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National Park Service director issues his "Call to Action"
July 31, 2011
editor@montanaliving.com
National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis marked the agency’s birthday with the release of A Call to Action: Preparing for a Second Century of Stewardship and Engagement.
“On our 95th anniversary, we take the first step – make that the first leap – to prepare ourselves for our second century of stewardship,” Jarvis told employees during a national town hall meeting. “The critical work we have been doing since 1916 is as important as it ever was and must continue. A Call to Action is a rededication – to our traditional stewardship role but with an expanded and strategic focus that addresses our relevance in a changing world.”
A Call to Action lays out 36 action items that National Park Service employees, partners and friends will do to integrate National Park Service community programs with 395 national parks and the agency’s mission to preserve the country’s cultural, historic and natural resources for the enjoyment of this and future generations.
A Call to Action does not call for any new federal funding. Jarvis said, “There will not be much – if any – new money in our future, so we have concentrated on what can get done within current budgets and in some cases, with the assistance of our incredible partners.”
Jarvis said A Call to Action also points out how different today’s world is compared with August of 1916 when President Wilson signed the law that created the National Park Service and pulled 38 mostly natural landscape parks and monuments together under unified federal management.
Jarvis said, “There are many things that seem to divide us as a nation: socio-economic status, political leanings, religion, ethnicity, or income, but the idea behind the National Park Service can unite Americans in a sense of wonder and pride in our country.
“One of our most important responsibilities is to use the power and place of the National Park Service to ensure that everyone knows what it means to be an American. To accomplish this, we must invite our 307 million fellow citizens to get to know these places that they own, and discover the services the National Park Service performs in communities. That will help them experience their America and join us in stewardship.”
Here are some of the highlights A Call to Action lays out for the National Park Service to connect people to parks and to continue to preserve America’s special places:
Step by Step: create a pathway to youth employment in the National Park Service to connect new generations to parks.
Eat well and Prosper: contribute to better health and healing with connections between people, parks and the medical community.
Go Digital: reach new audiences and engage in conversations with all Americans.
Ticket to Ride: provide transportation support for 100,000 students to visit national parks each year.
Scholarly Pursuits: promote science education through Science Scholars program.
Next Generation Stewards: create a new generation of citizen scientists and future stewards with fun and educational biodiversity discovery activities in at least 100 parks.
Back Home on the Range: restore wild bison populations in the central and western United States.
Starry, starry Night: Create America’s first Dark Sky Cooperative on the Colorado Plateau to protect natural darkness as a precious resource.
What’s old is New: show, with modern historic preservation techniques and technologies, how historic structures can be sustainable and part of the economic vitality of rural and urban communities.
Posterity Partners: fund a $1 billion second century endowment with the National Park Foundation and other National Park Service partners.
A Call to Action: Preparing for a Second Century of Stewardship and Engagement is available at www.nps.gov/calltoaction
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