throughout the month of December and into the new year, with the West Pinnacles Visitor Contact Station opening to the public on January6, 2012. In the interim, a temporary visitor contact station will be provided at the Chaparral parking lot beginning December 5, 2011. The monument plans a public dedication ceremony for the new facilities in mid-April.

For complete details on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, go to www.recovery.gov.

For more information on new West Pinnacles facilities and improvements go to the Pinnacles Park Web Site
or contact BG Horvat at (831) 389 –4486 x267.