Closing remarks by Deb Liggett to the Association of National Park Rangers, Ranger Rendezvous 26, Plymouth, Massachusetts, Nov. 13, 2003

The Meaning of Stewardship

It has been my privilege to address this membership three times previously - Spokane, Durango and Minneapolis - in a series of talks that at least in my head, I viewed as the trilogy. Today must be the addendum. When I spoke before the association the first time in Spokane, I was a fill in for Assistant Secretary George Frampton who had cancelled - and it was this sixth man role I offered to play today… I thank Lisa and Scott for their kind invitation to speak before you today. I am a life member of the association and believe that at least some of my roots lie here. I am here as a concerned citizen and human being. As always I am here on my own time and dime and my comments today are my own.

James Carville's book We're Right and They're Wrong - A Handbook for Spirited Progressives opens with the premise that government is inherently good. He begins "The first person ever to slap me on the ass was a federal employee. He was the army doctor at Fort Benning, Georgia. My daddy was serving at Fort Benning as an infantry officer, so he and my momma were able to start me off with some fine federal health care." Carville goes on to talk about his upbringing in a small Louisiana town and "the government providing the most indispensable federal employee - its postmaster." He continues to talk about a government that built a levee system to protect them from flooding (for which no one else had deep enough pockets), about vaccination programs, federal school loan programs, the G.I. Bill and desegregation. He talks of a benevolent government for the good of the people (meals on wheels, school Breakfast and Lunch programs, social security, interstate highway system, the national parks, etc.) Today seemingly all government social programs are under attack. Do not apologize - ever - for what you do as a federal employee. Do not apologize.

Lisa and Scott told me my topic for today was "What Can You Do for Stewardship?" I have never really liked the word stewardship but I figured that once I had the microphone in my hand I could talk about anything I wanted. For me the word stewardship seems tangled with Judeo-Christian beliefs about man having dominion over. So I decided to consult the dictionary.

I noticed with great interest that the words stew, steward, stewed were found sequentially and I immediately thought that some of the members of the Associations might have some expertise in at least part of the topic. In one dictionary I found the following definition of stewardship - 1) one who manages another's property, 2) one in charge of a households affairs of a large estate, club, hotel or resort, 3) a ships officer in charge of provisions and dining arrangements, 4) an attendant on a ship or an aircraft and, 5) to serve as a steward of - i.e. manage. None of these definitions really define our role adequately.

So I searched Webster's New Riverside University Dictionary for the definition of husband and found 1) a married man, 2) archaic - a manager or steward, as of a household, and 3) a prudent and thrifty manager, and 4) to manage economically. Further the word husbandry 1) the cultivation of crops and the breeding and raising of livestock- agriculture and 2) the careful manager of resources.

The National Park Service does do husbandry by authorizing legislation in a few locations. We manage reindeer herds and herding at Bering Land Bridge (unfortunately the reindeer keep running off with the caribou to have sex), at LBJ National Historic Park we manage purebred Hereford cattle and, of course, we husband Mrs. Sandburg's champion blood line milk goats at Carl Sandburg National Historical Site.

My problem with the word stewardship or husbandry is that the word is not enough. The word is inadequate to describe your passion and vitality in accomplishing the mission of the National Park Service. You are more than a steward of the land.

The word stewardship is a word that is sometimes used with arrogance. We do not do bear and wolf management. What incredible arrogance to imply that we do. Bears manage bears and we try to do our best to manage the people and the politics around bears.

As Howard Zahniser, primary author of the 1964 Wilderness Act said, "We are guardians not gardeners." And it is the word guardian that I would choose to describe your responsibilities. Guardian is defined as one legally responsible for the care and management of a person or property. Or, guardian as one whom regulates and protects. Guardian includes an affirmative legal responsibility.

For the word gardener the thesaurus uses protector, conservator, trustee, keeper, sentinel and Member of the Watch. We are all of these and they describe your job with greater justice and honor.

Let me make my following remarks and observations clear. My remarks are aimed at this administration - not a particular political party. Let me reiterate, my comments today are limited to the current administration. This administration has put an interesting spin on the stewardship agenda.

The National Park Service has labored successfully and has a solid track record with both Democratic and Republican administrations in the past. We have many friends on both sides of the aisle and we are grateful to them. But my observations to date tell me that this Administration neither understands nor values their guardianship responsibilities. We must teach them.

