[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 162 (Tuesday, November 16, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14599-S14601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL PARK PRESERVATION

  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, on October 31 of this year, I saw yet 
another example of the challenges we are facing in our National Park 
System.
  Two weekends ago, I visited Bandelier National Monument in New 
Mexico, located about 1 hour west of Santa Fe.
  Bandelier National Monument was claimed a national monument under the 
jurisdiction of the Forest Service in 1916. In 1932, it was transferred 
to the National Park Service.
  Bandelier contains 32,737 acres, of which 23,267 acres are designated 
as wilderness. It is a park that is intended to preserve the cliff 
houses of the Pueblo Indian.
  I draw your attention to this photograph taken near the entrance to 
Bandelier National Monument. One of the cliff homes can be seen at the 
base of this large cliff which forms the most dramatic signature of 
Bandelier National Monument. This photograph gives some idea of the 
magnitude of the cultural resources which are located in this park.
  In addition to the preservation of the cultural resource of the 
monument, the outstanding superintendent at Bandelier, Mr. Roy Weaver, 
also contends with preservation of historical resources such as 1930s 
CCC buildings which were constructed in order to properly present the 
park to its many visitors but which have fallen into a sad state of 
disrepair.
  Using funds from the recreation fee demonstration program, Bandelier 
National Monument has refurbished several of these existing structures 
to a functional condition. This park, as many of our Nation's parks, is 
faced with a degradation of its core resources. One of the significant 
challenges is the unnatural pace of erosion within the monument's 
wilderness area.
  This problem is in part due to intense grazing which occurred prior 
to the designation of the lands as a national monument in 1916. This 
activity ended over 60 years ago but is still impacting the resources 
and the health of the park. The heavy grazing prior to 1916 reduced the 
underbrush, allowing the pinon tree to take over the landscape. This 
tree is now firmly established and has prevented the growth of other 
natural species in the canyon of Bandelier. Without the diverse plant 
species in the forest to retain the soil, erosion occurs at a much more 
rapid pace. This erosion is one of the principal reasons why the 
archeological sites for which the monument was established are now 
severely threatened. We are in grave danger of losing artifacts, 
structures, and information about a people who spent hundreds of years 
building a society in the Southwest.

  In addition to cultural resource damage to the unnatural state of the 
environment at Bandelier, human behavior has also had negative impacts. 
One of the first areas visitors to Bandelier approach, and just off the 
main trail, is a series of cave dwellings. Ascending the ladder into 
the cave is stepping back hundreds of years into a different culture. 
One arrives at the cave only to find the stark realities of 
contemporary America by a desecration of these caves with graffiti. 
This photograph showing an example of that desecration speaks a 
thousand words about the level of respect which we as a society have 
paid to our national treasures over the years.
  There is some hope. In 1998, the Congress and the administration 
established a program at the suggestion of the National Park Service. 
It is called Vanishing Treasures. This program was the brain child of 
the national park superintendents from Chaco Culture National Historic 
Site, Aztec Ruins National Monument, and the Salinas Pueblo Missions 
National Monument.
  The Vanishing Treasure Program seeks to restore the ruins to a 
condition where maintenance scheduled at regular intervals rather than 
large-scale restoration projects will be sufficient to keep the ruins 
in good condition. The program also has another very significant 
objective: Training the next generation of preservation specialists who 
can perform this highly specific, complex craftsmanship of maintaining 
national treasures such as these caves at Bandelier National Monument.
  The original outline of the Vanishing Treasures Program called for 
$3.5 million in the first year, increasing by $1 million per year until 
it reached $6 million in the year 2001, after which it would decrease 
slightly until the year 2008. We hoped during that time period to have 
been able to have dealt with the residue of issues such as the 
desecration of the caves at Bandelier.
  Unfortunately, beginning in fiscal year 1998, the funding was not at 
the recommended $3.5 million level but, rather, was at $1 million. In 
fiscal year 1999, it was increased to $1.3 million. The current 
Interior appropriations bill, which has been passed by both the House 
and the Senate, contains $994,000 for the Vanishing Treasures Program.
  At this level of funding distributed throughout the entire Southwest, 
some 41 national park sites benefit from this program. At that level of 
funding, we cannot possibly come close to meeting the needs for the 
protection of our cultural treasures in the Southwest. We are 
effectively making the decision that we are prepared to see these 
cultural and historic treasures lost before we make funds available for 
their preservation.
  We are at a crossroads in our Nation's historical efforts to protect 
and preserve those national treasures which are the responsibility of 
the National Park Service. The history of our Nation is marked by 
activism on public land issues. The first full century of the United 
States' existence--the 19th century--was marked by the Louisiana 
Purchase which added almost 530 million acres to the United States, 
changing America from an eastern coastal nation to a continental 
empire.
  One hundred years later, President Theodore Roosevelt set the tone 
for public land issues in the second full history in our Nation's 
history. He did it both in words and action. President Theodore 
Roosevelt stated:

       Conservation means development as much as it does 
     protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation 
     to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I 
     do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by 
     wasteful use, the generations that will come after us.

  Roosevelt took action to meet these goals. During his administration, 
the United States protected almost 230 million acres of lands for 
future public use. The question for us as we commence the third full 
century, the 21th century of the United States, is, can we live up to 
this example? Can we be worthy of the standards of Thomas Jefferson at 
the beginning of the 19th century and Theodore Roosevelt at the 
beginning of this century?
  I have discussed today the issues I witnessed at Bandelier National 
Monument and the small efforts being made to rectify this situation. 
Estimates of the maintenance backlog throughout the National Park 
Service system range from $1.2 billion to over $3.5 billion, depending 
on the calculation method.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed at the 
conclusion

[[Page S14600]]

of my remarks an article which appeared in the Wall Street Journal of 
November 12 of this year entitled ``Montana's Glacier Park Copes With 
Big Freeze On Funds To Maintain Its Historic Structures.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thomas). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  (See Exhibit 1.)
  Mr. GRAHAM. The National Park Service this year requested $194 
million for its operation and maintenance. In this year's 
appropriations process, the House and Senate had the good judgment to 
actually increase the National Park Service request to $224.5 million. 
This is a good step forward, and I commend the Appropriations Committee 
for having taken it.
  However, if we are to prevent the existing backlog from growing, we 
must support periodic maintenance on the existing facilities in the 
Park System. I see we have now as our Presiding Officer a person who 
has probably studied more, thought more, and done more to deal with 
this problem than any Member of the Congress, the distinguished Senator 
from Wyoming.
  I wish to take this opportunity to commend the Presiding Officer for 
his efforts in the program of the demonstration recreational fee in the 
Park System. I showed a moment ago a photo of a portion of some 
buildings at Bandelier National Park in New Mexico which were in 
serious disrepair. Largely because of the ability to direct some of 
those national park demonstration funds to their rehabilitation, they 
are now being saved and will serve for many years to come. It is a very 
constructive role in this national monument as well as protecting other 
valuable historic structures within the national monument.
  I wish to thank the distinguished Senator from Wyoming for the 
leadership he has given in that regard.
  I am sad to report that the Interior conference report, which will 
probably soon be before us, has recommended a reduction in the cyclical 
maintenance of the National Park System and repair and rehabilitation 
accounts. While these reductions are relatively small--$3 million in 
the case of cyclic maintenance and $2.5 million in repair and 
rehabilitation--failure to meet these basic annual maintenance 
requirements will only add to our backlog of unmet needs. We cannot 
make the progress we must make in protecting our national treasures 
with these Band-Aid solutions.
  I suggest, building on the leadership you provided through the 
Demonstration National Park Fee Program, and the changes that were made 
in the relationship of the parks to their concessionaires, that we can 
go further in assuring the long-term well-being of our National Park 
System.
  In my judgment, what the National Park Service needs is a sustained, 
reliable, adequate funding source that will allow the Park Service to 
develop intelligent plans based on a prioritization of need, with 
confidence the funds will be available as needed to complete the plans. 
This approach will allow common sense to prevail when projects are 
prioritized for funding.
  In some cases, such as one with which I am personally very familiar, 
committed, and engaged--the Florida Everglades and the Everglades 
National Park--natural resource projects can be compared to open heart 
surgery. You simply cannot begin the operation, open the patient, and 
then fail to complete the operation if the money runs out before the 
surgery is finished. To do so is to assure the patient will die in the 
surgery suite.
  In cases such as Bandelier National Monument and the Ellis Island 
National Monument, another great national treasure, which I visited on 
September 27 of this year, we are in a race to complete a known cure 
before the patient is lost. Bandelier's superintendent, Roy Weaver, is 
taking every effort he can to preserve the resources in his park. He is 
focusing the park entrance fees on repairing and maintaining historical 
structures. He is using funds available through the Vanishing Treasures 
Program to restore the multitude of cultural resources in the monument.

