SMNRA Design Guidelines 2007.pdf

Spring Mountains National Recreation Area

Built Environment Image Guide

B u i l d i n g f r o m t h e E a r t hB u i l d i n g f r o m t h e E a r t h

United States Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Intermountain Region

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

February 2007

U. S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Spring Mountains National Recreation Area 4701 North Torrey Pines Drive Las Vegas, NV 89130

Prepared by:

Shapins Associates 1818 16th St.

Boulder, CO 80302

AJC Architects 703 East 1700 South Salt Lake City, UT 84105

Consultants:

National Park Service Denver Service Center

Final Document February 2007

Spring Mountains National Recreation Area

Built Environment Image Guide i

ContentsChapter 1: Introduction Purpose and Background 2 Relationship to Built Environment Image Guide 2 Audience 2 Concessions Design 3 Facilities Outside of the National Recreation Area 3 Guidelines Format 3

Chapter 2: Planning Context Location 6 Regional Character 7 Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Character 8 Landscape Ecology 8 ROS Settings 12 Cultural Influences 13

Chapter 3: Vision and Principles

Chapter 4: Design Guidelines

4.1 Site Structure 25

Site Selection 25 Site Planning 26 Village 26 Picnic and Day Uses 28 Campgrounds 30 Scenic Overlooks 31 Major Trailheads 32 Maintenance/Operations 33 Drainage 34 Grading 35 Roadways 36 Parking 37 Paved and Special Trails 38 Open Play Areas 39 Functional Plantings 40 Plant Lists 41 Plant Restoration 43

4.2 Overall Development Character and Appearance 44

Transition Zone - the Baseline for Design Guidelines 44

High Desert Zone Considerations 45 Forested Zone Considerations 46 Materials 47 Scale/Massing 48 Form 49 Color 50

4.3 Buildings 52

Building Character 52 Architectural Elements 53 Massing and Scale 53 Base 55 Walls 57 Windows and Openings 59 Roofs 61 Structure 63 Materials 65 Unifying Characteristics Between Zones 67 Synthesis Drawings of Architectural Facilities 68

4.4 Landscape Improvements 77

Paving 77 Paving – Stairs 83 Walls 84 Fences, Rails and Safety Barriers 90 Seating – Benches 93 Seating – Group 95 Sign Bases 96 Shade Shelters 99 Art 101

Appendices A.1 LEED Criteria/Checklist 104 A.2 Light 107 A.3 Potential Stone Suppliers 112 A.4 Potential Products or Specifications 113 A.5 SMNRA BEIG Implementation and Variance Review Process 115

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 1

Building from the Ear th

Purpose and Background

This design guideline provides direction for designing facilities within the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area and its diverse environments.

Recommendations focus on the appearance and function of facilities.

Facilities should have a uniform character and use of materials that both reflect and fit into their setting.

Final design must respond to the specific environment and user needs.

The Spring Mountains are a unique collection of landscape types in the American Southwest. The range is an isolated “sky island,” meaning that it is separated from other ecologically similar areas by large tracts of desert. As a result of this physical disconnection, the area’s plants and animals evolved in isolation and the range is home to many plant and animal species found nowhere else. The Spring Mountains, from their lowest elevations to their highest, should be considered part of the Mojave Desert for design purposes. The Mojave Desert’s built environment should reflect its unique natural and cultural characteristics.

Facilities should connect visitors with the surrounding landscape.

The landscape is generally made up of three ecological zones: High Desert, Transition, and Forested. The majority of planned facilities will be located in the Transition zone.

Therefore this zone was used as the foundation for the Design Guidelines.

Specifics pertaining to the other two zones are described in section

4.2 of Chapter 4. Section 4.3, which covers guidelines for buildings, lists differences for all three zones.

The Forest Service’s Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) is integral to these guidelines. The primary goal is to help visitors make a smooth transition from the nearby urban areas to the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area’s natural environment.

Relationship to Built Environment Image Guide

This document supplements the Built Environment Image Guide (BEIG), which provides guidelines for the Forest Service nationwide, including the Mojave Desert. These design guidelines allow designers to respond to the National Recreation Area’s unique characteristics.

Main concepts within the BEIG should be used in tandem with this document.

Audience

This document is meant for those involved in planning, designing, constructing or rehabilitating facilities within the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area. It will help designers and reviewers adhere to common goals, standards and measures.

The document also provides guidance for operations and maintenance employees who manage, repair or replace existing facilities. Guidelines are provided to help this group choose products and materials compatible to the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area’s design environment.

1. Introduction

The Spring Mountains are a “Sky Island” in the Mojave Desert.

Introduction

Concessions

Concession facilities, although many times not constructed by the Forest Service, should fit visually within the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area’s facility design framework.

Therefore, design of concessions facilities should follow the principles contained within this document and the Built Environment Image Guide (BEIG). Design reviewers should also use both documents as benchmarks.

