[Senate Hearing 117-297]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       S. Hrg. 117-297

                          PENDING LEGISLATION

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

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON 
                             NATIONAL PARKS

                                 OF THE

                              COMMITTEE ON
                      ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                                   on


H.R. 268                                    S. 2964                              S. 3519
H.R. 1931                                   S. 3141                              S. 3551
S. 557                                      S. 3185                              S. 3667
S. 1344                                     S. 3240                              S. 3685
S. 1718                                     S. 3307                              S. 4114
S. 1814/H.R. 3531                           S. 3334                              S. 4121
S. 2367                                     S. 3338
 


                               __________

                              MAY 11, 2022

                               __________
                               
[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                    
47-939                     WASHINGTON : 2024                    
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------         
        
        
               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
                            
                            
                            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
Hirono, Hon. Mazie K., a U.S. Senator from Hawaii................     3

                                WITNESS

Caldwell, Michael A., Associate Director, Park Planning, 
  Facilities, and Lands, National Park Service, U.S. Department 
  of the Interior................................................     4

          ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED

Ala Kahakai Trail Association et al.:
    Letter for the Record........................................    49
Appalachian Trail Conservancy:
    Letter for the Record with attachment........................    51
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers:
    Letter for the Record........................................    65
Bar Harbor Bank and Trust:
    Letter for the Record........................................    66
Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce:
    Letter for the Record........................................    67
Caldwell, Michael A.:
    Opening Statement............................................     4
    Written Testimony............................................     7
    Responses to Questions for the Record........................    46
Daines, Hon. Steve:
    Opening Statement............................................     2
Friends of Acadia:
    Letter for the Record........................................    68
Hirono, Hon. Mazie K.:
    Opening Statement............................................     3
Island Housing Trust:
    Letter for the Record........................................    71
King, Jr., Hon. Angus S.:
    Opening Statement............................................     1
League of Towns:
    Letter for the Record........................................    72
National Memorial to the Women Who Worked on the Home Front 
  Foundation:
    Letter for the Record........................................    73
New Philadelphia Association:
    Statement for the Record.....................................    80
North Country Trail Association et al.:
    Letter for the Record........................................    89
Preservation Maryland et al.:
    Letter for the Record........................................    91
Sawyer, Rhonda L.:
    Letter for the Record........................................    94
USDA Forest Service:
    Statement for the Record.....................................    95

                                  ----------
The text for each of the bills addressed in this hearing can be found 
on the Committee's website at: https://www.energy.senate.gov/hearings/
2022/5/national-parks-subcommittee-legislative-hearing

 
                          PENDING LEGISLATION

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022

                               U.S. Senate,
                    Subcommittee on National Parks,
                 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m. in 
Room SD-366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Angus S. 
King, Jr. presiding.

