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Coalition To Protect America's National Parks Has List Of Suggestions For Trump Administration

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Investments in the National Park System, from whittling away at the $11.9 billion maintenance backlog to adding personnel and forging strategic partnerships, are among the suggestions the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks has forwarded to the Trump administration.

The Coalition, made up of more than 1,100 former National Park Service employees, laid out the suggestions in a transition paper for the new president. In prefacing its suggestions, the Coalition pointed out that the national parks carry an estimated $32 billion economic benefit to local communities, and that tourism expenditures support more than 295,000 jobs.

The Coalition's suggestions contained in the paper are:

Invest in Park Infrastructure

A major reinvestment in our national parks is long overdue. High visitor demand and aging infrastructure is catching up with the park system. The service has a staggering inventory of 86,000 assets, many of them priceless treasures, and manages over 84 million acres of land.

Much of the existing park infrastructure is over 50 years old. The cost of rehabilitation or replacing visitor facilities, water systems, roadways and bridges, and restoring historic properties is estimated in the billions of dollars. The fact is - funding for the parks has not kept pace with the growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the expansion of the park system now numbering 417 park units, and the increases in visitation.

There are significant opportunities to develop innovative funding approaches including public/private partnerships, skilled job training programs, and leveraging funding from the philanthropic sector. However, public investment is an essential part of rebuilding the infrastructure of our parks. Such an investment would provide multiple benefits: supporting the tourism industry that is lifeblood of many states and local communities, providing jobs in both the construction and specialized crafts sector, and leaving a tangible legacy for future generations.

Recommendations:

  • Tackle non-transportation infrastructure needs by increasing appropriation over 3 years to a total of $750 million.
  • When the Highway Trust Fund is reauthorized, the National Park Service portion should be raised to $750 million.
  • Protect the investment in park infrastructure by doubling the budget for repair, rehabilitation and cyclic maintenance from $200 million to $400 million annually.
  • Take advantage of the public/private partnerships opportunities presented by the historic leasing program as a way to rehabilitate historic buildings that are a significant portion of the park system’s deferred maintenance inventory.

Protect and Maintain Our Parks

As the popularity of the parks as a tourism destination rises, the agency must respond to challenges beyond just investing in infrastructure. More national park rangers are required to meet the needs of visitor use and protection as well as to respond to emergencies and a prolonged fire season. Additional maintenance staff is needed to prevent future deterioration of park facilities and to care for any new investments. The people and funding to meet these needs have been lost in all park areas of operation -maintenance, interpretation, resource management, and visitor protection. Since 2001 the National Park Service operational budget has been reduced by approximately $500 million dollars. At the park level this translates into a loss of park staff of approximately 1,500 fulltime employees.

Recommendation:

  • Propose restoring staff levels to, at a minimum, their FY 2010 levels, more than 10% above 2015 staffing levels.

Partnership Opportunities

The National Park Service has an opportunity to leverage the park experience by effectively using its longstanding programs that support the work of its state partners as well as private landowners and community conservation organizations. The NPS can use its iconic brand, its powerful interpretive messages, and its many well-regarded partnership programs to offer healthy outdoor recreation, tell America’s stories, and enhance economic vitality in states and local communities.

For these reasons it is important to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Funded from offshore oil and gas receipts, non-taxpayer dollars, this program assists in the conservation of critical federal lands for resource conservation and supports state partners in the planning and development of parks and other recreational assets. In our national parks these funds can be used to acquire inholdings and fill in mandated park boundaries to protect resources and benefit the visiting public. At the state level, the fund has leveraged millions of dollars, created thousands of local parks, and conserved land for outdoor sports and public recreation.

Recommendation:

  • Full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund to complete national parks and to support state initiatives for open space conservation and recreation.

Fully and Permanently Fund the National Historic Preservation Fund 

The Historic Preservation Fund uses receipts from offshore oil and gas receipts, non-tax payer dollars, to partner with States and Tribes to provide cost effective preservation strategies. This includes the Historic Tax Credit, which over the past three decades has created 2.3 million jobs, leveraged $117 billion in investment, and rehabilitated more than 41,250 buildings. Investments in historic preservation help conserve historic properties and revitalize both our urban and rural communities.

Recommendation:

  • Full funding for the Historic Preservation Fund to help recognize, preserve, and utilize our nation’s historic resources for community revitalization.

Pass Program Legislation and Fund the National Heritage Areas

The National Heritage Area approach has a 30-year track record of developing strong regional partnerships for resource conservation and community prosperity. Today there are 49 National Heritage Areas from Alabama to Alaska. Program legislation has been introduced with bipartisan support for over a decade and now is the time to make a push for its passage.

Recommendations:

  • Funding should be maintained at the congressionally appropriated levels of $19.3 million in FY 2017 with increases in the future to support the growth of the program.
  • Support the passage of program authorization for National Heritage Areas.

Support Strategic Partnerships Around Recreation and Trails

Programs like the National Scenic and Historic Trails and the Rivers, Trails and Conservation program reach out and connect partners across the country around the idea of recreational access and resource conservation.

Recommendation:

  • Target the benefits of this program to work with partners at federal, state and local level to improve community recreation and resource conservation.

Effective Leadership and Development

As the National Park Service enters a new century of protecting and managing our nation’s precious natural and cultural resources, clearly dramatic Human Resource and training/development changes will need to be instituted to meet future needs, continuing to ensure our nation’s national parks continue to be “America’s best idea.” Our recommendations are as follows:

Hire and Develop a Workforce Reflective of the Strength and Diversity of America

Analyze current workforce and devise methods for transitioning to a workforce reflective of the country’s diversity. Reinstate the HBCU partnerships. Establish partnerships to transition hiring practices. Support and develop new hires by grounding in NPS law, regulations and policy, as well as overall orientation to NPS.

Ensure Supervisors and Managers Receive Necessary Fundamental Training/Development

Identify areas of development to include essential Human Resource management/regulations, grounding in law/ regulations/policies, to enable managers to provide the training/development to their employees, continue new Superintendents course/roundtable, expanding to include potential future leaders. Provide employees with overall mission and purpose training (currently Park Rangers receive significant training, but exclusively in law enforcement).

Provide Orientation Training for All Employees to Include Mission and Purpose, as well as Expectation of Employees

Park Superintendents and Managers have been elevated without basic knowledge of leadership responsibility, government, laws, regulations and policies covering the National Park Service and other environmental laws. This knowledge should be instilled at the beginning of employment and throughout one’s career and required when one is considered for supervisory and leadership positions.

Review Organizational Structure

Consolidating specialty functions at the Central Office level has proven counterproductive. Review the organization and revamp to ensure human resource, administrative, investigative functions are close to the field level. This will allow the immediate addressing, investigation and correction of problems within the organization.

Zero Tolerance means Zero Tolerance

Clearly, this has not been the policy with current management. Managers are responsible for disciplining and removing employees for misconduct and poor performance using appropriate tools. All managers need to receive training/ development to equip them to address and correct employee misconduct/poor performance.

Utilize Partnerships to Achieve Goals

The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, as well as other organizations (Outdoor Afro, Next 100 Coalition, Hispanic Access Foundations, Latino Outdoors, etc.), are natural partners for achieving leadership and development excellence. The Coalition is comprised of many senior (retired) NPS managers who are able to mentor and develop new managers and provides short-term coverage for vacant managerial positions.

Ensure Director, Regional Directors and Senior Leaders Understand Expectations

The senior leadership of the National Park Service should be setting the example of bold leadership. Resources should and must be protected. Laws must be followed. These expectations must be reinforced in future management.

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Comments

That's lovely.  If you think any of it is going to happen under the current administration, I'd love to know what you're smoking so I can have some, too.


I agree with Megaera, This is a wonderful wish list but it will never happen. All we can hope for is to get one or two parts of this list done, That is all. 


how many signatures would it require from the American public?


About 20 million signatures on $100 checks.  Every year.


"About 20 million signatures on $100 checks.  Every year."

Yeah, that just might buy the services of enough inhabitants of Congress to get them to listen.  Maybe.


Well I was thinking the Payee would be the NPS.  I seen no evidence that anyone has changed a vote for a $100 check.


Perhaps, but $20 million divided among the denizens of Congress might attract some attention.


Stop adding additional units untill original parks are in better shape.  New units only eat away at the current budget pie.  It is like Radio Shack when going bankrupt saying "Lets open about 30 new stores, that should help the problem."


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