[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 178 (Friday, November 16, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S14614]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       RECOGNIZING KITTY ROBERTS

 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I would like to recognize Kitty 
L. Roberts, the superintendent of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, 
who will retire on December 3, 2007, after 28 years with the National 
Park Service. Currently the superintendent of Glen Canyon National 
Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument, for many years 
Kitty headed the National Park Service's Office of Legislative and 
Congressional Affairs, where she worked very closely with the Energy 
and Natural Resources Committee.
  A native of Milton, WV, Kitty graduated from the University of 
Maryland and attended graduate school at Indiana University. She then 
worked for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 
where she remained for 9 years.
  Kitty began her career with the National Park Service in 1979 as a 
management assistant in the National Capital Region. She went on to 
become the assistant superintendent at the George Washington Memorial 
Parkway between 1980 and 1984. From 1984 to 1990, Kitty was the Deputy 
Associate Regional Director, White House Liaison, in the National 
Capital Region. During this time, Kitty was the NPS Inaugural 
coordinator and oversaw the development of East Executive Park that now 
serves as a visitor entrance to the White House. In 1990, Kitty 
returned to the George Washington Memorial Parkway, where she served as 
superintendent. In 1993, former National Park Service Director Roger 
Kennedy asked Kitty to become the assistant director for Legislative 
and Congressional Affairs. Kitty served in that position for 8 years, 
and during that time was extremely helpful to the committee in its 
consideration of national park-related legislation.
  During Kitty's tenure as assistant director, over 230 laws were 
passed affecting our national parks. Among the notable laws passed 
during that period were the California Desert Protection Act and the 
Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996, with its 
creation of 5 new park units, 10 new national heritage areas, 12 park 
boundary adjustments, and numerous other changes that benefited several 
units of the National Park System. Kitty also worked on the 
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, which doubled the 
amount of funding for national park roads, and the National Parks 
Omnibus Management Act of 1998, which reformed the National Park 
Service's concessions program, created a park research mandate, and 
supported employee career development and training.
  In February 2001, Kitty left Washington to become the superintendent 
of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National 
Monument. During her time at the park, Kitty has worked on a policy for 
personal watercraft and off-highway vehicle use. She has found ways to 
maintain access to Lake Powell even as ongoing drought conditions have 
led to a 145-foot drop in the lake's water level. Perhaps one of her 
most important contributions has been a program of public education to 
prevent needless deaths due to individuals swimming behind boats where 
exhaust fumes were vented. In early June of this year, Kitty presided 
with the President of the Navajo Nation at the grand opening of the new 
floating marina village at Antelope Point, with its architectural 
elements from the surrounding red rock landscape and its unique cooling 
system using lake water from 75 feet below the surface.
  Kitty has had a distinguished career with the National Park Service 
and will be greatly missed by those she has worked with over the years, 
both in the Park Service and in Congress. I want to congratulate Kitty 
on her retirement and thank her for the many contributions she has made 
toward making our national parks the pride of our Nation, and I wish 
her the best in the years ahead.

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