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Subject: NPS Morning Report: Ops Summary (1) - 5/9/99
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Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 16:25:02 -0400
QUARTERLY PARK OPERATIONS UPDATE
SECOND QUARTER, FY99: January 1 - March 31, 1999
May 9, 1999 99-02
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Associate Director, Park Operations and Education
2.0 Concessions
3.0 Interpretation and Education
4.0 Facilities Management
5.0 Harpers Ferry Center
6.0 Youth Programs
7.0 Risk Management
8.0 Public Health Service
9.0 Ranger Activities
10.0 Appalachian Trail
11.0 Intra-Divisional/Intra-Directorate Projects
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1.0 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, PARK OPERATIONS AND EDUCATION - Maureen Finnerty
This is the second edition of the new quarterly summary of activities in
Park Operations and Education, and it reflects a number of changes
suggested by readers following transmittal of the first update back in
August. Although we planned to put out issues in October (fourth
quarter, FY98) and February (first quarter, FY99), they had to be
scratched for a variety of reasons. We now hope to publish these
updates on a regular basis.
At your request, we've:
o made it shorter;
o focused more on significant projects under way in each of the
divisions in operations;
o used "bullets" for other information of incidental interest;
o continued the use of a decimal numbering system for quick
reference;
o included the names of primary contacts in each area, where
possible and/or appropriate; and
o made it less formal and easier to read.
As the first edition demonstrated, even a cursory summary of everything
going on hereabouts takes quite a bit of room and probably contains more
information than you need. You've said that you'd rather hear about the
big ticket items, particularly those that are or may soon affect you.
So we'll try to do that. As before, we're very interested in your
comments on the contents - AND your suggestions on what else we ought to
be talking about.
2.0 CONCESSIONS - Bob Yearout
2.1 Concession Regulations
Last fall, Congress passed the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of
1998, which was subsequently signed into law by the president. Title 5
of the law deals specifically with concessions. Among other things, the
provisions in that title reduce the number of concessioners that will
receive a preferential right of contract renewal, replace sound value
possessory interest with a leasehold surrender interest, provide for
franchise fees to be returned to the NPS, establish an NPS concessions
management advisory board, encourage the promotion of Native-American
handcrafts, and establish commercial use authorizations.
Regulations implementing elements of this law, primarily in concessions
contracting, have been drafted. They have cleared the Department of
Interior and been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for final clearance. The draft regulations should appear in the Federal
Register in May, and will probably be open for comment for 60 days. The
regulations will cover contracting procedures, rights of preference,
leasehold surrender and possessory interests, and contract provisions.
They should be in final by late summer, which means that it will be
possible to resume contracting in the fall.
Regulations and procedures are also being prepared for the new
commercial use authorizations, successors to the current incidental
business permits (IBPs). The draft regulations will be out in early
summer, and it's likely that the system will be in place by late summer.
2.2 Concessions Management Advisory Board
Another provision of Title 5 calls for the establishment of a new
concessions management advisory board. The board will be composed of
individuals representing seven different industries - hospitality,
tourism, accounting, outfitting and guides, state parks, traditional
arts and crafts, and non-profit conservation. The NPS has sent the
names of nominees for each slot to the Secretary of Interior for
consideration. The board will advise the Secretary on concessions
policies and procedures and provide an annual report to the House and
Senate resource committees. It will meet two or three times a year, and
can establish subcommittees to deal with particular issues. Unless
renewed, the advisory board will expire at the end of 2008.
2.3 Division Management Transition
Division chief Bob Yearout will be retiring this summer. An
announcement for his position was published on April 21st. It will be
out for 30 days and is an all-sources, multi-disciplinary announcement,
open as a GS-14/15 to anyone in the concession (1101), ranger (0025) or
program manager (0340) series. The selection will be made in June. In
order to open the position for recruitment and to provide for a
transition period, Bob has become a special assistant to the AD/Park
Operations and Education. He will stay on in that position through the
end of July in order to bring the new concessions chief up to speed on
projects and issues.
3.0 INTERPRETATION AND EDUCATION - Corky Mayo
3.1 Interpretation
Corky Mayo briefed Pacific West Region and Alaska Region interpreters,
Southeast Region superintendents, and National Capital Region
interpreters on the "Connecting People to Parks" five-year plan during
the second quarter of FY99. This plan resulted from the education
symposium held in Santa Fe and the "Connecting People to Parks" workshop
in Alexandria. The National Leadership Council (NLC) provided its
support to the five-year plan and agreed that pursuing these actions
requires continued funding. The NLC agreed to consider additional
support for funding through the fee demo program and the FY 2001 budget
cycle. Briefings for the Northeast Region Interpretive Advisory Group
and Southeast Region interpreters were scheduled for April.
