293-6 Assessing Common Accessibility Issues in Parks of the Southwest United States: Key findings and Scoping for Future Detailed Studies

Session: Deliver the Message: Harness Diverse Media and Divergent Methods to Describe and Depict Geoscience Information (Posters)

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Abstract:

Parks in the Southwestern U.S. are a major tourism draw both domestically and internationally.  These parks are unique in that there are critical safety concerns that exist, large numbers of tourists use the park, and the land needs to be protected from impact. Demand for national parks is generally increasing and with an increase in retiring populations, accessibility is an issue to be addressed. Initial observational research was conducted in Death Valley National Park as well as other areas surrounding it encompassing Valley of Fire, Zion Park and commercial areas. The goal of this research was to generally identify key issues and develop a survey approach to better inform efforts to increase accessibility. There were numerous general examples of accessible facilities and infrastructures such as paved trails, appropriate signage, accessible restrooms and retail sites in all three parks visited. However there were some major issues observed including little to no pavement in some popular tourist areas that may limit wheelchair access, limited accessible restrooms, and inaccessible utilities and commercial spaces. Some improvements would include paving the relatively flat areas in some settings.  Heat stress is noted as a safety issues for people with disabilities. Heat related issues pose a specific challenge and likely would require special engineering of structures, particularly in Death Valley. Of the three parks, Zion was generally assessed to have the best accessibility infrastructure with many accessible restrooms and ramps on many commercial sites in the park. Results of this effort provide structure for detailed surveys and scoping of future studies that would be needed to further develop accessibility infrastructure. Death Valley should be prioritized but likely improvements would be at higher costs. Valley of Fire would likely benefit the most from paving and simple shelter construction and would likely see the best cost-benefit, having several small fixes. By better establishing the context of disability infrastructure improvements, directions for companies and governments can be established to better allocate resources for maximizing use for the broader population. Some tasks could be completed via volunteerism however some tasks would require significant investment and technical design.  

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

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