  Mr. Weaver is a superintendent whose knowledge of the history of the 
people who resided in this area of the country hundreds of years ago 
and whose desire to preserve their culture are evident even in a brief 
visit. Mr. Weaver's enthusiasm and dedication embody the conservation 
ethic of President Theodore Roosevelt and the National Park Service. It 
is our responsibility to give Mr. Weaver and his colleagues across 
America the tools they need to put their enthusiasm to work. It is time 
to take the next step.
  Earlier this year, with Senators Reid and Mack, I introduced S. 819, 
the National Park Preservation Act. This act would provide dedicated 
funding to the National Park Service to restore and conserve the 
natural resources within our Park System. This legislation seeks to 
address the long-term efforts required to truly restore and protect our 
natural, cultural, and historic resources in the National Park System. 
This legislation would allocate funds derived from the use of a 
nonrenewable national resource--offshore drilling in the Outer 
Continental Shelf for oil and gas--to a renewable resource, restoration 
and preservation of natural, cultural, and historic resources in our 
National Park System.
  At the beginning of this century, in a time of relative tranquility, 
President Theodore Roosevelt managed to instill the Nation with a 
tradition of conservation. He did so with this simple challenge: Can we 
leave this world a better place for future generations?
  We are at the end of this century and at the end of the first half of 
the 106th Congress. As we embark on the third century of our Nation's 
adventure and the second half of the 106th Congress, let us keep the 
vision of Theodore Roosevelt in mind. Let us take action to protect our 
National Park System.
  In the words of President Theodore Roosevelt:

       The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental 
     problem. Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us 
     little to solve all others.

                               Exhibit 1

             [From the Wall Street Journal, Nov. 12, 1999]

 Montana's Glacier Park Copes With Big Freeze On Funds To Maintain Its 
                          Historic Structures

                          (By John J. Fialka)

       Glacier National Park, Mont.--Few places on earth are as 
     legally protected as this park. The United Nations deems it a 
     ``World Heritage site.'' Under U.S. law, 350 buildings in the 
     park are registered historic structures. Four hotels and the 
     road spanning this spectacular, million-acre chunk of America 
     are ``national historic landmarks.''
       So why are many of these buildings and the road literally 
     falling apart?
       Over the past 30 years, as lawmakers and park officials 
     have heaped praise and protected status on Glacier, they have 
     consistently failed to provide the money to maintain it. The 
     current bargaining between Congress and the White House on 
     the shape of the next budget doesn't seem likely to change 
     that. The upshot: Much of the man-made part of this 
     mountainous park has evolved into a kind of dangerous 
     national antique.
       Among the park's most endangered attractions:
       Many Glacier Hotel. It may look the same as it did when it 
     was built in 1915, but underneath its newly painted wooden 
     facade, tired old timbers are beginning to shift. That makes 
     hallways bend this way and that, windows that won't open and 
     doors that won't close. The steam heating system, 
     unaccustomed to such action, springs six leaks a night.
       Going-To-The-Sun Road. An engineering marvel, built to 
     cross the park and climb the Continental Divide in 1932, is 
     now marvelous to engineers because it hasn't yet succumbed to 
     the force of gravity. But two-inch cracks are appearing in 
     its pavement. Many of its retaining walls lean recklessly out 
     into space. Melting snow is washing away the road's 
     foundation, creating odd voids that need filing.
       The ``Jammers.'' The park's much-loved fleet of buses, 
     built in the late 1930s to ply the road, were condemned in 
     August. Their engines, brakes and transmissions had been 
     replaced, but metal fatigue and cracks in their frames raise 
     new safety and liability problems.
       ``This is the oldest fleet of vehicles in the world,'' says 
     Larry Hegge, the chief mechanic for the buses, who discovered 
     the cracks. Now the 34 red buses with shiny, chrome-toothed 
     radiators and pull-off canvas tops sit nose-to-tail in a 
     damp, dimly lit shed. Mr. Hegge worries that the termites 
     there are eating upper parts of the jammers' frames, which 
     are made of oak.


