National Park Service 

Strategic Plan 

1997 
National Park Service 

Strategic Plan 

1997 

United States Department of the Interior 

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 

P.O. Box 37127 

INREPLYREFERTO Washington, DC 20013-7127 

September 30,1997 

I am pleased to transmit to you the 1997 National Park Service Strategic Plan, which 

establishes a performance management process for the service and incorporates the 

requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act. This Strategic Plan 

builds on the 1991 National Parks for the 21st Century: The Vail Agenda, and the 1994 

National Park Service Strategic Plan I Vision document. The 1997 Strategic Plan 

includes the NPS mission statement, mission goals that continue indefinitely, and 

long-term goals that are for approximately five years. The long-term goals are stated 

as desired resource and visitor experience conditions and expressed as measurable 

outcomes (quantified results). Stating our goals this way helps us clearly show what 

the National Park Service intends to accomplish for the American people. The 

Government Performance and Results Act provides a way to display end results and 

assess progress toward them. 

I believe the 1997 National Park Service Strategic Plan builds upon the proud 

traditions of the service, and it will provide us the means to become more effective, 

responsive, and innovative in meeting our responsibilities to the American public. It 

will also help us ensure that everything we do as an agency is contributing toward 

fulfilling our mission and mandates. The Strategic Plan is not a static document. In 

the years ahead, as we move forward with the implementation of this plan, we will 

continue to evaluate our goals and our collective progress in achieving them. In 

doing so, we will constantly improve our effectiveness and efficiency as an agency of 

the federal government. 

The National Park Service has completed consultation with the appropriate 

congressional committees, which have provided their perspectives and comments on 

the plan. 

In addition to the printed copy, the 1997 National Park Service Strategic Plan is 

available on the Internet at http://www.nps.gov. 

Robert G. Stanton 

Director 
Ifledication 

This 1997 National Park Service Strategic Plan is dedicated to the memory of 

Jim Donoghue, Assistant Field Director, Program Review, Intermountain 

Field Area, and member of the National Park Service GPRA taskforce. 

Jim was an early and major supporter of establishing a performance 

management process for the National Park Service under the aegis of the 

Government Performance and Results Act. But before the Government 

Performance and Results Act was ever a thought, Jim was already active in 

the southwest parks and monuments and was focused on helping 

superintendents achieve the results they needed to fulfill their missions. He 

was their friend and counselor, their problem-solver, and their advocate. He 

gave unselfishly of his time and energy. By his very actions, Jim was 

improving performance in the service before it became "the thing to do." 

As the National Park Service began to sort out the requirements of the 

Government Performance and Results Act and to put together a 

performance management process, it was only natural for Jim to step in, 

sleeves rolled up, ready to help. His good nature and breadth of experience 

were really appreciated by the taskforce. 

Jim's untimely passing has touched us all. Everyone of us lost a friend that 

day, and the service lost one of its best. In recognition of Jim's contributions 

to the GPRA taskforce strategic planning efforts, and in memory of a friend 

and colleague, we dedicate this plan. 

IV 
National Leadership Council 

1997 NPS Strategic Plan approved: 

director, 

National Park Service 

Deputy Director, 

National Park Service 

AssociafceJ^irector, 

Administration 

Associate Director, 

Cultural Resource Stewardship 

and Partnerships 

Associate Director, 

Natural Resource Stewardship 

and Science 

Acting Associate Director, 

Professional Services 

tegional Director, 

Alaska,J&^fiofT^ 

Regional Director, 

Intermountain Region 

Regional Director, 

National Capital Regioxr 

fegibnal Director, 

Northeast Region 

tegional Director, 

Southeast Region 

Regional Director, 

Midwest Region 

^ibn'aUDirec^r; 

.Pacific West Region 

Associate Director, 

Park Operations and Education 

v 


The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural 

resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, 

education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The Park Service 

cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural 

resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and 

the world. 

To achieve this mission, the National Park Service adheres to the following 

guiding principles: 

Excellent Service: Providing the best possible service to park visitors and 

partners. 

Productive Partnerships: Collaborating with federal, state, tribal, and local 

governments, private organizations, and businesses to work toward common 

goals. 

Citizen Involvement: Providing opportunities for citizens to participate in the 

decisions and actions of the National Park Service. 

Heritage Education: Educating park visitors and the general public about 

their history and common heritage. 

Outstanding Employees: Empowering a diverse workforce committed to 

excellence, integrity, and quality work. 

Employee Development: Providing developmental opportunities and training 

so employees have the "tools to do the job" safely and efficiently. 

Wise Decisions: Integrating social, economic, environmental, and ethical 

considerations into the decision-making process. 

Effective Management: Instilling a performance management philosophy that 

fosters creativity, focuses on results, and requires accountability at all levels. 

Research and Technology: Incorporating research findings and new 

technologies to improve work practices, products, and services. 

Shared Capabilities: Sharing technical information and expertise with public 

and private land managers. 

IX 

MMhc Mission of the National Park Service 

Introduction 1 

National Park Service Goals 7 

Background 7 

Goal Category I: Preserve Park Resources 9 

Goal Category II: Provide for the Public Enjoyment and Visitor 

Experience of Parks 10 

Goal Category III: Strengthen and Preserve Natural and Cultural 

Resources and Enhance Recreational Opportunities 

Managed by Partners 11 

Goal Category IV: Ensure Organizational Effectiveness 13 

Explanation of Goal Category I: Preserve Park Resources 14 

Explanation of Goal Category II: Provide for the Public Enjoyment 

and Visitor Experience of Parks 22 

Explanation of Goal Category III: Strengthen and Preserve Natural 

and Cultural Resources and Enhance Recreational 

Opportunities Managed by Partners 26 

Explanation of Goal Category IV: Ensure Organizational 

Effectiveness 33 

Key External Factors 43 

Natural Processes and Disasters 43 

Cost Considerations 44 

Political and Legislative Factors 44 

The Role of the National Park Service in Preserving America's Legacy of 

Natural and Cultural Resources 45 

The National Park Service and American Communities: Partners in 

Conservation and Recreation 46 

Partnerships: An Essential Ingredient 48 

The NPS Role in American Education: Real Perspectives from Real 

Places 50 

XI 

H

a

b l e of Contents 
Research in the Parks: Effective Management Needs a Knowledge Base 

Derived from Research 52 

The NPS Role in International Assistance to Other Park Systems 54 

Demographics: What Does America's Changing Face Mean for Parks in the 

21st Century? 55 

Operational Processes 59 

Program Assessment and Evaluation 61 

Why Do We Want to Accomplish Something? 62 

What Do We Want to Accomplish? 62 

How Do We Plan to Accomplish It? 64 

Feedback: Did We Accomplish What We Intended? 65 

NPS Consultations in Developing the 1997 National Park Service 

Strategic Plan 68 

Appendix I: National Park Service Related Areas 71 

Appendix II: Congressional Committee Comments Considered but Not 

Included in the Plan 73 

Appendix III: Text of the Government Performance and Results Act 

of 1993 74 

Appendix IV: National Park Service GPRA Process and Terminology 85 

Captions for Photos in Strategic Plan 88 

Preparers and Contributors 89 

XI1 
[Introduction 

In 1995 the National Park Service began actively working to comply with the 

Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) to develop a 

performance management system that will be useful and used. This act 

requires both strategic planning and performance measurement — setting 

goals and reporting results. The Government Performance and Results Act 

seeks to make the federal government more accountable to the American 

people in its actions and expenditures. The National Park Service, with its 

mandate to preserve natural and cultural resources and to provide access to 

the nation's parks and treasures, can and must demonstrate its value to the 

American people. 

Performance management, through the use of measurable goals, can be of 

great benefit to the National Park Service. It provides a new way of thinking, 

planning, and working that focuses on the results of the efforts expended, 

and not on the efforts themselves. At first glance, this may not seem like 

such a mind shift, but when fully carried out at the agency level, or even at 

the scale of an individual park, the implications for realignment of resources 

(personnel and equipment), streamlining of procedures, and reallocation of 

funding often are greater and carry more benefits than ever imagined. 

Performance management is not a new technique or a passing fad. It has 

been used in the private sector for years to evaluate and reward success, and 

to hold company management accountable for the decisions made and the 

money spent. 

Performance management has now come to the federal government by way 

of the bipartisan support enjoyed by the Government Performance and 

Results Act. Happily, performance management does not promote doing 

more with less; what it provides is a process through which organizations can 

make sure they do the right things for the right reasons. For the National 

Park Service, the mandatory implementation of performance management 

and GPRA planning requirements comes at a propitious time. With the NPS 

reorganization completed, the agency is deeply involved in developing 

innovative, streamlined ways to carry out the work of the service. The agency 

has the opportunity now, for the first time in its history, working with the 

impetus of the Government Performance and Results Act, to develop a 

strategic plan for each national park system unit that explains why the unit 

exists, and what its mission is, what goals management and staff should be 

1 
achieving to fulfill its mission, and how they might organize the human and 

fiscal resources to meet those goals within specific time frames. 

Because the National Park Service manages natural and cultural resources 

and provides for visitor access and experiences in parks, successful 

performance will be difficult to evaluate. The agency provides no hard 

products to its customers. The measure of the health of an ecosystem or the 

satisfaction of park visitors will be a challenge to articulate. To help resolve 

this dilemma a taskforce was established to find ways to integrate the 

requirements of Government Performance and Results Act into the current 

NPS management system and planning process. This GPRA taskforce, as it 

is called, has been successful and continues to oversee and direct the 

integration of the requirements of this act into NPS management. The 

taskforce has representation from parks, clusters, regions, programs, and the 

Washington Office. 

Over the years the National Park Service has been involved in long-range 

planning. The agency's most recent Strategic Plan was completed in 1994, not 

long after the GPRA legislation was passed. The GPRA taskforce reviewed 

the 1994 National Park Service Strategic Plan I Vision and determined that it 

did not meet all the requirements of the Government Performance and 

Results Act. A new effort was begun in 1995 and is presented in this Strategic 

Plan. This document provides the agency's framework and process for 

strategic planning and reporting on measurable outcomes, focusing on the 

results achieved rather than on the amount of effort expended. This plan, 

with the NPS mission statement, mission goals, and long-term goals, forms 

part of the foundation for parks, programs, and central offices to develop 

their own strategic plans, annual performance plans, and associated 

performance measures. 

The following key assumptions were made in the development of this plan: 

• No major changes in NPS mission responsibilities, including the legal 

framework governing the management of its programs and 

organization, will occur. 

2 
• No significant increases in land management responsibilities will occur. 

• No legislation that would significantly increase the cost to the National 

Park Service in providing visitor and management services will be 

enacted. 

• Budget resources will be limited as the country moves toward a 

balanced budget by the year 2002. 

• Financial support from other organizations for existing partnership 

arrangements will continue near present levels. 

• Staffing levels will remain near current levels. 

If any of these assumptions change, the service's ability to achieve its longterm goals would be affected. This plan would then have to be revised to 

respond to any significant changes. 

This Strategic Plan was also developed with the assumption that the National 

Park Service will receive essentially level funding for the life of the plan. The 

goals in this Strategic Plan can be accomplished within existing funding 

rather than with additional funds. This approach follows the guidance 

received by the National Park Service in implementing the Government 

Performance and Results Act. The current funding levels reflect the 

decisions made in both the executive and legislative branches about national 

budgetary priorities in a time of deficit reduction. Funding levels do not 

reflect the actual cost of fully implementing the mission of the National Park 

Service. 

The development and revision of this plan is an ongoing refinement process. 

According to the Government Performance and Results Act, a federal 

agency's strategic plan must be revised in its third and sixth years. For the 

National Park Service, 1997 is a transition year to integrate GPRA 

requirements into its planning, budget, reporting, and evaluation processes. 

This Strategic Plan is not about justifying budget increases. Rather it 

provides an accurate picture of where the National Park Service should be 

six years hence, and what accomplishments it hopes to have achieved. 

3 
This Strategic Plan represents one aspect of the National Park Service's 

implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act. The 

National Park Service has worked hard to ensure that this act is both useful 

and usable, improving both the management of national parks and 

programs, and providing a way to communicate those accomplishments to 

the American public. 

