[Senate Hearing 116-376]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 116-376
THE IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON
USERS OF PUBLIC LANDS, FORESTS, AND NA-
TIONAL PARKS
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 23, 2020
__________
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
40-922 WASHINGTON : 2021
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COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Chairman
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia
JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho RON WYDEN, Oregon
MIKE LEE, Utah MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
STEVE DAINES, Montana BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan
CORY GARDNER, Colorado MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico
CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
MARTHA McSALLY, Arizona ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
Brian Hughes, Staff Director
Lucy Murfitt, Chief Counsel
Nick Matiella, Senior Professional Staff Member
Renae Black, Democratic Staff Director
Sam E. Fowler, Democratic Chief Counsel
David Brooks, Democratic General Counsel
Darla Ripchensky, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Murkowski, Hon. Lisa, Chairman and a U.S. Senator from Alaska.... 1
Manchin III, Hon. Joe, Ranking Member and a U.S. Senator from
West Virginia.................................................. 3
WITNESSES
Hepler, Hon. Kelly R., Secretary, South Dakota Department of
Game, Fish and Parks, on Behalf of the Association of Fish and
Wildlife Agencies.............................................. 6
Kemper, Douglas, Executive Director, Colorado Water Congress..... 25
Lane, Ethan L., Vice President of Government Affairs, National
Cattlemen's Beef Association................................... 56
Shafroth, Will, President & CEO, National Park Foundation........ 64
Turner, Jessica (Wahl), Executive Director, Outdoor Recreation
Roundtable..................................................... 76
ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED
Appalachian Trail Conservancy:
Letter for the Record........................................ 109
Hepler, Hon. Kelly R.:
Opening Statement............................................ 6
Written Testimony............................................ 9
Kemper, Douglas:
Opening Statement............................................ 25
Written Testimony............................................ 27
Lane, Ethan L.:
Opening Statement............................................ 56
Written Testimony............................................ 58
Manchin III, Hon. Joe:
Opening Statement............................................ 3
Martin, Tom:
Letter for the Record........................................ 159
Murkowski, Hon. Lisa:
Opening Statement............................................ 1
Shafroth, Will:
Opening Statement............................................ 64
Written Testimony............................................ 66
Responses to Questions for the Record........................ 106
Turner, Jessica (Wahl):
Opening Statement............................................ 76
Written Testimony............................................ 78
Responses to Questions for the Record........................ 108
THE IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON USERS OF PUBLIC LANDS, FORESTS,
AND NATIONAL PARKS
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THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2020
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:21 a.m. in
Room SD-366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Lisa
Murkowski, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
The Chairman. Good morning everyone, the Committee will
come to order. We are a few members shy this morning, including
my Ranking Member. As you know, we are in the beginning of a
series of votes this morning that just began at ten o'clock. So
you will see a little bit of disruption in addition to the
hybrid look of today's hearing, but as we do here in the
Senate, we improvise and we are flexible. My hope this morning
is that we will be able to open the hearing and hear from our
witnesses before we get interrupted again for a second vote. We
appreciate the flexibility of our witnesses and welcome each of
you.
We are here this morning to examine the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on users of our public lands, our national
forests and our treasured national parks. Five months ago the
novel Coronavirus became a global pandemic, changing nearly
every aspect of life as we know it. Public health intervention
measures were necessary to try to slow the spread of the virus,
but they have also impacted the use, the management and the
enjoyment of our federal lands.
So let's start with our national parks. They normally
attract more than 120 million visitors from March through July.
In a typical year, visitors spend $21 billion on travel,
lodging, food and shopping inside our parks and in our
neighboring gateway communities. Now obviously this is not a
normal year and the numbers certainly show it. Visitation is
down 22 percent in our national parks. Fewer visitors means
less income and employment for rural tourism dependent on small
businesses. The National Park Hospitality Association forecasts
a 46 percent decline in revenue for hundreds of park
concessionaires this year. I think we recognize that sadly some
of these smaller businesses will not survive.
I saw several examples of these impacts myself over the
Fourth of July recess when I was back home in Alaska. I had an
opportunity to visit Denali National Park and Katmai National
Park. On my way into Denali I stopped in the community of
Talkeetna, just outside the park. This is a community that
relies very, very heavily on that summer tourism--those
tourists who want to come up to see Denali but also those who
go climbing on the mountain, the entire climbing season was cut
off this year. I was able to talk with the owner of a
flightseeing company. They provide aviation services and
spectacular flyovers of the mountain and ferry our hunters
around during the fall season. Their situation is pretty dire
right now. They were not able to receive a PSP loan. They are
very, very worried that they are not going to make it through
the end of the year. Normally they operate during this part of
the season. They operate upwards of 20 planes on any given day.
They only have three in circulation now. I mean, that is
significant. If you only have three aircraft, that means you
have fewer pilots. You have fewer maintainers. It just trickles
all throughout.
And that business is not alone. I heard the same from other
small businesses within the community. I visited a small
boating company. They offer tours up the river. They were only
operating two or three boats up the Talkeetna, again, at a time
when they and their crews would just be going gangbusters at
this point in time. I stopped by the local brewery there in
Talkeetna, one of the largest employers in that community. They
have seen a 60 percent decline in revenue. Then at Katmai, I
had an opportunity to speak with the concessionaires there at
Brooks Lodge. They are providing only day services rather than
the overnight accommodations. They are going to be looking to
see if it is possible to adjust that for a very brief window,
maybe a month or so. But again, this is a lodge that normally
would be booked solid for months and months in advance. These
businesses bear the burden of trying to bring in enough revenue
to break even or just survive while also welcoming visitors and
ensuring safe, socially distancing operations. I was encouraged
as I was in the parks to see almost everyone wearing masks.
They were adhering to the public health mandates, even in these
very, very remote areas.
Outdoor recreation has also taken a big hit in our national
forests. The outfitter and guide businesses that operate on
these lands are often seasonal, small mom and pop shops that
really rely on the visitor travel, and the loss of customers
during the peak season has just been devastating. And in
speaking with so many of them, they are looking at having to,
again, discontinue their services entirely. I think it is
important, particularly in a place like Alaska where whether it
is your national parks or your national forests and the
visitation, our visitation is May through the end of September.
Beyond that, you just don't see people visiting in Katmai in
November. You don't see people visiting as tourists in the
Tongass in February. It just doesn't happen. So for those who
say we just need to flatten this curve and get beyond it and
everything is going to be okay, for our industry, for our
sector here, it is gone. It is done for 2020. And they are
worried whether they can survive through the beginning of the
season in 2021. This is very, very real and, of course, it is
not just for us in Alaska.
I mentioned winter and whether or not we do see that level
of tourism. We know that winter recreation did not escape COVID
either. The 2019-2020 ski season was cut short, forcing every
ski area on our national forests to close early. As a skier, it
was devastating to me because we had such a great, epic ski
year in so many of our areas and we were not skiing.
The virus is also threatening the way our public lands are
used to produce food and water. Dam and canal operators
typically finance large amounts of debt to build infrastructure
that transports water from watersheds in our national forests
to cities and to farms, and family-owned ranchers carefully
budget for infrastructure and livestock purchases to ensure
rangeland health and productivity under the terms of their
grazing permits. Some individuals are now struggling to pay
their water bills and others are buying less meat. This exposes
ranchers, farmers and water providers to financial risks that
jeopardize their continued operation.
Impacts on state governments are also having a ripple
effect on federal land management. Many state habitat, wildlife
and invasive species activities did not occur this spring or
this summer. Some states stopped all non-essential field work,
including prescribed burns and forest restoration projects on
neighboring federal lands. Others could not spawn fish in
hatcheries which has reduced angling opportunities and could
possibly compromise long-term aquatic species restoration
goals. In Alaska, we see a prime example of this. The sale of
non-resident hunting and fishing licenses accounts for a
substantial portion of funding for our Department of Fish and
Game. By some estimates, the Department could lose up to 60
percent of its revenue stream because of this year's depressed
tourism season. Without that revenue, the state is going to
have a hard time meeting the matching requirements for the
Pittman-Robertson grants or the stateside portion of the Land
and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Here we are going to have a
great opportunity for access to greater LWCF funds, but if the
state can't meet the matching, it is like we have not helped
them at all.
Today we are going to hear testimony from several public
land user advisor advocacy groups, and as we do it is important
to consider the scale of the Federal Government's reach. It is
the single largest landowner in the United States, possessing
more than a quarter of all land within our borders, more than
640 million acres in total. The vast majority of those acres
are located in Alaska and across 11 Western states. COVID-19
has added a whole new layer of complexity to public land
management. We need to ensure the Federal Government is
supporting the users who are essential job creators and
environmental stewards while also respecting the wishes of the
local communities who call those areas home.
With that, I turn to my friend and colleague, Ranking
Member Manchin, for your opening remarks.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOE MANCHIN III,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA
Senator Manchin. Thank you, Chairman Murkowski, and I thank
all of you for being here today and those, I think we have a
couple on the video and we appreciate your expertise too for
sharing it with us.
I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that we now
have 141,000 people who have died in the United States from
this horrendous virus including 102 West Virginians. Our heart
goes out to each one of their families and all those left
behind, and it is just a horrible, horrible, horrible, tragic
event.
Today we are going to be discussing the COVID-19 impacts on
users of public lands. As the case with nearly every facet of
our society, most users of public lands are continuing to
experience a disruption to business as usual due to the
Coronavirus. I believe it is important for public lands to
remain open, accessible, when it is safely possible to do so,
not only because they offer a wonderful respite and a way to
enjoy our great outdoors, but also because they are important
generators of economic activity, especially, and I mean
especially, for rural America and West Virginia is all rural.
Last week I held a virtual feedback session with West Virginia
leaders to hear directly from them about how we can better
utilize and direct future COVID-19 funding. Precisely what I
asked them, tell me what did not work for you in the first
round of funding that was designed to work for you but did not.
Tell me what is the greatest need you have now. If we could
pinpoint just one thing, just give me one. And so, every
category, we had over 43 different representations of all
different facets of life in West Virginia, and they all had
some great, great input to this. It has been very helpful.
A major problem we are facing in West Virginia is getting
CARES Act funding out the door to counties and local
governments. Even the monies that the states have received,
$1.25 billion to the smallest states and some of you are from
states like mine. The governors haven't put them out and put
the money out. Forty-five percent of that was intended. So if
you were a small state with $1.25 billion, $560 million was
supposed to, it wasn't in the law, but it was supposed to go to
the counties, municipalities, non-profits, every one of the
aspect to keep economies alive, anybody that got, basically,
harmed because of COVID-19 which everything you're talking
about today and you're representing, got slammed. That money
was to be used to keep them whole or try to keep them above
water, so when a market does return. And I tell people, if you
think this market is going to return before there is a vaccine
or an antibody, you are crazy. So people are still scared. We
must live with that fact until we get a vaccine. It is going to
be rough but if the money is not distributed, it makes it even
rougher. So I hope all of you go back home, and start raising
cane for your share because I can tell you, the national
average is 16 percent, only 16 percent of the money the
governors have gotten has gone out to the local communities and
been distributed around their states.
