2008 “WISH LIST” FOR NATIONAL PARKS ISSUED BY COALITION OF NPS RETIREES

WASHINGTON, D.C.///January 07, 2008///The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR) today released its top seven wishes for 2008 pertaining to America’s National Park System, including: adequate funding for national parks; a return to an emphasis on science in the decision-making process; a curb on rising park fees; and making the National Park Service (NPS) greener and more sustainable.

CNPSR Executive Council Chair Bill Wade, a former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, said: “We’ve decided to publish this list to call attention to critical actions and changes needed in the management of national parks so that they can fulfill their mission as the premiere system of heritage areas for Americans. Major changes in the stewardship of our national parks are needed starting as early as possible in 2008.”

Wish Number 1: Resurrect principled decision-making and leadership within the Department of the Interior and the NPS. There are too many decisions being made for political reasons and to satisfy special and commercial interests, and not enough decisions being made on principle and in accordance with the intent of the legislated mission of the NPS. Bill Brown, retired historian for the NPS, said: “We are in a time of increasingly spineless leadership, both within and without the Service. We see leaders who are reasonably skilled in mechanical matters, but lacking in the deeper substance that gives meaning and purpose to our efforts. They are also lax in honoring agreements and arrangements that were meant to be good-faith binding because they were the right thing to do then and those ties are still meant to bind. But they are conveniently forgotten because some arbitrary cost or efficiency criterion replaces the handshake, the contract. It is another facet of the assault on our constitutional concept of a nation of laws. It is the same kind of limited, empty thinking where lasting values degrade and dissolve.” Wade said: “The decision-making processes now are often conducted without adequate public review. The result is that the interests of a few take precedence over the public good. NPS managers must make the 2006 management policies the basis for every planning or public use or resources management decision and the NPS public participation process should become fully transparent and assign a significant value to the role of the citizen advocate for parks.”

Wish Number 2: Halt the rampant implementation of fees and fee increases in parks. Maureen Finnerty, a member of CNPSR’s Executive Council and former NPS associate director for park operations said: “Park Superintendents have been placed in the position of raising fees and initiating new fees in order to help subsidize their inadequate budgets in parks. Among the consequences of this approach are pricing certain populations of Americans out of the opportunities to visit national parks.” The disturbing trend of the past several years of focusing commercial and tourism organizations on the objective of increasing visitation to the parks should be derailed and reversed.

Wish Number 3: Make NPS greener. The NPS should become a national leader in reducing the carbon impact of park operations and in promoting sustainable lifestyles in its publications and interpretive programs. Some park concessioners are far “greener” than the NPS in regard to recycling and reducing fuel consumption. This may stem at least in part from budgets that are inadequate to meet the cost of more sustainable operations and infrastructure, including replacing high-mileage fleets. Too many park operations are still more carbon-intensive than they should be. As the nation’s premier conservation agency, the NPS should be a leader in these areas. Its interpretive programs should emphasize “living lighter on the land.” Visitors should leave NPS areas with a greater understanding of sustainability and with the confidence that the parks are at the cutting edge of reducing our impact on the earth. "Moreover, we see our parks as valuable natural laboratories to help understand the impacts of global climate change and study and pursue possible measures to preserve resources," said Abby Miller, a member of CNPSR’s Executive Council and former NPS deputy associate director for natural resources and stewardship. “We believe much more can be done to not only protect the critical resources in parks, but to monitor them as indicators of impending effects of climate change.”

Wish Number 4: Adequately fund America’s national parks. For Congress, this would mean increasing appropriations so that valuable visitor interpretive programs within parks are restored, rangers can work more effectively with school districts to bring parks to classrooms, parks are staffed with enough rangers to adequately protect park resources and the visitors who come to enjoy them, and to adequately meet the challenges of fixing a decaying park system infrastructure such as roads, trails, visitor centers, and other public facilities. Estimates are that the annual operating program for the NPS is deficient by as much as $800 million and that there is a “maintenance backlog” of over $8 billion. Current initiatives involving substantial infusion of philanthropic funds are important, but worrisome in that they move the parks more toward privatization and to being disproportionately influenced by non-public interest groups. The role of philanthropy should not be one of funding basic, essential operations of parks.

Wish Number 5: Restore science and research to their rightful place in the hierarchy of the NPS planning and decision-making processes. The snowmobile issue in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks is a perfect example. Despite overwhelming evidence that snowmobile use in the parks degrades air quality, violates noise standards, and harasses wildlife, the NPS decided to continue their use in these parks. According to immediate-past NPS Director Fran Mainella, political influence instead of science was used to make the decisions. Wade said: “This is the ‘banner’ example of where callous emphasis on compromise has overruled science, legal mandates and public preference to arrive at a decision that pleases no one.”

Wish Number 6: Create a National Park Service Centennial Commission. CNPSR calls for the establishment and convening of a non-partisan National Park Service Centennial Commission to lead the nation in a deep and thoughtful multi-year national dialog. Rob Arnberger, a member of CNPSR’s Executive Council and former regional director in Alaska, said: “The Commission will explore the importance of parks in our society and national life and determine the long term governance strategies that will meet the future needs of our nation and assure long term sustainability of our nation’s system of parks. Enlightened national leadership must create the circumstances to begin this dialog on behalf of the broadest public interest. The Commission will develop a report, or series of reports, on the status of the National Park System and the National Park Service, the issues and opportunities they face, constraints that impact the system and challenges to be faced in the new century. The Commission’s work would examine alternatives for addressing these issues and constraints that must be engaged, including fiscal and human resources required to accomplish the mission of the system for the long term.”

Wish Number 7: Return NPS to its former status as a leader in the world conservation movement. Rick Smith, a member of CNPSR’s Executive Council and former superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, was heavily involved in international park protection work during his career and since his retirement. He said: “For years, conservation professionals from other countries exchanged strategies and tactics regarding protected area management with their US colleagues. During the last 7 years, the political appointees in the Department of the Interior have used budget excuses to choke off the travel of NPS professionals to other countries where such exchanges took place. The result is that the US has lost its position as a leader in the world conservation movement. We need to jump start this program again, if for no other reason than to learn what other park professionals are doing.”