As a field-oriented organization, the National Park Service has implemented 

the Government Performance and Results Act on two levels — a national 

level, and a park- and program-specific level. NPS personnel from 

throughout the system were brought together to develop and refine the 

approach to fulfilling the intent of the act, including setting servicewide goals 

and performance measures. In addition to the servicewide goals shown in 

this plan, strategic plans are being developed by individual parks and 

programs that will tier off the servicewide Strategic Plan and its goals, using 

the eight-step process defined in this document. 

Employees throughout the National Park Service have been trained in 

GPRA performance management, and they have been provided with a Field 

Guide to the Government Performance and Results Act and Performance 

Management, and GPRA on the Go. The National Park Service has also 

developed software and a database that links budgets and FTEs to annual 

goals with their performance measures. The Park Service's annual 

performance plan, which will accompany the president's budget submission, 

will project how well the Park Service will meet its goals. Extensive technical 

guidance has been provided to parks and programs on how to measure and 

report on each goal. Also, individual performance will be increasingly linked 

to GPRA performance. 

The National Park Service has adapted GPRA terms in three ways: 

• Mission goals were added to reflect the agency's role as a preservation 

agency with a longer timeframe than five years; 

• The "general goals" referred to in the act have been renamed "longterm goals" to reflect the time increments involved; 

4 
• Performance measures have been incorporated into its long-term and 

annual goals. 

These changes, while minor, have strengthened the Park Service's ability to 

comply with the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, and 

they will help ensure that the goals of the agency are achieved and that 

performance management is improved. The National Park Service sees the 

Government Performance and Results Act as its business system, one that 

will become increasingly sophisticated as time goes by. Time and experience 

will be needed to fully implement a performance management system, but 

the crucial first steps have been taken. 

Specific methodology of verification and validation of measured values 

depends on the particular goal; in developing NPS goals, ability to gather 

and verify values was considered. The NPS GPRA Taskforce and regional 

GPRA coordinators, in consultation with technical experts associated with 

each goal, will coordinate and oversee the process of data verification and 

validation. NPS performance management software will be used to identify 

trends and anomalies in data values for additional evaluation. NPS will also 

randomly field check measured values. 

CROSS CHECK OF GPRA-REQUIRED COMPONENTS OF A STRATEGIC PLAN 

Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-62) 

Section 3: Strategic Planning 

Required component 

306(a)(1) Comprehensive Mission Statement 

306(a)(2) General goals and objectives 

306(a)(3) Description of how goals and objectives 

are to be achieved 

306(a)(4) Description of how performance goals 

included in the [annual performance 

plan] shall be related to general goals 

and objectives 

306(a)(5) Key external factors 

306(a)(6) Program evaluations 

This Plan 

See page ix 

See pages 7-41 

See pages 59-67 

See pages 64 and 67 

See pages 43-57 

See pages 63-67 

5 

Background 

The development of useful, cost-effective performance measures (goals) for 

the National Park Service that relate directly to the health of natural and 

cultural resources or the enhancement of the visitor experience has followed 

the agency's mandate in the 1916 NPS Organic Act. Measuring outcomes 

(annual results) poses various challenges for the National Park Service, 

which strives to protect a variety of natural and cultural resources and to 

provide appropriate recreational opportunities, but often has only partial 

control over the results of its efforts. The National Park Service is more 

familiar with measuring inputs (funding and staffing) and outputs (products 

and services). By developing measurable goals that are outcomes, the 

National Park Service is better able to demonstrate its worth to the 

American people as steward of the nation's heritage. 

The following mission goals are presented in four categories that are 

inclusive of NPS legislative mandates and policies. These mission goals were 

developed using concepts from the 1994 National Park Service Strategic Plan I 

Vision, contributions from employees and partners, and public comments 

received at meetings, by mail, and by questionnaire. The NPS mission goals 

enable the National Park Service to focus and align its activities, core 

processes, and resources to support mission-related outcomes. These 

mission goals articulate the ideals that the National Park Service is striving 

to attain for perpetuity. Mission goals are not quantifiable, but they do 

provide the basis for quantifiable long-term goals. 

The long-term goals presented below are the agency's "general goals" as 

required by the Government Performance and Results Act. Long-term goals 

bridge mission goals to annual goals, and they are generally written to be 

achieved within a five-year time frame. However, they could be written to be 

achieved between 3 and 20 years, depending on the magnitude and/or 

complexity of the goal. Parallel long-term goals have been developed at 

park, program, and central office levels. Unlike the mission goals, which 

articulate the ideals that the National Park Service is striving to attain, longterm goals establish performance measures and help develop reporting 

methods. Annual goals that flow from long-term goals are described in the 

National Park Service's annual performance plan. 

IBIational Park Service Goals 

7 
The development of NPS mission goals and long-term goals used a fieldoriented approach that sought to have personnel from the parks and 

programs contribute the bulk of the information and ideas. All these longterm goals were developed under the assumption that, for the life of this 

plan, funding will continue at fiscal year (FY) 1996 levels in constant dollar 

terms. Obviously, adequate staffing and funding must support these goals for 

them to be effective. As the National Park Service strives to fulfill its mission 

and to ensure that resource allocations and decisions reflect results-oriented 

performance, these long-term goals represent the work that the National 

Park Service intends to measure, as appropriate for each park and program, 

to aggregate, and to report servicewide as documentation of its 

accomplishments. 

Goal assessments should be interpreted as indicators of NPS achievements 

and accomplishments, and they should be relied on as quantifiable information that can be used as representative measures of NPS programmatic 

achievements and results. NPS managers will need sufficient flexibility, 

discretion, and authority to accomplish the desired results called for in these 

goals. 

Each long-term goal in this plan is stated as a desired future resource or 

visitor experience condition that is measurable. Long-term goals generally 

have four attributes: (1) an end date shown as "by September 30, 2002," 

which indicates when the goal should be achieved; (2) a target usually shown 

as a percentage or actual number; (3) an indicator, the thing being measured; and (4) a baseline date, usually expressed "as of 1997." Together 

these attributes create a statement of a desired future condition. By following 

this method, the required performance measure is included in the long-term 

goal. 

In total, the National Park Service has 9 mission goals and 31 long-term 

goals. These goals are presented first without explanatory paragraphs so that 

the reader can easily see the hierarchical, nested relationships from goal 

categories, to mission goals, to long-term goals. Then the goals are 

presented again with a short explanation that provides additional 

information about that goal and its achievement. 

8 
GOAL CATEGORY I: PRESERVE PARK RESOURCES 

Mission Goal la: Natural and cultural resources and associated values are 

protected, restored, and maintained in good condition and managed within their 

broader ecosystem and cultural context. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• Ial. Disturbed Lands / Exotic Species — 5% of targeted disturbed park 

lands, as of 1997, are restored, and 5% of priority targeted disturbances 

are contained. 

• Ia2. Threatened and Endangered Species — 25% of the 1997 identified 

park populations of federally listed threatened and endangered species 

with critical habitat on park lands or requiring NPS recovery actions 

have an improved status, and an additional 25% have stable 

populations. 

• Ia3. Air Quality — Air quality in at least 50% of class I park areas 

improves or does not degrade from 1997 baseline conditions. 

• Ia4. Water Quality — Reduce by 10%, from 1997 levels, the number of 

days park recreational waters fail to meet state water quality standards 

for swimming. 

• Ia5. Historic Structures — 50% of the historic structures on the 1998 

List of Classified Structures are in good condition. 

• Ia6. Museum Collections — 68% of preservation and protection 

conditions in park museum collections meet professional standards. 

• Ia7. Cultural Landscapes — 50% of the cultural landscapes on the 

Cultural Landscapes Inventory are in good condition. 

• Ia8. Archeological Sites — 50% of the recorded archeological sites are 

in good condition. 

9 
Mission Goal lb: The National Park Service contributes to knowledge about 

natural and cultural resources and associated values; management decisions 

about resources and visitors are based on adequate scholarly and scientific 

information. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• Ibl. Natural Resource Inventories — Acquire or develop 434 of the 

2,287 outstanding data sets identified in 1997 of basic natural resource 

inventories for all parks. 

• Ib2. Cultural Resource Baselines — The 1997 baseline inventory and 

evaluation of each category of cultural resources is increased by a 

minimum of 5%. 

GOAL CATEGORY II: PROVIDE FOR THE PUBLIC ENJOYMENT 

AND VISITOR EXPERIENCE OF PARKS 

Mission Goal Ha: Visitors safely enjoy and are satisfied with the availability, 

accessibility, diversity, and quality of park facilities, services, and appropriate 

recreational opportunities. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• Hal. Visitor Satisfaction — 80% of park visitors are satisfied with 

appropriate park facilities, services, and recreational opportunities. 

• IIa2. Visitor Safety — Reduce the visitor safety incident rate by 10% 

from the NPS five-year (1992-96) average. 

10 
Mission Goal lib: Park visitors and the general public understand and 

appreciate the preservation of parks and their resources for this and future 

generations. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30,2002: 

• Ilbl. Visitor Understanding and Appreciation — 60% of park visitors 

understand and appreciate the significance of the park they are visiting. 

GOAL CATEGORY III: STRENGTHEN AND PRESERVE NATURAL AND 

CULTURAL RESOURCES AND ENHANCE RECREATIONAL 

OPPORTUNITIES MANAGED BY PARTNERS 

Mission Goal Ilia: Natural and cultural resources are conserved through 

formal partnership programs. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• Dial. Properties Designated — Increase by 15%, over 1997 levels, the 

number of significant historic and archeological properties protected 

through federal programs or official designation at local, state, tribal, or 

national levels. 

• IHa2. Properties Protected — Increase by 20%, over 1997 levels, the 

number of significant historic and archeological properties protected 

nationwide through federal, state, local, or tribal statutory or regulatory 

means, or through financial incentives, or by the private sector. 

• IHa3. User Satisfaction — Achieve a 10% increase in user satisfaction, 

over 1997 levels, with the usefulness of technical assistance provided for 

the protection of historic and archeological properties. 

11 
Mission Goal Illb: Through partnerships with other federal, state, and local 

agencies and nonprofit organizations, a nationwide system of parks, open space, 

rivers, and trails provides educational, recreational, and conservation benefits 

for the American people. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• Illbl. Conservation Assistance — 1,100 additional miles of trails, 1,200 

additional miles of protected river corridors, and 35,000 additional 

acres of parks and open space, from 1997 totals, are conserved with 

NPS partnership assistance. 

• IIIb2. Community Satisfaction — 80% of communities served are 

satisfied with NPS partnership assistance in providing recreational and 

conservation benefits on lands and waters. 

Mission Goal lllc: Assisted through federal funds and programs, the protection 

of recreational opportunities is achieved through formal mechanisms to ensure 

continued access for public recreational use. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30,2002: 

• IIIcl. Recreational Properties — The 40,000 recreational properties, as 

of 1997, assisted by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Urban 

Park and Recreation Recovery Program, and the Federal Lands to 

Parks Program are protected and remain available for public recreation. 

12 
GOAL CATEGORY IV: ENSURE ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS 

Mission Goal IVa: The National Park Service uses current management 

practices, systems, and technologies to accomplish its mission. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30,2002: 

• IVal. Data Systems — 50% of the major NPS data systems are 

integrated/interfaced. 

• IVa2. Employee Competencies — 100% of employees within the 16 key 

occupational groups have essential competency needs identified for 

their positions. 

• IVa3. Employee Performance — 100% of employee performance 

standards are linked to appropriate strategic and annual performance 

goals. 

• IVa4. Workforce Diversity — Increase by 25%, over 1998 levels, the 

representation of underrepresented groups in each of the targeted 

occupational series in the NPS permanent workforce. 

• IVa5. Employee Housing — 35% of employee housing units classified as 

being in poor or fair condition in 1997 have been removed, replaced, or 

upgraded to good condition. 

• IVa6. Employee Safety — Reduce by 50%, from the NPS five-year 

(1992- 96) average, the NPS employee lost time injury rate, and reduce 

the cost of new workers' compensation cases (COP) by 50% based on 

the NPS five-year (1992-96) average. 

• IVa7. Construction Projects — 100% of NPS park construction projects 

identified and funded by September 30,1998, meet 90% of cost, 

schedule, and project goals of each approved project agreement. 

