[Senate Hearing 117-129]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                        S. Hrg. 117-129

                   THE CURRENT STATE OF THE NATIONAL
                   PARK SYSTEM, INCLUDING THE IMPACTS
                  OF COVID-19 ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
             OPERATIONS, STAFF, VISITATION, AND FACILITIES

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON 
                             NATIONAL PARKS

                                 OF THE

                              COMMITTEE ON
                      ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                              MAY 26, 2021

                               __________



                 [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

44-735                    WASHINGTON : 2022









               COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

                JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia, Chairman

RON WYDEN, Oregon                    JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington           JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont             MIKE LEE, Utah
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico          STEVE DAINES, Montana
MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii              LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine            JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada       JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
MARK KELLY, Arizona                  BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana
JOHN W. HICKENLOOPER, Colorado       CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
                                     ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas

                                 ------                                

                     Subcommittee on National Parks

                      ANGUS S. KING, JR., Chairman

BERNARD SANDERS                      STEVE DAINES
MARTIN HEINRICH                      MIKE LEE
MAZIE K. HIRONO                      LISA MURKOWSKI
MARK KELLY                           JOHN HOEVEN
                                     JAMES LANKFORD

                      Renae Black, Staff Director
                      Sam E. Fowler, Chief Counsel
                     David Brooks, General Counsel
             Richard M. Russell, Republican Staff Director
              Matthew H. Leggett, Republican Chief Counsel
        John Tanner, Republican Deputy Staff Director for Lands
                     Darla Ripchensky, Chief Clerk






                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

                                                                   Page
King, Jr., Hon. Angus S., Subcommittee Chairman and a U.S. 
  Senator from Maine.............................................     1
Daines, Hon. Steve, Subcommittee Ranking Member and a U.S. 
  Senator from Montana...........................................     2

                               WITNESSES

Burns, Ken, Filmmaker............................................    10
Benge, Shawn, Deputy Director for Operations, National Park 
  Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.......................    16
MacDonald, David, President and CEO, Friends of Acadia...........    23
Socha, Scott, Chairman, National Park Hospitality Association....    28

          ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED

Benge, Shawn:
    Opening Statement............................................    16
    Written Testimony............................................    18
    Responses to Questions for the Record........................    50
Burns, Ken:
    Opening Statement............................................    10
    Written Testimony............................................    12
    Responses to Questions for the Record........................    49
Daines, Hon. Steve:
    Opening Statement............................................     2
King, Jr., Hon. Angus S.:
    Opening Statement............................................     1
    Photographs of national parks displayed in hearing room......     4
MacDonald, David:
    Opening Statement............................................    23
    Written Testimony............................................    25
    Responses to Questions for the Record........................    67
Socha, Scott:
    Opening Statement............................................    28
    Written Testimony............................................    30
    Responses to Questions for the Record........................    68





 
THE CURRENT STATE OF THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM, INCLUDING THE IMPACTS OF 
 COVID-19 ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE OPERATIONS, STAFF, VISITATION, AND 
                               FACILITIES

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2021

                               U.S. Senate,
                    Subcommittee on National Parks,
                 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:01 a.m. in 
Room SD-366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Angus S. 
King, Jr., Chairman of the Subcommittee presiding.

         OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ANGUS S. KING, JR., 
                    U.S. SENATOR FROM MAINE

    Senator King: Good morning and welcome to the first 
National Park Subcommittee hearing of the 117th Congress. Let 
me first thank the witnesses for appearing at today's hearing 
on the state of our national parks.
    Our national parks play a huge role in what we think about 
when we think of America. From Acadia and the National Mall in 
the East to Yellowstone and Yosemite and Glacier in the West, 
they hold a special place for millions of Americans. They 
connect us with our history and the natural world. They restore 
us, they inspire us, and they recharge us at a deep level. Like 
everywhere in the last 15 months, this has been a difficult 
period for the National Park System. Frontline park employees 
had to change how and even if they could interact with the 
public. Many park services and visitor centers were forced to 
shutter. Many seasonal employees were not hired and gateway 
communities completely lost their 2020 season. Some of our 
biggest and most famous parks suffered significant drops in 
attendance, but we also saw parks closer to urban centers have 
increased visitors, showing that people still wanted to get 
outdoors, even if they could not travel as far.
    Today's hearing will look at how the Park Service, gateway 
communities, concessionaires, and visitors all weathered this 
difficult time and how we will move forward in what I predict 
will be one of the biggest seasons--in fact, I will go out on a 
limb--I think it will be the biggest season in the history of 
the Park Service. And it is my hope that this hearing will 
inform our work for the rest of this Congress, especially as we 
work closely with the National Park Service (NPS) to fulfill 
the rewarding responsibilities that come with the Great 
American Outdoors Act, which we passed, as you know, last year. 
Also, while I know we will touch on it here, I hope to have a 
hearing on the issue of congestion at our parks later this 
summer as it is an issue that fully deserves a hearing on its 
own.
    Let me introduce our witnesses.
    Shawn Benge is the Acting Director of the National Park 
Service. He has been with the Park Service for over 30 years. 
While he has served in multiple roles at headquarters since 
2016, he has also held jobs throughout the service. He served 
in numerous capacities at the park level, including 
superintendent assignments at Big Bend National Park--one of my 
favorite national parks, by the way, Mr. Benge, Big Bend 
National Park--Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Chickamauga 
and Chattanooga National Military Park, Everglades National 
Park, and a tour also at the Denver Service Center, the 
National Park Service's Central Planning and Design Office.
    Ken Burns is a filmmaker known to millions of Americans for 
his documentaries. I consider his documentary of the Civil War 
the greatest documentary ever produced. His 12-hour Emmy Award 
winning documentary, ``The National Parks: America's Best 
Idea'', brought our parks to millions around the world and 
changed how many of us view these landscapes and their history.
    David MacDonald is a Mainer, President of Friends of Acadia 
and President of the National Park Friends Alliance Steering 
Committee. I have known David for many years. His leadership of 
the Friends of Acadia shows how important non-profits can be in 
helping our parks and communities to be as successful as they 
are.
    Finally, we are joined by Mr. Scott Socha, Chair of the 
National Park Hospitality Association and Group President for 
Parks and Travel for Delaware North. The National Park 
Hospitality Association represents the businesses and 
concessionaires that work with the parks and provide many of 
the services to park visitors.
    Again, let me thank everyone for appearing today. After 
Senator Daines' opening statement, each witness will have five 
minutes for opening statements and then we will alternate with 
members for five-minute rounds of questions.
    Senator Daines.

                STATEMENT OF HON. STEVE DAINES, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA

    Senator Daines. Chairman King, thank you. It is truly great 
to be back at the dais here with you and to have a Subcommittee 
hearing which, I think I could speak for the Chairman, this is 
our favorite Subcommittee and that we are grateful to continue 
to be part of it.
    I also want to thank all the witnesses with us here today. 
We have a very good panel and I look forward to a good 
conversation.
    This is our first National Parks Subcommittee hearing since 
the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. I was proud to 
work on that important bill with Chairman King and to get it 
signed into law. Our national parks are part of what truly sets 
America apart from the rest of the world, and this bill was a 
historic investment in our parks at a very critical time. The 
National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund that was 
created as part of the Great American Outdoors Act is a 
bipartisan down payment on infrastructure. We now need to 
ensure that it is being implemented efficiently. I am sure the 
Chairman and I will be working together a lot on the status and 
implementation and many other important park-related issues.
    Well, today's topic is the state of the National Park 
System and we all know, as the Chairman pointed out, that 2020 
was a historic year. No one could have predicted the impact of 
COVID-19 on our society, our way of life, our economy. However, 
I truly believe that our national parks were a refuge, they 
were a refuge for many Americans during the pandemic. It was 
good for the soul when Americans visited their national parks. 
Our national parks allowed folks to get outdoors, get away from 
the crowds, experience the beauty and the history of our 
country, and this is borne out by the visitation numbers. I 
will share some numbers from Yellowstone National Park. Despite 
being closed down for a short time and having very few 
international visitors, Yellowstone National Park still had 3.8 
million visitors. Now think about that. That was only a slight 
decline from four million in 2019. In 2021, visitations are 
hitting above average highs each month, and I also share the 
Chairman's prediction that we are going to have record years in 
our national parks in visitation this year.
    As it warms up in Montana--sometimes it takes a while to do 
that, as we had snow last weekend in my hometown in the 
Gallatin Valley--our smaller parks, like Big Hole National 
Battlefield, are beginning to see visitation rise again. I look 
forward to discussing how we can drive visitation to these 
smaller parks. And it is not just about the visitation numbers, 
I also want to examine how the parks and our gateway 
communities worked together during last year and how we can 
learn from our experience to strengthen relationships between 
our parks and our gateway communities.
    The state of our parks also means the state of our park 
employees, the concessionaires, and all those who live and work 
in our parks. Employee morale, employee housing, employee 
health are all things I have heard about recently. I would like 
to hear updates on what the park is doing to ensure a happy and 
a healthy workforce. Furthermore, concessionaires have had an 
unprecedented year and we need to ensure that as we move 
forward, we address any issues that arose from last year's park 
closure.
    With that, I will turn back to the Chairman, and I look 
forward to a good conversation here today.
    Senator King. Thank you, Senator Daines.
    I would like to point out that there are a series of 
pictures around our hearing room today, some of which show the 
beauty of our national parks. Not surprisingly, one is in Maine 
and one is in Montana. This is just a coincidence actually, I 
think, Senator.
    [Laughter.]
    Senator King. But also, some of them show lines of 
automobiles and people lined up in order to try to have access 
to these wonderful places, which is one of the questions we 
will examine today, but also in a hearing later this year.
    [The photographs referenced by Senator King follow:]

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    
    Senator King. I first wanted to ask to join us, Mr. Ken 
Burns, from the State of New Hampshire, which has the virtue of 
being next door to Maine. Mr. Burns really introduced the world 
to America's national parks and did so in an extraordinary, 
beautiful way with his partner Dayton Duncan.
    Ken Burns, thank you for joining us and we look forward to 
your testimony.

               STATEMENT OF KEN BURNS, FILMMAKER

    Mr. Burns. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and neighbor, very 
grateful to be invited, an honor, in fact, to testify before 
your committee. I should say at the outset that I am not an 
expert on the current state of the National Park System or the 
impacts of COVID-19.
    My life's work has been in telling the history of this 
nation, but I am a firm believer that our shared and 
complicated past has things to say and many lessons for the 
present. Our national parks are a treasure house of 
superlatives, more than 80 million acres of the most stunning 
landscapes anyone has ever seen, from the continent's highest 
mountain in Alaska to groves of the world's tallest, biggest, 
and oldest trees in California and Nevada. From a sacred 
volcano in Hawaii that continuously gives birth to new land in 
the Pacific, to a promontory in Maine that catches the nation's 
first rays of sun over the Atlantic. From the Earth's grandest 
canyon in Arizona to the world's greatest collection of geysers 
in a geological wonderland in Wyoming. I should add for your 
colleague, Senator Manchin, this treasure house most recently 
includes the spectacular New River Gorge.
    These are geographies of memory and hope where countless 
American families have formed an intimate connection to their 
land and then passed it along to their children. But they also 
embody something less tangible, yet equally enduring, an idea 
born in the United States nearly a century after its founding, 
as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and 
just as radical. For the first time in human history, we 
decided that a nation's most magnificent places should be set 
aside and preserved, not for royalty or the rich or well 
connected, but for everyone and for all time. My colleague, 
Dayton Duncan, and I, both proud to have been named honorary 
park rangers, like to say that the national parks are the 
Declaration of Independence applied to the landscape. The 
writer and historian Wallace Stegner called national parks 
``the best idea we've ever had.''
    Theodore Roosevelt, the nation's greatest conservation 
president, considered the national park idea ``noteworthy in 
its essential democracy. One of the best bits of national 
achievement which our people have to their credit.'' Like the 
idea of America itself, full of competing demands and impulses, 
lofty ideals and imperfect struggles to live up to them, the 
national park idea has been constantly debated, constantly 
tested, and is constantly evolving, ultimately embracing 
historical places that also preserve our nation's first 
principles, its highest aspirations, its greatest sacrifices, 
even reminders of its most shameful mistakes. Too often, I 
think, Americans tend to take all of this for granted. Saving 
such places, to borrow a word from the Declaration, seems so 
``self-evident.'' We mistakenly assume that doing so is easy, 
almost automatic. History tells us otherwise.
    The history of every national park is usually the story of 
individual Americans who fell in love with that place so 
completely that they decided it should be preserved so that all 
Americans, in generations they would never know, could have the 
same chance to see it with the same fresh eyes. It was always a 
struggle. It was never easy. But the victories made us a better 
nation. As we made our documentary on the history of the 
national parks, Dayton and I played a thought experiment with 
each other. Imagine the United States without the national 
parks. Yosemite Valley could just as easily have become a gated 
community with a private golf course in the center. The rim of 
the Grand Canyon could be lined with trophy homes, each one 
with a ``keep out'' sign preventing you from gazing down into 
that awesome chasm and feeling connected to the eons of time. 
The Everglades, with its abundantly diverse wildlife could have 
been drained and made into shopping centers. Yellowstone could 
have become an amusement park called ``Geyser World''.
    Fortunately, beginning in 1872 with the establishment of 
Yellowstone as the world's first national park, your 
predecessors in previous Congresses pointed the arc of history 
in a different direction. In the midst of the Great Depression, 
thousands of destitute young men found employment in the 
Civilian Conservation Corps to help them and their families 
survive by working to improve the national parks. Following 
World War II, when millions of reunited families loaded up in 
their station wagons and set out to enjoy the parks and 
overwhelm the facilities, Congress and the Park Service 
embarked on Mission 66 to build better roads and visitor 
centers to accommodate the crowds. And I want to congratulate 
and thank many of you who, last year, passed the landmark 
legislation and funding to address infrastructure and 
maintenance backlog in the parks that had been growing for 
decades. There's still obviously more work to be done.
    At the heart of the national park idea is the notion that 
every American, whether their ancestors came over on the 
Mayflower or were here to begin with, or whether they just 
arrived, whether they're from a big city or a farm, whether 
their father runs a factory or their mother is a maid, every 
American is a part owner of some of the best seafront property 
in the nation. They own magnificent waterfalls and stunning 
views of majestic mountains and gorgeous canyons. They have a 
stake in making sure that, as Theodore Roosevelt also said, 
``these places are preserved for their children and their 
children's children, forever, with their majestic beauty all 
unmarred.''
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Burns follows:]

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    
    Senator King. Thank you, Mr. Burns, that was beautiful. I 
think you have given us a new term that will go into use around 
here--``Geyser World''. I think that is one we do not want to 
remember.
    Our next witness is Shawn Benge, who is the Acting Director 
of the National Park Service. As I mentioned, he has been with 
the Park Service for over 30 years.
    Mr. Benge, I do not envy you following Ken Burns, but give 
us an update on the status of the Park Service and the parks as 
of the beginning of the 2021 summer season.

