Operation and Management of the Brinkerhoff Lodge at Grand Teton National Park

The Brinkerhoff Lodge (Lodge) is a historic structure located within the boundaries of the Grand Teton National Park (Park) in Wyoming. We evaluated National Park Service’s (NPS) operation and management of the Lodge to determine whether NPS policy is reasonable, complete, and appropriately administered; whether the U.S. Government is owed money; and whether NPS could put Government assets to better use. While we found a number of areas for NPS to improve upon its operation and management of the Lodge, we identified other issues that require NPS’ immediate attention before matters of operation and management can be addressed: guest safety, asset security, and Lodge preservation.

 

NPS has not assessed the safety of guests staying at the Lodge with regards to applicable fire code. In addition, there is no documented asset security and protection plan specific to the Lodge. Further, the Park has not documented that the current use of the Lodge contributes to its preservation. We offer four recommendations that, if implemented, will help NPS to determine the safest and best use for this historic structure. We offer an additional five recommendations that will help improve operation and management of the Lodge if—through implementation of the recommendations regarding safety, security, and preservation—NPS determines that the Lodge’s current use is the best use. These recommendations focus on policy enforcement, record keeping, billing, and lodging rate. 

 

NPS concurred with Recommendations 1 – 3 and 5 – 9, provided the actions it plans to take (or has taken) to implement them, as well as the target dates and officials responsible for implementation. NPS partially concurred with Recommendation 4. Instead of completing a Historic Structure Report, the Park is pursuing an alternative by preparing a Historic Properties Management Plan and Environmental Assessment to analyze the best current and potential use for its eligible buildings. As NPS agrees with the importance of Recommendation 4 and wants to seek an alternative resolution, we consider this recommendation to be resolved and unimplemented.