• IVa8. Land Acquisition — The time between the appropriation for land 

acquisition and when the offer is made is reduced by 5%. 

13 
Mission Goal IVb: The National Park Service increases its managerial 

capabilities through initiatives and support from other agencies, organizations, 

and individuals. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30,2002: 

• IVbl. Volunteer Hours — Increase by 10%, over the 1997 level, the 

number of volunteer hours. 

• IVb2. Donations and Grants — Increase by 10%, over 1997 levels, the 

dollar amount of donations and grants. 

• IVb3. Concession Returns — Increase the average return for park 

concession contracts to at least 10% of gross concessioner revenue. 

• IVb4. Fee Receipts — Increase by 20%, over the 1997 level, the amount 

of receipts from park entrance, recreation, and other fees. 

EXPLANATION OF GOAL CATEGORY I: 

PRESERVE PARK RESOURCES 

The mission goals and long-term goals in goal category I are inclusive of the 

mandate in the NPS Organic Act "to conserve the scenery and the natural 

and historic objects and the wild life therein." Subsequent legislation 

reinforced and expanded this authority. All NPS goals that pertain to 

resource preservation in parks and the acquisition of knowledge from and 

about the resources to meet this mandate are appropriate to this category. 

Mission Goal la: Natural and cultural resources and associated values are 

protected, restored, and maintained in good condition and managed within their 

broader ecosystem and cultural context. 

This goal, which encompasses the broad mandate of the NPS Organic Act 

and subsequent legislation, includes the concepts of biological and cultural 

diversity. Broader ecosystem and cultural context includes both natural 

systems and cultural systems that extend beyond the park unit to nearby 

lands. Park cultural context refers to ensuring that park resources are 

14 
preserved and interpreted in relationship to other historical events or 

cultural processes. For park units sharing resource management concerns 

with other countries, broader context includes appropriate international 

cooperation. Special international designations, such as world heritage sites 

and biosphere reserves, are considered part of the broader cultural and/or 

ecological context. 

Long-term goals related to this mission goal include the protection, 

restoration, or maintenance of ecosystems, rare plant and animal 

populations, archeological and ethnographic resources, world heritage sites, 

historic structures and objects, research collections, cultural traditions, and 

subsistence activities — all of which are relevant to the purpose and/or 

significance of the site. Long-term goals that deal with threats to natural or 

cultural landscapes or the perpetuation of wilderness values and scenic 

grandeur also relate to this mission goal, as do goals that seek cooperation 

with neighboring land managers and that promote ecosystem management. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30,2002: 

• Ial. Disturbed Lands / Exotic Species — 5% of targeted disturbed park 

lands, as of 1997, are restored, and 5% of priority targeted disturbances 

are contained. 

Park lands, where natural processes have been significantly altered by 

past land use practices, need to be restored to their natural condition. 

Impacts from such land use practices (including disturbances from 

roads, railroads, dams, mines, and other abandoned sites) directly affect 

other natural resources and can result in severe and persistent changes 

to habitat conditions and ecosystem functions. Successful restoration 

accelerates the recovery of the biological and physical components of 

the ecosystem, including soils, vegetation, and the geomorphic and 

hydrologic setting. Data from the 1996 natural resources management 

assessment program (NR-MAP) indicate that, exclusive of abandoned 

roads, a total of 314,701 acres of physically disturbed land needing 

restoration exists within national park system units. Baseline 

information will include information about the disturbed lands and the 

15 
actions necessary for successful recovery. The associate director for 

natural resource stewardship and science, working with parks with 

disturbed lands, will develop this information, collect it, and report on it 

nationally. 

Exotic or nonnative plant and animal species threaten parks because 

they often replace native species, disrupt natural processes, and 

otherwise destroy natural systems. An estimated 1.5 million park acres 

are infested with exotic plant species. Infestations will be considered 

contained if the targeted species are eliminated or if populations are 

geographically constrained. 

Current budgets do not permit making progress on all species targeted 

for eventual control efforts. Specific acres targeted for containment by 

September 2002 will be identified at the end of FY97 using the 1996 

NR-MAP park profile. Species not included in the 1996 NR-MAP park 

profile updates, or any acreage added to the national park system after 

the goal was established, will not be included in the baseline. A 

reporting system will be established with parks responsible for collecting 

the data for nationwide reporting. The associate director for natural 

resource stewardship and science will monitor and report on progress 

toward this goal. 

Ia2. Threatened and Endangered Species — 25% of the 1997 identified 

park populations of federally listed threatened and endangered species 

with critical habitat on park lands or requiring NPS recovery actions 

have an improved status, and an additional 25% have stable 

populations. 

Threatened and endangered species in the national park system such as 

Kemp's ridley sea-turtle, black-footed ferret, whooping crane, and 

Presidio manzanita are integral to the natural systems the National Park 

Service is charged to protect. Goal Ia2 responds to the NPS Organic Act 

and to the Endangered Species Act, which requires federal agencies to 

develop programs for the conservation of listed species and reflects the 

NPS responsibility to know the condition of its resources. At least 123 

16 
federally listed threatened or endangered species are found in 181 park 

units, with at least 822 park populations of these species. The National 

Park Service is currently developing a database on species occurrence 

and on park-specific actions included in species recovery plans. No 

consolidated data currently exist that indicate the size, condition, or 

stability of each population of listed species on park lands. 

Parks that have federally listed species with recovery plans requiring 

NPS actions will use this performance measure to report on species 

population status. The national index of the percentage of all park 

populations of federally listed species on NPS lands whose population 

trend is either improved or stable will be developed by FY99. The 

associate director for natural resource stewardship and science will 

monitor and report on progress toward this goal. 

Ia3. Air Quality — Air quality in at least 50% of Class I park areas 

improves or does not degrade from 1997 baseline conditions. 

National park units with clean air issues include Grand Canyon 

National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Crater Lake 

National Park. Goal Ia3 responds to the NPS Organic Act and the 

Clean Air Act, which holds the National Park Service responsible for 

protecting park air quality and air quality related values from the 

adverse effects of air pollution. Because park air quality conditions 

result from the cumulative impacts of regional emission sources, the 

National Park Service has limited ability to effect changes in air quality, 

but it does participate in the formulation of federal and state regulatory 

programs and policies that protect park resources. Given the amount of 

time needed to process, validate, and analyze air quality data, reports 

will be for the preceding year. Of the 48 Class I parks, 37 currently 

monitor air quality for visibility, 25 monitor for ozone, and 21 for acid 

rain. These parks will be used to develop the baseline during FY97. The 

associate director for natural resource stewardship and science will 

consolidate and report on this goal. 

17 
Ia4. Water Quality — Reduce by 10%, from 1997 levels, the number of 

days park recreational waters fail to meet state water quality standards 

for swimming. 

Park waters representing nationally significant recreational 

opportunities include rivers, streams, and lakes in both recreational and 

natural units. Many park waters are designated for recreational use, 

including Buffalo National River, Delaware Water Gap National 

Recreation Area, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Park 

recreational waters are closed when they fail to meet state or federal 

water quality standards for swimming. This goal measures the number 

of days each beach in a park is closed, and it is used because a more 

comprehensive water quality goal and measurement is not currently 

feasible. Eventually, this goal will be measured by the number of days 

park waters fail to meet broader applicable state and federal water 

quality standards. Data reported in 1997 will be used to develop the 

baseline. The associate director for natural resource stewardship and 

science will aggregate data reported on this goal. 

Ia5. Historic Structures — 50% of the historic structures on the 1998 

List of Classified Structures are in good condition. 

Park historic structures include Independence Hall, Fort Sumter, log 

cabins, the Statue of Liberty, and the Ship Balclutha, as well as 

prehistoric structures such as Balcony House at Mesa Verde National 

Park. Historic and prehistoric structures and the events surrounding 

them are key park cultural resources, forming the basis for 220 park 

units, and are integral to many other parks. Maintaining these 

structures in good condition responds to the NPS Organic Act, the 

National Historic Preservation Act, and the cultural resource integrity 

of the national park system. 

The List of Classified Structures (LCS) is the primary computerized 

database containing condition information on the estimated 23,000 park 

historic and prehistoric structures. Listed structures are on, or eligible 

for, the National Register of Historic Places, or are otherwise treated as 

18 
cultural resources. As of 1996, data on 18,239 structures in 242 parks 

had been gathered. By the end of 1998 the List of Classified Structures 

will be substantially complete. 

Current LCS data indicate that 45.4% of the inventoried structures are 

in good condition; 54.6% are in poor, fair, or unknown condition. Good 

condition means that the structure and significant features need no 

repair, but only routine or cyclic maintenance. This goal would increase 

the number of structures in good condition, maintain those currently in 

good condition, and continue the present trend in the management of 

these resources. The associate director for cultural resource stewardship 

and partnerships will annually collect data to report on this goal. 

Ia6. Museum Collections — 68% of preservation and protection 

conditions in park museum collections meet professional standards. 

NPS museum collections include objects from prehistoric sandals to 

dinosaur bones to the derringer used to assassinate President Lincoln. 

The preservation and protection of these museum collections is 

essential to the NPS mission. The environmental, security, and fire 

protection conditions necessary to preserve and protect museum objects 

are identified on the NPS "Checklist for Preservation and Protection of 

Museum Collections." The checklist is completed by parks with data 

compiled nationally. Corrected deficiencies will be tracked annually. As 

of 1996, 64% of the conditions on the checklist were met servicewide. 

Any collections added to the NPS inventory after the goal was 

established will not be included in the baseline. This goal continues the 

present trend in the management of these resources. The associate 

director for cultural resource stewardship and partnerships will annually 

collect data to report on this goal. 

Ia7. Cultural Landscapes — 50% of the cultural landscapes on the 

Cultural Landscapes Inventory are in good condition. 

Cultural landscapes range from large rural tracts covering several 

thousand acres, such as the Gettysburg battlefield and the Blue Ridge 

19 
Parkway, to formal gardens of less than two acres, such as Frederick 

Law Olmsted's home and studio. Cultural landscapes provide the 

physical environment associated with historical events and reveal 

aspects of our country's origins and development through their form, 

features, and use. They also illustrate the relationships between park 

cultural and natural resources. 

The Cultural Landscapes Inventory is an evaluated inventory of all park 

landscapes having historical significance. As of 1996, 726 cultural 

landscapes had been inventoried. Based on currently available 

information and the best professional judgment, a target of 50% in 

good condition was established. When the baseline is finalized in 1998, 

the goal may need revision. This goal continues the present trend in the 

management of these resources. The associate director for cultural 

resource stewardship and partnerships will annually collect data to 

report on this goal. 

Ia8. Archeological Sites — 50% of the recorded archeological sites are 

in good condition. 

NPS archeological sites include the Chaco Canyon Prehistoric Road 

System, Mound City Group at Hopewell Culture National Historical 

Park, Jamestown National Historic Site, and the Mississippian Indian 

temple mounds at Ocmulgee National Monument. To preserve 

recorded sites, monitoring is necessary, and additional actions to 

enhance preservation may be required. The condition of the 25,000 

currently recorded archeological sites is reported in the national 

archeological site database, the Archeological Sites Management 

Information System. Currently, condition is reported for 5,400 of the 

recorded sites, with 45% of these reported to be in good condition. 

Good condition, as defined, indicates that the site is not deteriorating 

due to natural processes, such as erosion, or due to human impacts, 

such as vandalism or looting. This goal increases the number of 

recorded archeological sites listed in the 1997 Archeological Sites 

Management Information System that are in good condition. The 

20 
associate director for cultural resource stewardship and partnerships 

will annually collect data to report on this goal. 

Mission Goal lb: The National Park Service contributes to knowledge about 

natural and cultural resources and associated values; management decisions 

about resources and visitors are based on adequate scholarly and scientific 

information. 

The National Park Service has fundamental information needs for making 

decisions about managing natural and cultural resources within the national 

park system. The National Park Service also contributes to scholarly and 

scientific research. To meet this goal, parks must routinely use scholarly and 

scientific research and must consult with park-associated communities. 