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

    Senator King. Good morning. Welcome to today's legislative 
hearing to consider 20 bills related to a variety of national 
park issues. In honor of today's hearing, I am wearing my tie 
which has on it small figures of Mount Desert Island, where 
Acadia National Park is, so, there it is, if you wonder what 
these figures are.
    Among these bills, we will hear about efforts to 
reauthorize the Japanese American Confinement Site program, 
which helps preserve and educate Americans about one of the 
darkest times in our nation's history. We will also hear about 
bills that will honor the women who worked on the home front 
during World War II. One bill would expand the Rosie the 
Riveter World War II Home Front National Historic Park in 
California and another would establish a memorial to those 
women here in Washington, DC. Other bills deal with boundary 
adjustments at existing park units. My bill, S. 4114, would 
allow a parcel of land in the Village of Town Hill to be used 
for affordable workforce housing.
    In 1986, the Acadia Boundary Act was passed. That was a 
piece of legislation that fixed Acadia National Park's 
boundaries as well as adding and subtracting various pieces of 
land. At that time, the piece of land in question in this bill 
was to be transferred to Bar Harbor for the purposes of a trash 
transfer station, but it turns out this wasn't the place for 
that station, and the legislation was so specific, it could not 
be transferred for any other purpose, so the parcel has 
languished for the past 36 years. This bill now replaces this 
use with an affordable workforce housing use and allows the 
Park Service to hang onto 15 acres for its own housing needs. 
As we have discussed here in the Subcommittee before, access to 
affordable workforce housing is a problem across the Park 
Service, and I hope we can move this bill and others forward to 
start to make a dent in this problem for Park Service employees 
across the country, but in this particular bill, for those 
working at Acadia National Park.
    Another bill we will consider is sponsored by my colleague 
from Maine, Senator Collins, and would encourage the use of 
native plant species within the Park Service. Using native 
plants will help to preserve biodiversity and increase the 
benefits that local flora provide to our wildlife, human 
health, and the environment, and will also help prevent the 
future spread of invasive species. I look forward to learning 
more about this legislation today.
    Finally, I would like to mention a bill introduced by 
Ranking Member--no, by Co-Chair Daines--the Gateway Community 
and Recreation Enhancement Act. I was honored to work with him 
on this bill, which will help provide support to our gateway 
communities that are so vital to the success of our national 
parks across the country. The bill will also help provide 
additional vital data to visitors that will help improve their 
experience, telling them when an attraction is especially busy, 
when might be a better time of the day to visit, or suggesting 
a nearby alternative attraction that is not as busy at that 
time.
    Last week, the full Energy and Natural Resources Committee 
included a number of provisions from this gateway communities 
bill in the larger Outdoor Recreation Act, and I want to thank 
Chairman Manchin and Ranking Member Barrasso for that 
inclusion.
    Now, for a procedural note on today's hearing, I will first 
recognize Co-Chair Daines for his opening statement. Following 
his remarks, I will recognize members of the Committee who wish 
to make a statement about their bills on the agenda, followed 
by any members not on the Committee seeking to make a 
statement. After that, I will introduce our witness before we 
get to questions. Also, without objection, all members may 
submit letters of support or opposition to any additional 
materials regarding measures on today's agenda.
    Now, Senator Daines, you are recognized for your opening 
statement.

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

    Senator Daines. Chairman King, thank you.
    In today's hearing we are going to examine 20 mostly 
parochial parks and lands bills from Hawaii to Maine and 
literally about everywhere in between. Today's agenda spans the 
country. We also have the bipartisan Senate bill 3551, the 
Gateway Community Recreation and Enhancement Act, which 
Chairman King and myself introduced earlier this year. This 
important bill gives the tools and the direction of the 
Department of the Interior and the Forest Service to work with 
gateway communities to address the housing shortages and 
increased visitation infrastructure demands. It will also give 
public land managers the tools that they need to manage 
visitation by coordinating with state, local, and federal 
recreation sites as well as private entities to encourage 
visitation to lesser-known recreation opportunities. Our 
national parks and our gateway communities are being loved to 
death. By ensuring that employees and locals have adequate 
housing and encouraging visitors to visit lesser-known sites, 
we can support our rural communities, protect our parks from 
becoming overburdened, and ensure places like Montana continue 
to be accessible to all and not just the rich and the famous.
    The Chairman and I worked hard to include this language in 
last week's legislative markup where we were successfully able 
to include it in the bipartisan Outdoor Recreation Act. I hope 
that we can all work together to get this signed into law soon 
so we can provide the much-needed relief to our public lands 
and gateway communities. I am also excited to hear more about 
Chairman King's housing bill. While Montana and Maine may be 
far apart on the map, we share many of the same challenges. 
This includes the needs for affordable housing for park 
employees, the teachers, the hospitality workers, guides and 
outfitters, emergency responders, and families that serve the 
communities and visitors in our national parks. The folks in 
Gardiner, Montana, outside of Yellowstone National Park, share 
many of the same concerns as those in Bar Harbor, Maine, 
outside of Acadia. This is why we worked so closely together on 
our gateway communities bill and why I hope we hear more about 
Senate bill 4114.
    With that, Mr. Chairman, I turn it back over to you, and 
look forward to the testimony from our witness.
    Senator King. Thank you, Senator Daines.
    Senator Hirono, do you have a statement?

          OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MAZIE K. HIRONO, 
                    U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII

    Senator Hirono. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I would like to briefly discuss the importance of H.R. 
1931, the Japanese American Confinement Education Act, of which 
I am a co-sponsor. Due to unsubstantiated fear of Japanese 
Americans in 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 
9066, which led to the unjust and unconstitutional internment 
of Japanese people in the United States. This horrific 
treatment of Japanese people during World War II simply because 
of their ancestry is a stain on our country's history. In 2006, 
Congress recognized our nation's need to tell the painful story 
by passing the Preservation of Japanese American Confinement 
Sites Act. This law established the Japanese American 
Confinement Sites Grant Program, to be administered by the 
National Park Service. Since then, the National Park Service 
has awarded these grants to non-profits, educational 
institutions, state, local, tribal governments, and other 
public entities working to preserve Japanese American 
incarceration sites and their history.
    Over $1.4 million of this funding has gone to entities in 
Hawaii, like the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii and the 
University of Hawaii. This funding has supported a range of 
projects, including working with teachers in Hawaii schools to 
develop curriculum on Japanese American incarceration and 
history as well as projects to conduct interviews with 15 
individuals who left their homes in Hawaii to join their 
fathers who were detained in the Jerome Relocation Center in 
Arkansas. In 2006, the bill authorized $38 million for the 
grant program with a sunset clause saying the program would end 
two years after all funds were disbursed. Those funds are 
expected to run out this year. That is why it is important that 
we pass H.R. 1931 to make sure that the program continues. May 
is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, making this an 
especially fitting time to consider this bill.
    H.R. 1931 increases the authorization of appropriations for 
the program from $38 million to $80 million to allow grants to 
continue beyond this year. It also carves out a portion of the 
program to provide education grants specifically to Japanese 
American organizations, with priority given to those with fewer 
than 100 employees. As you can imagine, many of the 
organizations in this field do not have hundreds of employees, 
so this is an important aspect of what we are doing, and this 
would allow groups like the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii 
to digitize the many physical records currently at the National 
Archives to provide greater access and connect families with 
these stories to learn more about their history. We have come a 
long way since 1942, and a lot of important work has been done 
with the grants since the 2006 bill was passed. However, the 
last two years, during COVID, have shown that we still have a 
long way to go when it comes to treating everyone in this 
country with dignity and respect. As the COVID-19 pandemic 
swept the world, we again saw the detrimental consequences of 
unfounded fear and misinformation as discrimination and racism 
incited a disturbing rise in violence and hate crimes against 
Asians and Pacific Islanders in communities across the country. 
That is why we must pass this bill to ensure that we continue 
educating the public about Japanese American incarceration and 
work to ensure this painful part of U.S. history is never 
repeated. And of course, the lesson is that minority groups, be 
they be Japanese Americans, Muslims, or any other minority 
group, should not be targeted for discrimination and 
discriminatory treatment in our country.
    So, Mr. Caldwell, I hope that you will talk a little bit 
about the historic demand you have seen for these grant funds, 
and if you expect interest in this program to continue well 
into the future.
    Thank you for the hearing. I have a conflict, so, Mr. 
Chairman, I know you understand. Thank you for giving me the 
time to put my statement into the record.
    Senator King. Thank you, Senator.
    I am well aware of the conflicts. I was just in another 
hearing and suggested to the technology people there that AI 
might be applied to Senate scheduling so that we do not have 
these continuous conflicts.
    Michael Caldwell is the Associate Director for Park 
Planning, Facilities, and Lands at the National Park Service. 
Mr. Caldwell, you have appeared before this Committee before. 
Welcome back. Thank you for being here today, and we look 
forward to your thoughts. Thank you.