   STATEMENT OF SHAWN BENGE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS, 
     NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

    Mr. Benge. Yeah, it's a hard act to follow, Senator.
    Chairman King, Ranking Member Daines and members of the 
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the 
state of the park system, including the impacts of COVID-19 on 
operation staff, visitation, and facilities. The last 14 months 
have brought unprecedented challenges to our nation and to our 
national parks, but they've also shone a spotlight on the 
importance of parks as spaces for physical and mental health as 
well as places to reflect to who we are as Americans and who we 
want to be.
    In the early weeks of the pandemic most parks closed their 
interior spaces but many retained some level of outdoor visitor 
access. While overall visitation dropped by roughly 28 percent 
systemwide, one-third of the national parks posted months with 
record visitation. A significant number of NPS employees have 
been on maximum telework during the pandemic, but law 
enforcement, custodial services, visitor services, research, 
restoration work, fee collection, and other operational work 
continues in the field. The employees of the National Park 
Service have shown remarkable ingenuity and flexibility in 
finding ways to protect resources and serve visitors during 
this public health crisis while also working to mitigate their 
own risk of exposures.
    Parks are increasingly open this spring, though some 
operations will continue to be impacted by limited staffing 
resulting from public health mitigations. The NPS is proud to 
take a leadership role in the Department of the Interior's 
pandemic response through its close partnership with the United 
States Public Health Service. Among its many roles, the Public 
Health Service provides high-quality scientific advice on a 
range of new and evolving public health issues to protect and 
promote the health and well-being of visitors and employees. We 
expect that there will be significant increases in visitation 
in many parks as COVID mitigation measures are reduced, 
vaccination rates rise, and Americans increase their travel. 
Through the ``Plan Like a Park Ranger'' campaign that will be 
launched tomorrow, the NPS is encouraging the public to make 
plans in advance, be prepared and recreate responsibly. In 
April, the National Park Service released the first service-
wide mobile app, which will assist visitors in planning their 
visit.
    Reduced visitation and the temporary suspension of entrance 
fees in national parks beginning in March 2020 negatively 
impacted fee and concession revenues in FY20--combined loss of 
approximately $125 million. At the same time, NPS saw some 
savings as travel costs decreased by $16 million and utility 
costs decreased by $5 million. The NPS has incurred $16.8 
million in COVID-related expenses to date, principally related 
to supplemental staffing, extra cleaning and hygiene supplies, 
personal protective equipment, expanded telework capabilities, 
and virtual visitor experiences. We appreciate Congress's 
recognition of those impacts by making funding available 
through the CARES Act. Many of the concessioners and other 
commercial services in parks saw significant reduced operations 
in 2020, similar to trends in the broader hospitality and 
recreation industry. The NPS engaged in listening sessions with 
industry representatives to share and gather information, has 
worked with concessioners and commercial permit holders to 
provide relief, where possible, within the legal framework of 
concession contracts and commercial permits.
    2020 was also a year in which issues around racial justice 
came to the forefront, including those related to policing. As 
of March 2021, the National Park Service has over 1,000 body-
worn cameras in use at park units, and the National Park 
Service has worked to develop a robust body-worn camera program 
for all its officers, including the United States Park Police. 
The NPS intends to issue guidance to the field that would 
require all uniformed law enforcement officers to utilize body-
worn cameras by the end of 2021. We are grateful to Congress 
for the recent passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, 
which represents an extraordinary opportunity for crucial 
investments in the infrastructure needed for people to have a 
safe and memorable experience when they visit parks. In FY21, 
$1.3 billion from the Legacy Restoration Fund has been invested 
in 51 priority projects. We have also recently awarded $150 
million in LWCF funds to increase urban recreation 
opportunities through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership 
Grant Program.
    We appreciate your ongoing support as you work to protect 
the special places under our stewardship and welcome visitors 
during a very challenging time. Chairman King, this concludes 
my statement. I would be happy to answer any questions you may 
have.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Benge follows:]

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    
    Senator King. Thank you very much, Mr. Benge.
    David MacDonald is the President of Friends of Acadia, and 
the President of the National Park Friends Alliance, 
representing a very strong network nationwide of volunteer, 
non-governmental organizations that work with and strengthen 
the park system.
    Mr. MacDonald, welcome and welcome to the Committee.

                 STATEMENT OF DAVID MACDONALD, 
              PRESIDENT AND CEO, FRIENDS OF ACADIA

    Mr. MacDonald. Chairman King, Ranking Member Daines and 
other members of the Committee, thank you so much for the 
invitation to testify and for having the chance to add the 
perspective of partner organizations to this conversation here 
today.
    I'm David MacDonald. I'm President and CEO of Friends of 
Acadia in Bar Harbor, Maine. We're a non-profit organization 
that for the last 35 years has been working to preserve and 
protect Acadia National Park and work with the surrounding 
communities as well. In that time, thanks to our incredibly 
committed members and volunteers, we've been able to grant 
approaching $40 million to the park for a variety of projects, 
ranging from trail restoration, youth programs, climate change 
adaptation, you name it. It's a really strong partnership, and 
we're grateful for the incredible work of our colleagues at the 
Park Service here in Acadia.
    You know, there are organizations like Friends of Acadia 
throughout the nation and all through this network and park 
system. They're not just like us. Some are larger, some are 
smaller, but it's a growing community and my other hat here 
today, as Senator King mentioned, is I chair the Steering 
Committee for the National Park Friends Alliance. We're an 
informal coalition that's growing dramatically--400 members 
strong--and these entities like to network, share best 
practices, and compare notes and lessons learned from our 
respective corners of the system and come together to work with 
this agency that we all have in common.
    So my message to your Committee here today, coming from 
both a specific park like Acadia as well as this national view 
of partners, is that our parks have indeed become more 
important and more popular due to the pandemic. Likewise, the 
interdependence of the Park Service and partner organizations 
has also increased. We really must avail ourselves of every 
available tool and, in fact, we need to create a new tool kit 
for the coming months and years to ensure that parks are well-
staffed, well-funded, they're preserved, the resources are 
taken care of, and we make them available for the visiting 
public for safe and rewarding experiences.
    Having said that, let me touch on three primary themes of 
my testimony. First, the pandemic did put tremendous stress on 
park partner organizations with dramatic reductions in revenue, 
staffing, and operations. However, our community has been 
resilient and resourceful and we remain deeply committed to our 
mission of supporting parks and serving the expanding 
constituency that sought refuge out during the pandemic during 
this past year. Number two, national parks have unfortunately 
been under-resourced for decades. Park partners have been 
looked upon as an option to plug this gap. We sometimes talk 
about ourselves as providing a margin of excellence in parks. 
Over time, however, partner contributions have increasingly had 
to provide a margin of survival. The pandemic revealed the 
risks of this shift and underscored the absolute importance of 
Congress maintaining and increasing the funding appropriated 
annually for the base operating budget of the National Park 
Service. My third point is, while funding is always important, 
in order to unlock the full potential of public-private 
partnerships with organizations like ours, we must also be 
willing to create a framework of policies, practices, and 
authorities at the Park Service and at Interior that encourage 
innovation, flexibility, and entrepreneurship that partners can 
often bring to the table. I want to thank Acting Director Benge 
for his support and encouragement in his time in his role.
    The challenges ahead of us are great. These include the 
ability to make parks resilient to climate change, to make 
parks accessible and relevant to new or underserved audiences, 
to bring technology to bear to enhance a 21st century visitor 
experience or to solve the acute shortage of seasonal housing 
that's plaguing many gateway communities and really limits the 
park's ability to hire staff needed to run the parks. Here in 
Acadia, we're going to be short on lifeguards, trail workers, 
visitor service employees, all because the pandemic has 
exacerbated the housing market here. A few silver linings have 
emerged from the darkness of the past year, however. Partner 
organizations in parks have replaced traditional in-person 
events and programming with digital versions that have reached 
new and expanded and diverse audiences. Several folks have 
mentioned the tremendous bipartisan support behind the Great 
American Outdoors Act, providing historic levels of funding to 
address both long-deferred maintenance as well as land 
acquisition needs.
    As with so many aspects of our lives in society, the 
pandemic has forced parks and partners to rethink how we do our 
work, how to deepen our impact and further our respective 
missions. In order to meet this moment that we face today--when 
nature and the outdoors and parks are central to many people's 
perception, their well-being, their health--it's really vital 
that the Park Service and partners recognize our increased 
interdependence, our respective strengths, and tap into each 
other's skills and assets in the months and years ahead. I 
appreciate the opportunity to be part of the conversation and 
all of us in the partner community look forward to being a 
resource for this Committee and the Park Service going forward.
    Thank you so much.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. MacDonald follows:]

    
    Senator King. Thank you, Mr. MacDonald.
    I want to welcome Mr. Scott Socha, who represents the 
National Park Hospitality Association (NPHA). Almost all of our 
national parks have some concessions. A friend of mine runs a 
horse concession at Acadia and everything from, I guess, horse 
riding to hotels and other hospitality facilities.
    Mr. Socha, your views, please.