Goals that focus on park resource or documentary research and goals that 

link research data to decision making are supported by this mission goal. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• Ibl. Natural Resource Inventories — Acquire or develop 434 of the 

2,287 outstanding data sets identified in 1997 of basic natural resource 

inventories for all parks. 

The preservation of natural resources requires a wide range of 

information. This information is contained in 12 data sets: historical 

database (bibliography); flora and fauna (including threatened and 

endangered species); species distributions; digitized vegetation maps; 

digitized cartographic data; digitized soil maps; digitized geological 

maps; inventory of water bodies and use classifications; water quality 

and basic water chemistry for key water bodies; identification of nearest 

air quality monitoring stations and sources; list of air quality related 

values; and meteorological data. 

The Inventory and Monitoring Program is obtaining 12 basic data sets 

for approximately 250 parks: a total of 3,000 data sets. Of this total, 238 

data sets are vegetation mapping projects funded and administered by 

the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey. The 

21 
National Park Service collects the remaining information (2,762 data 

sets). By FY96, 475 data sets had been acquired, leaving 2,287 data sets 

to be acquired. The associate director for natural resource stewardship 

and science will consolidate and report on this goal. 

Ib2. Cultural Resource Baselines — The 1997 baseline inventory and 

evaluation of each category of cultural resources is increased by a 

minimum of 5%. 

Knowledge about cultural resources and their conditions is crucial to 

managing them well. Cultural resource categories include historic and 

prehistoric structures (List of Classified Structures), museum collections 

(Automated National Catalog System), cultural landscapes (Cultural 

Landscapes Automated Inventory Management System), archeological 

sites (Archeological Sites Management Information System), and 

ethnographic resources (Ethnographic Resources Inventory). A database exists for documenting each category of park cultural resources. 

(The database for ethnographic resources is being planned.) 

By inventorying, evaluating, and describing these resources, the 

National Park Service establishes a basis for resource accountability, 

describes their condition, assesses their significance, and makes 

information on them accessible for research, interpretation, planning, 

and decision making. Each of these inventories is currently at a 

different level of completion, but will increase its listed number of 

resources by at least 5%. This goal continues the present trend in the 

management of these inventories. Data will be provided by park and 

central office staff; database management and reporting will be done by 

the associate director for cultural resource stewardship and 

partnerships. 

22 
EXPLANATION OF GOAL CATEGORY II: PROVIDE FOR THE 

PUBLIC ENJOYMENT AND VISITOR EXPERIENCE OF PARKS 

The mission goals and long-term goals in goal category II are inclusive of the 

mandate in the NPS Organic Act "to provide for the enjoyment of the 

[resources] in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired 

for the enjoyment of future generations." Subsequent legislation reinforced 

and expanded this authority. All NPS goals for visitor satisfaction, 

enjoyment, safety, appreciation, and understanding are appropriate to this 

category. 

Mission Goal Ila: Visitors safely enjoy and are satisfied with the availability, 

accessibility, diversity, and quality of park facilities, services, and appropriate 

recreational opportunities. 

Enjoyment of the parks and their resources is a fundamental part of the 

visitor experience. Visitor enjoyment and safety are affected by the quality of 

park programs, facilities, and services, whether provided by the National 

Park Service, a concessioner, or a contractor. Availability of park facilities, 

services, and recreational opportunities refers to convenient locations and 

times of operation that fit visitors' transportation and schedule needs. In 

accordance with Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards, accessibility for 

special populations refers to their accommodation, where appropriate, when 

visiting federal and concession-operated facilities or when participating in 

authorized recreational activities. Diversity of facilities and services refers to 

a range of appropriate accommodations and recreational opportunities (at 

various prices and levels of expertise and interest) for park visitors seeking a 

range of park experiences. Quality of facilities and services refers to wellpresented, knowledge-based orientation, interpretation, and education. 

Appropriate recreational opportunities are consistent with a park's purpose 

and management and are not harmful to resources or park visitors. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30,2002: 

• Hal. Visitor Satisfaction — 80% of park visitors are satisfied with 

appropriate park facilities, services, and recreational opportunities. 

23 
Park facilities and services include campgrounds, roads and trails, water 

systems, interpretive walks and talks, boat tours, and crime prevention. 

NPS visitor evaluations of park facilities, services, and recreational 

opportunities are important and useful in improving visitor services. 

Visitor feedback about park facilities, services, and programs currently 

comes from visitor surveys (such as those conducted by the Visitor 

Services Project) and other techniques such as focus groups. These 

surveys ask a systematic sampling of visitors to evaluate specific aspects 

of their park visits. The results of visitor feedback methods are used to 

monitor this goal. Visitors rating the quality of the facilities, services, 

and recreational opportunities as "good" and "very good" are defined 

as "satisfied." Data from a sample of parks indicate a current 

satisfaction rate of 77%. Funding for refining this database and 

developing a customer service card has been requested for FY98. 

Collecting the data servicewide is the responsibility of the associate 

director for natural resource stewardship and science. 

IIa2. Visitor Safety — Reduce the visitor safety incident rate by 10% 

from the NPS five-year (1992-96) average. 

More than 270 million recreational visits to units of the national park 

system occurred in FY95. The servicewide incident rate in 1995 was one 

incident per 56,145 visitors, which included 156 visitor fatalities and 

1,188 injuries and/or illnesses. 

Parks will determine their five-year (1992-96) average visitor accident 

rate, based on 100,000 visitor-days, to determine their baseline for their 

10% reduction. Analysis of case incident report files will identify the 

primary sources of accidents and where the greatest improvements in 

visitor safety can be made. The associate director for park operations 

and education will monitor and report on progress toward this goal. 

24 
Mission Goal lib: Park visitors and the general public understand and 

appreciate the preservation of parks and their resources for this and future 

generations. 

Visitors' park experiences grow from enjoying the park and its resources to 

understanding why the park exists and the significance of its resources. 

Satisfactory visitor experiences build public support for preserving this 

country's heritage as contained in the parks. Support for parks also comes 

through recognition by international program designations such as world 

heritage site and biosphere reserve. Long-term goals related to learning and 

understanding park and resource purpose and significance relate to this 

mission goal. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• Ilbl. Visitor Understanding and Appreciation — 60% of park visitors 

understand and appreciate the significance of the park they are visiting. 

Visitors' park experiences grow from enjoying the park and its resources 

to understanding why the park exists and the significance of its 

resources. Information, orientation, interpretation, and education are 

park activities that help visitors discover the most significant meanings 

to them in the park and that help them make connections between 

tangible natural and cultural resources and the intangible values that 

reside within the resources. 

Using an annual statistical report, the National Park Service currently 

assesses the number of visitors participating in interpretive 

opportunities. An NPS baseline that will measure the percentage of 

visitors who actually learn and benefit from visitor services is being 

developed. A baseline indicator will be established though the visitor 

services studies currently on hand, and eventually through the further 

use of assessment tools such as that described in the Assessing Parks As 

Classrooms, Self-Critique: A Tool for Evaluating Interpretive Services, as 

well as the customer evaluation card program and focus groups. Based 

on currently available information and best professional judgment, the 

25 
target of 60% understanding and appreciating park significance was 

developed. An adequate sample size (baseline) must be surveyed first. 

When the baseline is finalized, this goal may need revision. Funding for 

establishing the baseline is needed. The associate director for park 

operations and education collects and compiles the data. 

Explanation of Goal Category III: Strengthen and Preserve Natural and 

Cultural Resources and Enhance Recreational Opportunities Managed by 

Partners 

This goal category focuses on the various preservation and recreation 

programs that the National Park Service manages with its many partners. 

Natural and cultural resources include properties listed on the National 

Register of Historic Places, wild and scenic rivers, national trails, national 

landmarks, and heritage and recreation areas. Generally not within the 

boundaries of national park units, these resources are not directly managed 

by the National Park Service. They are, however, supported by the National 

Park Service through legislated formal partnership programs and federal 

funding. 

Almost since the very beginning of the National Park Service, parks have 

been involved in partnerships — first with the cooperating associations 

started by Stephen Mather, and then with concessioners, local groups, 

national environmental groups, and a variety of educational organizations. 

Goals related to these kinds of partnerships should be linked to either goal 

category I or II, depending on their emphases. 

Goal category III specifically refers to the partnership programs legislated 

under the National Historic Preservation Act, the Historic Sites Act, the 

Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, 

and others. These programs in historic preservation, conservation, and 

recreation help the National Park Service fulfill its mission. Although these 

programs generally focus on partners external to the National Park Service, 

parks working with them and the tools they provide will strengthen both the 

National Park Service's protection of in-park resources and its ability to 

protect resources outside (but often related to) parks. The approaches these 

26 
partnership programs have developed during the past 30 years, including 

financial, regulatory, technical assistance, as well as planning tools, can help 

parks by working with others to better protect the environment external to 

park boundaries — an environment that very directly affects each park. Park 

resources are often linked with other cultural and natural resources outside 

the parks. Parks have certain responsibilities outside their boundaries to the 

resources in their areas, whether by providing national historic landmarks 

with needed condition assessments or through planning efforts that include 

the larger communities. Having parks more involved in these partnership 

programs with their surrounding communities will strengthen both. 

Mission Goal Ilia: Natural and cultural resources are conserved through 

formal partnership programs. 

Natural and cultural resources conserved through partnerships include 

affiliated areas and programs such as Chimney Rock National Historic Site, 

Pinelands National Preserve, South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task 

Force, and more than 67,000 resources listed on the National Register of 

Historic Places. The National Archeology and Historic Preservation 

Program includes designated resources within the units and programs of the 

National Park Service plus partnerships with over 60 other federal agencies, 

59 states and territories (especially with state historic preservation offices 

and state liaison offices), more than 1,000 local governments, over 300 (of 

the more than 800) Indian tribes, foreign governments, private 

organizations, friends groups, and academic institutions, as well as the 

general public. All of these groups contribute to achieving this goal. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30,2002: 

• IHal. Properties Designated — Increase by 15%, over 1997 levels, the 

number of significant historic and archeological properties protected 

through federal programs or official designation at local, state, tribal, or 

national levels. 

The identification, evaluation, and designation of historic and 

archeological properties (districts, buildings, structures, sites, or objects) 

27 
are statutory requirements for federal, state, and local government 

participants in the National Archeology and Historic Preservation 

Program. Designation of a historic or archeological property is the 

official (federal, state, or local) governmental listing of a property 

whose historical significance has been determined. 

At every level of government, the designation of a property (for 

example, in the National Register of Historic Places at the federal level) 

often makes the property eligible for various historic preservation 

incentives; reduces inadvertent or deliberate damage to, or destruction 

of, the property; and is used by courts to support legal decisions 

protecting the property. Information about designated properties helps 

determine the impacts of proposed actions on historic and archeological 

properties and helps minimize adverse impacts on them. 

Information for tracking this goal will be collected from NPS program 

records and from state, local, and federal partners' annual reports or 

questionnaires, and it will be consolidated by the associate director for 

cultural resource stewardship and partnerships. The projected increase 

in the number of properties designated will be accomplished by the 

National Park Service and its federal, state, and local partners who 

collect property information, evaluate the significance, and designate 

historic and archeological properties. 

IIIa2. Properties Protected — Increase by 20%, over 1997 levels, the 

number of significant historic and archeological properties protected 

nationwide through federal, state, local, or tribal statutory or regulatory 

means, or through financial incentives, or by the private sector. 

Significant historic and archeological properties are not renewable 

resources. If not protected, they are lost forever. Protection of a historic 

or archeological property means that the elements of the property that 

make it significant are maintained or that damage to, or destruction of, 

the property's significant elements is avoided or minimized. A property 

can be protected by law or regulation, or because its owner has acted to 

28 
protect it using various incentives such as easements, grants, or tax 

credits. 

As of October 1,1997, more than 1 million properties have been 

protected. This goal measures the number of historic and archeological 

properties protected at federal, state, local, or tribal levels. The 

projected increase in the number of properties protected will be 

accomplished by the National Park Service and its federal, state, tribal, 

or local partners who collect property information, evaluate the 

significance, and designate and protect historic and archeological 

properties. Data on this goal will be collected from NPS program 

records and annual reports or questionnaires from federal, state, tribal, 

and local partners and consolidated by the associate director for 

cultural resource stewardship and partnerships. 

