PARK CLOSINGS STUN BUSINESS : NEIGHBORS DEMAND SPEEDY REOPENING OF DAMAGED YOSEMITE.

Byline: Michael Doyle Scripps-McClatchy Western Service

Yosemite now confronts the problem other national parks have overcome: rebuilding from a natural disaster.

Parks like Yellowstone, the Everglades and Mesa Verde previously went through what Yosemite is about to experience. It takes time, money and patience to get national parks restored. And the political pressure to move fast may get intense.

``It's going to be a long and challenging process, and it will be considerably tougher than anybody thinks now, going by our experience,'' predicted Lawrence Belli, deputy superintendent of Everglades National Park.

Yosemite Superintendent B.J. Griffin advised last week that it could cost more than $10 million to repair flood-damaged portions of the park. She doubts Yosemite will be ready to reopen before February.

That's a long wait for the Mariposa and Tuolumne County towns that depend on tourist traffic, and San Joaquin Valley congressmen are pressing park officials to reopen sooner. Mariposa County officials say government agencies in their area lose $10,000 a day in anticipated tax revenues during a park shutdown.

But even a monthlong shutdown of a major national park, though rare, would not be unheard of.

Hurricane Andrew forced closure of the Everglades park in Florida in 1992. Andrew struck in August and it took about four months for the park to open again - with many repairs still undone. It was only Monday that officials opened the park's replacement visitor center.

``It was significantly longer than we wanted,'' Belli said.

The Everglades' rebuilding cost $50 million, readily provided by Congress. But for a variety of reasons, the rebuilding took four years instead of the expected two.

Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, spent Thursday touring Yosemite. His chief of staff, John McCamman, said he was pressing park officials to quickly open the park. If necessary, the park could be opened a few parts at a time, rather than waiting to open everything at once, Radanovich's staff suggested.

``There's a great deal of urgency when it comes to the surrounding communities,'' McCamman said.

Last week, Yellowstone National Park officials closed roads there because of weather conditions. That upset some local businesses, which rely on park traffic even during the winter.

``You always are going to have those kind of pressures,'' Yellowstone spokeswoman Marsha Karle said Thursday. ``Sometimes, you have to make that call.''

In 1988, Yellowstone faced a far more serious threat. Fires forced the closure of the entire park for one day and kept portions closed on other days. Karle recalled that the area congressmen were ``here a lot'' during the period.

At Yosemite, the park superintendent has heard not only from Radanovich, but also from Rocklin Republican John Doolittle, who represents neighboring communities like Lee Vining.

Similar anxiety arose last summer in southwestern Colorado, when fire forced the closure of Mesa Verde National Park for two weeks. Neighboring towns depend upon the park for tourist dollars, just as Mariposa County towns depend on Yosemite.

``The communities were very concerned that we reopen as soon as we could,'' said Mesa Verde spokeswoman Sarah Craighead, ``but they could see the fires and knew we had problems.''

Most national park closures are brief. The government shutdown during the winter of 1995-96, which closed Yosemite for 27 days, gave a memorable black eye to the congressional Republicans who vowed not to let it happen again.

More typical of park closings was a brief one at Grand Canyon National Park while police tracked down an escaped convict, and entrance landslides forced the brief closure of Zion National Park. But even the briefest of shutdowns can start businesses howling.

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Photo

Photo: Employee tent housing at Yosemite National Park balances on boulders after being washed off their foundations in recent floods.

Associated Press