 STATEMENT OF SCOTT SOCHA, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL PARK HOSPITALITY 
                          ASSOCIATION

    Mr. Socha. Good morning.
    Thank you, Chairman King and Ranking Member Daines for the 
opportunity to share with the Committee our perspective on the 
state of the United States National Park System. Senator 
Daines, personally, I'm jealous of the nine inches of snow that 
you received last week in Bozeman.
    I'm Scott Socha. I'm Chair of the Board of Directors of the 
National Park Hospitality Association. The Association 
represents small and large businesses that provide amenities 
and services to park visitors. In addition to my volunteer 
leadership role of NPHA, I'm Group President for Parks and 
Resorts and Travel at Delaware North, a hospitality business 
headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Delaware North operates in 
seven national parks and has a presence in Yellowstone and 
Glacier National Parks. The members of NPHA wholeheartedly 
support the National Park Service mission to conserve our 
treasured parks for enjoyment, education, and inspiration. We 
have partnered with the NPS for more than 100 years.
    By law, concessioner services have always been and will 
continue to be limited to necessary and appropriate services 
for visitors as determined by the agency. Services include 
lodging, food and beverage, recreation, Native American arts 
and crafts, guide services, and more. And the concession 
community includes leaders in the global hospitality industry, 
but perhaps more importantly, small businesses that are often 
multi-generational, very specialized to specific park units, 
typically in challenging locations, difficult conditions, and 
often distant from traditional labor markets. As the 
distinguished members of this Committee are well aware, 2020 
was a very challenging year. Prior to the pandemic we 
anticipated revenues of nearly $2 billion in the National Park 
System, $150 million of franchise fees paid to the National 
Park Service, and employment levels of 25,000 people. But all 
the while, the complete and then partial closure of the parks 
led to a dramatic reduction in revenues, averaging 60 percent.
    While some NPHA members were able to access economic 
recovery provisions covered in the COVID-19 relief legislation 
passed by Congress, meaningful direct assistance was limited. 
And because of this, more than 90 operators filed requests with 
the NPS for reductions in franchise fees as permitted in our 
contracts in the event of extraordinary, unanticipated changes 
to the business. And we're very happy to report that in late 
March 2021, NPS creatively offered a two-year contract 
lengthening to many NPHA members, which provided a critical 
lifeline. We thank the Department of the Interior Secretary Deb 
Haaland and the senior leadership of the National Park Service 
for being a thoughtful partner in responding to COVID-19 
challenges. While this relief helped many of our members, a few 
were shut out and we simply encourage the NPS to find ways to 
help those who continue having outstanding relief requests.
    As we come out of the pandemic, we'll continue to adjust 
our operations, as needed, to protect public health and there 
are important lessons that we will continue to apply to our 
operations into the future. In addition to the pressing matters 
related to COVID-19, NPHA knows that implementation of the 
Concessions Management Improvement Act, enacted in 1998, 
deserves review. NPHA applauds recent NPS proposals to modify 
some regulations written more than 20 years ago and to make the 
park's concessions programs more responsive to visitors. NPHA 
worked closely with the NPS in recommending some of these 
changes and we look forward to working with NPS and the 
Department of the Interior on finalizing these important 
regulatory changes.
    We would be incredibly remiss if we did not mention the 
steadfast work of the members of this Committee in the passage 
of the Great American Outdoors Act. Deferred maintenance 
efforts pose threats to access, to the environment, and to the 
safety of visitors to the great outdoors. And GAOA will play a 
vital role in revitalizing our federal lands. NPHA is engaged 
with the National Park Service and supports leveraging our 
resources to not merely end the impact of past budgetary 
inadequacies but to implement new systems that will help 
prevent future deferred maintenance growth.
    In closing, NPHA is incredibly enthusiastic about the 
future of national parks and we're encouraged by indications 
that an increasing number of Americans will explore these 
amazing and special places this coming summer. Thank you, and 
I'm happy to answer any questions.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Socha follows:]

