[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18124]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO FRANK WALKER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Resources 
Subcommittee of National Parks, I have had the privilege to visit many 
of our Nation's National Parks. From my own personal experiences, I 
have come to love the beauty of these parks and am grateful for the 
recreational opportunities they have to offer. Over 100 years ago, our 
predecessors displayed historic vision and took a bold step forward in 
a quest for protecting our Nation's natural wonders.
  On March 1, 1872, Congress established the Yellowstone National Park, 
our Nation's first and still one of our most beautiful and pristine 
national parks. President Theodore Roosevelt strengthened our Nation's 
conservation system through the Antiquities Act of 1906, creating 18 
national monuments by the end of his presidency, including the 
beautiful cliffs of Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado, 
Arizona's Petrified Forest, and our own natural wonder, the Grand 
Canyon. These monuments laid the groundwork for our current park 
system, a vision completed in 1916 as President Woodrow Wilson 
established the National Park Service.
  There are thousands of individuals in the National Park Service as 
well as volunteers like Friends of our Parks, who dedicate their talent 
and lives to our National Parks. Without all of their hard work and 
dedication, our National Parks could not retain their immaculate 
beauty, nor could they continue to provide critical habitat for our 
nation's world-renowned wildlife. It is because of the work of these 
individuals that I, as well as my children and my grandchildren, will 
be able to enjoy the Park System. Today, there are 390 National Parks 
throughout America, with at least one in nearly every state and U.S. 
territory. These parks attract over 280 million visitors every year, 
for their beauty and their recreational opportunities. These figures 
far exceed any expectations that Presidents Roosevelt and Wilson may 
have had. Our National Park System is truly a triumph of American 
vision and commitment to responsible stewardship of our unparalleled 
natural heritage.
  I rise today to not only emphasize the importance of our National 
Parks, but also to honor those who work to protect these invaluable 
resources. I would like to especially commend Frank Walker, who I 
recently met while on my family vacation to Yellowstone National Park 
in early August. Frank has dedicated over 39 years of his life to 
protecting our Nation's historical National Parks.
  An avid outdoorsman and wildlife lover, Frank studied biology at the 
New Mexico State University. He then embarked on his career and years 
of service as a seasonal ranger at Yellowstone National Park in 1967, 
and he received his first permanent position in 1970, serving as a park 
technician at the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. His 
success and dedication continually earned him challenging and rewarding 
positions all over the country. Frank has worked at the Jefferson 
National Expansion Memorial in Missouri, the Gulf Islands National 
Seashore in Mississippi, the Fort Clatsop National Memorial in Oregon, 
the Nez Perce National Historical Park in Idaho, and the Saguaro 
National Park in Arizona. After working for over two decades outside 
the prestigious Yellowstone National Park, Frank returned to 
Yellowstone in June 2001 as the Acting Superintendent, and he was 
promoted to his current position of Deputy Superintendent in February 
of 2002.
  Frank has rightfully received numerous awards for his hard work and 
dedication to protecting our Nation's resources. These awards include 
the Interior Meritorious Service Award, the General Council Award from 
the Nez Perce Tribe, the Vail Partnership Award, the Western Region-
Superintendent's Award for Cultural Resources Stewardship, and in 1985 
the Southwest Region's Freeman Tilden Award.
  Just as these awards have done, I want to honor Frank here today. I 
wish to congratulate him on his retirement and thank him for his life's 
dedication to our Nation's parks. It is because of his work, and the 
work of his colleagues, that America's resources will be enjoyed by 
future generations. I wish Frank and his wife, Judy, his two sons, Mark 
and Phillip, and his daughter, Kathy, all the luck and well-being in 
the future, and it is my hope that his work will inspire others to 
continue to protect our National Parks and other natural resources.

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