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The appended message, I have been told, comes from Dave Barna of the National Park Service's Washington, DC, Public Affairs Office. It was recently distributed to NPS employees via e-mail. I can not confirm this, but I have no reason to doubt it's authenticity.
Barna, BTW, is listed as the NPS contact person at the website of the brand-new National Parks public-private tourism marketing website.
"Related websites" to which links are provided on that page are:
National Park Service
National Park Foundation
National Parks Conservation Association
*National Parks Hospitality Association
*American Recreation Coalition
*National Scenic Byways Program
*National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds
(Those marked with the "*" are intimately tied to the American Recreation Coalition.)
Strangely enough, in the following internal e-mail, Barna singles out NPCA as though its mild criticisms were somehow threatening to the NPS. What Barna fails to mention, is that the "Business Plan Initiative" of which he speaks is a JOINT project of NPCA and the NPS or that these business plans are being written in ways that further promote privatization and commercialization of the parks and park services, or that NPCA and the NPS are partner organizations and enjoy a common, shared, history that dates back 100 years.
Likewise, Barna never mentions that the "Take Pride in America" initiative to which he refers, is a pro-privatization effort orchestrated and implemented by the American Recreation Coalition and Gale Norton.
Barna never mentions that the National Park Service has become the victim of a hostile taken-over by pro-privatization ideologues lead by Gale Norton and Lynn Scarlett.
I can say with confidence that Barna is that he's a PR-pro who serves Gale Norton extremely well. That being the case, I hope you will find it interesting to read what such a PR-pro has to say about the Bush Administration's management of the National Park Service. Believe him, or reject him, as you will.
Scott
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In case you have not seen these, here are our talking points.
David B.
Question: The National Parks Conservation Association and other
organizations claim that there are huge operations budget shortfalls in
parks? Are there huge shortfalls and what are you doing to address the
issue?
Recommended response/message: This Administration is very committed to preserving the resources of
the National Park System, and we are working hard to find creative
solutions to addressing the challenges confronting parks today.
Despite the challenges, NPS has fared well under President Bush with steady increases to the agency's budget.
The FY 2005 request for the Operation of the National Park System
appropriation that funds visitor services, resource preservation and
protection and other park programs is $1.686 billion, a net increase of
$76.5 million as compared to the FY 2004 estimate.
An increase of $22 million is requested for park base operations, focusing on maintenance and security.
Funding of $8.3 million is requested for new park responsibilities
including $365,000 to establish operations at the newly created Flight
93 National Memorial, Pennsylvania.
We are also tasking agency managers and park superintendents to think
creatively about how to maximize appropriated dollars to address needs:
The Business Plan Initiative helps superintendents document the need
for additional resources to meet their goals for the park. To focus
only on operational shortfalls, however, is misleading and does the
program an injustice.
Any superintendent in the National Park System will tell you that he or
she needs more money. The business plans are designed to help
superintendents undertake a process that engages all of his or her
managers in a financial management overview of the park's programs; it
is an accounting tool to help them identify how funds are being spent
and how funds can be maximized or spent more efficiently.
Key point in addition to documenting parks needs (operational and
other), the business plan requires the park manager to identify a
financial strategy that includes consideration and use of non-
appropriated funding opportunities, i.e., partnerships, creative
approaches to staffing (hire a volunteer coordinator to make the best
use of volunteer staff), etc.
Through partnerships -- under our leadership, a new senior level office
of partnerships has been created to help parks establish partnerships
that protect cultural and natural resources -- with friends groups,
cooperating associations, corporations, local communities (which
benefit economically from their support to parks), the tourism
industry, and so on.
We continue to build on the success of the Volunteers-in-Parks program
in requesting an overall increase of $850,000 in FY 2005. Of this
amount, $600,000 will provide for the costs of training, supervising,
and utilizing an anticipated 4% increase of volunteers expected from
new programs such as the Master Volunteer Ranger Corps and programs
targeting "senior" volunteers. This funding will also support
additional volunteer projects as part of the Take Pride in America
program. The remaining portion of the increase, $250,000, will provide
for the creation of regional VIP/Partnership coordinators to assist in
directing and managing the steadily increasing number of volunteer and
partnership projects.
Currently, 125,000 Volunteers in Parks (VIPs) donate more than 4
million hours each, adding about 2,058 personnel equivalents to our
employee base, valued at $72 million.
Through preliminary planning and competitive review we are making our
functions more efficient to save money, which in turn can be reinvested
in other critical needs.
For instance, the Southeast Archeology Center was successful in a
competition done in accordance with Circular A-76 (revised competitive
review guidelines). The savings per year is approximately $850,000,
which over the 5-year term of the agreement, will save a total of $4.2
million. The Southeast Region is reviewing how best to invest that
savings.
We continuously meet with representatives of constituency groups to
encourage constructive and collaborative dialogue, and to share with
them measures being undertaken to accomplish mutual goals. We invite
them to help us find realistic, innovative approaches to solving
challenges...in a modern age where parks are vital to the well-being of
our society, and to the communities that surround them and depend on
them.
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- Land management 
