Castleberry, Don H., Member, Executive Council, Coalition of National Park 24 Galvin, Denis, Former Deputy Director, National Park Service (Retired), on behalf of Board of Trustees, National Parks Conservation Association Horn, William P., Former Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Martin, Stephen P., Deputy Director, National Park Service Thomas, Hon. Craig, U.S. Senator from Wyoming 5 3 NATIONAL PARK SERVICE'S DRAFT TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2005 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., in room SD-366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Craig Thomas presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CRAIG THOMAS, U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING Senator THOMAS. I will call the meeting of the National Parks Subcommittee to order. This is an oversight hearing of National Park Service management policies. Thank you all for being here. I am particularly pleased to have some regional directors here from the Park Service, and I want to welcome our witnesses for today's subcommittee hearing. The purpose of our hearing, of course, is to review the National Park Service's proposed management policies, including the potential impact of the policies on park operations and park resources, interaction with gateway communities, solicitation and collection of donations, and revised manager hiring policies. National parks, of course, are special places that symbolize the American spirit. Each park was established by the Congress for a specific purpose and, of course, must be managed to sustain that purpose. The management policies we are here to discuss are intended to guide employees as they seek to maintain the resources for the current and future public enjoyment. We were all reminded of the public interest in national parks when people were made aware of the plans to revise the management policies. Some overreacted by concluding that the internal working document was destined for implementation. We know now that it is a work in progress. I would like to commend Steve Martin and the members of the National Park Service policy development team for being responsive to public concerns. The purpose of this hearing is to continue to obtain public input and to ensure the National Park Service is well informed as they complete the document. Again, I would like to thank all of you for being here. Certainly we have been involved in this process for a very long time. I personally believe the purpose of the parks, of course, is to maintain the resources and, at the same time, allow the public to enjoy those resources. We, of course, have had a good deal of experience with that in some of our parks in Wyoming and so on. So in any event, thank you all for being here. Senator Akaka. STATEMENT OF HON. DANIEL K. AKAKA, U.S. SENATOR Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Of course, thank you for scheduling this timely hearing to review the National Park's draft management policies. While I appreciate the effort that has been made to improve this proposal from the earlier drafts, I question the need for such a sweeping revision so soon after the current policies were approved. I am concerned about the process for developing the proposed policies and also whether the new policies will provide park managers with clear guidance on the significance of protecting park resources, both natural and cultural. In addition to the proposed management policies, I would like to raise another Park Service management issue that I believe is very problematic. A few weeks ago, the Director issued new requirements for the hiring of park superintendents, assistant superintendents, and deputy superintendents at the GS-13 grade and above, all career Civil Service positions. The new policy also covers program managers at the GS-15 level. Under the new policy, prospective candidates for any of these jobs must be vetted by the Park Service leadership in Washington, D.C. In addition to providing a statement of the job candidate's experience, competencies, and potential for management excellence, the regional offices will also be required to provide the Park Service leadership with a statement of the candidate's ability to lead employees in achieving the Park Service's Legacy goals, Secretary Norton four C's agenda, and the President's management agenda. I am very concerned that this new requirement will add a political element to the hiring and promotion process for career employees that is inconsistent with the Federal Civil Service laws. I look forward to exploring the new requirements in my capacity as the ranking member of the Senate's Federal Workforce Subcommittee. We need to ensure that the hiring and promotion of all Federal employees is carried out in a manner consistent with the Government's merit principles and free from political interference. Mr. Chairman, I would like to welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses this morning, and I look forward to hearing more about these issues. Thank you very much. Senator THOMAS. Thank you, sir. Senator Alexander. STATEMENT OF HON. LAMAR ALEXANDER, U.S. SENATOR FROM TENNESSEE Senator ALEXANDER. Mr. Chairman, I have got a lot to say, but I think I will wait until I hear the witnesses. I want to thank you for calling the hearing. I am deeply concerned about the first revisions, and the second revisions I am trying to read and understand. I wrote the Secretary of the Interior, along with five other Republican Senators, to make it clear that there were a number of us who were concerned, and the number is larger than that. I guess what I want to find out is why we are doing this and whether it really is consistent with or undermines the Organic Act, which has existed since the parks were created, that creates a strong bias toward preservation and conservation in our National Park System. So I look forward to hearing the testimony, and I thank you for calling it. Senator THOMAS. Thank you for postponing your statement. STATEMENT OF HON. JEFF BINGAMAN, U.S. SENATOR Senator BINGAMAN. Mr. Chairman, I will take the opportunity to give a short statement too, rather than totally postponing it. I agree with what Senators Akaka and Alexander have said about the real question being what is wrong with the current policies that were updated, as I understand it, as recently as 2001. Why are we doing a major revision of those? Is there some restriction on the public's right to access to the parks that I am not aware of? That is, I guess, a question. Another issue that I wanted to just mention that obviously I am going to ask some questions about is this whole move, as I see itand maybe I am misinterpreting it, but it seems to be a move toward authorizing the Park Service employees to solicit donations, to allow donor recognition in national parks, to allow for the first time, the naming of rooms in park facilities after corporate sponsors, after private sponsors. I have real concerns about this whole commercializing of our national parks which I fear might be an outcome from this. So I will have questions about that as well. Thank you. Senator THOMAS. Thank you, sir. Senator Salazar. STATEMENT OF HON. KEN SALAZAR, U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO Senator SALAZAR. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for holding this hearing on a very important issue. I associate myself with the introductory comments that have been made by my colleagues. I have an opening statement that I will submit for the record. Let me just say that I too am very troubled by the proposed changes, and I hope that what this hearing does is provide the witnesses an opportunity to provide an explanation to this committee as to what the reasons for these changes are and, second, what will be the results on our National Park System if in fact these proposed changes are implemented. It seems to me that there is also a significant question that we all ought to have on our minds, and that is why this process came about in the way that it did, in contrast to the prior processes where the National Park Service's rules have been changed in the Reagan administration, as well as during the Clinton administration, where it seemed that there was the kind of consultation over a long period of time that resulted in changes to these rules. I do |