Related Facilities Outside the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area

Certain Spring Mountains National Recreation Area facilities may be built outside of the National Recreation Area’s borders. Although these facilities will be located in a different context, their design should still reflect the principles contained within this document and the BEIG. This will help visitors identify with the character of the National Recreation Area and the ethic of the Forest Service before setting foot in the National Recreation Area. However, Forest Service information facilities and buildings located within a highly designed setting, such as the Middle Kyle Canyon Complex, may need to be adapted to fit with their context.

Designers should creatively use the vision and principles in this document to guide decisions in such a situation.

Facilities outside the National Recreation Area may include visitor centers and offices. Smaller facilities outside the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area boundary might include scenic overlooks from which visitors could view and learn about the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.

Document Format

Chapter One summarizes information regarding the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area and the use of these guidelines. Chapter Two presents the planning context in which this document was produced.

Chapter Three presents the overall vision for Spring Mountains National Recreation Area facilities and the overall design principles that apply to all facilities.

Chapter Four provides the main guidance for planning and designing each of the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area facilities. It begins by describing how individual elements fit together and relate to the environment. It then proceeds to greater levels of detail by discussing

The Spring Mountains National Recreation Area is a unique landscape, and a subset of design guidelines is needed in addition to those found in the BEIG landscape improvements, buildings, development character, and site improvements. Part of this section also provides site planning considerations for several types of areas, including the proposed developed visitor center and “village” along S.R. 157, picnic areas, campgrounds, major trailheads, overlooks and maintenance facilities.

Chapter 2

Planning Context

Location

The 316,000 acre Spring Mountains National Recreation Area contains tracts of Mojave Desert and high mountain peaks. The National Recreation Area lies just 30 minutes northwest of Las Vegas and currently hosts approximately two million visitors each year.

Many of the National Recreation Area’s visitors are not familiar with the sensitivity and uniqueness of this landscape. Most are drawn to the National Recreation Area’s upper Kyle and Lee canyons in the summer.

Temperatures are 20-30 degrees cooler than in Las Vegas. In winter, the snow attracts large numbers of visitors. The land surrounding State Routes 156, 157 and 158 contain the majority of the National Recreation Area’s recreation facilities and will likely receive a number of future facilities. The west side of the National Recreation Area—near Pahrump— may also receive facilities in the future.

2. Planning Context

Location and context map

Regional Character

The Mojave Desert has a different character than other areas in the Southwest, largely because of the extremely dry hot summer climate.

These weather conditions made it less hospitable to early settlers. Until recently, the population consisted of a small number of homesteaders, ranchers, and miners.

Much of the area was not homesteaded and the Federal Government retains ownership of much of the land. As a result, the Mojave landscape remains largely undeveloped and open.

Las Vegas is an exception to this situation. The city started out as a railroad stop facility, but by the mid-1900’s had become a gaming destination. Facilities were not designed to reflect the surrounding environment. The Spring Mountains National Recreation Area presents an opportunity to provide a natural setting with the planning and design of facilities.

Goodsprings has many examples of early Mojave Desert architecture—such as the saloon building pictured above

Contemporary Las Vegas’s entertainment architecture is not consistent with the surrounding landscape

Cobbly canyon walls in the Spring Mountains are a result of alluvial mud flows

Rock formations are created from calcrete and are common within the lower reaches of the Spring

Mountains

Limestone forms the base of the Spring Mountains, and is exposed in the upper reaches of the area

Building from the Ear th

Kyle Canyon is representative of the alluvial deposits that lie in the lower reaches of the Spring Mountains

Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Character

Landscape Ecology

Geology The Spring Mountains’ peaks consist primarily of porous gray limestone and brown-tinted dolomite, with impressive cliffs and shallow caves. At their base are ancient alluvial deposits into which drainages have cut steep valleys and deep canyons. Unlike alluvial deposits in wetter climates, these have an irregular composition of boulders, cobbles, pebbles and sand deposited by mud flows.

Contained within this alluvium are “calcrete” formations—cement-like alluvial deposits hardened by calcium carbonate from higher-up limestone rocks. Calcrete is more resistant to erosion than surrounding sediments, resulting in landforms that stand alone because adjacent rock and other material has completely eroded away.

Most of the Spring Mountains’ creeks and washes flow infrequently, with most of their drainage below-surface.

However, when this subsurface drainage hits an underground obstacle, the water comes to the surface and forms a spring. There are many such springs in the Spring Mountains.

Landscape Character The Spring Mountains traverse three main landscape types in a very short distance: High Desert, Transition, and Forested.

A several thousand foot elevation change causes large temperature, precipitation and vegetation variations from the Mountains’ base to their alpine peaks. Vegetation creates washes of color varying from olive-green woodlands to gray-green shrublands. Geology adds browns of alluvial plains and canyons, and gray-browns of dramatic limestone and dolomite rock formations.

During the summer the area is hot and dry with an ever-present threat of forest fire. Because of the aridity, most days are sunny with clear skies.

Landscape Zones of the Spring Mountains. Although the Transition zone occupies only a small elevation range, it represents most of the area which will receive developed facilities within the National Recreation Area

Forested

Transition

High Desert

Forested

Transition

High Desert

Landscape Zones

Transition elevations are the most common landscape within the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area

High Desert areas have long horizontal vistas and intense sunshine/heat

High Desert The High Desert zone is dominated by a diverse expanse of shrubs, Joshua trees, and cactus on desert uplands. It occurs on slopes, hillsides, and washes with alluvial soils at elevations of about 4,000 to 5,000 feet.