I raise that point in relation to the conversation we are
having here today because in many states those governments rely
on federal payment and revenue sharing programs from federal
land management agencies to offset the loss of revenues due to
the presence of public lands in their jurisdictions. It
includes important programs like Secure Rural Schools, Payment
in Lieu of Taxes, the Dingell-Johnson funds for fish
restoration and royalty payments for energy development. Each
of these programs provide important lifelines to the states and
communities all across the country that are experiencing
unprecedented threats to their budgets due to the Coronavirus.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we just passed the
Great American Outdoors Act, and that Great American Outdoors
Act is going to do so much.
I want to take the time to acknowledge David Brooks. He has
been working on this Committee for 32 years. David and I were
talking and he said, ``I never thought this day would come.
This is the greatest achievement we have made in the last half
a century, 50 years or more, and I think all of us are going to
benefit by it.''
I look forward to hearing from each one of you about your
concerns and challenges. I also hope we will be able to hear
from the Department of the Interior and Forest Service in the
near future so that we can better understand their plans for
reopening federal lands in a manner that protects the health
and safety of public land visitors and agency employees,
consistent with federal and state health guidelines.
I would like to take a moment and turn to some good news
and that is, again, the Great American Outdoors Act, which we
are very, very pleased about. It will be a major investment
that public land users in this great country will enjoy for
generations to come, and I know my children and grandchildren
will enjoy it. The Great American Outdoors Act is going to
provide permanent and mandatory funding for Land and Water
Conservation Fund, at a fully authorized level of $900 million
annually and $9.5 billion for deferred maintenance for projects
on federal lands with 70 percent of that amount dedicated to
national parks. Passage of the bill's historic achievement, I
believe, everyone understands that is in this line of work and
everyone who has ever enjoyed the outdoors. The fact that we
were able to get this bill through the Senate and the House in
a relatively short timeframe in the most toxic environment I
have ever lived through in my life, speaks volumes of the
importance of the great outdoors and the conservation and the
environment that we are all responsible for.
With that, I want to thank Chair Murkowski for having this
hearing, and I look forward to hearing from all of you and the
witnesses.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Manchin.
I think we are looking forward to having the President sign
the Great American Outdoors Act and, as you point out,
finalizing----
Senator Manchin. Yes.
The Chairman. ----and ensuring that good work goes forward.
We are joined by a strong panel here this morning as we are
looking at the impacts of COVID-19 on our public lands. We are
going to begin our panel this morning with a couple of
witnesses that are joining us virtually and three that are here
in person.
We are going to start this morning with the Honorable Kelly
Hepler, who is the Secretary for the South Dakota Department of
Game, Fish and Parks on behalf of the Association of the Fish
and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA). I think it is important to also
note that in addition to his work in South Dakota, Mr. Hepler
was in the State of Alaska for about 35 years, as I understand,
working for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. So he is
uniquely poised to speak, not only about Alaska's perspectives
and operations but also where he is in South Dakota with their
Department of Game, Fish and Parks. So we welcome Mr. Hepler to
the Committee.
Also virtually, we are joined by Mr. Douglas Kemper. Doug
is the Executive Director for the Colorado Water Congress. We
are pleased to have him.
Here in the Committee room we have Mr. Ethan Lane, who is
the Vice President of Government Affairs for the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). We welcome you.
We are also joined by Mr. Will Shafroth. Will is the
President and CEO of the National Park Foundation, so this is a
good day for you as well with passage of the Great American
Outdoors Act.
Then we are also pleased to welcome Ms. Jess Turner, who is
the Executive Director for the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable
(ORR).
We will go in the order as I have introduced you. Again, my
hope is that we will be able to get through the comments from
all five of our witnesses this morning and then we might take a
quick break to go vote. Hopefully we will and that will work
with our timing. I would ask folks to try to keep your comments
to about five minutes. Your full statements will be
incorporated as part of the record, and then we will have an
opportunity for engagement back and forth. Several of our
colleagues will also be participating virtually, so there will
be a lot of moving pieces here but I think we have all got this
in the age of Zoom and Webex.
With that, let's begin with you, Mr. Hepler. Welcome to the
Committee and nice to see you.
STATEMENT OF HON. KELLY R. HEPLER, SECRETARY, SOUTH
DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF GAME, FISH AND PARKS, ON
BEHALF OF THE ASSOCIATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE AGENCIES
Mr. Hepler. Good morning, Madam Chair and Ranking Member
Manchin, members of the Committee. I do appreciate this
opportunity to testify this morning and I have testimony this
morning on behalf of the Association of Fish and Wildlife
Agencies. As you noted, I'm Secretary of Game, Fish and Parks
in South Dakota, but also as you noted, Madam Chair, that I
spent 35 years in Alaska and those were great years. We do have
some mutual friends here--Mulder, Pat Carter and Rueben and
others. You also were very gracious and had an intern named
Maggie Hepler a number of years ago. My wife and I certainly
appreciate the leadership you showed with my daughter. Thank
you. But about five years ago I had the great opportunity to
return back to my home State of South Dakota where I am now the
Secretary.
As both Senators mentioned earlier this morning, we are
certainly in challenging times and this is truly an
understatement. The effects of COVID-19 are profoundly
impacting the physical and mental well-being of our nation's
citizens and the stability of our national and local economies.
During this pandemic, our natural resources which provide for
the health and well-being of the public are being relied on now
more and more. The general public has increased its use of
state-managed lands and waters at unprecedented levels for much
needed outdoor recreation and relaxation. Americans
increasingly are seeking nature on these state lands for
comfort and healing. This level of public use is presenting new
opportunities to reach new constituents and driving home the
relevancy of state fish and wildlife agencies to a person's
quality of life. As more people experience the proven health
benefits of the outdoors and nature, many of them engage in
activities that directly fund species and habitat conservation.
Hunting and fishing licenses, a lifeblood of state fish and
wildlife agencies, depend on open lands, water and travel.
License sales this year vary widely across the country.
Resident fishing licenses are by far the standout. Compared to
last year, national sales through April were just under about
ten percent across the land. In South Dakota we've seen a 27
percent increase. Unfortunately this is coupled to an 18
percent decrease nationally on non-resident fishing license
sales due to state-specific travel restrictions and
regulations. And in some states, agencies must sell up to six
times the number of resident licenses to cover the loss of
revenue from non-resident license sales. Nowhere is this better
illustrated, Madam Chair, than in Alaska where the Department
of Fish and Game relies on non-resident license sales to fund a
significant part of their budget. These sales are down 90
percent and, I repeat, 90 percent in the first half of 2020
compared to April 2019. Excise taxes from sales of hunting and
fishing equipment provide another bright spot for conservation
and state fish and wildlife agency budgets. Estimated sales of
guns and ammo have increased by about 300 percent in the second
half of FY 2020. Revenue generated from these taxes fund
conservation projects directly benefiting hunters and
recreational shooters. The sale of angling and gear and motor
boat fuels and the resulting excise tax receipts have been
robust since part of the state supports fish projects.
However, there's an unprecedented strain on state agency
budgets and fiscal uncertainty is the norm. Mandatory
reductions in spending authority, hiring freezes, stringent
spending shrinkages and reduction or elimination of state,
federal and general funds to state agencies are some of the
fiscal challenges that they're now facing. Critical NGO
partners also relied on for match generation have been
devastated by this economic impact and they've also been put at
risk--grants, contracts, cooperative agreements that we have
with these partners. And even though funding is performing
pretty well, none of us know for certain what's going to happen
this fall and what that means as far as our hunting licenses.
Congress has recognized this increased necessity for
conservation funding, and I thank the Senate for the passage of
the Great American Outdoors Act. Outstanding work, Senators.
This will create jobs by addressing the deferred maintenance
backlog to federal land managers as well as help fund the
statewide program's Land and Water Conservation Fund, that, of
course, as Senator Manchin noted, this Act passed the House
yesterday and congratulations to all. It's going to provide
some historic funding for many.
In South Dakota we partner with communities across the
state to improve the quality of life by funding projects like
swimming pools, playgrounds and hiking trails. These are the
type of projects that keep small communities alive, although
I'm concerned about the ability of these communities to build
that make them necessary to match. We will continue to rise and
meet the challenges of this pandemic and look forward to
working with the Congress to answer their needs. Indeed, state
fish and wildlife agencies will be resilient, strong and
ensuring the wise stewardship of fish and wildlife resources
for the benefit of the current and future generations. We want
to work with Congress to not only improve our financial
security to rebuild and our state recreational infrastructure,
but maybe it is important to bring hope to all those families
that value the importance of getting outside. Thank you again,
Madam Chair, for the opportunity to testify, I stand by for
questions. Thank you, Madam.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hepler follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Very good, thank you, Mr. Hepler. We
appreciate that.
Mr. Kemper, welcome.
STATEMENT OF DOUGLAS KEMPER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COLORADO WATER
CONGRESS
Mr. Kemper. Good morning. This is Doug Kemper. I am the
Executive Director of the Colorado Water Congress. It serves as
a principal voice of Colorado's water community. I'm also here
representing the National Water Resources Association. I serve
as the Chair of the State Executives. Most Western states have
an organization somewhat similar to ours, and collectively we
represent the majority of water use in the Western United
States. Much of our water supply does come off of federal
lands, parks and forests, and I'm here to talk a little bit
about how COVID is affecting the water community--to cover five
different topic areas. As we look at some of the COVID impacts,
some--many are yet to be fully felt. There's some unevenness of
impacts from place to place and type of water use but there is
a general concern about the delays and funding for aging water
infrastructure replacement.
First, on the safety and health of employees, our staff
that work out in the field provide critical daily functions
that cannot be performed remotely and there's a need for better
preparedness. Most of us did not have a COVID scenario in our
budgets as we were preparing for 2020. We do need stockpiles of
PPE. We need some better messaging that water supply and water
quality remain good and certainly, also, is stop flushing of
flushable wipes has been a real problem for our wastewater
folks. We do need better training and cross-training of
operators. We already have a shortage of water and wastewater
operators.
From infrastructure funding in my written materials there's
being that they're from Idaho, that as commodity prices drop
and the economy is falling, you know, construction costs are
going up. This puts more pressure on local government's ability
to fund and especially about concern of the ability to for
state and local match for costs. Farmers need help and they
need preparation. We need to invest in water infrastructure,
and those investments return huge economic impacts. The
irrigated ag needs to, in Western Colorado, really supports our
local communities and it's very important. We need to,
according to ASCE, we've got an $84 billion gap in water and
wastewater facility funding, $45 billion in aging, high hazard
dams, $80 billion in levees.