 OPENING STATEMENT OF MICHAEL A. CALDWELL, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, 
 PARK PLANNING, FACILITIES, AND LANDS, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, 
                U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

    Mr. Caldwell. Thank you.
    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the 
Department of the Interior's views on the 20 bills on today's 
agenda. I would like to submit our full statements on each of 
the bills for the record and summarize the Department's views.
    The Department supports the following 15 bills:
    H.R. 268, which would provide for the boundary of the Palo 
Alto Battlefield National Historic Park to be adjusted and 
authorize the donation of land for addition to the park.
    H.R. 1931, which would amend the legislation authorizing 
the Japanese American Confinement Site Program to provide 
competitive grants for the promotion of Japanese American 
confinement education.
    S. 557, which would establish a pilot program for native 
plant species.
    S. 1344, which would redesignate the Pullman National 
Monument in the State of Illinois as the Pullman National 
Historical Park.
    S. 1718, which would amend the Rosie the Riveter World War 
II Home Front National Historical Park Establishment Act of 
2000 to provide for additional areas to be added to the park.
    S. 1814/H.R. 3531, which would authorize the Women Who 
Worked on the Home Front Foundation to establish a 
commemorative work.
    S. 2367, which would authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to acquire land in Frederick County, Maryland, for the 
Historic Preservation Training Center of the National Park 
Service.
    S. 3185, which would amend the Delaware Water Gap National 
Recreation Area Improvement Act to extend the exception to the 
closure of certain roads within the recreation area for local 
businesses.
    S. 3240, which would waive the application fee for special 
use permits for veterans' special events at war memorials.
    S. 3334, which would extend the authority for the 
establishment of a commemorative work to honor enslaved and 
free black persons who served in the American Revolution.
    S. 3338, which would revise the boundary of the Saint 
Genevieve National Historical Park in the State of Missouri.
    S. 3519, which would amend the National Trails System Act 
to designate the Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail 
and for other purposes.
    S. 3667, which would establish the United States African 
American Burial Grounds Preservation Program.
    S. 3685, which would direct the Secretary of the Interior 
to conduct a special resource study of the John P. Parker 
House.
    And S. 4114, which would amend Public Law 99-420 to provide 
for the conveyance of certain federal land in the State of 
Maine for use for affordable workforce housing and for other 
purposes.
    The reasons for our support of these bills are explained in 
our full statements. For several of the bills we are requesting 
amendments and we would be happy to work with the Committee on 
drafting them.
    The Department supports the intent of S. 3551, the Gateway 
Community and Recreation Enhancement Act. The Department is 
supportive of Congressional efforts to provide the various 
federal land management agencies under its jurisdiction with 
greater authority and flexibility to respond to changing needs 
and higher visitation. We appreciate the Committee's work to 
take action on these issues and would welcome the opportunity 
to continue working with the bill sponsors and the Committee in 
a collaborative manner to advance these goals.
    Regarding S. 2964, which would clarify the status of the 
North Country, Ice Age, and New England Scenic Trails as units 
of the National Park System, the Department does not object to 
the goal of the bill, which is to treat all six national scenic 
trails administered by the National Park Service as units of 
the National Park System. We would recommend amending the bill 
to statutorily designate all six national scenic trails as 
units.
    S. 3141 would establish the New Philadelphia National 
Historic Site in the State of Illinois as a unit of the 
National Park System. The Department would note that a special 
resource study is currently in progress for New Philadelphia. 
If the Committee decides to act on this legislation, we would 
appreciate the opportunity to work with you on amendments and a 
legislative map.
    The Department opposes S. 3307, which would modify the 
boundary of the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield in the 
State of Missouri to include approximately 624 acres that 
include the site of the Battles of Newtonia. An earlier special 
resource study found that the battlefields did not meet the 
criteria for significance or suitability.
    Finally, the Department has no position on S. 4121, which 
would designate the Kol Israel Foundation Holocaust Memorial in 