IIIa3. User Satisfaction — Achieve a 10% increase in user satisfaction, 

over 1997 levels, with the usefulness of technical assistance provided for 

the protection of historic and archeological properties. 

By law and expertise, the National Park Service is a major provider of 

archeological and historic preservation technical training, education, 

and assistance to governmental partners, the general public, and the 

international conservation community. Inadequate information leads to 

otherwise avoidable but irretrievable loss of significant historic and 

archeological resources. 

Useful information helps a requester/user deal with a preservation 

issue. Technical assistance provides knowledge on the background, 

meaning, operations, or implications of some aspect of the National 

Archeology and Historic Preservation Program. Technical assistance 

includes guidance on repointing masonry structures, window 

replacement, and photographic research. While some data exist on 

customer use of technical assistance, baseline measures of the 

usefulness of assistance will be developed in FY98 by the cultural 

resource programs that provide technical assistance. A survey 

instrument will be used to measure this goal, with data consolidated 

andmaintained by the associate director for cultural resource 

stewardship and partnerships. 

29 
Mission Goal Illb: Through partnerships with other federal, state, and local 

agencies and nonprofit organizations, a nationwide system of parks, open space, 

rivers, and trails provides educational, recreational, and conservation benefits 

for the American people. 

Some partnership programs assist state and local governments and nonprofit 

organizations in protecting conservation areas and providing recreational 

opportunities. Assistance includes financial and technical assistance, as well 

as coordination of federal assistance. Long-term goals that assist state or 

local governments to develop appropriate recreational and conservation 

opportunities relate to this mission goal. 

The following long-term goals typically relate only to recreational 

opportunities external to the national park system. These goals address the 

assistance provided through formal partnerships with other federal, state, 

and local governments, as well as with Indian tribes, foreign governments, 

and private organizations and individuals. These partnerships are intended 

to assist others in meeting the acute shortage of outdoor opportunities 

available to Americans in their close-to-home environments. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• Illbl. Conservation Assistance — 1,100 additional miles of trails, 1,200 

additional miles of protected river corridors, and 35,000 additional 

acres of parks and open space, from 1997 totals, are conserved with 

NPS partnership assistance. 

Since 1958, assessments of American outdoor recreational needs and 

opportunities have identified major shortages of parks, open space, 

trails, and protected waterways. Most inadequate are close-to-home 

outdoor opportunities. The National Park Service provides technical 

assistance to states, communities, and nonprofit organizations so they 

can protect more of these resources and provide improved local 

recreational opportunities. Projects are selected for maximum 

community impact, strong public involvement and local support, and 

the high likelihood that NPS technical assistance will result in the 

30 
protection of significant resources and the enhancement of recreational 

opportunities. 

NPS partnership programs provide technical assistance at the initial 

stages of project conceptualization and planning. On-the-ground results 

are not evident until several years after NPS involvement ends. Progress 

toward this goal is measured five years after active NPS assistance ends 

on each project. Field staff review the project and record the resulting 

new miles of trails, protected riverways, or additional acres of protected 

greenspace. All net increments of miles and acres indicate progress 

toward the goal. The associate director for cultural resource 

stewardship and partnerships uses a database to track these measures. 

Suitable national baseline inventories of these resources are not 

currently available, but will be developed in cooperation with the U.S. 

Forest Service. 

11 lb2. Community Satisfaction — 80% of communities served are 

satisfied with NPS partnership assistance in providing recreational and 

conservation benefits on lands and waters. 

The National Park Service provides technical assistance to states, 

communities, and nonprofit organizations to help them protect 

significant land and water resources and provide more local recreational 

opportunities. Achievement of on-the-ground results depends on the 

actions of partner groups and other local interests. In many cases these 

needed actions will not take place unless technical assistance services 

provided by the National Park Service are considered satisfactory. 

Progress toward this goal is measured during the routine project 

closeout process. Key community participants evaluate the quality of 

the technical assistance services provided. These project evaluations 

measure community satisfaction. The associate director for cultural 

resource stewardship and partnerships will prepare national summaries 

and maintain a national technical assistance project database to track 

this goal. 

31 
Mission Goal IIlc: Assisted through federal funds and programs, the protection 

of recreational opportunities is achieved through formal mechanisms to ensure 

continued access for public recreational use. 

Partnership programs, such as grants from the Land and Water 

Conservation Fund, the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program, and 

the Federal Lands to Parks Program, use formal legal mechanisms, as well as 

less formal assistance, to protect recreational opportunities. These three 

programs have provided millions of acres and invested billions of federal 

matching dollars in state and local parks. Under these programs the 

National Park Service and its state or local grantees have contractual 

obligations to prevent unauthorized conversions of lands from agreed-upon 

conservation and recreational uses. This mission goal relates to protection 

and monitoring of sites assisted under these three programs. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30,2002: 

• IIIcl. Recreational Properties — The 40,000 recreational properties, as 

of 1997, assisted by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Urban 

Park and Recreation Recovery Program, and the Federal Lands to 

Parks Program are protected and remain available for public recreation. 

The state matching grant program from the Land and Water 

Conservation Fund has significantly expanded America's outdoor 

recreational estate during the past 30 years. For the past 19 years the 

Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program has had a major positive 

impact on recreational facilities and opportunities in America's cities. 

Together these programs have funded more than 38,500 parkland 

acquisition, development, and rehabilitation projects in nearly every 

county and major city in the United States. Since 1949, the Federal 

Lands to Parks Program has transferred nearly 1,300 surplus federal 

real properties (more than 144,000 acres) to states, territories, and 

communities for recreation and conservation purposes. 

This long-term conservation goal uses regular inspections and other 

monitoring methods to identify protected sites diverted — or in danger 

32 
of being diverted — from public recreational use. Applying various 

tools, including assistance and regulatory and legal remedies, usually 

results in replacement-in-kind for diverted recreational lands and 

facilities. The data on sites, those sites at risk, and replacement sites are 

maintained in current comprehensive databases. The absence of net 

losses from these resource inventories indicate that this goal is being 

met. The associate director for cultural resource stewardship and 

partnerships is responsible for reporting progress on this goal. 

EXPLANATION OF GOAL CATEGORY IV: 

ENSURE ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS 

The mission goals and long-term goals in goal category IV support the 

mission of the National Park Service. This category generally relates to 

efficient and effective governmental processes rather than to the results of 

those processes. These goals measure workplace standards, such as diversity 

and competency levels, as well as program execution efficiencies, such as the 

accuracy of construction cost estimates. 

Mission Goal IVa: The National Park Service uses current management 

practices, systems, and technologies to accomplish its mission. 

To become more responsive, efficient, and accountable, the National Park 

Service must integrate its planning, management, accounting, reporting, and 

other information resource systems. Integrating or interfacing these systems 

will provide better cross-communication during daily operations and help 

the National Park Service develop required annual performance plans in 

compliance with the Government Performance and Results Act. Modern 

electronic technology makes it possible to integrate/interface these systems 

among the park units, central offices, and program centers. Improvements in 

the areas of workforce diversity, employee safety, employee housing, and 

employee performance standards will help the National Park Service 

accomplish its mission. Long-term goals pertaining to organizational 

responsiveness, efficiency, and accountability are related to this mission goal. 

33 
Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• IVal. Data Systems — 50% of the major NPS data systems are 

integrated/interfaced. 

The National Park Service is an organizationally decentralized agency 

that has complex data requirements. Integrating and interfacing systems 

will provide access to a broader range of current and accurate data for 

planning and operational purposes in a more timely and cost-effective 

manner to improve employee effectiveness. A major data system for this 

goal is a servicewide or departmental system. Integrated is defined as 

the ability to crosswalk between major data systems in a seamless 

manner for the user to conduct data analysis and generate reports. 

Interfaced is defined as the ability to input, query, and move data 

between major data systems without having to input that data more 

than once. 

The National Park Service will develop a shared data environment 

where interfaces can be created through current data management 

technology by establishing connectivity to all field locations. Software 

applications and enhancements (both custom developed and off-theshelf) should begin to create a shared data environment for efficient 

data flow and interface capability to reduce duplicate data entry. 

The associate director for administration (Administrative Program 

Center, Denver) will coordinate this goal with the associate director for 

professional services by communicating with database owners and 

serving as a clearinghouse for reporting on the progress. Currently, 

none of the NPS major data systems are integrated/interfaced. 

• IVa2. Employee Competencies — 100% of employees within the 16 key 

occupational groups have essential competency needs identified for 

their positions. 

The National Park Service has 16 key occupational groups (career 

fields) ranging from administration and office management support, to 

34 
maintenance, to visitor use management, with essential competencies 

identified for each. An essential competency is a knowledge, skill, or 

ability vital for an employee to perform effectively at his or her level in a 

career field. Employees and their supervisors will identify missing or 

inadequate competencies and define the training and development 

program needs using the NPS Career Planning and Tracking Kit. 

Measurement of this goal will be through employee surveys, with the 

data collected by the associate director for administration. 

IVa3. Employee Performance — 100% of employees' performance 

standards are linked to appropriate strategic and annual performance 

goals. 

The National Park Service has required individual performance plans 

for all employees. Past performance plans have been task statements 

emphasizing individual outputs rather than individual contributions to 

the overall NPS mission or organizational outcomes. This goal directly 

ties individual performance goals to organizational outcomes. The 

National Park Service will first develop performance standards 

incorporating the Strategic Plan results for its senior executives and 

managers, then expand the process to include performance standards 

for supervisors and individual employees. 

This goal will be measured annually by supervisors/managers certifying 

that performance plans are related to organizational goals set forth in 

the unit's strategic plan, by random sample reviews of individual performance plans, and/or by an employee survey instrument that assesses 

how much employees understand that their work contributes to the 

successful accomplishment of the organizational mission. Information 

will be collected by the associate director for administration for 

servicewide reporting. 

IVa4. Workforce Diversity — Increase by 25%, over 1998 levels, the 

representation of underrepresented groups in each of the targeted 

occupational series in the NPS permanent workforce. 

35 
The National Park Service workforce does not reflect the 

representation of minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities as 

identified by the civilian labor force figures in certain occupational 

series. In many occupations, minorities, women, and individuals with 

disabilities are severely underrepresented, and separation rates for 

these groups are often higher than, or equal to, the rate at which the 

National Park Service hires them. The National Park Service is 

committed to increasing diversity in its workforce, and it will recruit and 

hire minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities in all 

occupational series, but particularly in targeted occupations and grade 

levels where they are underrepresented to achieve consistency with their 

percentages of representation in the civilian labor force. 

Managers at all levels of the organization will be held accountable for 

decreasing underrepresentation and increasing diversity based on their 

opportunities to recruit and hire employees at various grade levels 

throughout the organization. The National Park Service will 

concentrate on those occupational series with populations of 100 or 

more employees where one or more of the designated groups (white 

females, black males and females, Hispanic males and females, Asian 

American males and females, Pacific Islander males and females, 

American Indian males and females, and Alaska Native males and 

females) are underrepresented. The targeted occupations for the 

National Park Service will be listed in a diversity plan. Regions will 

concentrate their efforts on the targeted occupations identified in the 

diversity plan and contribute to this servicewide long-term goal based 

on their opportunities to fill vacancies with qualified minority 

candidates. Supervisors and managers will be skillful through 

educational initiatives in managing a diverse workforce in order to 

increase retention rates. Information on this goal will be collected by 

the Equal Employment Opportunity program manager for servicewide 

reporting. 

IVa5. Employee Housing — 35% of employee housing units classified as 

being in poor or fair condition in 1997 have been removed, replaced, or 

upgraded to good condition. 

36 
The National Park Service has historically provided employee housing 

in remote locations or other places where it is beneficial to the 

government. While the housing initiative has improved the living 

conditions in many parks, the National Park Service is committed to 

improving its employee housing situation. Based on current inventory 

information, nearly one-third (approximately 1,800 of 5,100) of NPS 

housing units are in poor or fair condition and more than 400 trailers 

remain in use. 

Formal assessments of conditions and needs beginning in FY97 will 

document baseline conditions, determine the extent of work needed, 

and propose corrective actions. With level funding over the next five 

years, the National Park Service anticipates replacing approximately 

half (200) of the remaining trailers, upgrading nearly 300 housing units 

in fair or poor condition, and removing up to 200 excess housing units. 