We want to thank Senators Gardner and Bennett for their
support for revenue stabilization assistance for Colorado. A
recent survey by Colorado Municipal League shows that 80
percent of our municipalities expect a general fund shortfall
of 20 percent in 2020. This is going to affect reducing
critical services, staffing and controlled maintenance. We're
seeing a precipitous drop in natural resource production and
severance tax that comes from that. Sixty percent of that in
Colorado is used for rural communities for funding. We're
seeing an 81 percent decline in Colorado of severance tax and
we've had, our state government has moved over $45 million from
its funds to balance the general budget that would normally
have gone to water infrastructure funding. We're very concerned
about any work on shutoffs or federal mandates on shutoffs. I
think that most of our local water providers are doing an
excellent job of working with providers--with the customers to
mitigate any kind of impacts there.
We've already mentioned the forest health, and that's a
major concern. Aquatic nuisance species control, you know, we
had 9,000 boat decontaminations this year and had 50, through
this year, 5,200 from this time last year. And the forest to
faucets programs, the resilient forests and the water source
protection programs are all very important. Our special
districts that were left out of the CARES Act and PPP programs
need some help. These are really important districts that
provide services where cities and counties cannot. You can look
for more work there coming from special districts on mitigation
for funding there.
In conclusion, the long-term plans are in flux really due
to uncertainty of COVID, and that's really saying something for
a water community that's constantly buffeted by weather and
changes in the economy. Nobody's giving up. We generally have a
very positive attitude, but we do need the Federal Government
as a partner. I want to thank all of our Western Senators for
their help and, as we're kicking around ideas in the water
community, your names are all coming up very regularly and we
really thank you for your support.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Kemper follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Kemper. We appreciate that.
We will come back to the Committee room here and hear from
Mr. Ethan Lane. Welcome.
STATEMENT OF ETHAN L. LANE, VICE PRESIDENT OF GOVERNMENT
AFFAIRS, NATIONAL CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION
Mr. Lane. Thank you, Chair Murkowski for inviting me today.
Ranking Member Manchin, thank you as well. My name is Ethan
Lane. I am the Vice President of Government Affairs for the
National Cattlemen's Beef Association. NCBA is the oldest and
largest trade association representing the U.S. cattle and beef
industry. Formerly, I was the Executive Director of the Public
Lands Council which is the only organization that advocates
solely for the 22,000 grazing permit holders that operate on
Western federal lands in the United States.
The testimony I offer today I hope will address two
different issues. One, those issues germane to this Committee's
jurisdiction, but two, hopefully to present to you a larger
picture of what Western ranchers are dealing with in the face
and context of COVID-19 over the past few months. It has truly
been a challenging environment for our industry.
In April of 2020 some of the leading economists in the
country, specifically agricultural economists, found that the
economic impact to the U.S. cattle industry from COVID-19 was
at $13.6 billion and climbing. According to producers who sold
cattle throughout the spring, their payments that they received
for their live animals were something like 30 to 50 percent
reduced from what they expected when they entered this season.
For cow/calf producers operating on Western grazing allotments,
this is perhaps even more exacerbated by the year-round nature
of their businesses. That economic impact report estimated that
$111 could be attributed as lost to each steer sold this year
with an escalating loss to $247 moving into 2021 without some
mitigating assistance.
The brunt of this economic impact really stems from some of
the slowdowns that we saw in the processing sector. Obviously
that was a large story during the peak of COVID-19, but it led
to a tremendous backup of cattle and livestock on Western
grazing lands and in the grazing industry, in general. Those
producers chose not to follow the path that we saw in some of
the other protein spaces by looking for options for
depopulation and, instead, looked for areas to augment feed
supplies, look for areas for additional forage and sustain
those cattle until they could be processed in a timely manner.
That strategy has proven successful, but we are now dealing
with some of the other impacts that have been discussed here
today, especially for those producers that are operating in the
West.
In particular, speaking to the Chairman's comments when she
opened this hearing, while there is a dramatic reduction in,
maybe, formulized attendance at some of those national park
sites, there is a dramatically increased amount of public usage
of some of those public lands, particularly surrounding large,
metropolitan areas. Our producers are seeing large surges of ad
hoc usage of those lands which already before this pandemic
were quite popular with the American people. That is the point.
This is a multiple-use environment. That's something that our
producers hold very dear. They have managed in that environment
for sometimes as much as seven generations, but at the volumes
that we're seeing now, we are seeing some of those resources
stretched beyond what they can really sustain. We're seeing
water sources that are used, not just by livestock but by
wildlife as well, encircled by large SUVs, four-wheel drive
vehicles and other resources while ignoring requests that those
be handled in a way that provides access for wildlife and
livestock to those water sources. We're seeing new trails being
made on an ad hoc basis by some of those off-road vehicles, by
hikers, by others, without regard to the ecosystems that they
are engaging in. And while we want to make sure that everybody
enjoys those public lands and benefits from them equally, the
regulatory environment that ranchers operate in basically means
that as they go home with a consequence-free experience on
their public lands, the ranchers that are held to a very high
standard and constant scrutiny are left to deal with the
ramifications both from a land/health perspective and an
infrastructure cost perspective once that visit from the public
is over.
We look forward to working with this Committee, with the
Department of the Interior and USDA to try to find some ways to
manage those roadblocks that are in the way of our producers
doing the work that they need to do. As the rest of the economy
shut down over the last four or five months, ranchers still
showed up for work every day. Ranchers still ensured that there
was beef at the center of American plates and they also ensured
that the 250 million acres that we help manage in partnership
with the Federal Government, continued to get that sustainable
operational management that we have been providing for so long.
So we look forward to your questions. We look forward to the
discussion and look forward to charting a path forward for
helping to manage these lands.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Lane follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Lane.
Mr. Shafroth, welcome to the Committee.
STATEMENT OF WILL SHAFROTH, PRESIDENT & CEO,
NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION
Mr. Shafroth. Thank you, Chair Murkowski and Ranking Member
Manchin, other members of the Committee who may be here
virtually, I'm Will Shafroth, President and CEO of the National
Park Foundation, the official philanthropic partner of the
National Park Service. Today, five months into a global
pandemic, it remains difficult to gauge the full impact COVID-
19 will have on those who work for, in or near our parks, as
well as the millions of Americans for whom national parks are
an important destination. Especially in the throes of a global
pandemic, we must all work together to support the National
Park Service's mission to ensure our parks remain accessible to
current and future generations.
During the past five months the National Park Foundation
has done its best to adapt to the changing times caused by
COVID-19 by providing new and expanding existing support for
parks. As the pandemic unfolded, the national parks suddenly
became less accessible to most Americans. In response, the
Foundation worked with the Park Service to develop new ways to
bring parks to America's homes through digital experiences,
enhanced virtual tours and webcams and auditory experiences
like PARKTRACKS have allowed people to tune into the sites and
sounds of national parks from anywhere. On the Foundation
website we've added more content, including virtual Junior
Ranger booklets, instructions to earn a Girl Scout 19th
Amendment badge and even a way to virtually explore Alexander
Hamilton's journey through our national parks once you watch
the musical. As in-person park visitation resumes, we must also
educate visitors about some of the new norms. The Foundation is
actively involved in the #RecreateResponsibly campaign which
urges those who visit parks and other public lands to do so in
the safest possible manner. Some important messages that this
campaign is conveying include, ``Know Before You Go,'' ``Pack
Out What You Pack In'' and be prepared with a mask, hand
sanitizer, food and water.
As a part of our mission, the Foundation works to support
non-profit park partners and there are more than 450 of these
groups that generated an aggregate revenue of more than $1.2
billion in 2018. Revenue from these partner groups generally
falls into two categories: philanthropy and earned revenue. As
parks closed to protect public health, groups reliant on earned
revenue began to face immediate challenges as funds to pay for
salaries and overhead dried up overnight. And even with the
reopening of parks, business remains down and support for park
education efforts in some parks has diminished. On the
philanthropic side, most organizations continue to raise money
for parks, just not as much as before the pandemic. For
example, many organizations were forced to cancel large, in-
person fundraising events which can provide a meaningful share
of a group's annual revenue.
Further, some donors shifted the focus of their giving to
COVID-related causes while others are in a wait and see posture
until there's more certainty in the direction of the economy.
To support the park partner community during this unprecedented
time, the Foundation in partnership with the Friends Alliance,
quickly moved to provide educational and technical assistance
resources including hosting webinars for friends groups on
navigating the PPP loan process, sharing experiences across the
Friends Community on what was working in fundraising and
convening park partners with NPS leadership to stay abreast of
emerging issues and priorities for the Park Service. For its
part, the National Park Foundation has stayed in the market, if
you will, with our fundraising efforts. We haven't stopped
asking people for money, basically. And while donations from
individuals and foundations have remained fairly strong, our
work with some corporate partners, especially those that have
been negatively impacted by COVID-19, has been put on, have
been put on hold. And because national parks are deeply loved
and a core part of the American DNA, I'm confident that those
who love our parks will continue to support them.
As most in the partner community struggle to thrive during
this challenging time, it's very exciting we also stand at the
precipice of the enactment of the Great American Outdoors Act.
And I'd like to thank members of this Committee for your
support and leadership as this historic legislation will
provide much needed funding for deferred maintenance in our
national parks. We at the Foundation and the partner community,
in general, stand ready to help implement this once-in-a-
lifetime legislation. With increased federal investment to
address the park's long overdue maintenance needs, the partner
community can continue to focus its efforts on funding
innovative projects that enhance the visitor experience and
ensure our parks reach their highest potential.
I'd like to close with one parting thought. We're truly all
in this together. For our parks to thrive, all of us in the
park community need to work together--the Park Service, the
National Park Foundation, local and national partners and
gateway communities. Congress has already taken really
important steps for which we all in the community are grateful,
and we look forward to continue to work with you to do even
more. Thank you for your time today, and I'll welcome your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Shafroth follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Shafroth.
Ms. Turner, welcome to the Committee.
STATEMENT OF JESSICA (WAHL) TURNER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OUTDOOR
RECREATION ROUNDTABLE
Ms. Turner. Thank you.
Dear Chairman Murkowski, Ranking Member Manchin and members
of the Committee, thanks for having me here today to discuss
the many impacts COVID-19 is having on public land and water
users and especially the outdoor recreation business user
community who rely on these special places as the backbone of
our economic force. ORR is the nation's leading coalition of
outdoor recreation trade associations, totaling 32 national
members, representing over 110,000 outdoor businesses and
covering the entire spectrum of outdoor recreation activities.