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    
    Senator King. Thank you, Mr. Socha.
    Let me begin questioning.
    Mr. Benge, what is the status of the Park Service plans for 
this year with regard to COVID in terms of any kind of 
limitations, mask requirements, those kinds of things? What is 
the plan for 2021?
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator, for that question. I 
appreciate it.
    I think it's important to recognize it's an extraordinarily 
and dynamic environment as the progression of the disease 
changes and we're certainly in a different place today than we 
were a month or two or three months ago. Obviously, our 
guidance is framed by the Executive Orders of the President, by 
DOI policy, and by OPM and OMB guidance. In looking forward and 
thinking about our ability to welcome visitors, I think we're 
like any other enterprise. There are probably very few 
businesses that are operating in the same way, at the same 
level they were pre-COVID, but everyone is on a glide path in a 
better direction.
    We have 423 units in the National Park Service, and we're 
extraordinarily decentralized. Every park is different in terms 
of where they are in being operational and what they need to be 
operational. We do believe there are some parks where 
visitation will increase and we need to do what we need to do 
in order to be ready. The ``Plan Like a Park Ranger'' is a 
campaign that will target trip planning. This will include 
messages around safety, alternative parks that might be less 
crowded, and making sure you have a reservation before you 
leave out. Real-time messaging on congestion is also a tool so 
you know the parking lot is full before you get there. And in 
some cases, we're also considering timed entry and limiting 
numbers.
    Senator King. Will decisions on things like masks be made 
on an individual park basis or has the Department made a 
determination based upon CDC guidelines that that will not be 
necessary this summer?
    Mr. Benge. We currently are operating under DOI and OPM--
OMB guidance, which is certainly framed by CDC. So it's a 
changing environment. Currently, if you're vaccinated, you 
know, you're not required to wear a mask if you're an employer 
or a visitor in the park.
    Senator King. Thank you.
    One point that I want to make, and it is awkward to make 
this point to the Acting Director, but we need a permanent 
director. The Park Service has not had a director for, I think, 
five years and I hope that is something that is under active 
consideration in the Department.
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator.
    No one will be happier when we get a permanent director 
than I will be.
    [Laughter.]
    Mr. Benge. And I understand Shannon Estenoz in her 
testimony indicated that would be our priority. So I'm 
confident that the Administration is actively working.
    Senator King. Ken Burns, a question for you. You documented 
the beauty and the transcendent nature of these parks around 
the country, but one of the problems we are encountering as a 
kind of inherent tension of loving places to death where some 
of the best places--you cannot see them, but in our Committee 
room we have pictures of beautiful parks, but we also have 
pictures of huge traffic jams in places like Acadia and 
Yosemite. How do we balance public access to the maximum number 
of Americans with not compromising the experience by virtue of 
all those Americans coming to visit their parks?
    Mr. Burns. Thank you, Senator King.
    This is a fundamental question, one we tried to address 
when our series came out in 2009. It's a difficult one because 
the parks need to have their constituencies. If there was 
nobody there and we had none of these problems, chances are the 
parks would then come under assault from the very American 
acquisitive nature of things. I look at the lines when I go as 
a citizen much the same way that I look at a line standing in 
my little town in New Hampshire to vote. It means that we are 
participating in the fullest sense in this democracy. As I said 
in my testimony, this Declaration applied to the landscape, but 
I think a good deal of the park planning and the release of the 
deferred maintenance gives us a chance to reinvigorate--maybe 
not on the scale as Mission 66 did--in reimagining the parks, 
but maybe we have an opportunity to--once again, another 
generation later, 50 plus years afterwards--to have a new kind 
of mission that permits us to begin to handle and I think 
digital technology will help as the Acting Director suggested, 
just knowing that that parking lot ahead of you is full or 
knowing that that dining room is full, that we have a chance 
to, as families, as individuals, but also as a country to 
figure out how best to accommodate all the people.
    But as I told my impatient daughters waiting for a herd of 
buffalo to go by in Yellowstone, this was a good line to be in.
    Senator King. Thank you. This is an issue where I think we 
may have a hearing devoted to just this question of how to 
disperse our visitors between parks and also within parks in 
order to relieve this problem.
    Senator Daines.
    Senator Daines. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Benge, our gateway communities are a vital part of our 
park system, and ensuring strong partnerships there is very 
critical. What were your takeaways from the last year and what 
steps do you think the Park Service needs to strengthen the 
relationships between our parks and the gateway communities?
    Mr. Benge. Well, thank you, Senator, I couldn't agree more.
    We understand the interdependency between parks and gateway 
communities and strive to be good neighbors and partners with 
these communities. The National Park Service leadership and 
individual park managers continue to look for ways to work 
together with our gateway community leaders on issues that 
affect the quality of life of gateway community residents, park 
employees, and park visitors. This includes public health 
issues, issues such as traffic flow, parking, event planning, 
affordable housing, and schools. I do think we do a very good 
job in that space, Senator.
    Senator Daines. Thank you.
    Mr. Benge, and I share the Chairman's sentiment that we are 
grateful that Yellowstone National Park is not called Geyser 
World. I believe that Yellowstone National Park, and this is 
the park that--you know, I grew up in the shadows of, literally 
as a kid in Montana over many, many years--they have made a lot 
of great improvements in employee housing. We can only recruit 
and retain our very best employees if we have adequate housing 
and places for them to live. As we come out of this pandemic 
and out of the day-to-day activities that some are becoming 
more normal now, how do we ensure our national park employees 
across the United States are supported and taken care of?
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator. Related to housing, you 
know, the NPS follows the requirements of the housing program 
that are set forth by OMB. NPS employees are expected to live 
in private-market housing unless they perform duties that make 
them required to live in the park or when affordable housing is 
not available nearby. We have made it a goal within the 
National Park Service to eliminate poor housing that exists in 
terms of quality of housing. I think Yellowstone is a great 
example of where we have invested a significant amount of money 
over the last three years. And if memory serves me right, we've 
replaced over 40 units in that particular park and we're 
committed to that program in meeting that five-year goal of 
eliminating poor housing in the Park Service.
    Affordable housing--it is becoming increasingly difficult 
to find in gateway communities and I certainly understand that 
and appreciate that situation. I think there are probably 
parks--or not probably--there are parks where additional 
housing we'll need is required. I think we need to be 
extraordinarily thoughtful on a park-by-park basis in 
understanding what that need is and then being able to address 
that need, which can include and should include public-private 
partnerships.
    Senator Daines. Yes. I talked with them a bit, in fact, we 
had a field hearing of the Park Subcommittee in Gardner, 
Montana--one of our gateway communities there for Yellowstone 
National Park--about this very issue. In fact, we had it at the 
Gardner High School. We have gateway communities for 
Yellowstone Park that are in Montana, a place like Gardner, 
West Yellowstone, Cook City, where they are surrounded by 
federal lands and they are literally landlocked and unable to 
expand. So we have a constraint on ground where we could build 
additional housing. It is really very difficult to recruit 
talent both in the community and at the park as housing prices 
are high and new houses just simply cannot be built--there is 
just--we are out of land.
    Starting with Mr. Benge, but I am also happy to hear input 
from any others on this topic, what options or solutions might 
we examine to ensure that the parks and the communities can 
continue to hire and house and retain the best talent?
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator. Again, I think it's 
different in each park in terms of need. I think making sure 
that we have the appropriate planning and analysis in place to 
understand what the need is in being able to cross-walk that 
with the existing inventory is incredibly important. Once we 
have determined what that need is, I think there are a number 
of avenues of which we can fill that need. I think one of the 
things that's nice in that space is that our housing 
regulations allow for the concept of public-private 
partnerships in being able to build facilities by the private 
sector and there are some constraints related to that 
authority, but I think it's something we need to explore in 
those situations where it makes sense.
    Senator Daines. Thank you.
    Mr. Chairman, I am out of time, but it is something I think 
we need to examine is that, we have--we love our parks. We have 
to take care of our employees. We are out of housing right now 
in some cases. Something we should look at.
    Senator King. I think that is a subject for perhaps some 
hearing time.
    Senator Daines. Yes. Thank you.
    Senator King. Thank you.
    Mr. Benge, I should have, in my introductory comments, 
commented on your people. In 2003, my wife and I took our 
children out of school for five and a half months and toured 
the country by RV and went to 17 national parks and the people 
were exceptional. The park rangers, the park personnel, we have 
wonderful people and I think a lot of them are mission driven. 
They clearly were proud of where they were. They were proud of 
the mission and I hope you will convey to them, to the people 
of the Park Service, the admiration, respect, and thanks that 
this Committee knows is due to them. Please do that, please, 
will you?
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator, I would be happy to do that. 
We have over 18,000 very dedicated employees that are 
absolutely mission driven.
    Senator King. We did not see all of them, but we saw quite 
a few of them on that trip.
    Now we have Senator Hirono, by WebEx.
    Senator.
    Senator Hirono. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Chairman, you and I, I think, are the only two people 
