[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 31, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S1407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RETIREMENT OF JOE ALSTON

 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, today I wish to honor the service 
of the Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent, Joe Alston, who is 
retiring this week. Joe is a man of considerable integrity, ability, 
and achievement, and his presence at the Grand Canyon will be deeply 
missed.
  After 31 dedicated years, Joe Alston is retiring from the National 
Park Service. He has spent the last 6 years serving as the 
superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park, the crown jewel of 
Arizona and one of the Nation's oldest and most heavily visited 
National Parks. Joe has held a wide variety of positions in the Park 
Service beginning with his first job as a seasonal firefighter on the 
North Rim of the Grand Canyon. In the years that followed, Joe worked 
as a concessions specialist at Yellowstone National Park and later 
became the chief of the Concessions Management Division in the Alaska 
Regional Office. More recently, Joe Alston was the assistant 
superintendent of Yellowstone National Park and eventually served as 
superintendent at several major National Park units such as the Glacier 
Bay National Park and Preserve, the Curecanti National Recreation Area, 
the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and the Rainbow Bridge 
National Monument.
  We are very fortunate to have benefited from the passion and 
expertise that Superintendent Alston brought to the Grand Canyon. Joe 
was challenged with many complex issues and longstanding conflicts 
ranging from park transportation to aircraft overflights, yet he has 
managed them all with foresight, thoughtfulness, and resolve. Under 
Joe's leadership, the Park Service saw the completion of the Colorado 
River Management Plan, which protects park resources by implementing a 
new river permitting system that balances competing commercial and 
recreational interests. Despite its highly contentious nature, it was 
Superintendent Alston's desire to hear and understand the views of 
river runners and other constituents by affording the public every 
opportunity to provide input during the CRMP planning process. Few 
superintendents in National Park Service history have undertaken such 
an open nationwide approach that concluded with such remarkable 
success.
  The Grand Canyon has received many honors during Superintendent 
Alston's tenure. In 2004, Grand Canyon National Park was recognized for 
a number of environmental accomplishments by EPA Administrator Mike 
Leavitt, including having the first EPA certified Leadership in Energy 
and Environmental Design ``green building'' owned and operated in a 
National Park. Joe was the driving force behind the implementation of 
new training programs that led to the reduction of visitor and employee 
injuries which earned the Park the Regional Director's Safety 
Excellence Award and the Director's Safety Excellence Award for Public 
Safety Achievement in 2005. Among the many accolades Joe has received 
over the years, perhaps the most noteworthy came in 2005 when Secretary 
Gale Norton awarded him the Meritorious Service Award, the second 
highest honorary recognition granted to Interior Department employees.
  Joe Alston's ties to the Grand Canyon extend beyond his outstanding 
professional career. Indeed, the Grand Canyon also happens to be where 
he met his wife, Judy, who is a teacher with the Grand Canyon Public 
Schools System. Joe is regarded by those living in northern Arizona as 
an individual deeply connected to the community. Just last month, he 
accepted the Community Person of the Year award from the Grand Canyon 
Rotary Club for ushering in a new era of partnership between the 
communities of Tusayan, AZ, and Grand Canyon National Park.
  My son and I had the distinct pleasure of hiking the Grand Canyon rim 
to rim last year with the accompaniment of Joe Alston. I can think of 
few others alive today who are as knowledgeable and devoted to the 
history and culture of the Grand Canyon than Superintendent Alston. I 
wish Joe the very best in his future goals and ambitions.

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