Prior to the pandemic, we generated $778 billion annually,
comprised 2.2 percent of the U.S. GDP and supported 5.2 million
American jobs. At a time of unprecedented economic growth, we
grew faster than the entire economy in every single indicator,
surpassing other key sectors.
However, our industry has dramatically changed this year.
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak and the ensuing efforts to
mitigate the spread, including social distancing, travel
restrictions, caps on group sizes, retail and public lands
closures, outdoor businesses have gone through unprecedented
downturns and many are still in danger of going out of
business. Entire supply chains have been disrupted and, as the
Chairwoman mentioned, recreational businesses who provide
seasonal opportunities and oftentimes rely on seasonal trips
and travel should have seen a very busy spring and early summer
and, instead, were shuttered along with the local, state and
federal land closures. Eighty-eight percent of our businesses
surveyed in May laid off or furloughed employees; 94 percent
saw a decrease in revenue; and astonishingly, all 23,000
businesses surveyed were experiencing difficulty with
production and distribution, with 79 percent experiencing
significant impacts. According to the U.S. Census Bureau our
industry was the second most affected sector in the entire
country, behind food and accommodation.
While our businesses have been reeling from the economic
shock and shifting to support PPE production and emergency
response efforts, Americans' lives and communities have also
dramatically changed. With schools, movie theaters, malls and
more temporarily closed, Americans are returning to the
outdoors to provide a necessary reprieve from the intense
mental and physical stress caused by the pandemic and the vital
efforts to combat it. In past years less than 50 percent of
Americans have enjoyed an outdoor recreation experience, and
yet a May survey found that 81 percent of Americans said they'd
spent time outside during the pandemic and would continue to do
so after. Metro areas measured park visitation increases
ranging from 6 to 145 percent. So similar to past recessions,
Americans are focusing on their priorities. People want to
safely get outside with their families where transmission rates
of the virus are lower. There's no better place than in a park,
on a river, in a boat, camping in an RV, or on a hiking,
biking, off-roading trail to do this. Recent data reflects this
desire. So biking, fishing license sales in state, power
sports, boat and RV sales have all rebounded since our last
survey in May, and we're watching the demographics shift to
younger and first-time buyers.
We've proved to be a resilient industry, but we are not in
the clear yet. With more people heading outside and the
overcrowding of some federal sites, we must also focus on the
communities who could not access the outdoors in a time when
they needed it most. As governors restricted travel and
encouraged residents to use local communities for walks and
exercise, more than 100 million Americans were not within ten
minutes of a park or a green space and parks that were
accessible to them that serve a majority of people of color,
average half the size and serve more than five times as many
people per acre than those that serve white communities.
With rising unemployment and these access and
infrastructure issues exacerbated by the pandemic, the entire
recreation industry thanks you sincerely for the Great American
Outdoors Act which will help build urban parks, make recreation
safer and more sustainable and, of course, support rural
economies and jobs. There's never been a better time to
consider a recreation package to ensure that our Federal
Government is investing in places and tools that can revitalize
not just our economy but also our spirit. Through policies like
the Recreation Not Red Tape Act, for equitable and sustainable
access, the SOAR Act for flexibility of permits for struggling
guides and outfitters, ski fee retention and fee waivers to
support seasonal businesses and an expansion on this
Committee's great conservation core work to get more youth and
veterans back to work in the outdoors and recreational trails
programs full funding so that the full amount of fuel taxes
that motorize vehicle users pay goes to the improved access for
all recreation users.
Support for resilient lands and waters and these policies
mentioned will invigorate this once vibrant and now struggling
industry so we can help America recover from this economic
recession and get back to doing what our industry does best--
stimulate local economies, put people back to work and support
all Americans in their pursuit of an outdoor experience. Thank
you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Turner follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, Ms. Turner. I appreciate what
you've added in terms of some of the legislative proposals that
are out there that we might be able to help advance in
response. I also want to acknowledge your comments about the
overcrowding. I think it is good, as we, every day try to find
the bright linings of COVID-19. Some days it is more
challenging than others, but we have seen families go outdoors
and recreate at levels and in places that they have not before,
and I think that is such an extraordinary positive.
The other observation that I would make is that the users
that I have come in contact with--users of our parks, users of
our public lands--have recognized that in order to use and use
safely, we are accepting certain limitations that perhaps we
might not have been so eager or willing to do. The example that
I might share with fellow Committee members, as I mentioned, I
was in Katmai National Park. Brooks Camp is where they have the
infamous bear cams where you have the big, lumbering bears
standing at the falls and waiting for the fish to come into
their mouth and that is the most highly sought place to park
your family, watch the bears for hours on end, photograph some
extraordinary pictures. If you want to look at my pictures, I
have got some really good ones. But people recognizing that
they can't all go down to the viewing platform at the same
time. A willingness to not only wait until it is their turn but
recognizing that you can't get on the lower platform until
people have cycled off, that there was a 20 minute, 30 minute
limitation and not once did I hear somebody say, no, I paid an
extraordinary amount of money to come out here to view this and
it is my right to stand here. There was a recognition that we
want to accommodate others. That, to me, was encouraging. I
know we don't hear all the times, the good stories, but I think
it is important to note that as we are trying to access our
public areas that are very special to us, that we are making
some accommodations and making some things work here.
I wanted to ask a question to you, probably Mr. Hepler and
Mr. Shafroth, and this is the issue of the fees and a
recognition that our states, I mentioned the impact on Alaska
and Mr. Hepler you acknowledged that we are going to be down 90
percent in terms of those revenues that we count on. I raised
that in my opening statement as well. Senator Manchin had said
that he had a roundtable where he was asking, okay, what is it
that we need to do, what didn't we do in CARES and what might
we need to be doing going forward? What sort of relief could
Congress provide to address the concerns about the non-federal
matching requirements in the short- and the medium-term?
I will turn to you, Mr. Hepler, first and then we will go
to you, Mr. Shafroth.
Go ahead, Kelly.
Mr. Hepler. Thank you, Madam Chair, I appreciate that.
Yeah, I spent five years as Director of Traditional Sport
Fishing. It's a real challenge right now Dave and Doug have to
deal with. It's, at the very least, what we're asking for,
Madam Chair and Senators, is that right now it's required, it's
75/25. So you need to probably have $25 compared from $75
coming from the federal side. We'd like to have that down to a
90/10 and realizing this isn't asking for more money, this is
all pass-through money and hope that's really the states. And
so we're asking for a 90/10 relief for at least the next two
years and that will give people, like Director Russ in Alaska,
a chance to rebound a little bit because I'm definitely
concerned about that division because I'm not quite sure how
they're going to survive. I also agree with you just because we
may get a vaccine in January does not mean we're going to see
the same people who get in all those cruise ships coming back
to Alaska to visiting some of the other states.
So that right there would at least be a step in the right
direction and we do have some other things we'd like to add but
directly to your question, Madam Chair, that should help.
The Chairman. Good, I appreciate that.
Mr. Shafroth.
Mr. Shafroth. Yes, thank you, Madam Chairman. It's an
interesting dilemma because we've advocated strongly for the
Centennial Challenge funds because frankly donors that we're
seeking funding from like the fact that we're bringing federal
money to the table and it inspires more contributions. And as I
indicated in my testimony, the impact of COVID-19 has been
uneven across the country. Some of the smaller groups have been
dramatically impacted while some of the larger, more
sophisticated groups, including ours, you know, we've kind of
figured things out in a way. And so, I guess I would advocate
for things like the Centennial Challenge funds, some additional
flexibility for the Park Service to look on a case-by-case
basis because some groups, the Golden Gate Parks Conservancy,
they may well be able to easily meet the matching requirements
where others are going to have a much more difficult time.
I'm not that familiar with some of the heritage areas,
Madam Chair, but I understand that they have some specific
challenges that may also require some additional flexibility.
The Chairman. I appreciate that.
Okay, my time has expired. I am going to vote. Senator
Manchin is going to be coming back, but he is not back yet so
that means that we will go to you, Senator Heinrich, and then
you, Senator Barrasso.
Senator Heinrich [presiding]. Thank you, Chairman.
I want to ask a couple of questions that will largely focus
on education, and they are really for any of you. One of the
things that has been a challenge is that we have a whole
coterie of people who are coming and using our public lands
that maybe did not do that a year ago. One of the challenges
that ensues from that is that a large number of people are
crowding into the front country in places where you have trails
that may be narrow, and it is hard to socially distance and
then we have millions of acres that are literally, practically,
receiving no visitation at all. You know, when we were under
the most stringent lockdown and we had, I'm trying to think, I
think it was the blood moon, we had a really amazing full moon
in New Mexico in the middle of that. I took my family out to a
place on BLM land that I knew there would be literally no one
else there. There was no one else at the parking lot, and we
spent the entire evening out there and did not see another
soul.
How do we do a better job educating people about where are
those places that they can go that are really quite
spectacular, that may have a little bit less infrastructure but
try to spread the public out more given the millions of acres
of public lands that we do have?
Ms. Turner. I'll start. Thank you for that question,
Senator.
You know, we've actually talked a lot. This is another good
idea for a recreation package about streamlining the data
collection within the federal agencies. They all have different
methodology. They come out at different times. We really need
to know who's on the public lands and why are they there? So,
for example, if we knew what type of recreation they were
participating in, we could better move people or recommend less
crowded public lands. If we don't know whether they're there to
hike or fish, we can't necessarily say there's a better place
to go. So we really encourage this Committee specifically to
look at streamlining the data collection and making that
available. You know, if you Google a CVS right now you can tell
when the hot spot is, when will it be crowded. It's probably
going to be crowded around five o'clock. I'm going to go at
noon.
How can we show the hot spots in public lands, because I
know there's a lot of users who don't want to be in a crowded
place, especially now? And so, I think data could help move
people around very well at this time, I think.
Senator Heinrich. And we don't want them to be----
Ms. Turner. And we don't want them to be. The Recreate
Responsibly campaign that Will mentioned is a great way to
educate the user community. It's really on the American public
right now to do the right thing when they're getting outside,
and I think more information would help that.
And then the last thing is on our end and probably Will's
end too, and that's brand marketing campaigns. I think
businesses can help bring to light places that are less used--
the people know less about in their marketing campaigns when
people are at point of sale, talking about camping maybe in a
less used area.
Mr. Shafroth. Thank you, Senator Heinrich.
Yeah, the issue of--there's plenty of space but we have a
tendency to cram a lot of people into small spaces. I think
about half of the national park visitation last year of 327
million visits happened on 25 or 30 parks. So it's both. We
need to do a better job of dispersing visitation across the
National Park System, and we're doing that in part through our
Find Your Park campaign which was really to drive more
visitation. And the joke among superintendents was ``yeah, find
a park, but find somebody else's park because mine's got too
many people in it right now'' and disperse them to some of the
lesser known places. You know, there's literally almost 400 of
those places that are lesser known and really compelling, many
of them have to do with history and culture, but nonetheless.
