After an uproar in the community, the National Park Service has backed away from a plan to create a satellite parking lot along Panoramic Highway to shuttle visitors to Muir Woods.
Each year, the national monument draws almost 1 million visitors to take in the towering redwoods. But getting to the park can be an ordeal on warm weekends and parking at the site can be hard to find.
Motorists often end up parking on shoulders outside the main lot along Muir Woods Road. That presents a safety hazard, threatens the health of the Redwood Creek watershed and diminishes the visitor experience, park service officials said.
The park service is now trying to develop a plan to lessen the impacts. One concept was to run a shuttle between a new parking lot on Panoramic Highway, near the Dias Ridge trailhead. The lot could have held as many as 180 vehicles, moving them away from car-choked Muir Woods.
But the idea did not sit well with many and now park officials say it is off the table.
“We heard the public loud and clear,” said Howard Levitt, spokesman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. “We are not pursuing (parking) up there. From the beginning it was just an idea, nothing more.”
Satellite parking and shuttles are still being discussed, but are focused on established lots at the Highway 101/1 junction near Mill Valley.
Gerald Pearlman, a member of the Muir Beach Community Services District, said he was pleased the Panoramic parking plan has been dropped. Earlier this week supervisors Steve Kinsey and Kate Sears held a well-attended meeting at Tam Valley Elementary School to discuss the park service’s Muir Woods plans with the public.
“It’s a kind of turning point,” said Pearlman of the decision. “We are very happy.”
Still, Pearlman suggests a distrust of the park service exists in the communities surrounding Muir Woods and he would like to see a moratorium on Muir Woods parking plans.
But Levitt said the park service and the community’s goals are of like mind.
“There is no desire to kick up visitation to Muir Woods as some people are suggesting is our goal,” Levitt said. “Muir Woods is a gem within Marin, but it’s also a national treasure. It’s important people come and visit Muir Woods, but we are concerned about doing that with as little impact as possible.”
A reservation system to get into Muir Woods is being looked at by the park service — which would be operated by a concessionaire. The idea is getting a better reception from locals. It is intended to be a long-term measure that will allow the park to meter the number of visitors in advance of their arrival so that congestion can be minimized.
It is still being developed and would be implemented in 2015 at the earliest.
“We are as concerned as anyone about the impact of visitors,” Levitt said. “We think this reservation system would help.”
Contact Mark Prado via email at mprado@marinij.com
