Yosemite Environmental Education Center

For more than 30 years Yosemite Institute has conducted programs in Yosemite National Park. They operate at the Environmental Education Center at Crane Flat under a cooperative agreement with Yosemite National Park, helping to fulfill our shared educational mission.

The current Crane Flat campus is comprised of older buildings and structures that have been assembled over time and were not originally designed for educational purposes.

In 2002, Yosemite Institute and Yosemite National Park began work on a plan for a new environmental education campus that would ensure the future of residential environmental education in Yosemite National Park. An environmental impact statement has been completed and a preferred alternative site for the new campus has been chosen. Learn more about the project»

Henness Ridge, the preferred alternative site

After considering 11 sites, the National Park Service chose Henness Ridge as its preferred alternative for the new Environmental Education Center.

We fully support the National Park’s choice because the following factors make Henness Ridge the best option for the new Yosemite Environmental Education Center.

• Resource protection – the site has been used over the years as a road and trailhead, sand storage lot, as well as a Blister Rust and seasonal fire camp. The ridge top site is a significant distance from sensitive ecosystems to allow buffing of impacts. Building and site elements have placed a priority on protecting wildlife in the area with forward thinking strategies for securing waste and reducing light and noise pollution.
• Educational viability – Henness Ridge has a wide array of trails and destinations. Trails offer good seasonal access for hiking and winter activities allowing high quality field science opportunities throughout the year. Students can experience forest, meadow, and riparian habitats. The impact of fire in natural and managed systems will form an important part of the curriculum – a variety of fire management techniques have been employed in the immediate area offering the chance for high quality environmental monitoring projects.
• Seasonality – the Henness Ridge site is located at 6,100 feet and can have snow cover between December and April. The site offers exceptional opportunities for cross-country skiing and snow shoeing.
• Financial feasibility – The economic efficiencies of a new Center will allow Yosemite Institute to generate increased scholarship dollars for schools. This site offers a strong financial model for preserving our Valley operation, with an increase in beds for Yosemite Institute students at Henness Ridge helping to underwrite the commercial costs incurred by working with the Park Concessionaire for board and lodging.
• Access to established trails – the site is the trailhead for a series of former road and railroad beds. This established trail system will make it easy to disperse students in an environmentally sensitive manner.
• Student safety – design has pulled student-centered buildings and functions on the down slope aspect of the site offering significant insulation from the highway and establishing a clear perimeter for the site using natural features.
• Renewable energy potential – this site has significantly higher solar energy potential than other alternatives. A solar array will potentially produce 90% of electrical needs for the Center using existing holes in the forest canopy, reducing the need for tree clearance.
• Fire science – the location of Henness Ridge offers a unique opportunity to experience the wide range of fire management applications in the area. Immediate to the Center are areas encapsulating the full spectrum of forest types from unmanaged through prescription burning to wild land fire plots. The history of the site includes a seasonal fire camp and within easy walking distance of the Center is a fire tower with spectacular views of the surrounding environs. The presence of NPS fire personnel on site, associated with the fire station, will allow more interaction with NPS employees.
• Wilderness addition – water for the site will be provided from a well head near Indian Creek. This water source will allow the decommissioning of a water diversion and water tank currently on the Old Badger Pass Road. This removal will allow this utility corridor to rotate back to a Wilderness designation adding 67 acres to the wilderness inventory in Yosemite.
• New fire station – a fire station is included in the design for the new Center. The addition of this feature will increase the opportunities for students to interact with NPS staff. The obvious safety advantages for the site are clear but the more human element of interacting with personnel who are actively managing the surrounding areas for healthy forests is an exciting educational facet of the Center.
• Center as a teaching tool – the Center will be designed and built using the latest Green Building ideas and concepts. The architects have been tasked with ensuring that the Center becomes a teaching tool for instructors. Materials, techniques, and technologies will be clearly demonstrated and utilized in curriculum taught at the site. Students will be constantly reinforced in thinking about their use of energy and resources while at the Center utilizing both passive and active demonstrations and activities.
• Restoration of Crane Flat to natural landscape – as part of the preferred alternative solution the Crane Flat site would be fully restored to a natural landscape. Yosemite Institute fully supports this action; the meadow system species would benefit from this restoration and removal of the buildings would lessen the overall footprint for associated with developing Henness Ridge.
• Wilderness buffer – Wilderness designation is across the highway to the east of the site.
• Universal access – the buildings have been designed with 100% universal access. The trail systems offer unparalleled access in Yosemite National Park for individuals with mobility issues. The former railroad beds typically have low gradients (approximately 2%) and firm, well-drained surfaces allowing true independence for wheelchair users over a large proportion of the operation area.