Characteristics of this zone are:

• Vegetation provides some respite from the hot desert sun

• Horizontal landforms and flat benches alternate with steep valleys and canyons

• Colors more diverse than other zones—dominated by buff soil/rocks, and gray-greens to medium-greens from vegetation

• Long vistas are balanced by feelings of enclosure within pinyon/juniper woodlands

• Disturbances to soil and vegetation heal slowly

• Summer sun can be intense

Transition Located within the Mountains’ mid-range elevations—meaning 6,000 to 7,000 feet where precipitation is greater than eight inches—the Transition zone is characterized by pinyon-juniper woodlands. These woodlands have short (usually less than 20-feet tall) evergreen trees mixed with a variety of desert and upland shrubs. Being enclosed by vegetation is balanced by exposure to long vistas in this zone.

The Transition Zone was chosen as the baseline for these design guidelines (see page 44).

Characteristics of the high desert include:

• Immense horizontal vistas

• Wide-open landscape

• Colors dominated by buff soil and accented by sparse vegetation

• Disturbances are slow to heal

• Water and shade are crucial

• Intense sunshine and heat

Forested Above 7,000 feet, temperatures are cooler, precipitation increases and high mountain slopes are covered by a forest of large ponderosa pine, white fir and bristlecone pine. Trees are often 50 feet or taller, and vegetation dominates the landscape. The understory can be open or shrubby.

Disturbed areas, such as avalanche corridors, may be dominated by nearly pure stands of quaking aspen. Near timberline, trees decline in height to dwarfed, gnarled, prostrate individuals deformed by the wind.

General characteristics of this landscape are:

• Long vistas typically on mountain tops only; otherwise vegetation encloses the visitor

• Feeling of protection within trees

• Visual emphasis is vertical due to tall trees and large boulders.

• Colors are generally darker than other two zones

• Coolest zone

• Shelter from the sun less important

• Shelter from rain, snow and cold more important

The forested landscape offers fairly lush vegetation and cooler temperatures.

Visitor Management

Site Hardening

Refined/Complex Facility Design

Rustic Materials

Naturalness

Urban Rural Roaded Natural

ROS Categories

The Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) is used by the U.S.

Forest Service to help determine the scale, amount, and type of development at different sites. It is based on the premise that people expect certain levels of development related to the character of the setting and the type of recreation they prefer.

The Spring Mountains National Recreation Area contains the full range of ROS categories, which include Urban, Rural, Roaded Natural, Semi-Primitive Motorized, Semi-Primitive Non-Motorized and Primitive. Readers and users of this document should reference the most recent map of ROS objectives to determine the ROS class applicable to a given project.

Many of the National Recreation Area’s facilities will be located within Urban, Rural and Roaded Natural settings, with their design goal being to help visitors make a smooth mental transition from these areas to less developed settings. Hopefully this will foster respect in visitors for the area’s sensitive natural environments and signal the types of activities appropriate for these settings.

ROS Categories customized for Spring Mountains National Recreation Area designed environments

The Design Guidelines concentrate on the Urban, Rural and Roaded Natural settings because this is where the vast majority of developed facilities will occur. Urban and Rural will likely have the more elaborate facilities, while Roaded Natural will have very simple facilities.

Cultural Influences

Las Vegas Area The main city in the Spring Mountains area, Las Vegas had humble beginnings. It was known mainly for its oasis-like springs, as a stop on the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles, and as an early 1900’s railroad stop.

However, with legalization of gambling in 1931, Federal dollars from building the Hoover Dam, and the coming of military and defense industries during World War II, Las Vegas became a significant community. The city’s best-known architecture—that of the Las Vegas Strip and downtown casinos—was designed to attract gamblers.

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce now promotes the city as “The Entertainment Capital of the World,” and many tourists consider it a sort of playland getaway. Indeed, visitors can spend time in large resorts that replicate—on a fantastic and brightly lit scale—aspects of mythical places, famous cities and exotic countries, among other themes.

The city has also been successful in attracting businesses, and retirees are now coming to Las Vegas in great numbers. As a result, it is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. The architecture of most of this growing city is much more subdued than that of the casinos.

Shade flies kept early buildings from absorbing heat

Casino architecture along the Las Vegas Strip

Las Vegas is growing rapidly, and large areas of tract housing are being constructedEarly Downtown Las Vegas

History of Forest Service Architecture on the Spring Mountains NRA Traces of 1930’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) achievements are visible in areas around Las Vegas.

These include structures at the Forest Service’s Administration Area in Kyle Canyon, the Camp Lee Canyon, and remnants of campground features, roads, and trails throughout the area. These facilities were typically built for standardized administrative, recreational purposes using inexpensive materials and modest architectural design. They are not representative of the highly crafted structures featuring native stone and unhewn logs or the Spanish Colonial, Pueblo, and Territorial Revival style buildings typically associated with the CCC in the Southwest.