Parks will report improvements of housing conditions to the associate 

director for park operations and education, who will monitor and report 

on progress in meeting this goal. 

IVa6. Employee Safety — Reduce by 50%, from the NPS five-year 

(1992-96) average, the NPS employee lost-time injury rate, and reduce 

the cost of new workers' compensation cases (COP) by 50% based on 

the NPS five-year (1992-96) average. 

The National Park Service has the worst safety record in the 

Department of Interior and one of the worst in the federal government. 

Each year the National Park Service temporarily loses approximately 

6% of its employees due to work-related injuries and illnesses that take 

them off the job for more than one day — the lost-time injury rate. The 

Occupational Safety and Health Administration's FY95 annual average 

for federal employee accidents (number of lost-time accidents per 100 

employees) was 2.83. The National Park Service's annual average for 

the same period was 6.46. As a baseline, each park should determine its 

five-year (1992-96) average employee lost-time injury rate and its 

causes to reduce that rate. According to a 1995 analysis conducted by 

37 
the National Safety Council and the National Park Service, unsafe work 

practices account for approximately 90% of NPS employee accidents. 

The National Park Service has historically made insufficient efforts to 

bring newly injured employees (new cases) back to work, leaving 

employees on continuation of pay (COP). The NPS FY96 billing of $14 

million for new cases provides the baseline for this servicewide longterm goal. All parks and offices will determine a five-year (1992-96) 

average cost of new workers' compensation cases to establish their 

baseline, and they will reduce those costs by 50% using the 1997 NPS 

Workers' Compensation Case Management Guideline. Collecting 

information from these two data sets will be a regional responsibility; 

monitoring of the data will be conducted by the associate director for 

park operations and education. 

rVa7. Construction Projects — 100% of NPS park construction projects 

identified and funded by September 30, 1998, meet 90% of cost, 

schedule, and project goals of each approved project agreement. 

The NPS construction program covers historic preservation, 

rehabilitation (restoration of Independence Hall and rehabilitation of 

utility systems), and new construction projects (sewage treatment 

facilities at Amistad National Recreation Area). Most Federal Lands 

Highway Program dollars are devoted to the rehabilitation and 

reconstruction of roads and bridges (Yellowstone National Park road 

system). This goal measures the percent of construction projects 

completed within the allocated funding amount, project schedule, and 

stated project goals, measuring accuracy in estimating needs and the 

time required to design and build facilities. Project agreements or 

equivalent documents that state funding, project goals, and schedules 

will provide baseline data and will link the construction program to the 

requirements of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) of 

1994. Amendments to project agreements record conditions and 

influences that modify project goals. 

38 
Data will be collected and monitored by parks and others receiving lineitem construction funding. The associate director for professional 

services will consolidate data from all projects. Denver Service Center 

projects completed beginning October 1,1999, will be measured and 

serve as the Denver Service Center's portion of the NPS database. 

• IVa8. Land Acquisition — The time between the appropriation for land 

acquisition and when the offer is made is reduced by 5%. 

The land acquisition process consists of several activities, including 

determining ownership, boundary surveying, mapping, appraisal, title 

services, hazardous materials surveys, negotiations, and closing services. 

The amount of time to accomplish these activities affects how quickly 

the National Park Service can protect resources. This goal addresses the 

amount of time needed to accomplish these activities and supports a 

more efficient land acquisition process for greater protection of 

resources. 

Mission Goal IVb: The National Park Service increases its managerial 

capabilities through initiatives and support from other agencies, organizations, 

and individuals. 

The National Park Service will pursue maximum public benefit through 

contracts, cooperative agreements, contributions, and other alternative 

approaches to support park operations and partnership programs. Partners 

include nongovernment organizations such as friends groups, foundations, 

cooperating associations, and concessioners, as well as federal, state, and 

local government organizations that already assist NPS managerial ability 

through partnerships and cooperative agreements. Long-term goals that deal 

with park management strategies and funding sources carried out in 

cooperation with other government and nongovernment organizations and 

private donors relate to this mission goal. 

Long-term Goals to be Achieved by September 30, 2002: 

• IVbl. Volunteer Hours — Increase by 10%, over the 1997 level, the 

number of volunteer hours. 

39 
Park volunteers provide various kinds of assistance from maintenance 

and interpretation to administration and collection management. The 

National Park Service Volunteers in Parks (VIP) program, authorized 

in 1970, allows the National Park Service to accept and use voluntary 

help in ways mutually beneficial to the parks and the volunteers. 

Government downsizing has increased the demand for additional 

volunteers and funding. In 1996, 89,000 people volunteered; at the 

current rate of growth the program will use 100,000 volunteers annually 

by 2000. 

Every $1.5 million in NPS VIP funds generates a $45 million value in 

volunteer hours. The 1996 volunteers contributed 3.5 million hours of 

service, valued at $44.9 million. In 1997 Congress increased the VIP 

program funding cap to $2.6 million, but no additional funds were 

provided. Funding for 1997 was $1.6 million. For 1998 the National 

Park Service is requesting a $981,000 increase to recruit, train, and 

provide uniforms for volunteers and to reimburse their minor expenses. 

This goal will be tracked through the annual VIP Report completed by 

all participating parks and will be compiled by the associate director for 

park operations and education. 

IVb2. Donations and Grants — Increase by 10%, over 1997 levels, the 

dollar amount of donations and grants. 

NPS partnerships date from 1920 with the first cooperating association 

in Yosemite. Partnerships with cooperating associations that sell books 

and other educational materials in parks, friends groups, the National 

Park Foundation, service organizations, universities, corporations, and 

individuals benefit the parks. With cooperating associations, the 

increase of 10% over the baseline figure of $16 million (1997) on a 

national level will produce increased park services and projects in 

interpretation, education, and research. This goal will enhance the 

ability of the National Park Service to operate the parks. Measurement 

of this servicewide goal will be conducted by the associate director for 

park operations and education and the associate director for cultural 

resource stewardship and partnerships. 

40 
IVb3. Concessions Returns — Increase the average return for park 

concession contracts to at least 10% of gross concessioner revenue. 

Park concessions provide a variety of services for visitors, including 

hotel rooms, gas stations, meals, and merchandise. The average return 

for park concession contracts includes franchise fees and building use 

fees, which are sent to the U.S. Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. 

Other returns are the improvement account requirements for park 

concession improvements (which become government assets and for 

which the concessioner receives no possessory interest) and 

extinguishment of possessory interest (a future potential liability to the 

government or impediment to contract competition). 

The return to the government has increased from 3.5% in 1992 to an 

estimated 6.7% in 1996, based on fee reconsiderations required by 

contracts every five years and renewed contracts with new fee 

provisions. The projected increase to 10% by 2002 is based on 

additional contracts with increased returns to the government that have 

been renewed through 2001. Data collection will be conducted by the 

parks, with tracking and analysis servicewide conducted by the associate 

director for park operations and education. 

IVb4. Fee Receipts — Increase by 20%, over the 1997 level, the amount 

of receipts from park entrance, recreation, and other fees. 

The National Park Service currently collects approximately $80 million 

annually using the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Recreation 

Fee Demonstration Program, a three-year demonstration program 

beginning in 1997, allows the National Park Service to raise existing fees 

and to charge new fees for recreational activities. NPS increased fee 

collections from this program are estimated at $50 million annually. If 

the National Park Service loses the Recreation Fee Demonstration 

Program authority after 1999, this servicewide long-term goal will have 

to be readjusted. Data collection will be conducted by the parks, with 

tracking and analysis servicewide conducted by the associate director for 

park operations and education. 

41 

[gey External Factors 

The National Park Service faces numerous challenges associated with 

resource preservation, visitation, operations, and budget. These challenges 

must be faced and addressed to achieve the NPS mission and goals. The 

following essays provide a background for understanding some of the 

complex problems the National Park Service faces. While not inclusive of all 

the factors, external or internal, that will affect the National Park Service's 

accomplishment of its long-term goals, the breadth of topics is 

representative. 

These essays may be read as background statements on NPS management 

issues. They do, however, contain statements about possible emphases, 

initiatives, or actions that the National Park Service may decide to respond 

to in certain situations. These statements are not approved NPS proposals, 

but are possible ways the service and its partners could cooperate toward 

achieving some of these goals. 

Three external factors that could affect NPS management of parks and 

programs to the extent that this Strategic Plan would have to be modified are 

discussed below. 

Natural Processes and Disasters 

Because much of what the National Park Service does is related to nature 

and natural processes, unanticipated natural events may have significant 

impacts on the agency's ability to meet its goals. Severe weather extremes 

may cause droughts or floods that could dramatically change the condition 

of the lands and waters under NPS care. Natural disasters, such as 

hurricanes and wildland fires, may significantly affect landscapes, plant and 

animal populations, and cultural resources like historic structures. The 

National Park Service's long-term goals could be achieved within the normal 

fluctuations of nature, but more severe occurrences would affect the 

agency's ability to meet its goals. 

43 
Cost Considerations 

The National Park Service is a field-oriented agency with a large portion of 

its resources dedicated to managing natural resources and providing visitor 

and management services in remote locations. If the cost of providing these 

services rises at rates significantly greater than appropriations, due to 

unforeseen increases in energy, transportation, labor, or other like costs, 

then adjustments to the goals in this plan may be necessary. 

Political and Legislative Factors 

Achievement of these long-term goals assumes a relatively constant 

workload and a modest extrapolation (steady constant dollars) of funds. 

Increased responsibilities, particularly the addition of park units and 

program responsibilities, without additional funding for appropriate 

management would require reprogramming existing resources from ongoing 

operations. Significant new legislation affecting NPS responsibilities would 

have to be examined relative to its potential effects on the achievement of 

the goals in this plan. Significant increases or decreases in program 

responsibility under law would require related changes to this plan. 

44 
Mlhe Role of the National Park Service in 

Preserving America's Legacy of Natural 

and Cultural Resources 

When the first forest reserves and national parks were being established in 

the 1800s, few Americans were concerned about the impact of progress on 

the nation's spectacular natural resources. To meet the American 

population's ever-growing needs, forests were logged, mountains were 

mined, and rivers were dammed. In once wild areas, people greatly altered 

vegetation and displaced or reduced animal populations, eliminating some 

species altogether. 

Since then, trains, automobiles, and airplanes have made it easy and 

desirable for people to visit national parks and other scenic and historic 

areas. Easy access has created a complicated challenge: how to adequately 

protect and preserve park and heritage resources while providing safe and 

enjoyable experiences for the public and visitors. Also, the responsibilities 

and complexities of managing the national park system have expanded. Easy 

access and commercially desirable resources, combined with a limited ranger 

force, have resulted in increased resource crimes, including poaching and 

archeological pothunting, which often go undetected until too late. 

The National Park Service must strive to further protect and preserve our 

nation's natural and cultural resources, the legacy left for us from the 

conservation successes of previous generations. This effort should not come 

solely from the concerns of citizens or groups within the National Park 

Service. Public support of all environmental and cultural laws must be 

reflected in budget and staffing allocations. Public support for governmental 

natural area protection, cultural preservation, and outdoor recreation 

programs cannot be taken for granted. 

45 
Q h e National Park Service and American 

Communities: Partners in Conservation 

and Recreation 

The public generally knows the National Park Service as a collection of 

parks — the 375 places where visitors can hike majestic mountain trails, 

explore Civil War battlefields, or appreciate Thomas Edison's inventions. 

But the work of the National Park Service extends far beyond park 

boundaries. For many decades, starting in the mid-1930s, the National Park 

Service has had broad authority to extend its expertise and support to 

communities throughout the nation, regardless of their proximity to parks 

units. The skills needed to protect the parks should also be available to 

communities seeking to protect their treasured cultural and natural 

resources. They are all parts of this nation's heritage. 

The National Park Service collaborates with other federal agencies, states, 

tribes, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and commercial 

enterprises in carrying out this work. Through the National Register of 

Historic Places, the national historic landmarks program, Historic 

Preservation Fund grants, the tribal historic preservation program, the 

archeology and ethnography program, the Historic American Buildings 

Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, and the national natural 

landmarks program, the National Park Service bolsters community 

preservation efforts nationwide. The preservation tax credit program alone 

has leveraged billions in private investment, restoring more than 26,000 

historic buildings. 