Bedford Heights, Ohio, as a national memorial. The memorial 
would be located at a site that is not under the jurisdiction 
of the Department of the Interior, and this bill does not 
provide for any management or funding by the National Park 
Service.
    Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be 
pleased to answer any questions you may have.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Caldwell follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Senator King. Thank you, Mr. Caldwell, and thank you again 
for being with us.
    Co-Chair Daines and I have talked a number of times about 
the importance of the people that work at our national parks--
the staff--and as you know, housing is an issue because often 
parks are situated in the middle of high-value real estate, and 
so housing is a problem. That is the bill that you so 
graciously offered your support to. S. 4114 conveys 40 acres 
from Acadia to the Town of Bar Harbor. And that in itself, the 
fact that the land will have no cost will be a major support 
for development of housing on that site.
    Let me ask a broader question, however. Is this something 
that the Park Service is concerned about generally, and can you 
give me some thoughts about how we approach this issue of 
affordable housing more generally? Of course, the bill that we 
have before us is a specific response, but talk to me about 
workforce housing more generally across the parks system.
    Mr. Caldwell. Sure. Thank you, Senator King.
    And certainly, we know of your interests in housing at 
Acadia and also the broader system. Director Sams has 
consistently communicated to the field, to all employees of the 
National Park Service, that employees are his number one 
priority and housing is very much an important part of that. 
Without some of the housing that we have in our units, those 
units just could not operate. So we are attacking this issue on 
a number of fronts across the National Park system, including a 
new FY23 budget request for both the construction on NPS lands 
and leasing in local communities of additional housing, 
exploring the potential for public-private partnerships to 
solve some of the housing needs that not only the National Park 
Service has, but also our gateway communities, like Senator 
Daines mentioned--the medicals and teachers--all the sorts of 
people that are in these gateway communities that we are proud 
to be part of, they share the same issues that we have in 
housing. So, certainly, our Director has charged us with using 
those authorities that we have or working with others to try to 
maybe gain some more flexibilities and authorities that are 
needed for public-public partnerships to help us with our 
housing needs.
    Internally, in the National Park Service, we are revising 
Director's Order #36, which is our guidance for housing. It has 
been close to two decades since it was revised. So, you know, 
the housing needs have changed in the past two decades, so we 
are undertaking that right now. And last week we held a housing 
summit, hosted by Director Sams, where we had concessioners, as 
well as the private sector, as well as folks who have been 
involved in Department of Defense housing, just looking at new 
ways to offer housing for National Park Service employees as 
well as working with our communities. So I would characterize 
this as a top priority in the agency across the entire system.
    Senator King. Is the Park Service having difficulty 
obtaining workers, as most other American entities are these 
days?
    Mr. Caldwell. Yes, part of the summit that we had last 
week, we hosted, included three superintendents: Yosemite, 
Rocky Mountain, as well as Big Cypress. And certainly, you 
could have had Yellowstone or Acadia as part of that panel as 
well, but they did indicate that it is hard to make offers to 
seasonal workers or even permanent workers without the ability 
and the flexibility to offer housing. So there were a number of 
instances where that was communicated.
    Senator King. Separate from the housing issue, are they 
having difficulty filling vacancies?
    Mr. Caldwell. I think they--in general, in terms of filling 
vacancies, it is harder from a seasonal workforce standpoint to 
fill those vacancies without those housing alternatives 
available in the community. So that is one of maybe several 
issues in terms of filling positions within park units.
    Senator King. In the Subcommittee, we often talk about 
bills that--as there is the John P. Parker House Study Act, and 
this is a bipartisan bill to have the Park Service study the 
applicability and appropriateness of developing a new park, 
particularly for underrepresented resources and stories. How do 
we approach this issue and how can the Subcommittee help?
    Mr. Caldwell. Thank you. Certainly, within where we are 
with special resource studies, we are currently studying a 
number of units, including Springfield Race Riots, for example, 
