[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
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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
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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
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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
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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:]
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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:]
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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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