Since 1964, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has provided more than 

$3.2 billion to assist over 37,000 parks and recreation facilities through its 

50/50 matching grants to states. Similarly, the Federal Lands to Parks 

Program has recycled more than 1,200 "surplus" federal properties into 

locally managed parks, open space, and recreation facilities. The Rivers, 

Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program has responded to more than 

500 requests for help with locally developed conservation and recreation 

projects over 10 years by providing technical assistance. Other NPS 

partnership programs help communities conserve their resources and 

enhance outdoor recreational opportunities. Matching grants through state 

governments to local communities fund the acquisition, development, and 

rehabilitation of recreation and conservation sites. A new kind of NPS 

partnership with other governmental agencies and the private sector, the 

46 
Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Initiative, also promises to 

enhance the quality of life in urban and rural areas. The National Park 

Service works jointly with Job Corps, AmeriCorps, and similar state and 

local programs that benefit both people and environments in need of help. 

More than 500 Student Conservation Association volunteers work in the 

national parks and program offices each year. The National Park Service 

also plays a critical leadership role in partnerships that cross federal agency 

lines. Together, these efforts benefit American communities in the pursuit of 

livability, revitalization, and sustainability. 

47 
[partnerships: An Essential Ingredient 

Key to the National Park Service's success are its partnerships, which both 

extend NPS ethics and provide mutually beneficial support. The National 

Park Service actively participates in two different kinds of partnerships: (1) 

formal, legally mandated partnership programs in historic preservation and 

resource conservation and (2) park-oriented partnerships of varying degrees 

of formality. Partnership programs established by law (National Historic 

Preservation Act, Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, Wild and Scenic 

Rivers Act, National Trails System Act, Outdoor Recreation Act) offer 

various ways for the National Park Service to help in conservation, 

recreation, and preservation by providing community-based technical 

expertise and financial assistance. 

Park-oriented partnerships, active for many decades, are becoming 

increasingly important as appropriations continue to inadequately cover 

funding needs. Increasingly, local governments and community groups are 

partners in cooperative planning efforts and resource protection. Because 

many of these partners want park resources to be protected to the highest 

standards, they are strong defenders against those who would exploit parks 

for their personal gains. As undeveloped lands decrease in this country, 

parks and their resources will become increasingly rare and valuable, making 

their protection that much more important. Principled, defensible decisions 

that place resource protection first, and partnerships that support park 

missions, are essential to winning and keeping public confidence and 

support, deflecting political pressures, and increasing the National Park 

Service's ability to accomplish its mission. 

Strong partnerships also make possible other NPS programs. Examples of 

such partnerships abound. The National Register of Historic Places now lists 

67,000 properties nationwide. Tax credits for such properties have leveraged 

$17 billion in preservation expenditures. More than 150 wild and scenic river 

segments conserve key free-flowing waterways. Twenty national scenic and 

historic trails, and more than 800 national recreation trails, mark and 

commemorate many famous pathways. Recently, national heritage areas 

have been designated by Congress as locally driven partnerships that 

conserve resources. NPS programs assist state and local governments and 

grassroots groups in protecting resources and making them available to the 

48 
public, as appropriate. These programs, which extend the NPS conservation 

ethic, broadly move beyond traditional park boundaries to help conserve 

structures, lands, and waters neither owned nor managed federally. At the 

same time, as land use issues become more complex, these programs 

simultaneously provide a framework for national park system units to work 

with adjacent landowners. 

The National Park Service continues to improve its ability to form effective 

partnerships, building on shared values and common goals. Relying on 

partnerships, whether formal partnership programs or park-oriented 

partnerships, to accomplish the mission of the National Park Service 

involves the special challenge of addressing and meeting NPS and partners' 

critical needs at the same time. 

49 
•Bhe NPS Role in American Education: 

Real Perspectives from Real Places 

As early as 1906, Congress in the Antiquities Act recognized the 

government's role of using public lands to increase public knowledge. The 

National Park Service's first director, Stephen T. Mather, believed that "one 

of the chief functions of national parks and monuments is to serve 

educational purposes." 

The Historic Sites Act of 1935 explicitly directed the National Park Service 

to "develop an educational program and service." The national park system 

has been called the nation's greatest university without walls. While the 

National Park Service has long recognized its educational role, education is 

now receiving increased prominence. The National Park Service has an 

obligation to the American people to share its natural laboratories and 

historic objects — to use its parks as classrooms. Helping people understand 

the complexity of the land and its history will support the fundamental 

mission of the National Park Service and increase support for the 

preservation of parks and their resources. 

Opportunities and methods for increasing public understanding using the 

resources of the national park system are truly bountiful. These authentic 

resources — the ancient masonry walls at Hovenweep, the Kemp's Ridley 

sea turtles at Padre Island, the loons at Voyageurs, the moose heads at 

Theodore Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill, the goat herd at Carl Sandburg, the 

Russian Bishop's home at Sitka, the Grand Canyon, and the Statue of 

Liberty — all help us understand this nation's diverse natural and cultural 

resources. Such education is resource-based within the appropriate 

ecosystem or cultural context. While education is site-specific, relating 

directly to the resources, it must also relate to systemwide themes. Habitat 

management must be taught within the larger context of ecosystems; the 

history of battles must be taught and understood within the larger societal 

context of wars. Improving the National Park Service's educational success 

requires a changed attitude, one mindful of the educational importance of 

parks and partnership programs and their resources to the public and their 

everyday lives. A changed attitude also means increased outreach and 

interaction with educational institutions at all levels, broadening the 

intellectual enrichment of all. Such greater interaction, already begun, must 

include strong relationships with academia at individual parks and with 

50 
partnership programs. Textbook publishers and educators who develop 

classroom curricula (Parks as Classrooms) can also use these authentic 

resources to teach about our rich national heritage. Using current and 

emerging technology (satellite up-links, the Internet, CD-ROM) can bring 

knowledge and appreciation of NPS resources to millions of Americans, 

whether they visit parks or other heritage areas that benefit from NPS 

technical assistance, or whether they only learn about parks through the 

media. Working with the video and broadcasting industry to improve the 

quality of programs about parks and other heritage resource areas can also 

extend the national preservation and environmental ethic. 

In addition, the National Park Service must reach out to communities across 

the nation as a partner in education. Using the lessons learned in our parks, 

the National Park Service must work with others who wish to share with the 

public the knowledge and excitement of these natural and cultural places. 

Parks are not isolated islands; they are small parts of the American 

landscape and American history. NPS educational efforts must reflect this 

interconnection by participating in other educators' regional efforts. 

Having an integrated, professional, quality educational program that is 

accessible and exciting to its participants will always be a challenge. The 

resources themselves, the knowledge about them, and the ability to 

communicate with the public through appropriate techniques are all critical 

elements in any NPS educational approach. NPS employees are teachers — 

teachers in special places where tangible resources help visitors understand 

the intangible ideas inherent in the resources preserved there. 

51 
A distinguishing feature of park resources is their authenticity. They 

are genuine — created naturally or intentionally by humans for purposes 

other than becoming parks. As the resources preserved in this nation's parks 

become more unusual or scarce through the passage of time, cultural 

changes, or loss of natural systems elsewhere, their research value and 

societal significance will increase and become more evident. 

Most NPS research focuses on the preservation of our tangible resources. 

Less attention centers on the knowledge that can be derived from those 

same resources. Management-focused research is directed at solving a 

particular resource problem, while knowledge-focused research concentrates 

on understanding more about the resource. From research we learn who we 

are as a culture. Both kinds of research are needed. 

The ultimate success of the National Park Service in protecting and 

preserving the nation's parks may depend on the availability of credible 

scientific and scholarly information on which to make informed management 

decisions. Currently, knowledge about the condition of most resources 

remains inadequate. Resource base inventories to collect scientific data 

about park resources are not now conducted uniformly throughout the 

system. If the National Park Service is to increase its knowledge of park 

resources, understand how its resources relate beyond park boundaries, and 

know how to allocate diminishing preservation dollars, it should continue to 

incorporate sound research practices into park management. 

The 1994 National Park Service Strategic Plan articulated a desired future 

condition that 

NPS staff includes highly professional and nationally recognized scientists 

and scholars who maintain extensive professional partnerships with their 

counterparts in other scientific, academic, and cultural institutions. These 

mutually beneficial relationships ensure that quality research forms the 

basis for NPS preservation, planning, and educational programs and that 

this knowledge is broadly shared with the public. 

52 

0esearch in the Parks: Effective 

Management Needs a Knowledge Base 

Derived from Research 
The perspective of the National Park Service in this regard has not changed. 

Increasing NPS use of sound research practices in park management will 

increase knowledge about the resources and their long-term preservation 

needs. 

53 
jjh e NPS Role in International Assistance to 

Other Park Systems 

Through international cooperation, the National Park Service continues to 

strengthen and improve its capabilities to achieve its domestic mission and 

help to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource protection and 

outdoor recreation throughout the world. The National Park Service 

receives many requests for specialized international technical assistance 

from park and conservation agencies and organizations who are interested in 

top-quality training, partnership continuity and loyalty, and successful 

cooperative results. The National Park Service's most successful 

international products have been park planning assistance; program 

evaluation assistance; exchange of technical information; international 

training programs, including interpretive skills training; and conferences, 

workshops, and symposia. 

In a cultural sense, borders do not really separate countries or act as 

barriers. The sharing of cultural and natural resources can unite populations 

that are separated by borders. The National Park Service recognizes much is 

to be learned from the professionals working in the park systems that 

request help. International assistance should be a two-way exchange of 

knowledge, experience, technology, and training, with resource protection 

and preservation as the common goal. Participating in international 

assignments and hosting foreign volunteers, researchers, or delegations 

provide valuable cross-cultural training opportunities for field and central 

office personnel. The international conservation community strives to 

cooperate in protecting and conserving these unique resources and in 

perpetuating a worldwide environmental ethic. Our national park system is 

an integral part of this global community. 

54 
181 emographics: What Does America's 

Changing Face Mean for Parks in the 21st 

Century? 

Several demographic trends will affect the National Park Service in the 21st 

century — the aging of the population (both the "baby boomers" and their 

offspring), immigration and an increasing proportion of ethnic populations, 

and Americans' geographic relocation. 

Park visitation will be affected significantly by the aging of the baby boomer 

population. During the next 15-25 years the percentage of senior citizens 

in this country will sharply increase. As the baby boomer population 

approaches 65, their children will be producing the highest number of births 

ever achieved in the United States. With increased life expectancies, many 

baby boomers will still be alive when their own children reach retirement 

age. 

Profound demographic changes are also taking place in the United States as 

a result of immigration and ethnic population growth. Given the current 

growth rate, the U.S. population will double in about 75 years, with half of 

the growth coming from recent immigrants and their children. Trends 

indicate that minority populations, including American Indians, African 

Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Pacific Islanders, will collectively exceed 

the Anglo population sometime during the next century. This is an 

important cultural and social issue because parks have historically been used 

mainly by the white middle class segment of the population, and many parks 

do not attract and offer park experiences meaningful to visitors from varied 

ethnic backgrounds, or have not yet made their park values relevant to them. 

Because park visitation, particularly at urban parks, is regional, where 

people choose to live or relocate will also affect visitation trends. Several 

trends are now clear. Large numbers of white middle class and upper-middle 

class people are moving out of major metropolitan areas, especially in 

California and along the East Coast. Major urban metropolitan areas along 

the eastern seaboard, California, and south Florida will experience an 

increase in minority populations. Parks providing recreational opportunities 

near major urban centers will continue to receive high levels of visitation by 

people who cannot afford (time and money) to travel to farther destinations. 

55 
During the first half of the 1990s, attendance at national historical parks and 

memorials has increased because many are in or near urban areas. Multiday 

vacation trips to destination parks are on the decline, while weekend trips 

are on the rise. 

These trends will affect the NPS provision of visitor services and amenities. 