Walls, steps, and sign bases have been constructed of regionally harvested rubble rock. These fit perfectly within the Spring Mountains environment and are good examples of the colors and forms that are appropriate for this environment.

Other significant structures within the National Recreation Area were three bee-hive shaped charcoal kilns. These were built from block limestone in the 1870’s. The charcoal they produced supported ore smelting in Tecopa CA Limited. Other structural constructs include cabins made from juniper posts and rammed adobe, logs, stacked tree limbs, and dressed stone.

Structures at Kyle Ranger Station that were built by the CCC exhibit modest design

Modern stonework with inappropriate color palette in culvert over Kyle Creek;

Rustic quality of stonework is appealing

Limestone charcoal kiln, no longer standing, was built of local block limestone

Located in Wheeler Wash, Quiver Rock is a concrete monolith with spiritual significance for the Southern Paiutes

The Slot Canyon in Kyle Canyon holds special ceremonial qualities for the Paiutes

Agave roasting pits are characterized by limestone rubble at their edges

Petroglyph of bighorn sheep left by Southern Paiutes

Sacred Mountains Southern Paiute consider the Spring Mountains to be sacred, as it is their place of creation—their “Holyland.”

Respect for the natural resources that the creator has provided is paramount.

Unique geological features including narrow canyons, caves, mountain peaks, and calcrete monoliths in and along canyon washes figure in the traditional stories and songs that sustain Southern Paiute culture.

Spirits reside in all inanimate forms;

to reduce harm these forms must be shown proper respect. Some geological features relay strong architectural characteristics such as the narrow slot canyon in Middle Kyle Canyon.

Its steep walls and narrow passage enclose the space and frame the sky, heightening the perception of place.

Alterations to the landscape by past American Indians included temporary conical wood and brush structures for habitation, rock rings for sleeping circles and storage caches, agave roasting pits and rock art. Due to the abundance of the agave plant, which grows on limestone slopes in the National Recreation Area, roasting pits are common. These features result in circular areas of fire-cracked and whitened limestone, ranging in diameter from six to twenty feet.

Rock art occurs here and all over the world in the form of petroglyphs and pictographs. Petroglyphs are pecked or incised into rock surfaces, while pictographs are colored pigments that are painted onto rock. Some symbols are religious and some secular. There are many ideas of what the symbols represent, but their true messages may remain a mystery. Rock art is highly regarded and valued by American Indian and many non-Indian people.

Chapter 3

Vision and PrinciplesVision and Principles

Design Intent

The following vision for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area’s facilities is meant to guide designers and managers in creating a special visitor experience that responds sensitively to the area’s resources.

The National Recreation Area’s facilities should attain all the qualities described within the vision.

3. Vision and Principles

RESPECTFUL AND RESPONSIBLE MINIMALISM

Like the Spring Mountains—which soar above and punctuate the Mojave Desert ’s simplicity— facilities within the National Recreation Area both defer to and reveal their surroundings as they emerge organically from the landscape.

They create a welcoming refuge that provides relief from the elements and draws people into the landscape. Designed spaces offer open views that inspire visitors and evoke the area’s sacredness.

The overall character and appearance of future Spring Mountains National Recreation Area facilities in any ecological zone should be based on the following principles.

Overall Principles

Create simple and timeless—yet contemporary—places that provide a rich variety of experiences.

Make facilities subordinate and complementary to the landscape, oriented to the main resources and views.

Provide inviting and comfortable “refuges” that entice people to linger and experience the outdoors.

Build only what is necessary.

Design multi-use facilities with a rich variety of spaces that appear as a unified whole.

Use simple, low, and open horizontal planes anchored by vertical elements that seem to “grow” out of the earth.

Intertwine indoors and outdoors so that visitors always feel connected to the landscape.

Locate facilities in suitable places that are buildable, accessible, serviceable and maintainable.

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Design Intent

Cluster facilities in ways that create mystery and delight.

Concentrate facilities to minimize their environmental impact, support alternative transportation options, and maximize efficiency.

Minimize roads and parking and keep them away from significant natural/cultural resources and important views.

Use a simple palette of materials that blends into the local environment and is sensitive in size, form and color to the immediate surroundings.

Use durable materials that have a strong presence, weather gracefully, are vandal resistant, and need less maintenance.

Use plants and topography to soften built elements and integrate them into the landscape.

Conserve resources—such as water—through use of advanced technologies.

Ensure every built component is environmentally responsible according to a recognized rating system, such as U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Meet or exceed the Agency’s goals for sustainability.

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Chapter 4

Design Guidelines

4. Design Guidelines

This chapter describes how the principles given in the previous chapter should be applied. Guidelines were created to uphold an identifiable look to Spring Mountains National Recreation Area facilities, while allowing designers flexibility to respond to each site’s local conditions.

The first section, Site Structure, provides guidelines that help the designer place facilities and design a site to facilitate healthy ecological processes. It provides a summary of key use areas, which include:

• Visitor Center/“Village”

• Picnic and Day Use Areas

• Campgrounds

• Scenic Overlooks

• Major Trailheads

• Maintenance/Operations Areas

The next section, Development Character and Appearance, provides a summary of design elements of the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area. These elements form a character for the place which refers to how form, scale, massing, color, and materials come together to create a place’s personality.

The Buildings section provides guidelines that help translate the overall principles into built form.

Following a discussion of architectural elements, it provides conceptual sketches for several building types in different landscape zones and ROS settings. The Landscape Improvements section gives examples of how materials can be used in the landscape.

These Guidelines are not meant to corral designers into specific design choices. They are intended to create a cohesive look and feel to the National Recreation Area’s facilities and ensure that they are ecologically and visually complementary to their landscape setting. Therefore, the principles and individual guidelines have been written with flexibility in mind—focusing on appearance, feeling and best practices rather than on prescriptive instructions.

However, within Section 4.4 (Landscape Improvements) specific design elements—paving patterns, benches, wall types, etc.—have been recommended for those situations in which a standard or prefabricated solution is appropriate. A list of potential products is provided in Appendix A.4.

4.1 Site Structure

Site Selection

Appropriate site selection can help preserve the sensitive resources that make the Spring Mountains special—such as their endemic species, sacred sites and scenic views. The site surrounding a facility defines its character and provides the first impression for visitors.

Creative and careful site selection can strongly connect the built and natural environments and reduce the risk of property damage from natural events such as landslides, floods, and soil erosion. Proper site selection is one way to integrate development with LEED requirements (see Appendix A1).

For example, the Village planned for Middle Kyle Canyon will make use of previously developed sites with existing infrastructure and will be serviced by public transportation. It will:

• Draw people into a site through its visibility/attractiveness when viewed from adjacent roads

• Avoid placing facilities in areas that contain scenic quality

• Where suitable, develop in disturbed or already used areas before considering sites that have not been previously disturbed

• Select sites that require minimal vegetation removal or topographic manipulation

• Consider adjacent transportation amenities and utilities to be certain they are appropriate for the site’s intended use and expected level of visitation

• Carefully consider facility placement in relation to the area’s endemic, endangered, and threatened plant and animal habitats

• Locate facilities well out of the 100-year flood plain

• Use existing Federal/State/ County setback standards as a minimum when placing facilities near water/wetlands

• Avoid developing areas on or near steep slopes or highly erodible soils

• For individual buildings, place them such that they do not interrupt scenic views or dominate the landscape

• Generally consolidate uses and programs to minimize building/ development footprint

The former Nel Property provides an ideal site for facility development, because it is already disturbed, topographically suitable, and not near sensitive resources

Reuse already disturbed places—such as unused roads for trails—when possible

Keep facilities away from streams, springs and wetlands to protect their water quality

“Village” Area

The proposed visitor center/“village” along S.R. 157 will be one of the most urban settings within the National Recreation Area, and will thus fall under the urban ROS category. The purpose of this facility will be to provide an NRA gateway and developed recreation choices for nearby city-dwellers. It should provide services for visitors and help them transition into the National Recreation Area’s natural setting, with its unique ecological characteristics.

Its facilities should integrate with the surrounding landscape, helping visitors to intrinsically understand the area.

Facilities should provide relief from the Mojave Desert while also encouraging people to experience the natural setting.

• Ensure all Village elements relate to one another and feel like one unified place

• Emphasize views into the site to spark interest of passers-by

• Integrate facilities with the land

• Incorporate accessibility and safety in all designs

• Break up the scale and mass of structures/hard surfaces to create a comfortable campus environment

• Emphasize views and connections to the environment:

– Cluster visitor facilities near, but not on, the canyon edge

– Provide views from public gathering areas and resting areas inside buildings

– Place parking away from main views and the canyon

– Design the canyon rim as a restful public place

– Evoke mystery and delight by obscuring and exposing views while leading people to the rim

– Use low, horizontal forms that don’t compete with views

• Include facilities as part of the entry experience to create a sense of liveliness and interest

• Soften parking and provide comfortable pedestrian refuges and well landscaped walkways

• Create a diversity of comfortable outdoor seating for all seasons

• Use multi-use communal spaces to foster both social interaction and places where visitors can feel more private

• Arrange spaces to provide for light/dark, big/small, open/closed

Cluster buildings to create an intimate campus experience

Screen/buffer parking with native plants and landforms

Provide viewing areas adjacent to canyon rim, and keep this area open for public use

Break up parking with trees and pedestrian spines

Separate automobile and transit circulation to prevent conflicts

Create inviting visitor arrival plaza with intuitive wayfinding

Provide central pedestrian spine that leads visitors to the main views

Site Planning

• Incorporate high quality interpretive signs/elements

Blend built and natural environments by using native materials in a structured way

Integrate and ground facilities through walls and paving that appear to grow out of the earth

The Village facilities should be oriented to views of Kyle Canyon, provide multi-use communal spaces, and contain areas with native materials and art that can be used for play

Leave canyon rim available for use by all visitors

Picnic and Day Uses

The visitor experience of a picnic area should center around spending time in a natural setting.

• Site picnic areas so they are convenient to services

• Integrate convenient transit stops

• Create centralized but convenient parking and minimize roads

• Incorporate existing native vegetation into roads and sites

• Connect parking/sites/nearby trails with convenient paths

• Orient picnic sites toward attractive views or main resource

• Keep area near views/resources open for use by all visitors

• Incorporate communal open areas for active play

• Provide trees or structures to shelter visitors from the hot sun and to buffer individual sites

• Ground and connect individual sites with seatwalls

• Provide space and seating to accommodate extended families

• Use rocks or other informal elements to direct vehicles

Group Sites Provide convenient clustered parking off the access road

Locate smaller group sites so they can be used separately or combined

Create informal open space area for active play with adjacent seating

Create simple circulation paths to connect parking, picnic sites and other trails

Minimize roads

Use vegetation to buffer sites from each other

Build simple, open, horizontal shelters and place shelters near open space/play area

Family Sites

Shade and buffer sites with native trees, and use a simple materials palette— mainly walls and paving— to anchor and integrate sites with the landscape

Maintain native vegetation as buffer to reinforce secluded feeling

Create central road/ parking area that provides staging for picnic sites

Provide native grass areas for active play and to encourage communal interactions

As needed, plant native trees to provide shade

Position rest rooms in central location

Design convenient connecting paths between facilities and adjacent hiking trails

Use a mix of covered and open picnic sites

Create informal play area with seating

Campgrounds

Campgrounds, like picnic areas, should respect their natural setting.

• Place campgrounds away from main roads, and screen them to allow a peaceful experience

• Position campsites along short loop roads to minimize traffic passing any one campsite

• Bestow meaningful names on campground loops to aid in cognitive mapping

• Route roads and sites around existing native vegetation and fit them to the topography

• Orient sites to views or open-space to enmesh campers in the environment

• Minimize and cluster structures to emphasize the natural setting

• Centrally locate key facilities

• Link campsites/facilities/trails with convenient paths

• Create destinations at significant resources (e.g. scenic overlook)

• Include an outdoor classroom, when feasible and appropriate

• Provide trees or structures to shelter visitors from the elements

Developed Campground

Cluster campsites around open areas or views

Link campsites with other facilities/trails

Create small campsite road loops

Centrally locate showers/comfort stations; consider kiosk with site map

Maintain native vegetation as buffer to reinforce secluded feeling

Significant View

• Use modest signs and combine them with built elements such as restrooms and trailheads

• Consider building information kiosk with site map at primary service areas such as restrooms

Scenic Overlooks

Many opportunities exist for scenic overlooks in the Spring mountains National Recreation Area. Overlooks must be carefully designed to allow for both efficient pedestrian movement and quiet contemplation.

• Establish overlooks at key viewpoints

• Route parking/roads/paths around native trees/shrubs and adhere to the existing topography

• Buffer overlook parking from road with landforms/vegetation

• Buffer parking from overlook area with vegetation and topography

• Draw visitors to the overlook through gaps in vegetation that hint at the destination

• Create comfortable seat walls and benches from which visitors can relax and enjoy the view

• Provide shade through use of native vegetation, as feasible

• Use surfaces and structures that blend into the surroundings

• Carefully integrate interpretive elements so they do not distract from the view and setting

• Where appropriate, use viewing assists such as viewing tubes or telescopes to focus attention on key elements and enhance views

Buffer overlook parking from both road and overlook with landforms, and native vegetation

Protect or add native vegetation so that it frames the approach to the view

Provide simple shade/ seating at overlook

Avoid blocking view with interpretive signs or obtrusive seating

Fit path into existing topography, curving it around existing vegetation

Use viewing assists where appropriate

Walls can provide effective seating areas at overlooks

Trailheads serve as main transition points between civilization and the National Recreation Area’s sacred and natural landscape. Their intensity and use varies greatly across the National Recreation Area, with some accommodating many cars and oversized vehicles while others handle only a few. Each trailhead, therefore, is unique and must be sensitively designed to help people make the mental shift from the busy-ness of their everyday lives to the National Recreation Area’s tranquility.

• Provide a visitor sequence that orients users to the trail, helping them mentally proceed from the road and their car to the small-scale trail setting

• Use materials and signs appropriate to the local environment and ROS setting in ways that encourage trail users to better appreciate the Spring Mountains (e.g. boulders, native vegetation)

• Create modest barriers to maintain the health of more sensitive resources

• In urban settings, place an easily serviceable restroom that does not dominate the visitor experience

Major Trailheads

Include clear site identification sign to ensure easy wayfinding

Use informational signs consistent with the trailhead’s

ROS

Provide shade and seating for people to wait at the trail’s entry

Maintenance/Operations

Maintenance and operations facilities should be designed as sensitively and thoughtfully as other facilities within the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.

