Salt Creek Boardwalk environmental review complete

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. – The National Park Service (NPS) completed the environmental review of plans to replace Salt Creek Boardwalk, which was destroyed by a flash flood two years ago. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will put the project out to bid. All public access to the site will be closed during construction, which is planned for fall 2024 through spring 2025.

For decades, people enjoyed viewing Salt Creek pupfish (Cyprinodon salinus salinus) from the boardwalk, one of the park’s few wheelchair-accessible trails. The boardwalk prevented people from trampling the creek, which is this fish’s only habitat.

A flash flood in August 2022 destroyed the boardwalk and vault toilet. The parking lot and road were further damaged during the remnants of Hurricane Hilary in 2023.
The Salt Creek Boardwalk project will replace the raised boardwalk, reconstruct the road and parking area, and install a new restroom at a reconfigured trailhead. The project is funded by FHWA’s Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads (ERFO) program and Federal Lands Transportation Program (FLTP), NPS Disaster Supplemental, and donations from Death Valley Natural History Association.

The environmental review documents are available at: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/DEVASaltCreek.

-www.nps.gov/deva-

Death Valley National Park is the homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone and preserves natural resources, cultural resources, exceptional wilderness, scenery, and learning experiences within the nation’s largest conserved desert landscape and some of the most extreme climate and topographic conditions on the planet. Learn more at www.nps.gov/deva. 

In 2022, flash flooding destroyed the half-mile-long Salt Creek Boardwalk.

NPS photo

 

 

Salt Creek pupfish
NPS photo

 

Overview of Salt Creek Boardwalk project.

FHWA design