Two action items in the five-year interpretation and education plan were
funded with 20% fee funds. Twenty-four additional "Parks as Classrooms"
projects in parks were funded with the $242,000 provided. Another
$200,000 was received for the construction of NPS "Mission Discovery"
stations that will tell the NPS story and be used in national venues.
On March 2nd, a small task group met to discuss the current Freeman
Tilden Award procedures and make recommendations for revision for the FY
2000 call. Recommendations centered on greater publicity and use of the
regional and national Freeman Tilden winners and an examination of the
selection criteria. The National Interpretive Advisory Council will
review the work of the group.
3.2 Education
Bob Huggins met with Interior representatives and representatives from
the office of the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science on the
development of a large exhibit for the American Association for the
Advancement of Science's "Celebrating Science on the Mall" event. An
exhibit plan was developed with the assistance of the NPS Air Quality
Division in Denver that featured air quality and the effects of air
pollution on national parks.
Bob Huggins continues his work with the Partners in Resource Education
(PRE) work group, which is planning the "Hands on the Land" project.
The project is an EPA-funded educational program designed to link
students and teachers to natural resource sites across the nation. PRE
also designed and developed a new, expansive exhibit featuring each of
the agencies. It was featured at the National Science Teacher_s
Association (NSTA) Conference in Boston in March, which was attended by
20,000 science teachers. Interpreters from WASO, Edison, Lowell and
Acadia represented the National Park Service at the exhibit.
The 1999 "Parks as Classrooms" funds have been distributed. Fifty
"grants" totaling $652,000 were distributed directly to parks.
All of the revisions to the Eisenhower Clearinghouse "Guidebook of
Federal Resources for K-12 Mathematics and Science" have been received.
The revised text was sent to the Eisenhower Clearinghouse on April 1st.
Over 130 parks are listed, many with multiple program listings. The NPS
has the largest number of entries for a single agency.
The NPS-NASA resources website went on line on February 22nd. The
website features information about NPS/NASA. Contact: Toni Dufficy,
Goddard Space Flight Center, Office of Public Affairs, Code 130,
Greenbelt, MD 20771. Phone: 301-286-0535; cc:mail: Dufficy, Toni;
Internet: Toni_Dufficy@nps.gov.
3.3 Cooperating Associations
The new cooperating association agreement, as required by DO-32, is in
draft form and under review by the Solicitor's Office. All cooperating
associations during this fiscal year will sign this new agreement.
Glenn Clark met with the APPL board in Anchorage for discussions on the
convention in 2000, concession cooperative efforts, future training for
agency and association personnel, and friends and association
organizations and relationships. He and Paula Degen have nearly
completed the editing of RM-32 in preparation for field, association,
and solicitor review in May. Notice of the availability of RM-32 will
be placed in the Federal Register.
3.4 Other Actions - Joy Pietschmann from Independence NHP has been selected
as the Servicewide Volunteers in Parks coordinator. She is stationed in
Main Interior and began work on April 26th.
4.0 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
4.1 Housing - Donna Compton
Interest in the Service's housing program remains high in the House
authorizing and appropriating committees with NPS oversight. Committee
members contend that we lack a national strategy for housing, and that
we have asked for considerable money for housing ($150 million has been
appropriated over the past ten years) but have not shown commensurate
improvements in housing stock. They have accordingly mandated that we
take certain steps - an assessment of housing needs Servicewide, an
assessment of the condition of housing Servicewide, and a report on
exactly what parks will need to meet their housing needs.
The FY98 conference report which accompanied the appropriations
legislation for that fiscal year contained directions to the agency.
That report:
o required the NPS to propose a two-year plan for reducing the
agency's housing inventory;
o asked the NPS to provide specifics on how managers will be held
accountable for achieving these inventory reduction commitments;
o stated that no request for funds for constructing additional
housing would be considered until these directives were fully
implemented.
The latter point was reiterated in the FY99 conference report along with
additional comments about the NPS housing program. Public Law 104-333
also mandated that the Service review and revise agency housing
criteria, that the revised criteria be employed to determine if housing
is needed and justified, that the Service take a close look at required
occupancy while revising the criteria, and that an assessment be
conducted of the physical condition of housing.
Last year, the contractor conducting the housing assessment completed
site visits to 152 areas, most with more than five housing units. A
group of SES superintendents was also tasked with looking at operational
standards and issues - required occupancy, response times, care of
historic structures, housing of volunteers and other unpaid staff,
etc. - and forwarding recommendations to the director. Parks have since
reviewed their respective final reports and submitted challenges to the
findings to their regional directors. The RD's then certified housing
needs to the director, with variances noted.
The assessment so far has revealed the following:
o 3,800 NPS housing units are justified;
o 550 additional units are needed at certain parks;
o 51 parks have excess units and are beginning to reduce their
inventories;
o 43 trailer units at 11 parks will not be replaced.
In March, Director Stanton and Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife
and Parks Don Barry testified before the House on the housing management
program. GAO also testified. Representatives focused on differences
between the contractor's findings and the NPS certification of needs.
Director Stanton emphasized that the contractor's report is only one of
three aspects of the housing study underway by the NPS. The remaining
two are the condition assessment and a housing feasibility plan.
Important policy issues still have to be resolved on issues such as
housing assignments to cooperators, volunteers and unpaid staff; housing
assignments to protect historic structures; clarification of response
time and deterrence issues; and consistency in required occupancy
assignments. Deputy Directory Deny Galvin is working with a group of
senior managers and housing staff to resolve these issues. Director
Stanton believes that there are parks where there is an undeniable need
for housing and where rehabilitation and trailer replacement programs
should go forward, and will therefore ask Congress to begin housing
rehabilitation and trailer replacement projects in these parks. The NPS
will be providing the committee with particulars on those projects.
Regions have been asked to review and reconfirm the 1998-99 projects and
submit the lists to WASO by June 1st. Director Stanton then plans on
meeting with the committee to see if it will be possible to proceed with
those projects.
4.2 Transportation - Mark Hartsoe, Lou DeLorme
The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which was
signed into law last June, will have a major impact on park highways.
The act increased funding for the park roads and parkways program to
$115 million in FY98 and bumped that figure to $165 million per year for
FY99 through FY03. Road money has jumped because of identified
problems. According to a Federal Highway Administration engineering
analysis, about 40% of park roads are currently rated in poor or failed
condition, and about 35% of NPS bridges have been rated as structurally
deficient. The money is to go toward three critical needs:
o Preventing further deterioration of roads - Most of the funding
will go toward fixing park roads. Road money in the past has been
used for ancillary and related projects, but will now have to be
utilized entirely on roads themselves. Rules on use of this money
will accordingly be tightened.
o Completing gaps in Congressionally-authorized parkways - Just a
few parkways remain incomplete. Facilities Management is working
with parks to develop plans for their completion. Natchez Trace
was finished with the assistance and concurrence of Sen. Lott.
Similar coordinated efforts will be made to finish other parkways
still needing work.
o Developing alternative transportation systems - DOI and DOT
recently signed an MOU to work cooperatively on alternative
transportation. This action was mandated by an executive order
issued by the president, which also requires that alternatives be
developed in conjunction with counties, states and other entities.
Among the other interesting provisions in the law is the allocation of
$270 million nationwide (not just the NPS) between FY98 and FY03 to
build and maintain recreational trails. This represents an increase of
about 400% over previous funding levels. Disbursement levels have been
mandated - 30% for motorized use, 30% for non-motorized use, and 40% for
diverse trail uses. The federal share for trail projects has been
raised to 80%, meaning local entities must come up with only 20%.
4.3 Fee Demonstration Projects - Jack Roberts
The division has been heavily involved in the review and approval of
projects funded by money collected from fee demonstration projects.
This complex process can require approval by the Department of Interior,
the NPS Development Advisory Board (DAB), and/or Congressional
subcommittees. The overall status of the projects, as of February, was
as follows:
o Golden Eagle projects - DOI had approved 37 projects for a total
of $406,400. The NPS was reviewing one project valued at
$175,000.
o Fee demo 20% projects - DOI had approved 238 projects worth a
total of $26,214,000. The DAB was reviewing three projects
totaling $3,824,000.
o Fee demo 80% projects - The Department has approved 782 projects
valued at $84,178,450. Another 124 worth over $60,000,000 are in
some stage of review by DAB, DOI, the Senate or the House.
The overall total comes to almost 1,200 projects valued at over
$180,000,000.