                          no solution in sight

       At the moment, no one knows how to fix these problems. 
     Glacier Park Inc., the park's main concessionaire, owns the 
     buses and the hotels. It's questioning a variety of experts 
     to see what might be done and at what cost. The departing 
     park superintendent, David A. Mihalic, recently apointed a 
     17-member committee to advise him about the road.
       The numbers they're looking at aren't encouraging. It could 
     cost at least $100 million

[[Page S14601]]

     to restore four major wooden hotels. Estimates for rebuilding 
     the road start at $70 million and climb steeply. The park's 
     annual budget is $8 million. ``Glacier has never had the 
     money to keep up with maintenance and repair,'' shrugs John 
     Kilpatrick, the park's chief engineer.
       For Superintendent Mihalic, who has just been transferred 
     to Yosemite, running Glacier has been an eerie flashback to 
     1972, when he took his first job there as a park ranger. He 
     came back as superintendent in 1994 to find ``nothing had 
     changed. We had the same old sewer systems, the same roads, 
     the same hotels, the same visitor accommodations.''


                            using a `facade'

       Mr. Mihalic had to resort to what some park experts call 
     ``management by facade.'' Visible things get fixed. Less 
     visible things get deferred. ``If we're having trouble 
     getting the money to just fund the big-ticket items, like 
     roads and sewage and water systems, a lot of public services, 
     such as trail maintenance and back-country bridges, never 
     make it to the top of the list,'' he says.
       To be sure, Mr. Mihalic isn't the only park superintendent 
     to wrestle with this. The Interior Department's U.S. Park 
     Service places the bill for deferred maintenance and 
     construction needed to fix time-worn facilities in its 378 
     parks at around $5 billion. ``Culturally, we try to hide the 
     pain in the Park Service,'' explains Denis Galvin, the 
     service's deputy director.
       The day is coming when hiding the pain here may no longer 
     be possible. Last year the Park Service proposed that the 
     cheapest and quickest way to deal with the crumbling, much-
     patched Going-To-The-Sun road would be to close it for four 
     years and rebuild it. That produced a furor among people in 
     the business community surrounding the park.
       They're now part of the advisory committee struggling to 
     come up with ways to keep it open and fix it at the same 
     time.


                         rules for restoration

       As for the Many Glacier Hotel, the latest estimates are 
     that it would cost $30 million to $60 million to bring it 
     back to the glory days when guests arrived by railroad and 
     received world-class accommodations. ``We could never recover 
     that. You would be talking about renting rooms for $400 to 
     $500 a night,'' says Dennis Baker, director of engineering 
     for the concessionaire Glacier Park, a subsidiary of Phoenix-
     based Viad Corp. Park rules currently limit hotel room rates 
     to $120. The park's season lasts only about 100 days.
       As for Mr. Hegge, keeper of the park's bus fleet, he's 
     looking for experts to tell him how to refit his buses with 
     new chassis or to build replicas. Because they are federally 
     registered historic landmarks, the road and the hotels also 
     must be restored to the way they were with the same 
     materials, adding many millions more to the cost.
       Just where the millions will come from to fix Glacier and 
     many other maintenance-starved parks is, of course, the 
     biggest question. Democratic Sen. Bob Graham of Florida has 
     introduced legislation to earmark $500 million a year from 
     federal offshore oil royalties for buying park land and 
     fixing parks.
       Over time, he's sure it would save money, ``That would 
     allow them to plan more than a year ahead. They could let 
     contracts for multiple buildings at a time,'' explains the 
     senator, who says support for the measure has been slow but 
     is growing.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative assistant proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________