Behind the spin is a dangerous, active anti-stewardship and science agenda. There are major reductions in environmental protections that are hidden behind the fancy rhetoric. The Healthy Forest Initiative, Preserve America Initiative, Clean Air Initiative, Privatization and the Secretary's 4C's are hard to disagree with on face value.

The Secretary announces the 4C's - Consultation, cooperation, communication, all in the service of conservation and that this is the Service's everyday responsibility. So what's new? We have been doing this every day of my professional life and I think we get better at it all the time. It is worrisome because many of us believe that 4C's are code for capitulation.

Privatization (or outsourcing) is a topic that concerns us all although the description of the privatization process appears to be a moving target. Let me tell you about some of the jobs that remain on the list to be reviewed for outsourcing. Let me tell you about the maintenance guys I know - yes, they pick up trash but they also participate in search and rescue, fight fires, clean up hazardous waste, often work under dangerous conditions, and in between answer visitors questions and care passionately about the places they work. They protect park resources in a myriad of ways every day.

How about the archeologists in the Service whose jobs are to be reviewed for out-sourcing? Yes, archeologists participate in digs and excavations. Beyond those duties they consult with Alaska Natives and other tribal groups, they conduct outreach education in our local schools, publish books about park resources and most importantly they speak for voices now silent and assure the lessons of the past and our communal heritage is shared by Americans yet unborn.

So, yes, to a simple mind or a rigid ideology some might decide that it is cheaper for the private sector to pick up the trash or conduct an archeological dig - but I ask you could we replace what we would lose and do we believe for a minute that the American people would be getting a better deal? So, hell yes, I am offended when someone suggests that we should have to compete for our own jobs and use precious and diminishing financial resources to conduct a "review exercise." How can we contract out this commitment to place? How do we outsource your dedication?

I recently read an article in the Utne Reader on the "Psychology of War" and would like to compare it to the situation today. There are three elements of this psychology:

1. Demonize and depersonalize the enemy. (e.g. federal land managers, the environmental community)

2. If we take care of this all our woes will go away. (e.g. NPS policy, the Clean Air Act, environmental bureaucrats)

3. And, finally, if you are not with me you are against me. (You are not loyal if you disagree with me. You are not trusted and your views are suspect.)

The weekly private meeting of the political appointees in the department without career employees present creates an atmosphere of arrogance, mistrust and secrecy. The seasonal employees that show up in the Department every 4 years are not asking for the guidance and experience of the career professionals. But it is our responsibility to each new Administration to tell them what they need to know. Each new Administration needs to understand that what they need to know may not necessarily be what they want to hear. You, as career employees, are being undervalued.

Policy is being rewritten in a back room out of agency or public purview - e.g. wilderness, night skies, soundscape, fund raising and others. Didn't we just rewrite the NPS Management Policies in 2001? And publish them in the Federal Register for public input? This backroom approach (or strategy) suggests that the Director's Orders will be changed with no public review or input - effectively flying below the public radar screen on potentially significant changes by the Administration that could erode the way we protect park resources. This seems an odd way to go about review in an Administration that wants us to practice the 4C's. One of my mentors cautioned managers in training to not practice what he called "the Seagull- Style Management" - this is where you fly in, flap your wings, squawk a lot, shit all over everything and then fly off.

There has been some question of our loyalty (i.e., if you are not with me you are against me). I will remind you that loyalty is earned not given - that your loyalty as career employees is first and foremost is to the NPS mission as set out by Congress.

"To conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future generations." (16 USC 1)

Jon Jarvis (Pacific West regional director) tells his employees that their job is to "to speak for the non-human species, the people (historical figures, artists, writers and ordinary people) who no longer have a voice, and to speak for those who are not yet born and are those who will ultimately judge us." This is where your loyalty should lie.

Karen Wade and Caroll Shell in an article in George Wright Society The Forum (Volume 13, Number 4 1996) A New Perspective in Strategic Planning - The Great Smoky Mountains Experience they argue that "consensus in not necessarily the intended outcome." The goal is collaboration decision making. (emphasis mine) Every one gets an opportunity to come to the table and participate. Everyone is heard in a fair and respectful manner. Everyone contributes to the collaborative process.

