Association Of National Park Rangers

I want to express my appreciation to the coalition for holding this news event and for inviting the Association of National Park Rangers to participate. Let me begin with a little background.

The Association of National Park Rangers is an organization created to communicate for, about and with park rangers, to promote and enhance the park ranger profession and its spirit; and to support the management and perpetuation of the national park service and System.

Our membership is comprised of individuals who are entrusted with, and committed to, the care, study, explanation and protection of those natural, cultural and recreational resources included in the National Park System. Each year for many years, the level of park funding has been inadequate. In fact, over the last 25 years, park operational funding has decreased by more than 20 percent. The cumulative effect is truly alarming.

• Staffing levels in virtually all field positions are down, while the number of park units has increased, and visitation during that period rose dramatically.
• Preservation of park resources gets more difficult every year due to population pressures, invasions of exotics and noxious plants, pollution emission, fragmentation of critical habitats, deterioration of prehistoric and historic structures, and overuse of developed areas.
• Protection challenges increase with new sports, with new technologies, with drug trafficking and poaching, and with increases in visitation and resulting shifts in park uses. Protection rangers have proudly contributed to national antiterrorism assignments, but the unfortunate truth is that Park Service protection resources are stretched perilously thin.
• More visitors enjoy trips to national parks than to Disney's theme parks. Families and school groups come expecting to have a ranger interpret the history and features of the park. Yet the sad truth is that such educational experiences are becoming less and less usual. School groups are regularly denied special programs due to lack of staff.

I could go on. For more information on the specifics and effects of our staffing crisis, I strongly encourage you to obtain a copy of Endangered Rangers - the National Parks Conservation Association's new study that details how staffing shortages are crippling the parks and visit ANPR's website at www.anpr.org.

Now I would like to discuss how the Park Service is dealing with this dire situation. In a word, they're telling the public, the media and the Congress that everything's fine - that promises are being kept - and don't look too closely. In the process, employees are expected to present information to the public and the media in a manner that closely reflects current administration policy rather than actual needs.

The recent removal of the chief of the U.S. Park Police sent a clear message to park superintendents - you may lose your job for telling the truth about parks budgets.

As stewards of many of our nation's most precious natural and cultural resources, we believe that national parks and the American people deserve better than this.

The national parks do not belong to the federal government. They belong to the American people. And good stewardship includes honestly apprising the public of the condition of the parks. It also means apprising them of the services that they may reasonably expect when they visit the parks and why certain services may not be available. Finally, mission of the Park Service - to enable our children and grandchildren to enjoy the full splendor of our national parks - at the present level of effort, simply will not happen.

The stakes are very high. Now is the time to publicly acknowledge the crying needs of the National Park System and Service so that appropriate actions can be taken. Good stewardship permits no less. That concludes my formal remarks. I look forward to taking your questions.