on this Subcommittee who have this Senior Pass to our national 
parks. Mr. Chairman, you are the person who flashed this and I 
said ``I want one of those'' and the minute I went back to 
Hawaii I got one----
    Senator King. It is the best deal in America.
    Senator Hirono. Right. There are some benefits to getting 
more mature.
    Mr. Burns, thank you so much. You are shining a light on 
the importance of our national parks and your documentary, I 
watched it and it really made everyone, I think, aware of the 
importance of our national parks. So your presence on this 
panel is really welcome. Mahalo, as we say in Hawaii.
    And Mr. MacDonald, I want to acknowledge also the 
importance of the Friends Groups and cooperating associations 
in their roles in supporting the National Park System, both 
financially and in-kind services.
    I have a number of questions for Mr. Benge. While the COVID 
pandemic has had significant impacts on National Park Service 
that will take some time to recover from, another crisis is 
facing our National Parks and that is climate change. Last 
month, the National Park Service published a document providing 
guidance to park managers on planning for climate change and 
the document provides examples of how parks all across the 
country are planning for those impacts, including at Hawaii 
Volcanoes National Park, where efforts are underway to 
establish populations of rare and endangered plant species to 
increase their ability to persist as climate conditions change.
    As NPS works to incorporate planning and carrying out the 
subsequent projects to address climate change, what kind of 
additional resources will be necessary to ensure that efforts 
like those in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will happen?
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator.
    You know, we are in the perpetuity business, but I think 
it's fair to say that our parks are influenced and are changing 
in terms of the resources we're charged with protecting as a 
result of a changing climate. We understand that being able to 
forecast, understand those impacts, do what we can on the 
resiliency side, and also be able to protect the resources are 
our priority. We have spent a significant amount of time and 
energy looking particularly at coastal parks in terms of 
vulnerability and we want to expand that information, that 
research to our parks, every park, so every park has that 
information in order to be able to use in making good 
decisionmaking related to management decisions on resource 
protection.
    Senator Hirono. Well, the question is, Mr. Benge, do you 
need additional resources to enable this work to continue--
particularly, as you say, in the coastal parks?
    If you say yes, we can look for some funding or other 
changes that we need to make.
    Mr. Benge. Yes, thank you, Senator.
    It is a priority and a pillar for the current 
Administration related to climate change and I think, as a 
priority, resources would be made available as a result of the 
Administration's priorities. In terms of additional money that 
we need today that we don't have, I'm really not in a 
position--I didn't come with that information.
    Senator Hirono. Okay.
    Mr. Benge. Thank you. But I'd be happy to provide it.
    Senator Hirono. Yes, usually the need exceeds the resources 
provided.
    Mr. Benge, as you know, Haleakala National Park has been 
successfully using a reservation system to ensure a safe and 
enjoyable visitor experience for viewing the sunrise from the 
rim of the volcano, something that I have also done. Many parks 
during the pandemic tried new reservation and time entry 
systems to better manage their flow of visitors into the parks. 
So I am wondering--and this is something that the Chairman had 
also referred to, or I think he did--are there things like the 
``Plan Like a Ranger'' campaign that NPS is launching where you 
encourage parks to continue pursuing these new systems beyond 
the pandemic in order to decrease overcrowding and pressure on 
resources?
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator.
    I think the short answer, yes, in terms of trip planning, 
there is plenty of opportunity on that front beyond the 
pandemic. When it comes to managing visitors and congestion 
management, our goal, our ultimate goal is to provide a quality 
visitor experience and make sure that we're doing a good job in 
protecting resources for future generations. Any action that we 
take in managing people is really measured against those two 
principles. For example, do we have too many people that the 
quality of experience is severely compromised in any particular 
area or are resources being damaged as a result of too many 
people?
    The management actions that we can or do take vary greatly 
based on the individual circumstances. It could range from 
proactively encouraging visitors to visit less crowded areas 
through trip planning that would provide similar experiences 
all the way to implementing a sophisticated time entry system. 
Typically, we go through a very comprehensive planning process 
at the park level that includes pretty robust specific 
engagement to identify that range of management options before 
we make those decisions in the long-term.
    Senator Hirono. Thank you. I think it is really important 
that these decisions are not made as a top-down kind of a 
process.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator King. Thank you, Senator Hirono.
    Before recognizing Senator Lee, I hope and believe that 
online watching us this morning is our member emeritus, Lamar 
Alexander, who lives in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains 
National Park. He told me he was going to tune in this morning. 
One of the real authors of the Great American Outdoors Act, and 
I just want to acknowledge Senator Alexander's contribution to 
the work that we are doing here today.
    Senator Lee.
    Senator Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Benge, as you know, Zion National Park operates a fleet 
of shuttles to provide people with access to the park. As a 
result of COVID-related policies, currently these park shuttles 
are limited to about 30 percent capacity--about 14 people at a 
time and this is something that is dramatically decreasing the 
number of people who can travel on them at any given time. The 
park, Zion National Park, is as you know, entering into a 
really busy season. Local communities--especially the city of 
Springdale is one--rely heavily on the shuttle system to 
moderate traffic and parking within the town. So when we look 
at the fact that airline passengers have been sitting shoulder-
to-shoulder for hours at a time on flights for many months, I 
wonder why it is that passengers wearing masks couldn't--in a 
short shuttle ride, one in which they could open the windows--
why is it that they should have to operate at 30 percent 
capacity?
    So answer me this. Can the Park Service update its social 
distancing guidance on this point?
    Mr. Benge. Park service policy, again, is guided by 
Department of the Interior policy as well as OMB and it is 
framed by CDC recommendations.
    Senator Lee. I understand.
    Mr. Benge. So the, sort of--the answer to your question is 
we--it's a very dynamic environment. I mean, it's very likely a 
month from now it will look different in terms of what those 
policies look like today versus a month from now, but right 
now, we are framed by the policies of the Department.
    Senator Lee. I understand and I appreciate that and I 
appreciate the fact that the Biden Administration has 
reiterated its commitment to following the science. But can you 
explain to me what science it is that would indicate that it is 
safe to fly shoulder-to-shoulder for hours at a time but not 
ride shoulder-to-shoulder equally massed in both circumstances 
for a 10 to 15 minute bus ride? What's the scientific 
distinction between those?
    Mr. Benge. Senator, I just don't think I'm the right 
person, from a scientific standpoint, to have the expertise to 
answer your question.
    Senator Lee. Okay.
    One of the reasons that this worries me is because we are 
entering the busy season. This coming Monday being Memorial Day 
is going to be a particularly popular weekend. So is there any 
chance you could make that adjustment prior to Memorial Day?
    Mr. Benge. If the policy guidance changes between now and 
Memorial Day as it relates to OMB and/or the Department, we 
certainly would evaluate that and pivot accordingly.
    Senator Lee. Okay, thank you.
    The drought that Western states, including my own, have 
been experiencing is impacting the water level at Lake Powell 
in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. In fact, the water 
level has gotten so low that it has left both the channel ramps 
at Antelope Point Marina unusable, cutting off access to 
concession customers and to dry-storage patrons. Meanwhile, the 
Bull Frog State Line and Wahweap ramps will all need temporary 
extensions. I certainly want to commend and thank the local 
park officials for working expeditiously to address the issue. 
As we look ahead, Mr. Benge, how do you think we can better 
prepare for these types of situations?
    Mr. Benge. Well thank you, Senator.
    Glen Canyon, I think, welcomes about 4.4 million visitors 
annually. We are in the middle of a historic drought. No one 
can predict exactly when it will end or how severe it will be. 
We are committed to using the most accurate scientific data 
available to make the best decisions possible. I think it was 
on May 17th we notified Lake Powell boaters that the Stateline 
Launch Ramp will be closed to motorized vehicles due to revised 
projections by Bureau of Reclamation and lake levels are 
lowering faster than previously predicted.
    Alternative launching facilities for motorized vehicles 
remain in place. We're working with the public and the 
recreation community to plan ahead as congestion at boat ramps 
and docks on Lake Powell occurs and its water levels drop, but 
without question, it is a difficult situation.
    Senator Lee. Okay.
    As the third most visited national park in the entire 
country, Zion National Park is, as I indicated earlier, it is 
important to our state and it is a fixture of a local tourism 
economy. It is one that really helps support tourism and it 
helps generate resident revenue. At various times the Park 
Service has sought to conduct a capacity study that could end 
up mandating a reservation system. I just want to take this 
moment to reiterate my very, very strong opposition to any 
reservation system and instead request that the National Park 
Service give consideration to locally driven alternative 
solutions that prepare visitors and that preserve visitor 
access and enjoyment.
    So Mr. Benge, will you commit to collaborating with my 
office and communities in my state as we help to address system 
unit needs?
    Mr. Benge. Absolutely, Senator. Thank you.
    Senator Lee. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator King. Thank you, Senator Lee.
    Senator Kelly.
    Senator Kelly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Burns, great seeing you again, remotely. I would like 
to begin by thanking you for your impressive and inspiring PBS 
documentary about the National Parks--``National Parks: 