Your state is a great example of, you know, a lot of people
probably cramming into a few of those places and the rest of
the state is pretty vacant. The other part is even within parks
we need to do a better job of dispersing visitation. So if you
go to Yosemite and you would visit Bridalveil Falls, yeah,
there's going to be a lot of people there, but if you go up to
Mary's Lake up in Towalame Meadows, there'll be almost nobody
there. So that is part of an education process that we need to
help do.
The other thing, and I think the Park Service is thinking
about this too, which is, you know, timed entry. We need to be
looking more at using technology in a more intelligent way to
ensure that, you know, if you show up at a movie theater at
seven o'clock on a Friday night, you don't necessarily expect
to get a seat anymore, right, or a seat together with your
family. We have to be thinking in the same way about our park
visitation, and if you want to be at a prime spot, you may have
to reserve some of those places.
Senator Heinrich. I don't have a lot of time left, so
rather than jump into another question I will make a comment
and just, it is really more of a thank you to all of the user
groups and industry groups who stepped in. You know, there was
a moment there where even in my State of New Mexico that's so
dependent on outdoor recreation and our public lands, where
people were saying, I think, maybe we just need to shut these
places down right now and we need to shut the roads and shut
the access and people stepped up and within 24 hours there was
literally a consistent communications campaign from elected
leaders, from industry, from people like the new outdoor
recreation specialist in our Governor's administration, all
talking about, okay, we need these spaces right now, but here
is how you access them responsibly. Here is how you are not a
burden on someone locally, you are not a burden on other users
and we are going to do this together responsibly. And in a
culture where oftentimes for the last few decades we have
really been about me, me, me, it was very heartening to see
that and it was a great benefit for public health and also for
people's mental health to continue to be able to access those
places but be respectful in how they did it.
Senator Barrasso [presiding]. Well, I am really
appreciative of this hearing, and I just want to talk a little
bit first about the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on the
users of our public lands and our forests, our national parks
because it is extremely important, certainly to my home State
of Wyoming. Although the year to date visitation in state and
national parks is down in Wyoming, we have seen a substantial
increase in visitors over the last couple of months as we
reopened smartly, safely, sensibly, responsibly. Despite the
recent increase in visitors, tourism in gateway communities and
concessionaires in Wyoming truly are hurting. And you have seen
this all across the country. The ski resorts had to end their
seasons early. Our parks had delayed openings.
Ms. Turner, in your testimony you highlight waiving fees on
public lands, extending contracts and permits as a
recommendation to put recreation businesses back on the
economic growth trajectory. And you know, as I understand the
Forest Service has deferred various fees in light of the
pandemic but they don't really have the statutory authority to
forgive the fees. Could you talk a little bit how fee
forgiveness and contract extension do provide relief for
National Park/Forest Service concessionaires and others related
to the recreational business?
Ms. Turner. Sure, and thank you for the question, Senator.
You know, we do appreciate the Forest Service deferral.
That was a big deal when we needed it most. I think there might
be another coming down. But fee waivers actually help
businesses provide certainty. We don't know how long we're
going to be in this. We don't know what the revenue is coming
in. Chairman Murkowski mentioned 30 percent to 50 percent of
some concessionaires. We know it's around that for some guides
and outfitters as well. So this helps the guides and outfitters
concessionaires to keep people employed and keep their fixed
costs which haven't changed, if anything, they've gone up
because of all of the new regulations they need to run their
trips. So rather than sending money and fee money back to the
government at an unknown cost, they're putting people to work
which is important for communities like yours, rural
communities in Wyoming.
It also helps create strong, resilient partnerships. I
heard from the Forest Service yesterday. They said if a number
of these businesses go out of business it would be unimaginable
the impact. These are really the people that are helping
Americans experience public lands and waters when they get to
the important parks.
And then lastly, you know, for permit extensions, when
folks bid on permits, they're given a certain amount of time to
recoup that economic toll that they're putting in at the
beginning. And so, not knowing how they're going to run a
business, how they're going to open or when they're going to
open can be a huge upfront cost and one that they can't carry
much longer.
Senator Barrasso. Thank you.
Mr. Lane, in your testimony you noted that economists
estimate the COVID-related impacts to the cattle industry, beef
industry, of more than $13 billion. As you mentioned, about 40
percent of Western cattle herd and 50 percent of the nation's
sheep herd spent at least part of their production cycle on
public lands. We certainly know about it in Wyoming. This
statistic isn't lost on any of us considering about half of the
land in my home State of Wyoming, public land, 17 million
acres, public land used for livestock grazing as this pandemic
and resulting slowdown of meat processing has backed up the
supply chain for cattle and sheep. Is there a need for the BLM
and the Forest Service to allow producers to keep their animals
on the range for a longer period of time where forage is
available and have the agencies allow some of this flexibility
that we think is important?
Mr. Lane. So I think the key there is flexibility and being
able to really look at what the conditions are in an area where
we're talking about that need. You know, we are seeing that
processing capacity rebound. We are making gains there, but
producers are looking for where they can find additional forage
to keep those cattle in a holding pattern and a lot of places
in the West, especially if they had a rainy spring, might be
pulling cattle off according to their terms of their grazing
allotment at five percent utilization. And so we're talking
about not just the fact that we're not using all the resources
available, but perhaps really increasing fire risk as well. So,
you know, if we can get down to a really local level of
analyzing whether there's value in extending some of those
terms, I think we can make some decisions that are best for the
rangeland health and provide some flexibility to those
permittees as well.
Senator Barrasso. Great, thank you.
Back to Ms. Turner, among the many lessons we learned, the
pandemic has highlighted the need for increased communication
between various federal agencies and with Wyoming being in both
the Rocky Mountain and the Intermountain regions of the Forest
Service, we are no stranger to the importance of this
communication. We have a case in point, a woman from Wyoming
contacted our office because the bathrooms in fish cleaning
stations on the Wyoming side of Flaming Gorge were not open,
but just across the state line in the same park in Utah, the
same facilities were open. We were told that the high traffic
facilities are closed because of COVID-19 and their policy.
Have you heard of similar instances? Is this just unique where
the pandemic has highlighted additional needs for effective
communication in state, local and national levels?
Ms. Turner. Yup, thank you for the question.
We've heard that and we've been talking and dealing with
that, I think, for decades just on more communication between
the agencies both within the agencies and between the agencies.
We appreciate that the Forest Service allowed for local
decision-making to keep units open because that kept a lot of
recreation open, but we certainly are having the same issues
with businesses, oftentimes, as we've talked about guides and
outfitters actually cross jurisdictional boundaries between
forests or between agencies. So if one is open and the other
isn't and if we look at closures happening again, that could be
very difficult to run a business.
Senator Barrasso. Well, thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chairman, for holding this important
hearing.
The Chairman [presiding]. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Manchin.
Senator Manchin. Thank you very much. All of this has been
enlightening. I appreciate it very much, but I am going to ask
one question to everybody.
What is the one thing that Congress, the Senate, all of us
could do that would help turn around and basically recover
quicker? We will come out of this pandemic sooner or later, but
what is the one thing we could do now to get us to that point
when we come out of this that would help your industry? We have
two of our witnesses on the video, if they would like to just
give me an idea of what they would think we need to do--one
important thing as you think about this.
Mr. Hepler. Senator Manchin, this is Kelly Hepler and what
I'd really love to see the Senate do is to invest in the state
infrastructure the same way you invested so wisely in the
federal infrastructure. It's going to immediately, I think,
make an impact on recreational use. I think it will help the
industry. It will certainly put boots on the ground, put money
in small town USA. You know, we're talking, you know, hundreds
of millions of dollars into what we need for investment.
Particularly like in South Dakota we have miles of roads. We
have 80 dams, you know, which are important for recreational
and home use, and so if you invest in that infrastructure with
that same zeal you did on the federal side, you'll see those
same results, maybe even amplified more. So, Senator, that's
what I wish you'd do.
Senator Manchin. Anybody else?
Mr. Kemper. Senator, this is Doug Kemper. I think the
revenue stabilization assistance, especially to utilities and
help with the smaller special districts that have just not been
able to get any help from the CARES Act would be most
beneficial.
Mr. Lane. Senator, I appreciate that question.
The biggest unused resource in the federal grazing arena is
making grazing allotments that are subject to a never-ending
NEPA backlog. There is a tremendous amount of forage available,
not to mention unrealized resource benefit if we can manage
those resources properly that are sitting on a shelf right now
because we can't get the NEPA done or get over those NEPA
hurdles to put those vacant allotments back into production.
Mr. Shafroth. Thank you, Senator.
I would say be generous in your appropriations to programs
like the Centennial Challenge this year. When you were out of
the room, we talked about having some initial flexibility there
but those dollars will stimulate more activity from the 450
organizations that are out supporting parks than almost
anything that you can do.
Ms. Turner. I would have said the Great American Outdoors
Act, but I checked that off yesterday. So I appreciate that.
[Laughter.]
I think a recreation package with some of the provisions
that I outlined so that we have better management and tools for
our recreation businesses.
Senator Manchin. I was in West Virginia last week, the last
two weeks we were off, and then we had a virtual town hall,
virtual listening session to hear all the people's concerns.
The number one thing in my state from infrastructure is
internet connectivity. Internet connectivity lets people stay
longer and now basically they can work from anywhere, because
of telework and that could continue on. It could be a new fad.
I think the new normal is not going to be the old normal we
knew. It has changed everything.
But connectivity, if we, all of us, Democrats and
Republicans, work for one thing and especially in our rural
states. I don't need to tell my Chairman here, my friend, Lisa,
that this is something we are challenged with. I have kids that
can't do homework, but I have other people coming in to ride
the Hatfield-McCoy Trail that will stay in the cabins. They
stay an extra two weeks. I have people that would stay in some
of our beautiful parks out in West Virginia that would stay all
summer if they could and it is just something we need. So I
would speak to that.
One other thing I wanted to speak to, and this is directed
to Mr. Shafroth. The question for the Park Service is, are
there enough shovel-ready projects that we can do? I mean, we
are going to have $1.3 billion a year.
Mr. Shafroth. Right.
Senator Manchin. A lot of it is for backlog maintenance
too, but it is going to be for some new projects that have an
opportunity to really enhance the quality of that park. Are
there programs that they have been working on and, kind of,
just been piecemealing it for lack of funds?
Mr. Shafroth. Thank you, Senator, and it probably wouldn't
be appropriate for me to answer for the Park Service because
that's a very complicated, multiple-answer question.
Senator Manchin. Sure, I understand that, yes.
