Balance of Nature

April 15, 2001

Executive Editor

ast May, a massive fire swept through Los Alamos, N.M., gaining national media attention and drawing the ire of Congress. The fire began in the Bandelier National Monument as a prescribed burn approved by a 33-year National Park Service veteran. This type of fire is set purposely to reduce forest density and, ironically, to reduce fire hazards. But winds whipped the flames toward Los Alamos, and when the embers finally were stamped out, nearly 400 houses had been destroyed.

A land management budget boost has given the Park Service an edge in its renewed focus on preserving natural resources.

Members of Congress lambasted Park Service officials for deciding not to beat back the fire with heavy equipment lest the environment be damaged. Following the July release of a General Accounting Office report detailing what went wrong in Los Alamos, Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, told Park Service officials that "public safety should take precedence over resource protection" in firefighting decision-making.

The mistakes made in Los Alamos prompted change, not just at the Park Service but also throughout federal land management agencies. "The 2000 fire season marked a turning point in public land management history," says Robert Stanton, who served as director of the Park Service until Jan. 20. "It has resulted in a reexamination, if you will, of the 1995 fire management program and policies." Federal firefighting resources were overwhelmed in 2000, Stanton says, prompting Congress to give federal land management agencies almost $2 billion for fire and resource management during the 2001 appropriations cycle.

The new focus on wildland fire management emphasizes interagency coordination, training, fire ecology, public education and restoration of those areas damaged by fires. It also blends well with the renewed mission of the Park Service: improving resource management. But trying to find the right balance between protecting natural resources and providing for visitors' enjoyment has not been an easy task over the past 84 years.

So it came down to setting a priority, and resource management won the toss. On Sept. 8, 2000, Stanton signed Director's Order No. 55, which said the parks would be available to visitors, but only to the degree that natural and cultural resources are not destroyed. The 1999 Natural Resource Challenge, a multi-year, multimillion-dollar program focused on scientific management of the parks, preceded Stanton's order. Under the challenge, park personnel are conducting inventories and monitoring all resources under the Park Service's care, including threatened and endangered species. "We need to know what kind of biological specimens are in these parks," Stanton says. "[We need to] monitor their habitat and whether or not there is anything taking place that would inhibit the quality of life."

The Park Service won an overall C in last year's Federal Performance Report, the result of C grades in managing finances, physical assets, information and managing for results. The agency won a B in human resources management. But the past year has seen improvements in several areas. Partnerships with universities allow researchers to help develop plans for preserving parks. The Park Service issued a policy regulating the use of recreational vehicles in the parks as well as a measure aimed at lessening air and water pollutants. Along with mandates to conserve and preserve more than 83 million acres of land nationwide, came plans for better financial management. Now, regional park managers are given guidance on how to create a budget, how to execute it and how to tie the budget to the agency's strategic plan.

The agency works with the National Parks and Conservation Association to develop business plans. Business school students help park superintendents and park managers develop their budgets. And, the Park Service developed two databases-the Operations Formulation System and the Project Management Information System-to keep track of funding needs and capital improvement projects. "Committing ourselves to an organized and systematic way of formulating and executing our budget has resulted in our being able to make a convincing argument . . . that has resulted in increases to our budget," Stanton says.

Supplementing the agency's budget is the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. That legislation brought the agency $160 million to help repair roads and bridges in the park system.

Congress has been critical of the Park Service's maintenance, with one legislator describing it as "benign neglect." Thus, legislators added $1 million to the agency's 2001 budget so the Park Service can inventory its facilities and assess their condition over the next five years. Another $74 million was provided so the agency could get to work on deferred maintenance projects. An added boost comes from fees collected from more than 270 million park visitors each year. Previously, these funds went straight to the general fund, but now the estimated $25 million a year will be used to manage the 383 areas under the agency's care.

The Park Service still has work to do-facilities at some parks badly need repairs. Recruiting good managers still is a challenge and winning a budget sufficient to fund all of the agency's needs always is difficult. The future of the agency will rest on the agenda set by the new Interior Secretary, Gale Norton, a former Colorado attorney general. Norton likely will benefit from Republican control of Congress as she seeks to interpret federal land management laws. Environmental groups lobbied against her nomination, fearing she would allow an increased burden on resources and recreation on the public lands.

Norton set to work immediately, reviewing policies and rules enacted by the Clinton administration. The new Interior chief has no plans to challenge Clinton's designation creating 20 new national monuments, but says landowners, industry and local governments will be included in the agency's decision-making during her tenure.

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