For example, more facilities associated with urban parks will be needed to 

keep pace with increasing visitation. Elderly visitors, many with mobility 

impairments, will require easier access to park features, activities, vehicle 

campsites, and RV hookups. Communicating park values to ethnic groups 

will require new skills, including multilingual programs and activities beyond 

park boundaries. Partnership programs, as a means to communicate NPS 

values and resource importance, will also be important. 

Even as the National Park Service is accommodating aging baby boomers, 

it faces an equally important challenge of providing recreational activities 

for children born between 1964 and 1981, commonly referred to as 

generation X. 

A stereotypic perception exists that those in generation X are more likely to 

watch Music Television (MTV) than engage in outdoor recreational 

activities. Actually, research indicates that this group participates in outdoor 

recreation as much as their parents (the baby boomers) did when they were 

at the same age. However, the activities pursued differ greatly. As young 

adults, baby boomers went backpacking, cross-country skiing, and hunting; 

present-day young adults mountain bike, rock climb, and kayak. Since there 

are fewer individuals in generation X compared to baby boomers, 

generation X has not produced the demand for outdoor recreation that the 

baby boomers did. Generation X does appear to be continuing a trend 

begun by the baby boomers — more frequent short trips and fewer long 

vacations. This approach places an increased premium on close-to-home 

recreation. 

Children born after 1981, known as the millennial generation, are still in 

their formative years. Statistics on this group's leisure behavior are just 

becoming available. The millennial generation contains high proportions of 

56 
ethnic and/or socioeconomically disadvantaged children who live in inner 

cities, far away from most national parks. Few educational programs are 

currently available to teach them about the values of parks and the value of 

history. 

Instead of concentrating on new recreational opportunities for generation X, 

the National Park Service needs to focus attention on informing the 

millennial generation about the nation's parks and their values. If these 

children are to enjoy outdoor recreational activities, they must be reached 

now with appropriate messages and educational programs. To reach the 

millennial generation, well presented information about the values of 

national parks could be developed and circulated in many forms, including 

films, videos, books, school curricula, audio cassettes, CD-ROMs, and 

World Wide Web sites. Moreover, the quantity and quality of outdoor 

recreational opportunities in and near America's cities should be greatly 

improved. 

57 

Hperational Processes 

The National Park Service operational process to implement GPRA 

requirements and to achieve its goals requires each park, program, and 

central office to develop its own strategic plan during FY97. This 1997 

National Park Service Strategic Plan provides the foundation, along with 

pertinent legislation and management plans, for each unit's strategic plan. 

All applicable servicewide goals must be included in individual park, 

program, or central office strategic plans in order to aggregate and report 

nationally for the servicewide annual performance plans and reports. 

Compilation of data and reporting requirements will be done by parks and 

programs. Eventually, integration and interfacing of major NPS data systems 

should minimize the field's reporting burden. 

The servicewide direction reflected in this plan's mission goals and longterm goals maintains continuity and mission orientation for parks and 

programs as they develop their long-term and annual goals. The result of a 

park or program annual goal must contribute toward achievement of one of 

its long-term goals. If a proposed action in an annual goal does not 

contribute to the achievement of a park or program long-term goal, such an 

action would not be appropriate for the unit to pursue. 

The NPS goals have been developed with the critical assumption that human 

and fiscal resources will remain essentially at current levels for the duration 

of the plan. Federal appropriations provide most NPS financial resources, 

supplemented by fee revenues and donations. 

Achievement of the NPS long-term goals also depends on a broad base of 

knowledge, skills, and technology. The diversity of the 375-unit national park 

system requires that the National Park Service be responsible for the 

preservation of historic and prehistoric structures and sites; land and water 

features of great scenic and scientific value; forest, grassland, tundra, desert, 

river, and coastal ecosystems; thermal areas; caverns; volcanos; and 

endangered species and critical habitat, to name only a few. The 

preservation of these cultural and natural features requires employees that 

have a broad range of highly technical and professional skills including, 

archeologists, paleontologists, historians, biologists, hydrologists, curators, 

artisans, ethnographers, architects, interpreters, rangers, and maintenance 

59 
personnel. The National Park Service will continue to rely on its full cadre of 

employees, including specialized, skilled professionals, to achieve the longterm goals set forth in this Strategic Plan. 

The National Park Service also will continue to use advanced computer 

technology (e.g., the World Wide Web and other electronic information 

transfer techniques) to distribute important program and technical 

information to parks, other agencies, and the public. The National Park 

Service is dynamic, continually evolving in response to additional units, 

changing statutory and legislative requirements, and increasing scientific 

knowledge. This evolution will influence and improve the professional skills, 

technological knowledge, and operational and managerial processes that 

contribute to the National Park Service's achievement of its long-term goals. 

The Eight Step Performance Management Process is the operational process 

by which NPS will achieve its goals. The servicewide long-term goals are 

stepped down to the field level which has the responsibility and accountabily 

for action on them. The annual performance plan establishes the servicewide 

performance goals. Annual goals are increments of long-term goals. The 

annual work plans, being developed by parks, programs, and central offices 

will provide the organization with information on required skills, technology, 

and resources (inputs and outputs). See the current fiscal year budget 

presentation for projected allocation of dollars and FTE to specific NPS 

goals. The annual performance report will contain a comparison of program 

results indicating those goals that were achieved, and the factors causing 

other goals to not be achieved. Detailed reporting will occur at the park 

level, with aggregated totals reported at the organizational level. 

60 
0rogram Assessment and Evaluation 

The National Park Service developed its performance management process, 

called the eight-step process, to implement the Government Performance 

and Results Act, from conceptual goal planning to implementation to 

evaluation. The eight-step process provides the NPS strategic planning 

framework. Each park and program has unit-specific goals in their strategic 

plans, as well as servicewide goals that contribute to servicewide efforts. 

The following is an overview of the eight-step process that the National Park 

Service has developed to implement the Government Performance and 

Results Act in the 375 park units of the national park system and the formal 

partnership programs (here referenced as programs) in which the National 

Park Service cooperates. The process assists in developing mission 

statements, mission goals, long-term goals, annual goals, and annual work 

plans for the organization as a whole, as well as for the individual parks and 

programs. The 1916 NPS Organic Act and subsequent legislation defined 

and refined the NPS mission. Particular legislation and presidential 

proclamations created most parks, giving them their own specific missions; 

the programs are also based on specific legislation. 

This 1997 National Park Service Strategic Plan is the culmination of 

consultation with customers and stakeholders throughout the country. This 

plan reflects the values and direction given in the 1991 National Parks for the 

21st Century: The Vail Agenda and the 1994 National Park Service Strategic 

Plan I Vision. It even shares many similarities with the National Park 

Service's 1963 Long Range Plan. 

The eight-step process provides a way to develop goals and report on 

progress toward meeting them — the essence of performance management. 

The process uses a "why, what, and how" model. 

61 
WHY DO WE WANT TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING? 

Step 1: National Park Service Mission and Goals 

Review the NPS mission statement and servicewide mission goals in this 

Strategic Plan as a starting point for developing park and program goals 

consistent with the servicewide plan. 

Step 2: Park / Program Mission 

Establish the purpose and significance of the specific park or partnership 

program to determine its particular mission. Purpose refers to the specific 

reasons the park or national assistance program was established. 

Significance describes a park or partnership area's distinctive resources or 

values, why they are important within a national or international context, 

and why they contribute to the purpose of the park or program. Blended 

together, the purpose statement and significance statements provide the 

mission. This mission succinctly states the essence of the park or program. 

WHAT DO WE WANT TO ACCOMPLISH? 

Step 3: Mission Goals 

Develop park or program mission goals. Mission goals represent the ideal 

condition that the National Park Service wants to attain or maintain and 

must reflect the servicewide goals reviewed in step 1, and they elaborate on 

the particular mission of the park or program as determined in step 2. 

Mission goals must focus on results, not efforts — on conditions, not 

activities. They must be stated as desired future conditions ("What would 

success look like?"). They run in perpetuity. 

62 
Step 4: Long-Term Goals 

Determine long-term, outcome-related performance goals, including their 

associated performance measures. Long-term performance goals represent 

the outcomes to be achieved over the foreseeable future, roughly 5 years, 

with a range of 3 to 20 years depending on the particular long-term goal. 

Performance goals and measures also must focus on results, not efforts, and 

must be stated as desired future conditions. These are measurable 

(quantifiable) goals, with firm performance targets (level of accomplishment) and completion dates. Parks and programs must use the servicewide 

long-term goals if appropriate, and use this eight-step process to develop 

their own complementary park or program-specific long-term goals. Parks 

and programs must assume that funding to reach these goals will remain 

essentially at the same FY96 budget levels through the duration of their 

strategic plans. The achievement of these goals cannot depend on 

anticipated budget increases, "soft money," donations, or expected fee 

increases. 

Long-term goals incorporate performance measures. The following must be 

considered when determining the best performance measure for a 

performance goal: Do any legal requirements, policies, regulations, or 

broadly accepted standards apply? What are the needs and wants of 

customers, stakeholders, and partners? What guidance is provided by the 

best available scientific or academic research? Parks and programs will 

develop two kinds of long-term goals, those that help contribute to 

achievement of servicewide long-term goals, and those that are specific to 

the needs of the park or program mission. The accomplishment of 

servicewide long-term goals will be aggregated nationally. 

Step 5: Assessing Resources 

The resource assessment helps develop realistic and meaningful long-term 

goals, and it helps identify potential organizational improvements. 

Establishing long-term goals that are reasonable, given the present resource 

conditions and the availability, capability, and constraints of the park's or 

63 
program's fiscal and human resources, promotes a planned and measured 

approach to moving the organization forward. Parks and partnership 

programs need to know the current status of fiscal and human resources to 

ensure their goals are realistic. What is the current availability of funding 

and staffing? What is the current condition of the park's or program's 

natural and cultural resources to be preserved and the visitor services, 

facilities, and recreational opportunities available now? This analysis 

provides a way to ensure realistic goals and helps schedule outputs (the 

products and services) needed to achieve the goals. Again, parks and 

programs must assume level funding for the plan's duration. 

HOW DO WE PLAN TO ACCOMPLISH IT? 

Step 6: Annual Performance Plan, Annual Goals, and Annual Work Plan 

Develop an annual performance plan that identifies the annual goals 

(outcomes) for that year, the products and services (outputs) needed for 

success, and the staffing and funding (inputs) required. Annual goals provide 

the bridges between conceptual, strategic planning and operational planning 

and actions. This step breaks out each long-term goal into annual goals that, 

taken together, will accomplish the desired result(s). The annual 

performance plan links outcomes to specific inputs and outputs for a single 

year. This step identifies how much of a long-term (five-year) goal can 

reasonably be expected to be accomplished in one year. Annual goals must 

clearly show a relationship to the long-term goals. Annual work plans then 

show the specific actions to be taken so NPS products and services can 

achieve the annual goal. 

Some long-term goals will be accomplished by a steady incremental 

achievement of annual goals. Others may have initial years when annual 

goals show relatively little results before showing significant results in later 

years. Parks, programs, and central offices should use their long-term goals 

divided into yearly accomplishments to develop their annual goals. They 

must include annual goals that incorporate performance targets (percentage 

or actual number). 

64 
Annual work plans are the operational, day-to-day reality that makes the 

goals attainable. Annual work plans detail how the annual goals will be 

achieved in terms of the inputs and outputs. They show what work will get 

done, who will do the work, when, and how. 

Step 7: Do the Work 

This step puts into practice decisions made in the previous steps so that the 

work accomplished supports the goals. Parks and programs receive budget 

allocations and update their annual goals to reflect actual funding and 

staffing, and they implement the annual performance plan during the year. 

This step occupies the largest portion of most employees' time. When daily 

demands are the most pressing, having the "big picture" of steps 1-6 keeps 

people focused on achieving the goals. 

FEEDBACK: DID WE ACCOMPLISH WHAT WE INTENDED? 

Step 8: Annual Performance Reports — Monitor and Evaluate 

Monitor and evaluate management performance and provide feedback to 

develop the annual performance report. Performance should be monitored 

using the NPS annual goals in the annual performance plan, with results 

evaluated by assessing the status of achievement of the annual goals. Did the 

year's results achieve the annual goals? If not, explain why. Did the activities 

produce the desired products and services? If not, explain why. