Tall Trees Talk

National Park Service Superintendent Steve Chaney announced today that
after 22 years accommodating travelers from around the world, the Redwood
National Park Hostel will close its doors indefinitely on January 18, 2010,
due to a lack of available funding for necessary repairs to the historic
former pioneer homestead.

The hostel is in need of extensive reconstruction, including seismic
retrofitting as well as renovations to bring the building into ADA
compliance. Preliminary assessments estimate the cost of these repairs at
more than $1.5 million.

The closure is the result of a joint decision by the National Park Service
at Redwood National and State Parks, which oversees the building and the
site, and the Golden Gate Council of Hostelling International USA, which
operates the hostel. HI-USA Golden Gate Council, a nonprofit organization,
hopes to raise the necessary funds to complete the renovations and reopen
the hostel in the future.

The Redwood Hostel has hosted more than 75,000 travelers since it first
opened in 1987. Over the past three years, overnight stays have increased
by 40%, and the hostel has become one of the highest-rated in the world.
The Lonely Planet travel guide U.S. and Canada on a Shoestring lists it as
one of the “Five Best Hostels” across the two countries, and in 2008 the
hostel tied for first place (with the Shin-Osaka Hostel in Japan) for
highest customer satisfaction ratings worldwide, according to the
International Youth Hostel Federation.

As word of the hostel’s potential closure spread, our guests, as well as
members of the local community, expressed an overwhelming disappointment,
said hostel manager Kaci Elder. Its heartbreaking. Yet they have
encouraged us not to give up, and to remain optimistic that funding will
come through to retrofit the hostel for another generation of travelers.

Superintendent Chaney said that in light of all the positive results
coming from Hostelling International’s management of the hostel, the just
completed award of a seven-year concession contract to HI, and the simply
remarkable character of this hostel, it was devastating to learn about the
buildings serious structural deficiencies.
While these problems are forcing us to discontinue use of the existing
building, we are hopeful that HI, with assistance from the NPS and other
regional interests, will find a way to continue to offer a hostel
experience to park visitors.

The site where the Redwood Hostel stands today was established as a pioneer
homestead in 1877, when Swiss-born Peter Louis DeMartin and his family
built a log home and began raising crops and livestock. Even during these
early years, the home was open to travelers, who were offered a bed for 25
cents per night. In 1889 the DeMartins built a new home and hostelry, with
more space for travelers.

After Louis DeMartin passed away in 1907, his children undertook a complete
reconstruction of the house, including the addition of a second story. The
house remained in the hands of the DeMartin family until 1944, when it was
sold.

By 1985, the house was vacant and boarded up, and locals questioned whether
it should be torn down. HI-USA Golden Gate Council undertook major
renovations in partnership the National Park Service, the Coastal
Conservancy, and the California Conservation Corps, and the Redwood
National Park Hostel opened its doors to travelers in June 1987.

The Redwood National Park Hostel is operated by the Golden Gate Council of
Hostelling International USA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
promoting intercultural understanding, environmental stewardship, and world
peace through travel. The hostel is an authorized Concessioner of the
National Park Service, Department of the Interior.