America's Best Idea''. In it you covered some of the history of 
the Grand Canyon National Park in the State of Arizona and it 
has been 10 years since my last flight to space, on Space 
Shuttle Endeavor, but I will never forget the first time I saw 
the Grand Canyon from orbit. Even from hundreds of miles away, 
it is impressive and majestic, as impressive as it is when you 
see it up close.
    Today, there are thousands of uranium-mining claims 
surrounding the park. Senator Sinema and I introduced the Grand 
Canyon Protection Act, which would permanently protect the area 
from uranium mining. We believe the risk of uranium 
contamination to Grand Canyon water supplies, the tourism 
economy it supports, and the Havasupai Tribal members who live 
there, is too great. A recent poll by Colorado College found 
that 77 percent of Arizonans support banning uranium mining 
near the park, and the latest that was recently in some public 
research.
    What do you think? What is your opinion and what do you 
think causes Arizonans and Americans to rally to protect our 
national parks?
    Mr. Burns. Well, it's good to see you again too, Senator 
Kelly, if virtually.
    You know, I'm reminded of the phrase in Ecclesiastes, 
``What has been will be again. What has been done will be done 
again. There's nothing new under the sun.'' As you know, one of 
the principal reasons why President Theodore Roosevelt set 
aside 800,000-plus acres of Grand Canyon first as a national 
monument--it would then gain national park status several years 
later--was to protect it from mining interests. And I think 
what you find is an overwhelming number of Americans who 
support, particularly with those existing national parks, the 
greatest possible protection, protection that we presume they 
enjoy. And I think many Americans are surprised to see that 
there are still threats.
    But again, I would retreat back to my democratic analogy 
that the freedoms that we enjoy require a kind of eternal 
vigilance, and I think it's going to be important for those of 
us who advocate for the protection of the parks, those of us 
who would want, for example, to expand them. Senator Lee, I was 
speaking for many years with Senator Hatch about Dinosaur and 
Dead Horse--Dead Horse, a state park in Utah--achieving some 
sort of park recognition or status, national park recognition 
or status, and elevating Dinosaur to that level, that we're 
constantly in flux and doing that and part of our relationship 
to the parks, as citizens, has to be in the ongoing vigilance 
to protect them from--as I mentioned before in my testimony, or 
in my answer--the aquisitive interests that are natural to all 
human beings and to people. There's nothing new under the sun 
and these uranium claims have been going on for, literally, 
more than a century.
    Senator Kelly. Well, thank you, Mr. Burns, and I think that 
vigilance is incredibly important here and I want to thank my 
senior Senator, Senator Sinema, for introducing the Grand 
Canyon Protection Act with me because the uranium mining in and 
around the Grand Canyon is just a bad idea.
    In the remainder of my time, I want to switch to Mr. Benge. 
National Parks in Arizona need over $500 million in repairs and 
replacements in critical infrastructure. One example of this is 
the drinking water pipeline built in the 1960's that takes 
water from the Colorado River to the South Rim. When the 12-
mile pipeline fails, which is rather frequent, the park and its 
visitors lose water. And the National Park Service will soon 
receive substantial funding provided for deferred maintenance 
projects under the Great American Outdoors Act that was signed 
into law last year.
    Mr. Benge, can you confirm that the Park Service is moving 
forward with plans to replace the Grand Canyon pipeline and do 
you foresee any roadblocks ahead in getting this pipeline 
completed?
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator. Short answer, yes, we're 
committed and no, I see no roadblocks.
    Senator Kelly. Thank you.
    Senator King. Senator Marshall.
    Senator Marshall. Well thank you, Chairman. It is great to 
be here doing something fun and working on it together and I 
want to just thank the Chairman for guiding me to Acadia 
National Park a couple of years ago. I had the pleasure of 
meeting Mr. MacDonald and I will give him my first question--
the Friends of Acadia. And if I would sit here, like you, my 
wife has a goal of going to every national park in the country, 
which means that is my goal as well and with all due respect to 
all the other parks, I am not sure if I have been to a more 
beautiful park than Acadia, as well as--Yellowstone gets all 
the ink--but really Glacier National Park--I have been there 
three times and just two of America's treasures.
    As I think about coming out of COVID, one of my big 
concerns is the mental health crisis. As a physician, if I 
could give America a prescription this summer to work on your 
mental health, it would be ``Go visit a national park.'' Take a 
deep breath, go to a national park. It would do more than any 
medicine or any legislation that we can write up here. So I 
just want to get America out there.
    I will start with Mr. MacDonald. You guys have been so 
successful, private world mingling with the government park 
there as well. As the Friends of Acadia, actually I believe it 
was the first park that used private funds as well. What is the 
secret to your success? What would you pass on to other non-
profit organizations that want to work with national parks?
    Mr. MacDonald. Thank you, Senator.
    We have learned so much from our other peers at other 
parks. This is one of the benefits of the Friends Alliance. I'm 
pleased by your remarks that you consider Friends of Acadia a 
leader in this regard. There is a long tradition of private 
philanthropy here at Acadia. Mr. Burns and his film documented 
how Acadia was the first park created through private donations 
of land and that tradition is still incredibly strong.
    It does come back to relationships and communication and 
trust and respect. It's not easy, always, for a federal agency 
to work outside of their comfort zone or outside the park 
boundary, but stretching to include partners in your plans, 
partnering whenever you tackle a major initiative, agreeing on 
priorities, that collaboration and communication needs to be 
wired into the future leaders of the Park Service. We have a 
terrific superintendent here. There are many out there that are 
doing a great job, but being willing to communicate and share 
the work and share the priorities with the community and with 
the parks and to problem-solve together and to have the ability 
to, you know, just tap into people's desire to give back. The 
parks provide so much to the American people and organizations 
like ours just provide a platform for folks to be able to pay 
it back.
    So grateful for your interest and support. Please let us 
know when you are back in Acadia and let me know if I can help 
with other questions.
    Senator Marshall. Well thank you. I will go to Mr. Benge 
next.
    Perhaps the greatest bargain in America is $80 for a 
National Park Pass, and I just noticed that mine has expired, 
so I need to get another one. How do people get a National Park 
Pass?
    Mr. Benge. They can go to the National Park website and 
follow the link to the pass.
    Senator Marshall. So the national website for the parks as 
well. And we have seniors. Do we have anything special for 
veterans yet, a special park pass?
    Mr. Benge. For veterans, yes.
    Senator Marshall. So they get a deduction or is it free for 
them?
    Mr. Benge. It's free.
    Senator Marshall. Free, wow, what a great bargain and one 
more way to pay tribute to our veterans as well.
    I think I want to go to Mr. Socha next.
    As you get geared up for what I think will be the busiest 
summer we have ever had--my--I just see the enthusiasm out 
there, all my outdoors friends, the people that have never 
tasted the outdoors are ready to go. The fishing equipment is 
sold out at all the stores and it looks like it is going to be 
a great summer. How are you all doing for employees and why--I 
am guessing you are being challenged getting people to work, 
like everybody is in the country? What is keeping people from 
coming to work for your folks this summer?
    Mr. Socha. Sure. It certainly is a very tight labor market 
right now, without question. We're, no doubt, leveraging H2Bs 
and J1s--international workers--because there's a real need for 
it. We're offering incentives that we haven't offered in the 
past in order to retain workers--and I say retain, as well as 
recruit new--super important, but we believe we're ready. We're 
excited and we have some great partnerships out there, 
Yellowstone, in particular, just a great superintendent to 
partner with.
    Senator Marshall. Well great. It looks like I am out of 
time, so I'll yield back. Thank you for being here, everybody.
    Senator King. Senator Marshall, you mentioned your pass is 
a bargain. This is my senior pass, which is $80 for life. So 
this, I think, as Senator Hirono, this is the greatest deal in 
America right here.
    I think it is $80. Is that right, Mr. Benge? I think?
    Mr. Benge. That is correct.
    Senator King. It used to be a ridiculous $10, but in any 
case. That is when I bought mine, as a matter of fact.
    I think we'll have a short second round of questions.
    Mr. Socha, you mentioned something in your testimony that 
sort of went by very quickly, but I think is important and that 
is that it is time to review the 1998 Act that governs how 
concessions work. For example, we learned through experience at 
Acadia that if a concessionaire bids for the--whatever the 
service is, past performance doesn't matter under the 
regulations. Do you agree that it is time to review that Act 
and the regulations in light of current realities of park 
operations?
    Mr. Socha. I do. We spent, collectively, 2 years between 
ourselves and the National Park Service to progress it very far 
down the line to have it placed in the reading room and have it 
never make it out of the reading room. Since then, we've had 
conversations with the National Park Service as to how we can 
progress it forward, if there are any changes that need to be 
made to what we all have collectively come up with.
    Senator King. Well, I think that is something that this 
Committee will follow up on this year.
    Mr. Socha. Thank you.
    Senator King. Mr. Benge, this is too long a question for a 
short hearing like this. I would appreciate it if the 
Department could supply to this Committee for the record 
current plans and operational procedures for the implementation 
of the Great American Outdoors Act. How are the decisions made 
in terms of allocation of funds to various parks? How are 
decisions made with regard to allocation of funds under the 
Land and Water Conservation Fund? I think that would be a 
useful update for the Committee given the fact that we are 
approaching a year since the bill was passed. Can you work with 
your colleagues at the Department to make that available?
    Mr. Benge. I will, Senator, thank you.
    Senator King. Thank you very much.
    The other thing, Mr. Benge, I hope that the Department, the 
National Park Service, will work to further online access. If 
there is anything we have learned during the pandemic, it is 
