Almost $8 million in federal economic stimulus money will allow Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park to build a new park emergency operations center, and speed up needed trail, road and fencing improvements.

Park rangers have been operating out of a dilapidated, 1,271-square-foot ranger station that Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando describes as "deplorable."

The planned $6.6 million Visitor Emergency Operations Center will for the first time consolidate an emergency communication center with park fire and law enforcement services.

The obscure ranger station will be dismantled and its materials used as part of the new 4,481-square-foot center, which will be built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, Orlando said. The project is expected to employ about 30 people for a year.

When it's completed in late 2010, the building will allow visitors to get back-country permits or first-aid treatment.

"When we have seismic and volcanic activity, it will serve as the command center for emergency response functions," Orlando said. The building will have a special air-filtering system that will allow people to remain inside during times of high sulfur content in the air because of volcanic emissions.

Orlando estimates the project will be completed a year ahead of schedule, thanks to federal stimulus funding.

Orlando said the other stimulus-funded projects at the park will be a $140,159 fix-up of the popular Halema'uma'u Trail, which will employ 10 summer youth workers; $446,000 for service road repairs, to employ two or three seasonal workers; and $358,400 for replacement of fences that keep invasive animals such as pigs out of the park, creating four park jobs.

"It's a very exciting time for the park, to be able to accomplish these projects and at the same time support the economy with jobs," Orlando said. "These projects will go a long way to help us serve the visitor and protect the natural resources."

Meanwhile, independent of the stimulus windfall, Orlando and other park employees are planning for the future of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.

Meetings held on the Big Island, O'ahu and Maui late last month asked Hawai'i residents, "What kind of place do we want this park to be?" Additional meetings are being held with state and federal partner agencies, scientists, Native Hawaiians and other interest groups.

The answers given about protection of natural resources, transportation inside the park, visitor services and more will be compiled into a draft General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement.

The park is run from "an almost 40-year-old master plan done in the 1970s that has never been updated," Orlando said. During that time, "we've lost buildings and roadways due to volcanic eruption, had a major boundary expansion (the 116,000-acre Kahuku parcel) and increase in visitation," she said.

From the meetings, park planners "will develop alternatives based on comments and those alternatives will go back to the public," Orlando said.

The process is expected to take several years.

Orlando said one question that's emerged in meetings so far is: "When are you going to stop the vog?"

She just tells them: "That's up to Pele. She's the one that makes that decision."