• Locate facilities so they are screened from the public

• Design facilities to nestle within the landscape—and avoid removing trees and shrubs

• Place emergency service facilities nearest to area entrance to allow fast and safe response

• Place helipad reasonably near emergency service facility and main road

• Locate maintenance yards behind emergency/maintenance facilities

• Screen/buffer operations activities from public view with a combination of native vegetation and screening walls

• Use architecture similar to other public-use buildings, while using less costly “second-tier” materials (See section 4.3 for buildings)

• Separate employee housing from noisy facilities

• Cluster housing—including temporary accommodations—to

Separate employee housing from noisy facilities

Place helipad(s) near emergency service facility

Place emergency service facility nearest to area entrance

Screen maintenance yards with native vegetation or walls

Operations activities should be screened from public view, while also allowing easy emergency access to the area’s main roads help build a sense of community

• Connect housing to work/ maintenance site with a pedestrian/ bike trail to reduce vehicle impacts

Drainage

Even though the Mojave Desert has an arid climate, rain does fall for brief, intense intervals. Developed areas should have designed drainage systems that prevent an increase in the post development rate and quantity of storm water runoff. These systems also should protect water quality, provide habitat, and facilitate groundwater recharge. In addition, they can provide pleasant vegetated settings for visitors and interesting design elements.

• Cluster developed sites to reduce the amount of paved surfaces (roads, parking, etc.)

• Minimize the site’s impervious area and maximize the use of porous paving

– Porous paving includes “gap-graded mix” asphalt with a 1/2- 1” aggregate sieve; geo-block or grasscrete type products; and pervious pavers

• Capture stormwater from impervious areas (roofs, parking and paving) to reuse on-site

• Integrate designed drainages with natural drainage patterns, both aesthetically and functionally

• Protect water quality with methods that also provide habitat and support ecological function where appropriate

– Bioswales

– Vegetative filter strips

– Vegetated swales

– Vegetated buffers

• Use open-fields and play areas for stormwater infiltration to support aquifer recharge

• Create a system that averts the need for piped conveyance with curbs and gutters

• Design drainage areas to be an attractive amenity regardless of the season (even when dry)

Highly designed drainages can provide interesting features in

Urban ROS settings

Drainageways should include local vegetation, such as these shrubs in Kyle Creek

Bioswales should be used to cleanse runoff from impervious surfaces

Flat areas, such as open fields/play areas can provide a location for infiltration

Pavers with wide gaps are one type of porous paving

Grading

Grading greatly affects how a facility aesthetically fits with its surrounding landscape, as well as its erosion potential and stormwater runoff patterns. Grading activities have the potential to severely disturb a site and damage surrounding vegetation.

• Retain, where possible, natural site landform and drainage patterns

• Minimize grading by placing site elements so that they adapt to natural topography

• Blend topography of developed facilities into the surrounding landscape

• Generally equalize cut and fill to minimize the need to haul materials to/from the site

• Use extra material from cut operations on site

• Revegetate or use other means to permanently stabilize steep slopes

• Grade access routes to comply with all regulations; however, compliance will not be required when it would disrupt the natural setting or substantially alter the purpose of a facility

Do not significantly change topography to fit roads, parking or other facilities

Minimize the need to haul materials from the site

Integrate facilities with existing topography and landscape character

Roadways

The scale and design of roads greatly affects a visitor’s impression of a place.

Larger-scale paved roads are most appropriate in an urban ROS, and small-scale roads fit better with the rural or roaded natural ROS’s.

• Design roads to save existing landscape features (e.g., rocks, trees, vegetation, slopes)

• Where possible, design roads and roadways to be recreation access routes

• Minimize road width while also accommodating all anticipated traffic uses (e.g., cars, trucks with trailers, RVs, buses, and bicyclists)

• Use porous/natural paving materials whenever possible

• Recognize sight lines, distance and distractions when designing roads and intersections. Some may need costly acceleration/ deceleration lanes

• Landscape road edges with native plants, rocks and logs in a natural-appearing way to prevent vehicles from driving off-road and to integrate roads into the landscape Parking/roads should adapt to existing landscape features such as large trees Road edges should be informal, natural-appearing, and integrate into the surrounding landscape

• Design roads so that curbs and gutters are not needed, where practical

• Follow appropriate technical standards and guidelines for design

Parking

Parking areas should be convenient to the destination they support, but at the same time not intrude on the majority of the visitor experience.

Furthermore, their design should support sustainability goals and not have a detrimental impact on their surrounding landscape.

• Create a quality first impression by preserving, establishing or enhancing natural areas at parking entries

• Preserve trees, rock outcrops and other natural features within the parking area

• Provide the minimum amount of parking needed and consider transit options as opposed to creating more parking

• Integrate parking into the landscape by using natural sloping edges, local boulders, mounds, and native vegetation

• Generally, maximize the use of disturbed areas for parking

• Where feasible and appropriate, mitigate the heat island effect in large paved parking areas by using vegetation to create shade

• Use porous/natural surface materials whenever possible

• Create incentives for people to bicycle, carpool or use environmentally friendly vehicles to get to the site by including bicycle racks and preferential parking spaces

• Place large vehicle parking in an area that does not overwhelm the parking area’s visual appearance

• Provide clearly defined pedestrian walkways with visual connections to related use areas

• Ensure maintenance vehicles can access parking and service areas

Permeable paving makes parking feel rural and also has stormwater benefits

Retaining and integrating native landscape materials help parking areas better fit with their surroundings

Clearly defined pedestrian walkways help break up large parking lots

Paved and Special Trails

Ideally, trail development should minimally affect the landscape in which it lies, and provide satisfying opportunities for people to exercise and connect with the landscape.

