The Forest Service is hoping work could begin this year and be finished by early next summer. The project will be let for bid later this month. Later, a photovoltaic system would be added to further reduce energy expenditures. Inside, the plans call for all-LED lighting to be added to reduce energy costs. Berms and rock will be integrated into the back of the lot for a more natural look. The parking lot will also be redesigned for better traffic flow and shrunk since much of it isn't used and requires maintenance.

The work will also make the entrance more obvious while installing a windbreak, in addition to re-siding the wooden and rock building. The room will be used to store any temperature-sensitive items on display. The expansion will add about 1,500 square feet to the existing round facility, including a 200-square-foot super-insulated room that will be heated through the winter when the rest of the building is closed. The visitor center, maintained and operated by the Gallatin National Forest, was built atop the debris from the landslide and was opened to the public in 1967. At the time, the temblor was the second-largest to occur in the lower 48 states in the 20th century. The quake also tipped Hebgen Lake, just to the east of the slide, sloshing water over the dam as well as flooding lakeside cabins. With the river blocked off, Quake Lake was quickly formed and began flooding the river bottom. The 7.5-magnitude quake sheared tons of rock off the hillside opposite from where the center now stands, sending monstrous boulders crashing across the Madison River and up the opposite side of the canyon. 17, 1959, earthquake that killed 28 people camping in the canyon.

The existing 3,600-square-foot building with a basement, which opened in 1967, serves as an interpretive site for the Aug.

'I think this whole thing is going to make for a much better facility for visitors and employees, and for taking care of long-term maintenance issues,' said Bruce Crockett, engineering contract officer for the Northern Region of the Forest Service in Missoula. (AP) - After 45 years of operation, the Earthquake Lake Visitor Center west of Yellowstone National Park is set to be enlarged and its interpretive displays renewed beginning this summer.

Yellowstone quake lake