$1M gift to restore long-closed Zion National Park trail

An employee at Zion National Park examines a section of the Middle Emerald Pools Trail destroyed by a landslide in December 2010. (National Park Service)

An undated photo shows a section of the Middle Emerald Pools Trail at Zion National Park that will need to be re-engineered due to a landslide in 2010. (National Park Service)

A once-popular trail destroyed by mudslides in 2010 at Zion National Park will be restored and reopened, thanks to a $1 million donation from a charitable foundation.

The Middle Emerald Pools Trail has been closed since December 2010, when it was heavily damaged by rains that washed large rocks and dirt across the path 16o miles northeast of Las Vegas.

The trail will be re-engineered, realigned and rebuilt through a grant to the National Park Foundation from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation. The work is expected to be finished in December 2019.

The gift announced Tuesday is the largest private contribution ever received by the foundation to enhance national parks in Utah.

“We greatly appreciate the support from the Eccles Foundation. Their generosity will restore an exemplary hiking experience in Zion National Park for millions of future park visitors,” said Zion National Park Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh in a written statement.

The donation also is expected to fund national park adventures for up to 20,000 Utah schoolchildren through such National Park Foundation programs as Concrete to Canyons and the Open OutDoors for Kids initiative.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.