Arco locals campaign for Idaho’s first national park

ARCO, Idaho – The Shell station shut down recently. Same with the drive-through restaurant. Wells Fargo will close next month, and nearby storefronts sit mostly vacant.

This steadily shrinking town of 900 undoubtedly has seen better days. Like so many other small Idaho communities, it has suffered from a weak rural economy and residents fleeing in search of jobs in more urban areas.

But in Arco there’s a hope that the 100th anniversary of the National Park System will offer momentum to boost the town in 2016.

A group of residents is campaigning to change the name of Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve – a 15-minute drive outside town – to Craters of the Moon National Park.

Not only would it be Idaho’s first national park, the name change would also bring a higher tourism profile to Craters’ unusual lava fields.

An influx of visitors would surely follow to tiny towns such as Arco, Carey and Mackay, group members say.

“When you think of the word ‘monument,’ what comes to your mind?” said Helen Merrill, a chiropractor. “Most people go, ‘Well – plaque, statue.’ So why would I get off a major highway to go see a monument? But if it’s a national park, then I’m going to go.”

Merrill and others hope a name change will help spark a revitalization in a town historically dominated by agriculture and in close proximity to Idaho National Laboratory’s desert site. The movement is starting to gain steam, picking up backing from numerous counties and state legislators.

Such a national park designation requires congressional approval. Idaho’s delegation has indicated they will pursue the idea if they see widespread support, from local governments and the state Legislature.

On a recent morning, Craters of the Moon is quiet and cold –about 10 degrees. A thick layer of snow blankets the black basaltic rock for which the park is famous, and a few low-lying clouds are hung up on volcanic cones that once spewed lava.

Encompassing more than 750,000 acres, the monument and preserve includes three lava fields formed by major eruptions between 2,000 and 15,000 years ago. Despite its otherworldly geology, Craters supports as many animal species as Yellowstone National Park and puts on a stunning show of wildflowers in springtime.

It also remains a frequent NASA research and training ground.

Considering this beautiful and bizarre landscape, local advocates say Craters is more than deserving of national park status, economic benefits aside.

The national park designation would only apply to the original 54,000 acres proclaimed by President Calvin Coolidge in 1924 as a monument. Management of the rest of Craters’ roughly 700,000 acres, expanded by President Bill Clinton in 2000, would remain the same, with hunting and grazing still allowed in certain areas.

“It wouldn’t make any practical difference in terms of how we manage the park or monument,” Craters spokesman Ted Stout said.

He said expenses for such a changeover would mostly entail switching out signs and park literature.

Stout said the park service isn’t allowed to take a position on the proposal. But he does have a sense for what the name change might mean, especially considering national parks figure more prominently than monuments on maps and in guide books.

“The public puts a lot more importance on areas called national parks,” Stout said. “A lot of our visitors kind of stumble into this place, and we certainly could use some more name recognition.”

Three national monuments that changed their designation to national parks since 2003 boosted visitation by an average of 28 percent. Craters has averaged around 200,000 visitors in recent decades, with last year reaching about 246,000.

“(Visitors) are really impressed with Craters of the Moon once they find us,” Stout said.

Rose Bernal, a Butte County commissioner, thinks 2016 is an ideal year to change the name. Craters would become the 60th national park at the same time the National Park Service celebrates it centennial.

Commissions of the five counties touching the monument and preserve have passed resolutions supporting changing the name, as have five other regional counties. The Idaho Association of Counties, with representation from around the state, also has formally backed the proposal.

But the hangup, at least for this year, could come in the state Legislature. Idaho’s U.S. congressional delegation wants support from state legislators before moving forward.

Last year a resolution supporting the name change easily passed the Idaho Senate, but several concerns with the proposal arose at the tail end of the legislative session, and the House didn’t have time to work them out.

Rep. Merrill Beyeler, R-Leodore, whose district includes Custer and Lemhi counties, sponsored the House resolution last year. He said he’s passionate about moving the proposal forward again, but he wants to be careful not to rush it.

In the late 1980s, then-U.S. Rep. Richard Stallings introduced a bill that would’ve changed the monument’s status to national park and expanded its size. But it didn’t go anywhere, in part because of concerns over added federal restrictions raised by hunting and grazing groups.

So far, the Idaho Farm Bureau appears to be the primary group to raise issues this time around. Its concerns initially centered around whether national park status would result in any added federal restrictions on access or grazing.

John Thompson, the Farm Bureau’s Pocatello-based spokesman, said those worries have mostly been appeased, including a concern that U.S. Highway 20/26 running through the park could become a toll road that would delay trucks carrying alfalfa from Jefferson County to the Magic Valley.

Thompson said his organization holds reservations that once a Craters bill hits Congress, it might be amended, and then turn out to have provisions that somehow affect agriculture in or around the park.

He said while the Farm Bureau has decided it can’t explicitly support any name change legislation, it also won’t oppose it.

“They need an infusion of commerce out there, and if this does it for them, that would be great,” Thompson said.

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo is one member of the Idaho delegation who has indicated he wants to see strong local and state support for the idea before introducing legislation.