WASHINGTON, D.C.//August 22, 2007//The National Park Service -- America’s premier conservation agency -- turns 91 years old this week with millions of citizens enjoying historic treasures from Independence Hall to Mesa Verde and famous natural sanctuaries such as Yellowstone (The First National Park), Yosemite and the Everglades. Today, the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees (CNPSR), whose more than 600 members cumulatively served 17,000 years in the National Park Service, voiced hope that a new era of reinvestment in national parks is dawning.
But, on the eve of expected NPS/Interior Department announcement about the future of America’s national parks, CNPSR also sounded a strong note of caution to the American public and Congress that new proposals to revitalize the national parks need to be carefully evaluated as to whether they succeed—or fail—in five areas:
· Provide a sustained level of investment of public funds that ensures preservation of the national parks;
· Heed and incorporate science in management decisions and planning;
· Ensure the highest degree of protection of national parks, consistent with the law;
· Preserve the uniqueness and special role of units of the National Park System; and· Respond with urgency to the growing impact of climate change.
Executive Council Chair of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees Bill Wade, a former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, said: “Tomorrow, the pool of some 200 certified eligible Centennial Challenge programs and projects with commitments for matching funds from partner organizations will be revealed in Yosemite National Park. We are heartened that the National Park Service Director, Mary Bomar, is focusing attention on the urgent need to make significant investments in our national parks. However, what concerns us is the potential that budgetary sleight of hand could be giving the American people false reassurance—belief that funding increases in the national parks are larger and more certain than they are in reality.”
“As longtime stewards of the national parks, we are concerned that the level of care that Americans expect in their national parks, is still not being fulfilled,” said Rob Arnberger, a former superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park and member of CNPSR’s Executive Council. “Promises by the Administration of federal matching dollars are not certain. Yet they are being used to encourage private sector funding of national park projects. The result could be a much smaller increase in funding than the national parks actually need and the American people are being promised—and spending priorities driven increasingly by preferences of the private sector rather than by the professional judgment of the parks’ public guardians.”
CNPSR today offered to the American public a “yardstick” for evaluating whether new funding proposals for the national parks are adequate and properly directed. Wade said his organization hopes that Congress will use the criteria in its upcoming Appropriations decisions:
Provide a sustained level of public funding that will ensure preservation of the national parks
The net effect of various spending proposals must be considered. The Administration’s proposed FY2008 budget actually reduces funding to erase the national parks’ “maintenance backlog.” It makes no sense to promote new “Centennial Initiative” spending on expensive new buildings and other facilities that add significantly to the National Park Service’s maintenance challenge, while reducing funding necessary to repair, for example, sewer systems that threaten the parks’ lakes and streams. Meanwhile, the role of private philanthropy needs careful consideration. It has played a significant role in the preservation of our common heritage in the national parks. It should continue to help provide a “margin of excellence.” However, it is not a reliable or appropriate substitute for the federal responsibility to ensure protection and operation of the parks through adequate and sustained provision of public funding.
Heed and incorporate science in management decisions and planning
Americans expect their government to base decisions on the best possible information. As the National Park Service builds toward its second century, it should fully fund solutions that scientific studies have demonstrated will preserve the natural, cultural and historic resources of the national parks. If the National Park Service instead promotes or funds projects or management decisions that ignore scientific findings and result in avoidable levels of harm to park resources, the public’s support for necessary increases in national park funding will erode, hampering the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission. For example, it makes no sense that the superintendent of Big Cypress National Preserve recently reopened areas to off-road vehicle use that are critical to the Florida panther’s survival, areas where the Service’s own scientific studies have concluded that off-road vehicle use places the panther in greater jeopardy.
Ensure the highest degree of protection of national parks, consistent with law
The American public needs reassurance that increased financial support will lead to enhanced stewardship of the national parks, not only through the application of science but through the National Park Service upholding its overarching mandate to conserve resources entrusted to its care.
However in Yellowstone, the National Park Service has spent over $10 million on four separate studies in ten years that have verified conclusively that the park’s winter air quality, peace and quiet and wildlife can be protected to the degree required by law only by replacing snowmobile use with expanded public access on snowcoaches. Yet the park superintendent continues to push snowmobile use. Seven former directors of the National Park Service have written to Interior Secretary Kempthorne urging him to continue Yellowstone’s transition away from snowmobile use and thereby uphold his strong public pledge that he will continue a conservation-first emphasis in the national parks. New funding proposals designed to “strengthen” the national parks lack credibility as long as the National Park Service proposes to contravene its own scientific findings and legal responsibilities by perpetuating harmful snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park.
Preserve the uniqueness and special role of units of the National Park System
From the beginning, Congress intended national parks to be exceptions to the rule—areas within a developing and changing country that would remain undiminished and allow each generation of Americans to experience and be inspired by their natural and cultural heritage. Funding of projects or activities that would clutter or commercialize units of the National Park System, erode their air quality, add to their congestion or noise, or otherwise compromise the unique and authentic experiences of the national parks is at odds with the national park mission and would deprive present and future generations of the special purpose that national parks were intended to provide, separate and distinct from other public lands. Congress should carefully screen new funding proposals to ensure that none would have this result.
Respond with urgency to climate change
The national parks have been called America’s “islands of hope.” Scientific studies over the past several decades have documented that increasing development in areas surrounding the national parks has fragmented and altered habitat, adversely impacting wildlife and fish. As a result, the parks have become strongholds for countless species threatened or eliminated in other portions of their historic ranges. Now, scientific studies are increasingly demonstrating that climate change is accelerating these disruptions and national parks, owing to their protected status, remoteness or higher elevation—or all of these factors—are destined to be vital refuges for plants and animals unlikely to be able to survive in other areas. Indeed, national parks may need to serve as “seed banks” and “gene reserves” sustaining species for repopulation elsewhere at a later time. Funding urgently needs to prioritize the role that national parks must play in helping the nation respond to climate change.
“Above all, we are urging Congress to spend tax dollars wisely at a critical time for America’s National Park System, moving toward its second century in a changing climate,” said Rick Smith of CNPSR’s Executive Council and a former Superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. “It is crucial that the expanded commitment of public dollars for the stewardship of these public treasures be adequate and that every dollar addresses the national parks’ greatest needs and their most important values to the American people. Everyone understands the folly of paying only the ‘minimum due’ on his or her credit card and pushing a bigger balance to another day. The American public deserves better with its national parks.”
ABOUT CNPSR
The 600 members of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees are all former employees of the National Park Service with a combined 17,000 years of stewardship of America's most precious natural and cultural resources. In their personal lives, CNPSR members reflect the broad spectrum of political affiliations. CNPSR members have served their country well, and their credibility and integrity in speaking out on national park issues should not go ignored. The Coalition counts among its members seven former directors or deputy directors of the National Park Service; 25 former regional directors or deputy regional directors; 32 former associate or assistant directors at the national or regional office level; 68 former division chiefs at the national or regional office level; and over 135 former park superintendents or assistant superintendents. For more information, visit the CNPSR Web site at http://www.npsretirees.org.
CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, for CNPSR, (703) 276-3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com
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