The Forest Service has detailed guidelines for most trail development, so these guidelines apply to paved trails and special cases within the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area only.

• Whenever possible, place trails along already-disturbed corridors such as previous trail alignments

• As feasible, regrade steep trails to be accessible and restore unused alignments with native plants

• When appropriate because of trail congestion, provide a safe trail width for a diversity of uses

– Use monitoring as an adaptive use tool, and redesign trail when necessary

• As feasible, make all paved trails accessible, while providing multiple ways to transition down hillsides (e.g., sloped trail, stairs)

• For the natural trail through Kyle Canyon, leave the surface and alignment natural, undeveloped and free of interpretive signs/ elements

– Use monitoring as an adaptive use tool, and redesign trail when necessary

The Kyle Canyon trail should not be paved, but left in its natural form

Heavily used multi-use trails should be divided between uses by paving, color changes, striping or other means

Open Play Areas

Open play areas should be provided within picnic and camping areas, and at the Village. They should encourage communal interaction while being sensitive to the area’s climate and vegetation.

• Design fields for the level of intended use:

– Low use areas should use native grasses and low shrubs that do not need irrigation

– Urban areas should use native grasses that can withstand high use and need minimal irrigation. If native grasses cannot meet these conditions, use non-native grasses only if they are proven not to escape and naturalize in these habitats and can be maintained.

Otherwise use substrates such as sand or gravel.

• Blend the edges of open play areas into surrounding vegetation so that they feel hewn out of the surrounding rough landscape

• Create fields that mimic the area’s naturally occurring meadows, whenever possible

Roaded Natural/Semi-Primitive or low use areas should contain native grasses and shrubs, and gradually transition to the surrounding landscape

Urban/Rural or high use areas should have lower water requiring grasses, such as dwarf tall fescue

Rural/Roaded Natural or medium use areas should have native and non-irrigated grasses

• Connect play areas to other use areas by accessible surfaced walking paths of standard width that permit passage of walkers, accessible vehicles, and maintenance vehicles

– For standard light truck access minimum trail width is 8’

– Minimum 4’ width for small utility vehicles

Functional Plantings

Planted buffers provide visual and sensory barriers between competing landscape elements—such as parking areas and scenic views. Plantings also help define the space around facilities.

• Use landforms—either existing natural features or constructed mounds/berms—to create screens and buffers between elements

– Only construct mounds/berms if soil is already available, such as from grading cut operations, and they can be visually integrated with the surrounding landscape

– Mounds/berms should not have a slope greater than 3:1

• Strategically place clusters of native trees/shrubs to visually separate areas

– Scale is dependent on what is being buffered

– Wide plant buffers are preferable—meaning at least 20 feet—but require a greater density and scale of plants

• Place, maintain, and protect native trees/shrubs around developed facilities to help soften architectural elements so that they better fit with their surroundings

Native landscape structure should influence the design of deeper plant buffers, such as this transition from sage to pinyon/juniper

Clustered plants can create effective buffers, such as this mix of cliffrose, and pinyon/juniper

Mounds can provide an effective buffer if they are planted effectively and blend with their surroundings

Plant List for Functional Plantings

All plants used within the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area should be appropriate for the area, which generally means they should be native and not invasive. When possible, plant species that provide food or habitat for the National

Recreation Area’s sensitive wildlife should be selected over those that don’t. This will help support the area’s sky-island environment, which is what makes the National Recreation Area unique and special.

* = plant that supports endemic butterflies

Common Name Botanic Name

Trees Pinyon pine Pinus monophylla Utah juniper Juniperus osteosperma silk-tassel Garrya flavescens mountain mahogany Cercocarpus ledifolius

Shrubs green ephedra Ephedra viridis basin big sagebrush Artemisia tridentata bitterbrush Purshia tridentata cliffrose Purshia mexicana var stansburyana cheesebush Hymenoclea salsola *rubber rabbitbrush Chrysothamnus nauseosus Utah serviceberry Amelanchier utahensis banana yucca Yucca baccata

Common Name Botanic Name

Herbs/Perennials *sulfur buckwheat Eriogonum umbellatum var subaridum wallflower Ersimum capilatum snakeweed Gutierrezia machaeranthera threadleaf snakeweed Gutierrezia microcephala broom snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae golden showy eye Heliomeris multiflora var nevadensis blue flax Linum lewisii pinyon aster Machaerantera canescens globe mallow Sphaeralcea ambigua prince’s plume Stanleya pinnata *Arizona thistle Cirsium arizonicum *Palmer penstemon Penstemon palmeri *Douglas dusty maiden Chaenactis douglasii *white virgin’s bower Clematis ligusticifolia

Grasses indian rice grass Achnatherum hymenoides squirreltrail Elymus elymoides muttongrass Poa fendleriana ssp longiligula

Transition Zone

Map of Landscape Zones

Forested Zone Common Name Botanic Name

Trees ponderosa pine Pinus ponderosa bristlecone pine Pinus aristata limber…