Mr. Shafroth. But that said, I am aware, having spent a lot
of time with the Park Service leadership on this point, is that
there are a number of projects that are----
Senator Manchin. As a foundation you are all looking. You
are watching things all the time anyway.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Shafroth. I know that they have their important
projects like the Grand Canyon water line that are ready to go,
that are wanting for funding otherwise and I gather that
they've got a number of projects, especially for the first year
or so. I don't think they necessarily wanted to have five
years' worth of projects ready to go until the bill passed. So
I think, you know, given it's going to take a little while for
the money to actually become available----
Senator Manchin. Yes.
Mr. Shafroth. ----that they are working on that.
Senator Manchin. Well, let me tell you what I would be
looking for and I think all of us would like to have some
direction from--projects that have started that have been very
slow-paced because of a lack of funding. They just couldn't,
you know, they continue at a snail's pace.
Mr. Shafroth. Right.
Senator Manchin. Those projects could come to completion
fairly quick because they are on the move. They are moving
through the process. That is what we really need to know. We
need to get an accounting of that. Maybe we can request that,
Madam Chairman, from the Parks to find out what projects have
been in place and basically have been slowed down because of
lack of funding. Those are the ones we could pick up and
finish.
Thank you all very much for being here.
The Chairman. Senator Manchin, we can work with you on
that, that Parks list, from the appropriations perspective as
well. But I do have an offer for you. I have got a project for
you to look at, at Denali National Park. I have pictures that I
will tease this up, but yes, we have some work to do within our
Parks and that is, again, why we are looking forward to the
passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. Thank you for your
leadership on that and for yours, Senator Daines.
Congratulations as well.
Senator Daines. Well, thank you, Chair Murkowski. It was a
great vote last night in the United States House, and Senator
Manchin, it was north of 300 on the positives there. It was a
great, strong, bipartisan vote.
Senator Manchin. 310.
Senator Daines. 310, yes, that is great.
Well, thank you for testifying today on the pandemic's
impact on the users of public land. This hearing is timely as
just last night the U.S. House passed the Great American
Outdoors Act which will greatly benefit the users of our public
lands. It is also timely as Congressional leadership and the
Administration are now busy negotiating the scope of the next
COVID package. And for perspective, the outdoor recreation
industry which supports over 70,000 direct jobs in Montana has
been devastated by this pandemic which coincides with what is
typically our peak season.
Outfitted tourism is down 60 percent and will continue to
decline as cancellations roll in during prime summer and fall
seasons. In fact, over a two-day period there is a hunting
outfitter out of Big Timber. I have spent a lot of days
fishing, hunting north of Big Timber as a kid growing up in
Montana. They experienced a $400,000 loss due to fall
cancellations. There is another Montana outfitter who was
forced to close their snowmobile business, and they face a 70
percent decline in their hunting business. That is why I
introduced the Trail Stewardship for Economic Recovery Act
which provides employment opportunities for struggling
outfitters and guides through trail project contracts in our
forests.
Ms. Turner, how does the Trail Stewardship for Economic
Recovery Act benefit both small businesses, public land and
public access and how are outfitters and guides uniquely
qualified to do this type of work?
Ms. Turner. Thank you for the bill, Senator, and the
question.
As we've talked about a little bit here today, costs are
up, trips are down and many guides and outfitters have lost a
huge percentage of the time already being closed for the early
months. What some people don't understand is many of these
small businesses are the bedrock of rural communities and
they've been shut for eight months and they have to recoup the,
you know, entire year's revenue from just a short season that's
already been shortened. So what this bill does is it helps keep
FTEs on. It helps them bring their employees back to do
important maintenance work on public lands and waters. It
develops important partnerships with the federal agencies to do
the stewardship work and one of the biggest things is it will
keep these small businesses around for another season,
hopefully many more seasons, so that they can really connect
more Americans to this great outdoor experience. What they
provide are safe and memorable experiences on our public lands
and waters for the user community.
If you've been on a river trip, which I know you have, we
just talked--on the Yellowstone, I think, fishing last week--
you know there's nobody that knows a river better than a river
guide. So I have full confidence that the guides and outfitters
that know these lands, that have been working and running trips
in these lands would be wonderful stewards for these projects
and where they don't have expertise there's the core network,
there's trail builders. There's so many other groups that they
can rely on for some of that expertise.
Senator Daines. Thank you.
And you know, the double whammy here is they are refunding
dollars of pre-booking so they had the cash sitting in their
bank accounts and now they are refunding those dollars at the
same time cancellations going forward are rolling in as well.
So it is just, it is absolutely the worst storm possible which,
as you know, is a relatively short season, oftentimes, in
Montana for those who focus more on the summer months.
As I mentioned in my opening statement, the leadership is
currently negotiating the scope of the next COVID package. You
stated pretty clearly, Ms. Turner, but I am going to say it and
give you a chance to state it once more, why is it absolutely
imperative that outfitters and guides are not left out of this
package?
Ms. Turner. One thing I haven't mentioned is actually
outfitters and guides were left out of PPP. PPP did not work
for seasonal businesses. So when they needed it most, when they
were starting to turn up and ramp on for their season, April-
May, they couldn't get PPP based on the allotments and how they
had to measure the revenue. That has been changed by Treasury
but many of them have missed the window or have already applied
for a much lower PPP. So really what this is, is a stimulus
that many other businesses didn't get. They're going to get
this now through that bill.
Senator Daines. Thank you. That was very clear.
The pandemic has coincided with the season typically
dedicated to wildfire prevention efforts and has now bled into
wildfire season. The need for socially-distanced vegetation
management and wildfire prevention sheds light on the
effectiveness and utility of targeted public land grazing to
reduce wildfire risk.
Mr. Lane, in your written testimony you spoke at length
about the effectiveness of targeted grazing to reduce wildfire
risks. What do you need from the agencies and from Congress to
fully utilize and realize the benefits of targeted grazing to
perform vegetation management?
Mr. Lane. We need the exact same kind of flexibility we
were just talking about with Senator Barrasso a minute ago. We
need the agencies to recognize when there is more forage
available, they need to be flexible to allow those producers to
stay out longer to go into those areas where we need to reduce
fuel loads across a large area in the same way that they
dynamically react and reduce our access to those areas when
there is not enough forage available. We need that to move both
directions, not just for land health but to ensure that we are
managing those fuel loads in a comprehensive way. We've learned
fuel breaks work where they work, but they don't work
everywhere and we need that larger scale lowering of those fuel
loads. And that's something that the grazing, sort of uniquely,
is positioned to do.
Senator Daines. Thank you. I am going to squeeze in one
more question, Mr. Shafroth.
You know the National Parks and the gateway communities
have suffered a major blow due to COVID-19 and, to add insult
to injury, we just had a horrible fire in downtown Gardiner,
Montana. We lost several businesses to a fire that was
accidental. It happened during the afternoon and was yet
another blow. How can Congress, the National Park Service and
groups like yours work together to bolster our parks and the
good paying jobs that go along with them?
Mr. Shafroth. Well, I think it's in, sort of, Senator,
thank you for the question, every place is a little different,
frankly. I mean, I think I was aware of the fire in Gardiner
and the tragedy that ensued, but I think we have to work
together to find ways to create a seamless experience in a lot
of ways for people to come. So if you're going to drive 500
miles to go to your park, you need to know that you can get
into the park, that there are outfitters and other
concessionaires that can help you provide an experience, that
there's educational opportunities for your kids. And so, I
think that requires a new level of cooperation and
collaboration between and among all the different entities,
public and private and non-profit in order to make that happen.
Senator Daines. Alright, thank you.
Thank you, Chairman Murkowski.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Daines.
Senator King is with us virtually. Senator King.
Senator King. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank you
especially for having this important hearing. I think this is a
great topic for us to be discussing. I don't have much in the
way of specific questions, but first I want to say, I don't
think we celebrate enough when we have a success. We always
focus on the next problem coming down the street. And
yesterday's passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, I
think, is a really significant achievement for this Congress.
It is one that, to say it has been a long time coming, is an
understatement and it is going to really make a difference for
generations of Americans. Generations of Americans who won't
know any of us who passed it, but they will see the handiwork
that we brought through some hard work and cooperation and
bipartisanship, all the things that our citizens hope we do.
Again, I don't really have a question. I do want to
associate myself with the comments from Senator Manchin about
broadband. We have learned a lot of lessons from the pandemic.
We knew before the pandemic that broadband was an issue in
rural areas, but since the onset of the pandemic we have
realized it is not just an issue, it is a necessity. It is
something that really has to be addressed in a comprehensive
way just as Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the rural
electrification question in the '30s. It is exactly similar. It
is absolutely critical to modern life. I just want to thank all
of our witnesses for the work that they are doing and have
done. I think it is prudent to try to get some provisions into
the new COVID bill that is being discussed to deal with some of
the specialized, particularly of seasonal businesses that have
been particularly hard hit this summer. I know that is true in
Maine as well as across the country.
So thank you for the hearing. I have enjoyed listening to
the testimony, and we will look forward to working with you and
Ranking Member Manchin and the rest of the members of the
Committee to try to effectuate some of the ideas we have heard
today. Thank you again, Madam Chair.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator King.
Let's next turn to Senator Hirono.
Senator Hirono. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I just wanted to make a comment regarding Jess Turner's
comments/testimony. In your testimony you note the importance
of expanding the core opportunities to employ young Americans
and veterans to work on public lands as we recover from the
pandemic. I just wanted to comment that when the Senate
considered the Great American Outdoors Act, I introduced an
amendment to clarify that deferred maintenance projects using
public-private partnerships include organizations with
qualified youth and conservation corps. While that amendment
did not get adopted, I will be following up with DOI and USDA
to make sure that these organizations are not overlooked for
these projects, because I agree with you that these job
opportunities are going to be critical to provide for our
public lands while getting Americans back to work. I have met
with a number of American Corps young people, and they are very
eager to be of help. So thank you, Ms. Turner.
For Mr. Shafroth, you note in your testimony that the
National Park Foundation hosted webinars to their partners on
navigating the PPP loan process. Do you have a sense of how
many representative park partners were able to obtain PPP
loans?
Mr. Shafroth. Thank you, Senator Hirono.
I don't have a number, but I know many of them did. We
actually, you know, we hosted a webinar and a national law
firm, Arnold and Porter, offered to provide pro bono assistance
to any of the friends' groups that wanted help in their
navigation of that process. But why don't I plan to follow up
with the Committee to give you some specific information about
which organizations ultimately applied?
And Senator, I'll also say that we agree with you on the
conservation corps issue. We're very actively involved in
supporting the deployment of conservation corps throughout the
National Park System. And so we too will work with you to find
ways to ensure that the funds from Great American Outdoors Act
and other places can be made available to the use of corps to
execute those projects.