the importance of an online presence, both in terms of park 
passes, park guides, information, real-time information about 
parks, you mentioned congestion information. I think there is 
some progress to be made in terms of the digital footprint of 
the National Park Service. I hope that is on the agenda as 
well.
    Mr. Benge. Yes, it's on the agenda. It's one of the 
priorities we're working on. We are proud that we just recently 
rolled out our first mobile app, which certainly is a step in 
the right direction.
    Senator King. Yes sir. Thank you.
    Mr. MacDonald, in terms of advisory, I am sorry, in terms 
of organizations like Friends of Acadia, what about advisory 
committees, which I think are a kind of different animal? Are 
they a useful part of the park administration process?
    Mr. MacDonald. Thank you, Senator King.
    I think they are. Any opportunity to provide a forum for 
local communities, local elected officials to have a say, and 
to have questions and to have a healthy exchange on issues 
affecting the park. Having said that, I know that some of the 
administration of the advisory commission here at Acadia, how 
you nominate someone for a term, you know, the paperwork they 
have to file, you know, that can be a little frustrating I 
know, but the concept of a local advisory commission, I think, 
is very sound and it helps strengthen that trust and 
communication that I mentioned between the park and the 
surrounding communities.
    Senator King. Thank you.
    Mr. MacDonald. I also just want to add on the earlier topic 
about the Great American Outdoors Act. There is a lot going on 
and I do want to credit the Park Service for including the 
partner community in their communications. They are working 
night and day to implement this. It's a very big lift and I do 
appreciate--the partner community appreciates being kept in the 
loop as those decisions are being made and rolled out.
    Senator King. Mr. Burns, before my time expires I want to 
thank you again for joining us and for the work you did on 
behalf of the National Parks to introduce not only Americans, 
many Americans, millions of Americans, but people around the 
world to this wonderful asset and I hope you will keep in touch 
with this Committee as ideas occur to you that you believe 
could be helpful. I think the other important contribution you 
made was that the parks have not been without controversy and 
many of them were born in controversy, and yet today, many of 
those communities where controversies existed could not imagine 
life without the park. Has that been your experience?
    Mr. Burns. Very much so, Senator and I'd be honored to stay 
in touch and offer what advice the Committee would find useful. 
You're exactly right. I think too often we presume that these 
good things were born out of equally good things, but it's 
often the tension about what to do with the land. That 
acquisitive nature looks at a stand of beautiful forest and 
thinks board-feet. It looks at a beautiful river and thinks 
dam. Looks at a canyon, Senator Kelly, and thinks mineral 
rights. And all of that is legitimate and an important part of 
the growth of our country, but some of it has to be saved, as 
President Roosevelt had suggested for our posterity and I think 
it's important.
    I also want to commend Senator Marshall for bringing up the 
idea of mental health. Let's remember that the very first Park 
Service Director, Stephen Mather himself, suffered from some 
mental illness in which only the parks and their soothing 
nature had some way of calming this inner turmoil. He was 
absent for a long time. His assistant director, Horace 
Albright, often took over. Just a decade after Yellowstone was 
created there was a debate about whether we should continue 
with this and many senators suggested not. George Vest of 
Missouri said ``There should be in a nation that will have'', 
he said, ``100 million or 150 million people, a park like 
this'', meaning Yellowstone, ``as a great breathing place for 
our national lungs''. A great breathing place for our national 
lungs. Nearly a century and a half later in a nation of more 
than 330 million people, now emerging from the lockdown and 
restrictions and the terrible suffering and anxiety and 
exhaustions that accompanied that, we need a place for our 
national lungs to be exercised and you can find that in only 
one place and that is in our national parks and our national 
park system and the extraordinary work that the National Park 
Service does.
    I'm very grateful to the Committee for asking me to come 
this morning to offer thoughts about the historical perspective 
of how incredibly democratic this institution is.
    Senator King. Thank you very much, Mr. Burns.
    Senator Daines.
    Senator Daines. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Burns, your documentaries helped bring to light the 
beauty of so many of our parks. When visitors come to Montana 
and visit some of our great parks, oftentimes they will look at 
maybe a Yellowstone and Glacier kind of itinerary, but as the 
Chairman pointed out earlier, we have congestion issues in our 
parks and need to find ways here to maybe relieve some of those 
pressures. One of those ideas, perhaps, is to encourage 
visitors to think about some of our lesser-known parks. They 
may look at their itineraries.
    My question is, how could we use your tools and your 
knowledge to highlight and drive visitation to some of these 
lesser-known parks in Montana? An example--the Grant-Kohrs 
Ranch. We had a field hearing there actually a couple years 
ago. Or some of our battlefields, like Little Bighorn, the Big 
Hole, and Bear Paw.
    Mr. Burns. Senator, this is a wonderful, wonderful question 
and really at the heart of it and I'm grateful for the chance 
to try to answer it. You know, I've spent my entire 
professional life working in public broadcasting and I've 
always seen a kind of similarity or comparison to our federal 
system and to the National Park System and what we try to do in 
public broadcasting. And we've created a lot of educational 
materials that have accompanied our national parks film and 
even though it has now been out for a dozen years it 
nonetheless is a very active site and we work through the PBS 
learning media to continue to educate. So we would be more than 
happy to go back to the Park Service and certainly work in 
concert with your Committee to try to coordinate that 
information because we do need a place, a safety valve as well 
as a breathing for our national lungs and a lot of that has to 
do with, sort of, intelligent ways of visiting the parks. And 
we've all experienced the logjams at Glacier or at Yellowstone, 
but I think the wonders of Big Hole and Bighorn are incredibly 
important and I think we can direct our populous there through 
educational works. And I know, speaking on behalf of the Public 
Broadcasting Service, that we would be happy to try to share 
our materials and understanding.
    In fact, when we finished collecting the thousands and 
thousands of photographs necessary to research over a decade, 
Senator, we donated the entire hard drive of those archives to 
Harper's Ferry where the Park Service has their archival 
headquarters because many of the images they were familiar with 
and some they were not. And we were able to give to the 
American people the resource of our 10 years of research. So 
we're at your disposal.
    Senator Daines. I appreciate that, Mr. Burns. I think it is 
a lack of awareness oftentimes because I think in the park, 
just makes you want to kind of get away from it all and some of 
these hidden gems that we have are a chance to get away from it 
all too, and it will solve the problem of the congestion in 
many of the better-known parks.
    Mr. Burns. That's exactly right and the Acting Director 
suggested, you know, we have, you know, 60 or so national 
parks, but we have 420 plus units in the National Park Service 
and they deserve a great deal of attention, not just, 
obviously, the celebrated major parks.
    Senator Daines. I think about where PBS--hit the back roads 
of Montana. It is kind of the back roads to these smaller, 
lesser-known parks.
    Senator King. I think we have another program.
    [Laughter.]
    Senator Daines. We do, I will tell you.
    Mr. Benge, the Great American Outdoors Act was passed in 
the middle of the pandemic. The Chairman talked a little about 
this as well about implementation. Could you give us just maybe 
a sports-in-brief quick summary? What's the status of 
implementation and what projects are first to get funding from 
the Act?
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator and I really appreciate that 
question. I'm pleased to tell you I think we're doing really 
well. There were 51 major projects that were funded in FY21 and 
for each one of those projects we developed a project schedule 
with particular milestones and when you cross-walk the 
milestones that we projected in terms of where we are, we're 
pretty much on target. Our funding list for FY22 will be 
released with the President's budget and we have--I don't know 
the obligation rate today off the top of my head--but again, 
it's on projection. I know that we're working with Yellowstone 
projects. In Yellowstone we have $126.5 million in projects. 
About half of that relates to housing and historic structures 
and the other half relates to roadwork. And many of our road 
projects, we complete those in partnership with the Federal 
Highway Administration.
    Senator Daines. Great, thank you.
    My last question, for Mr. Socha. It is my understanding 
that a key update for the concessionaire rules was held up 
during the transition to the Biden Administration. Could you 
give me an update on the status as well as the importance of 
that rule?
    Mr. Socha. The status is that the Park Service and the 
concession community is in agreement, I think, that it needs to 
move forward. There are some modifications I believe the Park 
Service would still like to make to what made it into the 
reading room, which is consistent with our thoughts as well. 
And we do think it's absolutely important. It's been 20-plus 
years since the regulations have changed and visitor services 
and needs have changed and park needs have changed as well.
    Senator Daines. So Mr. Benge, would you have a status 
update from the Park Service as to when that rule will be 
finalized?
    Mr. Benge. Thank you, Senator.
    As many folks have mentioned, the current concession 
regulations were issued 21 years ago and NPS is currently 
conducting a final review of the proposed rule and we hope to 
issue a final rule later this year.
    Senator Daines. Alright, thank you. Mr. Chairman, thanks 
for the time.
    Senator King. Well again, I would like to thank our 
witnesses, Ken Burns, David MacDonald, Scott Socha, and Shawn 
Benge for a very informative hearing and for your forthcoming 
answers to our questions. As I mentioned, we will most likely 
be following up with a hearing later in the summer on the issue 
of congestion and how to deal with that so that we can maximize 
enjoyment of the parks while at the same time maximizing access 
for the American people.
    Without any further questions, the Committee hearing is 
adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 11:20 a.m. the hearing was adjourned.]

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