Public land management issues are multi-faceted, incredibly complicated management issues. Consensus is good - if it can be achieved and still protect park resources - but it is not the goal. I believe that consensus is often the lowest common denominator but it is often not responsible guardianship. How do you make the right decisions for your park and not prostitute yourself, your agency or your role as guardian? And, how do you do it in these times and survive?

The stakes are high and personal. Let me use a personal example to illustrate the current attitudes under which park managers labor. In the Campaign to Protect America's Land (funded by the Rockerfeller Family Funds) an article in The Land Line Oct. 24, 2003, recounts the kick off event in Washington, D.C., for a newly launched group call the Partnership for the West. The Partnership for the West is a lobbying coalition that represents the oil interests with three goals. The goals are (1) opening up more public lands for drilling by oil and gas companies, (2) making it much easier to get permits to drill and (3) preventing the federal government from protecting wilderness on lands without local agreement.

However, an account of a grassroots meeting held in Denver a month earlier was much more interesting. The Land Line reports on the meeting which "includes some disturbing comments from members of Congress who attended the event. One member of Congress bragged to the group about forcing the reassignment of a National Park Service supervisor from a national monument in the area to a post in Alaska and said they could do more of that. Two other members of Congress, responding to members of the Partnership frustrated with some public officials who work with environmental groups, make it clear that they are waging war on officials inside the administration who don't see things their way." Waging war?

The article goes on to say, "Another member of Congress told the group that they could together pound on the administration to beat up the bureaucrats that are a problem and clean house of bureaucracies and their agendas."

Congressman Cubin, R-WY, made those remarks about me making a career move to Alaska. I moved to Alaska more than six years ago and I assure you that John Cook, Director Kennedy and Secretary Babbitt would have held no truck with the congresswoman's approach. Jay Liggett would assure you that there was no nexus between my move from Wyoming to Alaska to the fact that during my tenure at Devils Tower I had made resource decisions that made the congresswoman unhappy. But how do you like these 4C's? Do you feel demonized?

A friend has reminded me to take comfort - that "the career employees are the B team. Be here when they come. Be here when they go."

David Skaggs, then a congressman from Colorado, spoke to a group of superintendents a few years ago in Estes Park, Colorado. He exhorted the group that national parks need to be viewed and treated as an endowment for the American people and the world. And that the job of the National Park Service is to inspire Americans beyond profit - to inspire the nation with beauty and history. He reminded us that human beings have a hunger for beauty and inspiration.

He spoke of how unfortunate it is that we only measure ourselves as a nation by economic indicators - the Dow Jones, NASDAQ and GDP. How unfortunate that all we Americans measure on a daily basis is monetary profit. No wonder the rest of the world only knows the American people by our monetary wealth and not by other values we celebrate as a society.

Congressman Skaggs asked, "What if every day on the nightly news we reported on the Teddy Roosevelt Environmental Indicator (TREI)? Or measured the Martin Luther King Diversity Index (MLKI)? Or, what if we measured and reported on the WWLI (Walt Whitman Literacy Index)?" Congressman Skaggs encouraged the National Park Service to measure and remind Americans and others in the world of the values we cherish as Americans.

Terry Tempest Williams gave the graduation speech at the University of Utah in May of this year. Her topic was The Open Space of Democracy. She was responding to a graduating senior who had queried - "How do I engage in responsive citizenship?"

Terry goes on to say, "I would submit we can protect and preserve the open space of democracy by carrying a healthy sense of indignation within us… What does the open space of democracy look like? In the open space of democracy there is room for dissent. In the open space of democracy there is room for difference.

In the open space of democracy, the health of the environment is seen as the wealth of our communities. We remember that our character has been shaped by the diversity of America's landscapes and it is precisely that character that will protect it. Cooperation is valued more than competition. Prosperity becomes the caretaker of poverty. The humanities are not peripheral, but the very art of what it means to be human. Beauty is not optional, but essential to our survival of the species."

Terry further exhorts the graduates, "Do not accept things the way they are. Question. Stand up. Speak. Act. To engage in responsive citizenship, we must become citizens who respond. Passionately. This is how you make a difference. This is how you serve your society."

As individuals you must engage in the process. Act, Vote, Go Door to Door, Donate Time, Donate Money. Speak out. Participate. If you read the DOI Ethics Handbooks you will realize your constraints as GS and WG employees are few.