Senator Hirono. Thank you. I think if we can all come
together on supporting the kind of work by the corps then I
think we can get it done.
So again, from you, Mr. Shafroth. With regard to the
patchwork of various state and local mandates on public health
and safety as it relates to the pandemic, I want to briefly
touch on reopening. Have you heard any concerns from partners
about their ability to ensure employee safety, such as
requiring the use of masks as parks reopen, and do you feel
that the protections put in place for the National Park Service
for reopening are sufficient?
Mr. Shafroth. Thank you, Senator Hirono.
You know, one of the things that we're trying to do with
our promotion of the Recreate Responsibly campaign is to ensure
that all visitors have a strong understanding of the need to in
a way to behave differently than we have before. I think
Senator Heinrich was the one that said it earlier before you
were on the phone, I think, that he described how people have
really stepped in to a moment really to be more sensitive and
aware of others. I don't know, my understanding, Senator, is
that the Park Service decisions about social distancing and
wearing a mask is something that is on a park-by-park basis. So
it's difficult to say uniformly whether or not every park is,
you know, doing things at a point where they could or should
be. I do know that many of the local partner, friends'
organizations are adhering to the local guidance from the
governors and health offices.
So again, if we can collect some additional information,
we're happy to get that for you.
Senator Hirono. Don't you think that we should have, kind
of, a standard set of requirements for a park reopening other
than the patchwork that we are experiencing?
Mr. Shafroth. Well, that's certainly an option. One of the
things that you may not know about us is we don't really get
into the policies of the Park Service and telling them what to
do and how to do it. We're there to support them to help them
execute their goals and their projects and programs, but again,
if there's something we can do to gather some more information
for you to help you better understand what's going on, we're
happy to do that.
Senator Hirono. Again for Mr. Shafroth. Does the Foundation
have any plans or strategies to use funds to help smooth out
the differences of where some parks are experiencing 60 percent
drop and then there are others--it is a whole range of changes
that have happened. So do you have any plans to use funds to
help smooth out the differences between parks across the
country?
Mr. Shafroth. Senator, thank you for the question.
We discussed that a little bit with Senator Heinrich
earlier, but yes, I think one of the big challenges we have
right now is in dispersing visitation both within parks that
have high visitation as well as across the National Park
System. We have 419 national park units, more than half of that
is at about 30% of our parks. And so, we must do better using,
through the use of technology, I think. Imagine a Waze app that
you could have in a, when you go into a park to understand the
density of visitors in certain parts of the park versus other
parts of the park. Would it help inform where you went and what
time of day you went, et cetera?
Similarly, you know, we need to--we have something called
our Lesser Known Parks program which helps visitors, potential
visitors to parks, understand some of the lesser known places.
Everybody knows about Yosemite and Yellowstone, Grand Teton,
Denali and Acadia, et cetera, but very few people know at this
point even about White Sands National Park and the literally
hundreds of historical and cultural sites around the Park
System. So we're very actively involved in drawing more
attention to those places and hopefully drawing more visitors
to them.
Senator Hirono. Thank you very much. Thank you, and thanks
to the Foundation for all that you do.
Mr. Shafroth. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Hirono. I appreciate what
you have just added there at the end, Mr. Shafroth. I think
that is something that we all get focused on our favorite parks
or the ones that, perhaps, are most well known, but we have
some extraordinary treasures in other parts of the country--
that a little bit of encouragement to go to the lesser known
parks, I think, is good.
Mr. Shafroth. Wrangell-St. Elias is a good one for
instance.
The Chairman. It is one of the best, isn't it? In fact, I
would hope to get out there in August.
Let's go to Senator Hoeven from the great State of North
Dakota.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Madam Chairman, I appreciate it
very much and speaking of, we all tend to focus on our favorite
parks. I am going to do that right off the bat and start with
Mr. Shafroth and bring up the Theodore Roosevelt National Park
in North Dakota which is truly wonderful and beautiful. And you
know, obviously with the passage of the Great American Outdoors
Act now by the House and waiting for the President's signature,
a very important part of that was the Restore Our Parks Act
which I co-sponsored along with others and that provides a lot
of funding for addressing deferred maintenance in our parks.
Can you talk to me a little bit about your thoughts on
addressing deferred maintenance in the Theodore Roosevelt
National Park, particularly the scenic loop in the South Unit?
I would appreciate your thoughts and your comments.
Mr. Shafroth. Sure, thank you, Senator Hoeven, and thanks
again for your support for the Great American Outdoors Act and
Restore Our Parks.
Yeah, and I apologize, I have the numbers memorized for
many parks, but I can't remember whether it's $34 or $43
million in deferred maintenance work that needs to be done at
Teddy Roosevelt National Park, including filling the sinkhole
in that road you described and as well as many other aspects,
the visitor center, the maintenance shed, the Peaceful Valley.
There's lots of work that continues, that needs to be done
there. Those are all very important things. I don't think--we
talked a bit about this earlier, about the process by which the
Park Service and Congress will prioritize the projects that get
done, but I think the challenge that exists in the park in
North Dakota, Senator, as well as many others is how do we
combine, you know, the private resources with the Great
American Outdoors Act and maybe other federal resources to both
address the deferred maintenance backlog as well as the
modernization of these places.
And I think you understand, having been to the visitor
center in Teddy Roosevelt National Park that it's fine if we
repair the roof and fix the windows, things like that, and the
HVAC, but we really want to have a different kind of
experience, especially with the future development of the
Theodore Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt Presidential
Library Foundation. And so, we need to, kind of, try to lift
up, I think, all of those assets at the same time.
Senator Hoeven. Talk a little bit as well about your
support for the library project.
Mr. Shafroth. Sure. The Foundation has been working very
closely with the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
Foundation to try to work in tandem with them and the Park
Service to create a more complete experience to the visitor who
comes to Medora, to the park, to the area, to learn about the
life and legacy of Theodore Roosevelt. And so, we're, you know,
actually right now, they're in the process of identifying an
architect to create, to look at ways in which we can create
distributed experiences for visitors to that part of the, of
your state. And you know, whether it be the Medora show or you
know, the experiences that will happen in a building that the
Library Foundation will have and as well as the many
experiences that one could have in the Park, whether it be
potentially mountain biking from the North Unit to the South
Unit to having wilderness experiences and other kinds of
recreational amenities. That's going to create, you know, that
integrated, collaborative experience that I think we can create
there is very exciting.
Senator Hoeven. I would like to go to Mr. Lane, if I could,
for just a minute.
In your opinion, on the public lands, what can Congress do
to help our cattlemen? It is such a hard time out there for our
ranchers and our cattlemen and, of course, they graze on the
national grasslands. What, in your opinion, could we do in
Congress to help improve how we do that on our public lands and
how we can help our ranchers, our cattlemen?
Mr. Lane. I think--I appreciate the question. I think first
and foremost looking at that regulatory structure that
cattlemen deal with now when they're working with federal
grazing permits is the biggest area where Congress can help,
making sure to communicate to the agencies what your
expectation is of the implementation of the myriad laws that
they have to navigate in order to implement those permits. I
think there's a lot of fear in federal lands management as it
relates to grazing at this point. I think because of the
litigation that impacts almost every decision made by either
the Forest Service or the BLM, more than I can list in a
hearing like this. Rather than making the decision that's best
for the resource, they make the decision that's most likely to
avoid them spending the next ten years in court with activist
litigants. So I think wherever you can look for opportunities
to bolster their decision-making and give them a firm base
within which to make the best decision for the resource, you're
empowering them to make better decisions for our producers
across the country.
Senator Hoeven. Okay, my time is up here, but if you have
other specific ideas that you think would help, I would really
appreciate if you would forward them to my office.
Thanks so much, and thank you, Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Hoeven.
Let's turn to Senator Cortez Masto.
Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you, Chairwoman.
Let me also echo Senator Hoeven's response and question to
Mr. Lane. It is great to see you here. I support targeted
grazing. I think you do need the flexibility to reduce fuel
loads. Any other ideas you have, please send those to my office
as well.
I appreciate you participating and every one else for being
here as part of this important panel.
Mr. Kemper, I would like to start with you. In your written
testimony you mentioned that there is a scarcity of water
treatment officers and that this was a concern prior to the
pandemic, but specifically your testimony references that
because water is undervalued, we have a hard time recruiting
people to work in the industry. So is there a strong role for
the Federal Government to play in helping to facilitate that
workforce development as it relates to water and water
infrastructure?
Mr. Kemper. Thank you for your question, Senator.
Yes, I do think there is, especially helping out with
education and there's a role for training operators, water and
wastewater operators. So I do think that in providing just
cross training of water and wastewater operators would be
really a benefit and that could come from the Federal
Government and also, just assistance should we actually run
short of operators to be able to provide help in that regard.
Yes, it would be very beneficial.
Senator Cortez Masto. Yes, the workforce--there is no
doubt, it is a key and it is a constant we keep hearing over
and over again.
Mr. Hepler, let me ask you this. In your testimony you
state that social distancing requirements have complicated
state and federal Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) management and
control efforts across the country. If left unchecked, AIS will
spread within a water body and through recreational boating and
other water sports activities and be inadvertently spread to
other water bodies. Obviously we all have concerns about that.
Can you further elaborate on the preventative measures that are
being put in place by wildlife agencies at boat inspection
points and your concerns there.
Mr. Hepler. Thank you, Senator.
Yeah, this is, this actually hits home to South Dakota very
well. We had zebra mussels show up in a top end of a drainage
that borders with North Dakota/South Dakota and this drainage
comes out to a lot of very important lakes for recreational
use, home use and also one of our major hatcheries. And you
know, when this, when COVID first hit, you know, we wanted to
have teams out there checking boats, checking waters and
because of our concern about getting social distancing, we just
couldn't, we weren't in a place to be able to do that until we
worked through and came to those safe measures.
And so, we look at that and we can do those on the ground,
but also the cooperation between states, you know, with Senator
Barrasso and Wyoming and how we interact with how they do
business and their lakes are a little bit different than ours.
How we interact with Minnesota, these border states and that
happens across the country, that communication is key. Every
state is driven a little bit differently than other states by,
you know, how the Governor, how they view the importance of
invasive species or not. Governor Noem in the State of South
Dakota last year sponsored some legislation to really raise the
awareness. It brought into the cabinet discussion, just not us
from Fish and Game, but also the Agriculture Department because
that's really where the greatest concern is for a lot of these
invasive species and get--in going through your dams.
So I think there's been a lot of work, but I mean, what's
frustrating with this is that for the most part all can you do
is slow the spread and I'd love to be able to say there's some
magical way, a lot of ways we can stop these things,
unfortunately there's not. And I don't know how kind our
children are going to feel when they come to look at some of
these things, but we're trying and we are trying to slow that
spread, but it's a heck of a deal. And I certainly appreciate
the work of those federal agencies getting some of that funding
and there's some bills out there, talk some more about that.
But you know, we're open to other ideas of communication, but
you know, we have to make a difference. We have to at least
give this a shot.
Senator, I hope that answered your question.
Senator Cortez Masto. It does, thank you.
And then, coming from Nevada we are seeing more wildfires,
in general. I mean, just talking with all of you because I
think as I am hearing more people are out recreating, maybe,
for the first time, it is important that we have an education
campaign for people to understand the responsibility as well.
Any other ideas that any of you have because I do have
concerns about wildfires, rangeland fires, fires in our parks.
We are seeing more of that, unfortunately caused by humans. And
so, any other thoughts on what we need to know at a federal
level that we have not talked about already in this panel
discussion which has been fantastic? So thank you, and I will
just open it up to the panel.
Mr. Lane. Yeah, Senator, I think as the grazing community
really sees a lot of this firsthand as they're working their
ranches and they see those recreation enthusiasts come out onto
their grazing allotments. I think education, not just about,
kind of, how those resources are being used, but where they are
is a critical part of that. Mixed surface management
responsibility for those of us that work in these environments
can still be very confusing. Am I on Forest Service land? Am I
on BLM land? Am I on private land? And what are the changes I
need to make in how I'm recreating based on which of those I
might be on, or state land for that matter.
I think that there's far too little interpretation and
information available out there for visitors to public lands
that's easily accessible. If they can grab a map when they're
heading out into the back country, if they can have some more
information on gosh, when I'm crossing over a cattle guard I
need to make sure that I leave a gate the way I found it
because there's either some animals that need to kept in or
kept out of a certain area or there's a sensitive species
that's being managed very carefully in this area or that. I
think most of that is completely missed and it's not their
fault, it's just not something they're aware of if they're not
having to deal with it on a day in, day out basis. So I think
that education component needs to be far more comprehensive and
far more readily accessible to those users.
Mr. Kemper. Senator, certainly doing everything we can.
Colorado has a forest and water alliance, California has a
similar group, that are really working to try to increase the
pace and scale of work on resilient forests, things like the
Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, the Water
Source Protection Program. But as it was referenced in earlier
testimony, I think that I, you know, we've had 9,000, 9,000
boat decontaminations so far this year that is removing aquatic
nuisance species from boats and that education is really
important. Those are 9,000 opportunities.
The other problem that we have is that people are not
necessarily knowing what's a public land and what's not and
access to water infrastructure and there's a story in my
testimony about the difficulties that when we have Ag
infrastructure that is on public lands that people are leaving
gates open, not knowing where they are supposed to be and not.
So there's concern there.
Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you. I know I have gone over my
time. Thank you very much.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Cortez Masto.
I think we have had a good range of questions here this
morning, and I appreciate the range from colleagues here and
the responses from our panel. I just have a couple more here
before we wrap up.
I mentioned I really had a great two weeks when I was back
home, but don't let me digress, then I will start showing you
my pictures. But one of the things that I saw when I was in
Denali National Park, as folks are aware, you have one very
long, very narrow and very scenic road deep into the park and
during the season you are able to gain access by way of a bus
and it is not a fancy bus, it is a bus. As a result of the
limitations in the park and the social distancing requirements,
we have seen fewer people in those buses, fewer buses, but I
commend the leadership there at Denali in recognizing that they
needed to figure out a little bit of flexibility if we are
going to get people into the park. How do we do this and do it
safely?
I ran into two commercial operators who have temporary
commercial use authorizations and they guide very small
groups--when I say small, two cars. So this is a pretty limited
situation. One was actually guided by a fellow who was driving
a Tesla which is a feat in itself over those gravel roads. Nice
car, but that is the first electric car to be piloting into the
park. The other group was one pilot car, a Jeep and two other
Jeeps again. So very limited, very small, but it gives a level
of flexibility and it gives some opportunities with temporary
permits. I was pleased to see that in Denali.
Does anybody have any suggestions as to ways that either
through Interior or Forest Service we can provide greater
flexibility to those who do have permits in recognizing that we
are all looking to accommodate in different ways and it might
look different in other areas? Maybe, Ms. Turner, you have some
examples that you have heard of? I am curious to know if anyone
has any suggestions with regards to that?
Ms. Turner.
Ms. Turner. Thank you for that, and I've actually been on
that Denali helicopter ride and landed on a glacier so I know
exactly what that experience is like and it's really
unfortunate that less people are having that experience.
You know, I think the fee waivers right now are so top of
mind because they're so necessary to just keep these folks in
business. But beyond that, contract extensions and permit
extensions are incredibly important. The agencies aren't going
to be processing new permits, so it's really important that
businesses have some certainty that maybe they'll have a year
or two more on their contract to figure something out, like you
saw in Denali. And then, I think, the SOAR Act has a lot of
flexibilities in it that would provide help and support for
guides and outfitters, concessionaires, permittees for a while
beyond this pandemic.
The Chairman. Thanks, I appreciate that.
We have talked about the increase in visitation whether it
is on our national parks or our state parks or our public
lands, and I think that that is good as families have gotten
outdoors and obviously the effort that the President will
hopefully soon sign into law, the Great American Outdoors Act,
again is going to encourage that we are doing more to just
better take care of our parks and our public areas.
Any suggestions to us on what Congress and our federal land
managers can do to ensure that we sustain this momentum by
local tourism that we have seen this summer? Again, I mention
things slow down in Alaska in the winter time. It is different,
again, in places that host ski areas, but I think we recognize
the value that these tourist dollars bring to many of our
communities. Not only the value, but just the enhancement to
our lives when we are able to get out and recreate like this.
We don't want to have another pandemic situation next summer.
We don't want that to be the thing that keeps us continuing to
visit our public lands. Any suggestions in terms of how we
continue with the efforts that will bring increased
visitorship?
Mr. Shafroth. Madam Chairman, a thought that I have is, you
know, we are engaged in a pretty active campaign right now to
welcome people back to the parks. We have two different, sort
of, ads out there, alright--one called ``Wonder Calls,''
another one related to the appreciation of our Park Service
employees and the hard work they do. And I think those messages
kind of continue to remind people that these places are
amazing. They're part of our legacy, our history. I'll also say
combined with some messages around how to recreate responsibly
so--people are, you know, fearful at some level and we need to
let them know that there's a way that we can do this that's
safe to allow you to get back in the park and do what you want
to do. So I kind of feel like there's dual messages we need to
continue to push out there to remind people how great they are
and just to make sure they understand that it's a little bit of
a different game.
Ms. Turner. And I would just add the health connection. I
think we're seeing the outdoors as really a solution, possibly,
or helpful in the pandemic. People need Vitamin D. They need
exercise. They need to be experiencing the outdoors. I think
connecting parks and our public lands really to health, keeping
people healthy and communities healthy is maybe a new message.
We've known this all along, but the American public seems to
have really taken that to heart lately. And if we could
continue to connect that, I think we can create lifestyles
where people weave outdoor activity and these parks and public
lands into their daily habits.
The Chairman. Mr. Lane.
Mr. Lane. I think we also need to make sure that we're
paying attention to the health of the resource as we see these
balances change of people using these landscapes, particularly
where we see municipalities meeting some of these managed
federal environments. Some of the prescribed burns that
otherwise would have helped keep those resources healthy have
been canceled or delayed due to COVID-19, looking for some
opportunities to use tools like grazing as a substitute to
ensure that where we couldn't get our first choice done to
manage some of those fuel loads, that we can put some other
tools in place to ensure that the work still gets done and that
we still have those active management regimes in place is
important as we move through this, sort of, fluid time in
managing these lands.
The Chairman. Mr. Hepler.
Mr. Hepler. Madam Chair, I'd also add that, you know,
besides the health piece which we absolutely agree with, we're
going to work that at a national level, is that this is an
opportunity to get people in the past where we maybe haven't
been in the indoor parks whether they're federal or state. And
so, whether they're--so we want people of color to be able to
come in these parks and do it safely. There's a whole diversity
there and if we want to remain relevant as state agencies and
as federal agencies, you know, we need to make sure the whole
broad spectrum that represents this great country of ours, is
welcoming to our public areas. And there's a certain amount of
responsibility that comes with that.
I think this is one golden opportunity. One good thing that
can come out of this COVID-19 crisis we're in is bringing those
people into the fold and let them now it's good to get outside
and whether that's outside in the city park in a big city, you
know, or coming to one of our wonderful state parks. By the
way, we're open for business in South Dakota. We'd love to have
you come visit. Come to South Dakota. But either way, it's the
same message. We want to be able to do it safely, feel
comfortable and enjoy themselves.
The Chairman. Right.
Mr. Kemper, do you want to add a final word there?
Mr. Kemper. The other thing that is not quite relevant to
that but the concern out there about the loss of revenue from
severance tax is really having a huge impact and there's a lot
of collaborative efforts that go on that some of that money
gets directed toward both for aging infrastructure for water
and it's something I think would be helpful for the Committee
to keep monitoring on as that loss of production and the
severance tax impacts because it does impact the investments in
the forest landscape resiliency program.
The Chairman. Well, I appreciate you adding that. I think
we had a good discussion about some of the impact of the
deferred maintenance issues on our public lands, and we
recognize that.
A couple of you have mentioned the need to make sure that
we are being responsible out there, and I had mentioned that
several of the experiences that I had were very positive where
people are accepting certain protocols as they are out enjoying
our parks. I am also hearing that as we are encouraging more of
the local people around our parks to use our parks during this
time of COVID, for oftentimes what happens is those that are
closest to the parks are so busy serving the people who are
coming from other areas that they don't even get into these
very special places.
At a time like this where perhaps your small business is
not operating or it is at greatly reduced volumes, you actually
have time to go out and experience it yourself. I have heard in
my state some Alaskans saying, ``I love this area, but I felt
like I was not welcomed in my park.'' That is hard to hear, and
that is not the message that we want, whether it is from our
parks or from our Forest Service or from those who are managing
our public lands. These are America's areas. These are all of
our ours. This is not something special just built for Park
Service employees or for Forest Service employees to enjoy the
benefit.
I think it is important that we respect the fact that we
welcome all Americans to our parks and whether it is the locals
or whether it is families who have never had that opportunity.
We mentioned people of color and doing more to make them feel
welcome in our parks. This is a job and a responsibility that
we all have.
So we will be working toward that, but thank you for your
input this morning. I think it has been very helpful, and as we
move forward with this next round of COVID relief, know that
many on this Committee are looking out for those who have been
impacted in ways and perhaps not seen that level of support
that will be necessary to carry them through.
With that, I thank you again and the Committee stands
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:11 p.m. the hearing was adjourned.]
APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED
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