Valley of Fire breaks ground for new visitor center

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

The Valley of Fire State Park broke ground for an upcoming new multi-million-dollar visitors center on Monday, April 22 at an all new site toward the eastern end of the park near The Beehives across the highway from the Atlatl Rock area.

“This is long overdue,” state park interpreter Kayla Wolfe said. “The current visitor center has been there since 1969.”

The current visitor center will be replaced by a 17,000 square-foot facility, costing an estimated $33 million by fall of 2025.

Most of the funding was privately provided through grants and private donations. One of the biggest financial donations from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust was announced during the groundbreaking ceremony by the trust representative and Helmsley’s grandson, Walter Panzirer. Panzirer was happy to announce the donation amount of $7 million.

Other funding provided included $9.25 million from Conserve Nevada, $14 million from a one-time appropriation from the Governor’s Finance Office Budget Division, $1.9 million from a maintenance fund and $1 million from American Rescue Plan Fun, amongst others.

In April 2023, The Helmsley Charitable Trust also provided a $3.5 million donation to the Ice Age Fossils State Park to help with the outside amenities there.
“It has been brewing for a while now, but within the last couple of years is when it really took off,” Wolfe said about the concept of a new visitor center.

The park has seen substantial growth within tourism attendance recently, jumping from 450,000 visitors in 2011 to 750,000 in 2021 according to Wolfe. She said the new facility will better accomodate that substantial and continuing growth.

Site selection was a long process involving paleontology surveys, archaelogical surveys, and even more paperwork and approval from multiple entities, Wolfe said.

The new center will be able to accommodate about 200 people comfortably and will include more exhibits, as well as more restrooms and parking.

One display Wolfe was excited for is a “geological table” that will show the visual history of the rock formations within the park, using technological advances.

“We kept pretty quiet about it on public platform, it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that we knew we had the funding for the building of the center,” she said. “We knew we had the funding for the planning process and have everything ready, but thankfully we were approved.”

The ceremony was conducted by Wolfe with brief speeches by Panzirer and Nevada State Park Administrator Bob Mergell.

The 10:00 a.m. ceremony included local, federal and tribal government leaders who also participated in digging in their shovels to break the ground for the site. These included U.S. Congressman Steven Horsford, Director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources James Settlemeyer, Moapa Band of Paiutes Chairwoman Vickie Simmons and others.

One feature that Wolfe said will be a huge addition is the ampitheater which will seat 200 people and can be used to provide better education and entertainment. The center will be nearby the Beehives Trailhead and Campground and will be positioned with a “beautiful sight of the local landscape,” especially at night.

“The new visitor center is (1) a way to find things to notice that you wouldn’t have thought to look for; and (2) take things you already appreciate and appreciate them even more,” she said.
Wolfe added the park will have construction going on until the center is finished but that they will ensure that people are still able to visit with as little hindrance as possible.

The current visitor’s center was last remodelled in mid-1980’s. But due to the lower capacity of the existing center, it has caused multiple frustrations, especially pertaining to parking.
Designs for the center were created by LGA Architecture out of Las Vegas.

Wolfe said the park site will have updates on the progression of the center and construction projects.