WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, today convened a hearing to examine the current state of the National Park System -- focusing on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on National Park Service (NPS) operations, staff, visitation and facilities. During today’s hearing, Senator King emphasized the value of National Parks to the American public, highlighted the potential for record park visitorship this summer season, and reflected upon the important contributions of NPS employees. Witnesses at today’s hearing included Shawn Benge, Acting Director of the National Park Service; Ken Burns, Emmy-winning documentarian and director of The National Parks: America’s Best Ideas; David MacDonald, President & CEO of Friends of Acadia; and Scott Socha, Chairman of National Park Hospitality Association. 

“Our National Parks play a huge role in what we think about when we think of America, from Acadia and the National Mall in the East to Yosemite and Glacier in the West, they hold a special place for millions of Americans,” said Senator King. “They connect us with our history and the natural world. They restore us, they inspire us and they recharge. Like everywhere in the last fifteen months, this has been a difficult period for the National Parks system, frontline park employees had to change how and even if they could interact with the public, many park services and visitors centers have been forced to shutter…. 

“Today’s hearing will look at how the Park Service, gateway communities, concessionaires, and visitors all weathered this difficult time and how we will move forward. What I predict will be one of the biggest seasons, in fact I’ll go out on a limb and I think it will be the biggest season in the history of the Park Service. It is my hope that this hearing will inform our work for the rest of this Congress, especially as we work closely with the National Park Service to fulfill the rewarding responsibilities that come with the Great American Outdoors Act, which we passed, as you know, last year.”

+++

Later in the hearing, Senator King reflected on his 5-month RV trip to National Parks across the country, and commented on the impressive, mission-driven staff he met at each NPS site.

Senator King: “In 2003, my wife and I took our children out of school for five and a half months and toured the country by RV and went to 17 National Parks. And the people were exceptional; the park rangers, the park personnel, we have wonderful people, and I think a lot of them are mission-driven. They clearly were proud of where they were, they were proud of the mission, and I hope you will convey to them – to the people of, the Park Service – the admiration, respect, and thanks that this Committee knows is due to them. Please do that, will you?”

Acting Director Benge: Thank you, Senator, I would be happy to do that, we have over 18,000 very dedicated employees that are absolutely mission-driven.

+++ 

Senator King also questioned Ken Burns on the threat of “loving the parks to death”, as increased visitorship creates challenges of overuse and overcrowding:

Senator King: “Ken Burns, a question for you. You documented the beauty and the transcendent nature of these parks around the country, but one of the problems we’re encountering is a kind of inherent tension of loving places to death. Where some of the best places, you can’t see them, but in our committee room, we have pictures of parks, but we also have pictures of  huge traffic jams in places like Acadia and Yosemite. How do we balance public access to the maximum number of Americans, with not compromising the experience by virtue of all those Americans coming to visit those parks?”

Mr. Burns: “Thank you, Senator King. This is a fundamental question—one that we tried to address when our series came out in 2009. It’s a difficult one, because the parks need to have their constituencies. If there was nobody there and we had none of these problems, chances are the parks would come under assault from the very American inquisitive nature of things. I look at the lines when I go as a citizen, much the same way that I look at a line and stand in in my little town in New Hampshire to vote. It means that we are participating in the fullest sense in this democracy, and as I said in my testimony, this declaration applied to the landscape, I think a good deal of the park planning and the release of the deferred maintenance gives us a chance to reinvigorate…but also as a country to figure out how best to accommodate all the people. But, as I told my impatient daughters, waiting for a herd of buffalo to go by in Yellowstone, this was a good line to be in.

+++

Chairman King is among the Senate’s loudest voices advocating for public lands and encouraging outdoor recreation. He was recently awarded the inaugural National Park Foundation (NPF) “Hero” Award. Senator King helped lead the passage the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) into law; the legislation includes the Restore Our Parks Act – a bill led by Senator King – and the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Permanent Funding Act. The historic legislative package continues Senator King’s career-long focus on conservation efforts, dating back to his work prior to running for elected office through his years as Governor and his service in the Senate. Over the course of his time in the Blaine House, Governor King was responsible for conserving more land across Maine than all Governors before him combined.