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Subject: NPS Ops Report (1) - Second Quarter, FY00
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Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 18:12:12 -0400
QUARTERLY PARK OPERATIONS UPDATE
SECOND QUARTER, FY00 - JANUARY 1 - MARCH 30, 2000
May 13, 2000 00-02
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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 Services
9.0 Ranger Activities
1.0 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, PARK OPERATIONS AND EDUCATION - Maureen
Finnerty
The second joint meeting between the ARD's for operations and
administration was held during the first week of may and again
went exceptionally well. The two groups are really coming
together and beginning to focus on issues of common concern
that need to be fixed.
Two of the more immediate examples are the process of 6 (c)
claims and revisions to/clarifications of the associated
medical standards. Both of these will be addressed in coming
months. We've also had some excellent dialogue about the need
to get our heads together on the fee program, particularly the
issue of accountability and how we will deal with new
authorities (the park pass, technical corrections bill, etc. -
see 9.1 for other issues).
There's also a strong consensus that we need to keep pushing
on the information management front and a critical need to get
an incident management system in place (see 7.5). A meeting
with key parties has already been held and additional actions
will be taken as quickly as possible.
2.0 CONCESSIONS - Cindy Orlando
2.1 Concessions Regulations and Contracts
The final concessions regulations were published in the
Federal Register on April 17th and are posted on the
concessions bulletin board. Standard contract language and
related documents are now be prepared. The NPS has 280 expired
contracts that need to be rewritten. A meeting was held in
early April to address the status of seven large contracts
scheduled for award late this year. Representatives from the
affected parks met with WASO staff and representatives from
the solicitor's office to develop a strategy for preparation
and solicitation. Another 105 contracts are also targeted for
renewal.
2.2 Concessions Management Advisory Board
The board met in San Francisco in mid-April and heard
presentations on an array of topics, including the rate
approval program, DOD's "best practices" concept, and the
recent GAO report (see 2.3). The board worked on an outline of
its recommendations on the rate approval program as part of
the annual report due to Congress by the end of this fiscal
year.
2.3 GAO Report
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) has issued an audit on
the concessions program entitled "Need to Address Management
Problems That Plague the Concessions Program
(GAO/RCED-00-70)." Excerpts from the executive summary
follow:
"After considering numerous site-specific factors that could
potentially affect the condition of lodging facilities - such
as whether the facilities were used year-round or just
seasonally, whether the facilities were owned by the
government or by the concessioner, whether the facilities were
designated as historic structures, and others - GAO found that
the most significant factors are those involving the agency's
overall approach to managing the program. Specifically, the
management problems center on three areas: (1) inadequate
qualifications and training of the agency's concessions
specialist and concessions contracting staff, (2) the agency's
out-of-date practices in handling its contracting workload and
chronic backlog of expired contracts, and (3) a lack of
accountability within the concessions program_Because of these
problems, the Park Service frequently has difficulty managing
the performance of its concessioners to ensure a consistent
level of quality in the services and facilities they provide.
"The Park Service has two principal options for dealing with
the problems identified in its management of the concessions
program: (1) using better hiring and training practices to
professionalize its workforce and thus obtain better business
and contracting expertise or (2) contracting out to acquire
the needed business and contracting expertise. These two
options are not mutually exclusive in that the agency could
contract for expertise in certain functions while developing
expertise in-house for other functions_Regardless of what
options - or combination of options - it selects, the agency
needs to strengthen its accountability for and control of the
program. Unless this is done, the effectiveness of other
changes to the program will likely be diminished."
A final response to the report will be submitted by the NPS
and DOI later this month. A hearing on the report has been
scheduled for June 15th before Senator Thomas' Subcommittee on
National Parks, Historic Preservation and Recreation.
3.0 INTERPRETATION AND EDUCATION - Corky Mayo
3.1 Interpretation
The report requested by Congress on interpretation at Civil
War Sites has been completed. Following the advice of
Congress. this report includes a status of the educational
information currently conveyed at Civil War sites related to
the causes of the American Civil War, including the role that
the institution of slavery played in initiating that conflict.
This report provides a description of current efforts and
suggests additional directions for history and interpretation
at Civil War sites. An electronic copy of the 56-page Civil
War Report is available from Corky Mayo.
The National Storytelling Network (NSN) has expressed an
interest in working with the National Park Service to develop
a program for 2002 that would recognize and showcase existing
NPS storytelling activities and provide non-NPS funding to
increase NPS storytelling expertise and programming. A brief
survey was sent to all parks to determine if there was
sufficient interest in such a program to proceed with
discussions with the NSN. Responses were received from 133
sites, indicating very strong interest in establishing such a
partnership with the NSN. Some survey results: 38% of the
responding parks currently offer no storytelling programs but
are very eager to receive training and assistance in
establishing such programs; 82% of the sites requested
assistance in determining how to identify compelling stories
and present them to the public; 84% are interested in training
in storytelling techniques. The preferred storytelling themes
identified by the parks were Native American culture (32%),
animal stories and natural history (24%), and folk tales
(18%).
Because of the popularity of the new interpretive development
program and the number of products being submitted for
certification, a curriculum coordinators workshop was held at
Mather Training Center in January to recertify existing
certifiers and to train a cadre of additional new certifiers.
There are currently 92 active certifiers. The program
experienced a 190% increase in the number of products
submitted between FY97 and FY98. Final figures are not yet in
for FY99, but midway through the year, submissions were
running 33% ahead of the FY98 figure. Servicewide, 81
curriculum-based training sessions were offered to over 2000
interpretive trainees in FY98.
The Mountain Institute has approached the Service with a
proposal to help develop interpretive and educational
materials and activities at national parks based on the
cultural and inspirational significance of mountains. The
Mountain Institute brings sensitivity to international
mountain issues and cultures. They will initially work with
Great Smoky Mountains NP, Mount Rainer NP, and Rocky Mountain
NP.
Through the efforts of Jim Miculka, Mike Tiernan and Corky
Mayo, the Trails to Rails cooperative agreement with Amtrak
was completed and has been signed by Director Stanton. This
agreement establishes the foundation upon which the Trails to
Rails program can operate.
3.2 Education
Anita Davis from Sunset Crater Volcano NM has begun a one-year
detail to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center as the NPS
Liaison. She will be responsible for coordinating cooperative
educational programs dealing with earth and space science.
She will also be providing satellite imagery and other
resources to park managers, researchers and interpreters.
Planning is underway for National Public Lands Day, which will
be held on September 23rd. An invitation for park to
participate will be forthcoming.
3.3 Cooperating Associations
An announcement for the course "Managing the Partnership,"
which will be held between July 11th and 13th at Mather
Training Center, has been distributed to NPS employees and
cooperating association employees. Applicants are encouraged
to attend as teams from parks and their respective cooperating
associations. The course concentrates on policy and
operational issues and relationships in partnering and problem
solving.
The Association of Partners for Public Lands held a successful
convention in Anchorage in March, culminating in an awards
banquet at which Director Stanton presented 51 awards in 20
categories of media produced by cooperating associations in
partnership with the NPS. The Director's Award went to Golden
Gate National Parks Association for their joint venture
publication " A Land In Motion: California's San Andreas
Fault". The coveted James Murfin Award for service to
cooperating associations over along period of time went to
Patricia Cole, executive director, Yellowstone Association.
NPS employees met with Glenn Clark, Servicewide coordinator
for cooperating associations, for a discussion of current
policy and operational activities in our partnerships with 65
cooperating associations that in FY 98 produced revenue of
nearly $100 million and donated R22 million in value of aid to
the NPS. A winners bulletin is available from the WASO
Division of Interpretation and Education.
3.4 Volunteers
Planning for the VIP summit resulted in a successful,
three-day meeting, during which regional volunteer
coordinators met to discuss pertinent issues associated with
the Volunteers-In-Parks program. The group addressed the
following topics: new fund distribution formula in the event
of an increase in FY2001, volunteer recognition at the
national level, volunteer forms and certificates, VIP program
policy in the form of DO 7 and RM 7, VIP website, and
international volunteers.
VIP Forms 10-85, 86, 89, and 67 were in the Federal Register
for the required 60-day comment period for information
collection. In order to be approved by OMB, the addition of a
public burden statement, Privacy Act notice, and notice to
volunteer was required. The next step is to put the Privacy
Act notice in the Federal Register. The entire process should
be completed in approximately four to five months. Until then,
continue using the current versions of these forms.
Joy Pietschmann participated in a joint presentation with the
Office of Workers' Compensation and OSHA at Independence NHP.
The title of the presentation was "Beyond the Park: Safety,
Injuries, and Following the Path of Claims for Workers'
Compensation." The session was based on the safety management
module of the new VIP program management training and provided
information to front line supervisors regarding safety and
injuries of paid and unpaid staff.
The VIP opportunities listing on the website was updated by
Ken Handwerger of ITC and has been quite successful. More
parks are listing their opportunities on the web and the list
is updating itself regularly. We will continue to update the
VIP website to make it more user-friendly, as well as useful
internally, in keeping with the updates to ParkNet as a whole.
4.0 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
4.1 Housing - Donna Compton
The housing report has been delivered to the Committee on
Appropriations' Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies.
The document, entitled "Report On National Park Service
Housing Policy and Housing Evaluation Update," has been posted
on the division's web site (http://pfmd.nps.gov/housing, under
"Housing Reports to Congress"). The document is too lengthy to
print here, except for the statement on the NPS housing
policy:
"The NPS will rely upon the private sector to provide housing
for NPS employees. If housing is not available in the private
sector, the Service will provide only the minimum number of
housing units necessary to support the NPS mission.
"Occupancy is permitted or required to ensure timely response
to park protection needs, to assure reasonable deterrence to
prevent threats to resources, and to protect the health and
safety of visitors and employees. Such prevention or response
services will determine acceptable and appropriate locations
for employee housing provided for the benefit of the
government in meeting the NPS mission. Provided that all
reasonable alternatives to on-site government-provided housing
have been considered, and the total life cycle costs to the
government for providing housing have been identified.
"Accountability: A needs assessment is required every two
years to determine the necessary number of housing units in a
park. Park managers are accountable to their Regional
Directors for employee housing in their parks. Regional
Directors are responsible for ensuring consistent application
of Servicewide housing policy.
"Eligible Residents: Park housing will only be provided for
those who are determined to be essential to the management and
operation of the park. This may include NPS employees,
concession employees, volunteers in the parks (VIPs), Student
Conservation Association volunteers (SCAs), researchers,
essential cooperators (schoolteachers, health personnel,
contractors, and state or county employees) and employees of
another Federal agency.
"Historic Structures: Use of historic structures for housing
is encouraged when management determines that this use
contributes to the preservation of these structures, but only
after all feasible cost-effective alternatives have been
considered.
"Housing Management Plans: Each park will prepare a housing
management plan every two years (at a minimum) that will
describe housing needs to meet the mission of the park, and
indicate what alternatives to government-provided housing were
considered to address those housing needs.
"Design and Construction: Because of location, use, and other
unique factors, special design concerns must be considered for
housing constructed in parks. Housing must be designed to be
as much a part of the natural or cultural setting as possible,
yet it must be well-built, functional, energy efficient and
cost-effective. The design of park housing will minimize
impacts on park values, comply with the requirements of
quality design, and consider regional design and construction
influences. Value analysis principles will be applied in all
NPS housing construction projects. Design costs will be kept
to a minimum by using designs from the NPS Standard Design
Catalog and a construction cost model."
4.2 Transportation - Lou DeLorme
The FY2000 alternative transportation program was approved on
March 3rd. This program is funded out of the federal lands
highway program; $5,134,960 will go toward 28 planning
projects, $3,291,200 will be used to fund nine implementation
projects, and $352,000 will go toward development of 15
general management plans (funding is going to the latter
because of the importance of considering alternative
transportation in long range planning).