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| Above, Cottonwood Campground's ampitheater in Joshua Tree National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
Joshua Tree National Park is the closest national park to the greater Los Angeles area and it is straining to accommodate the high numbers of visitors as a result.
But plans are underway to modernize and upgrade the park's infrastructure.
According to LA Magazine:
Joshua Tree is now one of the most-visited national parks, and the park’s aging infrastructure is straining to accommodate everyone. The crowds have meant lines at entry gates, overwhelmed parking lots, stiff competition for camping spots, damage to delicate rock formations caused by climbers, and other stress on the natural environment. Now park officials are considering ways to upgrade facilities–without changing the rugged desert landscape that makes Joshua Tree so special in the first place.
A number of projects are in the works to update the park experience, inside the park and in the surrounding communities.
On peak weekends now, the park’s west entrance is prone to bottle necks at the entry gate. To alleviate the congestion, the National Park Service plans to replace the current booth with an updated one located a mile and a half inside the park’s boundary, complete with additional lanes and automated pay stations to speed traffic in and out.
To read more, go here.
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