for possible inclusion in the National Park system. I think 
within our cultural resources program, there have been a number 
of efforts to look at these thematic themes and these networks 
of different aspects of our history, and I think continuing to 
encourage us to study the broader themes of American history is 
one way the Committee can certainly help support the system. In 
2017, the National Park Service came out with a system plan, 
which identified certain gaps, both in our natural history, as 
well as our cultural history and our shared heritage, and I 
think utilizing that National Park system plan as a guide to 
maybe where the system could go in the future, would--I think, 
the Committee supporting that idea would be very helpful.
    Senator King. Thank you.
    Senator Daines.
    Senator Daines. Mr. Caldwell, our bipartisan Gateway 
Community and Recreation Enhancement Act helps coordinate 
efforts between gateway communities, federal land managers, and 
public-private groups to address housing shortages and 
affordable housing for park employees and community members, 
and I think it is fair to say, since Senator King and I started 
working on this, the situation has even gotten worse than it 
was, perhaps, when we began this journey a while back. So I 
think the sense of urgency to move forward and take some action 
to address this problem is appropriate.
    What is the Park Service doing now to address housing 
shortages in gateway communities and how will our bill further 
strengthen these existing efforts?
    Mr. Caldwell. Thank you, Senator. I think, as we alluded to 
with the earlier question, we have forwarded an increase in our 
housing improvement fund to both construct additional housing 
as well as lease housing in gateway communities. So that is one 
piece of it. The National Park Service, over the past several 
years, has put in, from a number of funding sources, up to $95 
million to add capacity as well as repair housing. So, by the 
end of 2026, there will be approximately 95 different projects 
completed throughout the National Park System related to 
housing. And I think one thing about, certainly, the spirit of 
your legislation is the ability to offer flexibility on the 
ground to our park managers to work with communities to 
address--whether it is housing or visitation--overcrowding at 
different units. And I think the Park Service, you can see this 
in action in things like the Zion Regional Recreation 
Management Plan, where four counties in Utah are working with 
federal agencies to address the problems that we share. We 
share these wonderful resources, but with those resources come 
these shared challenges. So in the spirit of the Gateway Act, 
we certainly think that whether it is housing or visitation or 
spreading the visitation to other units, having those 
flexibilities for our park managers is really important.
    Senator Daines. You know, Senator King brought up the issue 
of open headcount slots and needing to fill slots in this 
current workforce shortage, a challenge we face in our country. 
I think that the housing, too, as we improve the housing for 
employees, that is an important retention strategy as well to 
build morale. Housing is such an important part of that, I 
think, of that total package.
    Our bipartisan bill also requires that the Park Service 
work with other federal land managers to address increased 
visitation, in part, by encouraging visitation to lesser-known 
public land recreation opportunities. In Montana, there are 
countless recreation opportunities, but we see that folks often 
only visit one or two of the more well-known sites. How will 
spreading visitation help reduce pressure at some of our high-
impact recreation sites?
    Mr. Caldwell. Senator, I think, speaking certainly as a 
former superintendent, one of the strongest partnerships you 
can have locally are with both your local travel bureaus as 
well as your statewide tourism bureaus, and I certainly have 
seen this at work in a number of states. I just referred to the 
one at Zion. And I think those happen across the system. I 
think we need to continue to emphasize these partnerships 
across the system where, whether it is a federal, state, or 
local unit, we are all in this together, and our goal is to 
both preserve these resources and provide for the enjoyment of 
the visitor.
    And so, I think those powerful partnerships, giving the 
park managers some flexibility to facilitate those 
partnerships, really are key to dealing with some of the issues 
that you cited.
    Senator Daines. Spreading visitation also, I think, will 
allow folks to visit and experience sites they may have never 
heard of, like the Lewis and Clark Caverns. That is a state 
park, west of my hometown of Bozeman, or the Bighorn Canyon 
National Recreation Area. How will our bipartisan bill help 
promote these lesser-known gems and bolster recreation on all 
of our public lands?