Believe in the open space of democracy.

This Association must work actively with the moderate members of the Congress on both sides of the aisle. I encourage the members of the association to stay in a reasonable place and not line up with ideologues or zealots on either side of an issue. Share with the members of Congress what they need to know about their guardianship role. This Association and the members of this association have tremendous respect on the hill because you are the real deal - use your authenticity in support of the parks.

I think we have another responsibility as guardians. We have the responsibility to act as guardians and trustees to each other and to our employees. We are the caretakers of the next generation of the National Park Service.

I recently answered questions on an Executive Leadership evaluation for an employee. Two of the questions were: Does the employee influence others to believe in the spirit of public service and their commitment to make a meaningful contribution? Does the employee create and foster a culture that encourages a commitment to public service?

Are you creating this culture in your workplace? You must.

The things that I have valued the most during my career are not annual appraisals or awards. I have a yellow warm fuzzy file in my office. The file contains personal notes to me. I have notes from park visitors, employees and co-workers. I have notes from Rob Arnberger, John Cook, Maureen Finnerty, John Reynolds, Marie Rust and Karen Wade - half of these are folks I never worked for - and I have saved every one. They took time to send me a personal note in both the good times and the bad times. I picked up the phone on my first day in an Acting Superintendent position. I had been in the office long enough to begin to ask myself what had I gotten myself into and a familiar voice (Rick Gale) said to me - "Madam Superintendent" and I know he has done this for many, many others. All of these notes and phone calls told me that I did not labor alone. I knew I was part of something bigger - I was part of a Service. You should support others in the agency - but you must especially show that support to them now.

These are tough times. Foster and acknowledge yourself, each other and your employees. Live a life of integrity and walk the talk. Someone in this room once said, "When the rule book gets tossed out - all you have is your personal integrity. Model executive leadership whatever your role in the organization.

We need to remember that national parks are no more that ephemeral lines drawn on maps over ancient homelands. I remember a press event several years ago at Mount Rushmore convened by Senator Daschle (D-SD) to forecast what a 10-percent cut would mean to the Black Hills parks. All the superintendents spoke and told what this would mean to each of the parks and how the cuts would affect our visitors. Greg Borland, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux, then stood to speak. He told about taking his kids to Disney World for four days the previous summer. And he said that there was glitter and glitz, glitter and glitz. He paid what (to me at the time) was some exorbitant entrance fee for Disney World. Then he said the he came home to Badlands National Park and paid $5 for the family entrance fee. He said there was all the glitter and glitz that God intended him to see right there. In closing, he also allowed as how the National Park Service was "doing a pretty good job of taking care of the land until the Black Hills are returned to us (the Lakota people)." But even Chairman Borland would admit that no matter who the current guardians of the land are that we should plan our guardianship today for the next seven generations.

Stand tall. Your commitment to your guardianship role sets you apart and head and shoulders above anyone else. I believe in public service - it is an honorable and noble occupation and this work is an expression of your patriotism. It is my privilege to be considered along with you as guardians and warriors, jedi knights, samurai and storytellers.

I believe in public service and I believe in you. Believe in yourselves.

You do the nation's work. Stand tall.

About Deb Liggett

Deb Liggett has been knocking around parks and the people who work in the parks for more than 25 years. She has wandered from the canyons and the towers of the west to the Caribbean and to her beloved forever Everglades; she spent time north of the headwaters of the Mississippi and time in the land west of the Pecos; and finally, north to the last frontier.

Deb once set her pants on fire at an evening campfire program. She has never been lost although she once was decidedly misplaced and gave a group of seniors the hike of the their lives. Her first public appearance as a park manager was wearing a helmet on the back of a donkey in a donkey basketball game where she was only grateful that she wasn't given the task of cleaning up after the donkeys. She has helped rebuild a park and is proud of the role she played in a landmark court case. Deb has seen and experienced the sacred, the profane and the wild.

Someone recently said that "Deb Liggett and 'completely innocent' in the same sentence is an oxymoron." She calmly replies that the only trouble she has ever gotten into has been the result of bad companions. Deb's life has been peopled by the people of the parks. She is sometimes halting, sometimes eloquent, but always candid. Deb has paddled and pounded trail for miles and occasionally wanders off trail in her never-ending search for the perfect campsite.