    Mr. Caldwell. I think, from whether it is marketing, 
promotion, or just providing that stellar visitor experience, 
to meet the visitors where they are and then make sure that we 
are also communicating the other assets and things that are 
enjoyable in that particular area, is really something that we 
should do as an agency, and I know we do. In many ways, while 
the park rangers are ambassadors at Acadia for Acadia National 
Park, they are certainly up there and should be able to speak 
to Katahdin Woods or to Baxter State Park or Campobello Island, 
for example. And I think that is the type of on-the-ground 
partnership that we need to continue to emphasize in the field.
    Senator Daines. Mr. Caldwell, thank you.
    Mr. Caldwell. Thank you.
    Senator King. Thank you, Mr. Caldwell.
    As a member of the Commission at Campobello, I appreciate 
that mention. We need to have some people turn right instead of 
left when they leave Mount Desert Island, and they can also 
experience some amazing places.
    S. 3551, which is a bill Senator Daines was talking about--
the recreational opportunities in gateway communities--you 
didn't explicitly support, but I understand you have some 
technical and other issues. I certainly hope that you will 
continue to work with the Committee so we can iron those out 
and move that bill with the other package.
    Mr. Caldwell. Yes, we would welcome that opportunity. Thank 
you, Senator.
    Senator King. Thank you.
    We have S. 2964, the National Scenic Trails Parity Act, 
which, for me, highlights an issue that I have noticed, 
particularly when I have gotten engaged with this Committee. It 
turns out we have 25 different titles for National Park units. 
We have national parks, trails, monuments, historic parks, 
battlefields, reserves, lake shores, on and on. I would suggest 
that it might be helpful to the public to do some work to try 
to create more consistent and less confusing labels, if you 
will, for these units. Is that something that we can discuss 
and perhaps pursue? I want the public to know what the 
difference is, and I am not sure we need 25 different labels.
    Mr. Caldwell. I think we would welcome a chance to work 
with you and the Committee staff on that issue.
    Senator King. And you mentioned--Senator Daines mentioned--
the state park, and I think informing the public is important. 
And we, in the bill that we talked about and passed last week, 
there is a provision for technology for alerting people to 
where parks are crowded, but the other is other regional assets 
that may not be national parks. For example, in Moab, you are 
near, I think, Reef, certainly near Arches and other national 
parks, but there is Dead Horse Point State Park, which is an 
astonishing place, and it would be nice if there was an app 
that would talk about public resources within the region. And I 
hope that is something the Department will look at.
    Mr. Caldwell. I think we certainly support the spirit of 
making sure that we are communicating and connecting visitors 
to those places where they go. This nation is blessed with some 
incredible state parks, and I think, certainly, our visitors 
appreciate when we make those connections.
    Senator Daines. Just a thought on that too, following on 
the app, Senator King. You know, when the public is out 
recreating, they are not necessarily too caught up on whether 
it is a state park or a national park, and it is public lands, 
and I know we tend to have to be in our silos in terms of the 
way that the governments are organized, but I think it is 
really something to expand thinking--national park apps 
recommending where is a great state park nearby. So I think it 
is an interesting idea.
    Senator King. Complete with reviews.
    Senator Daines. Complete with reviews.
    [Laughter.]
    Senator King. Mr. Caldwell, additional testimony for the 
Subcommittee this morning? Do you have other subjects that we 
should be attending to that are not in this package of 
legislation?
    Mr. Caldwell. Not that come to the top of my pile, sir, but 
we certainly do appreciate though, the interest in housing, in 
particular, certainly with Bar Harbor as well as places like 
Gardiner. Just to reiterate, I know Director Sams has continued 
to emphasize employees are his priority for the system and I 
think your support to provide adequate, quality housing is 
really important, not just to the employees, but certainly to 
the public that visits those parks. So we appreciate that.
    Senator King. Is it nice to have a director?
    Mr. Caldwell. It is nice to have a director. Thank you, 
sir.
    Senator King. Thank you.
    Any further questions?
    [No response.]
    Senator King. Without further questions, I appreciate the 
testimony, Mr. Caldwell.
    This hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 10:34 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

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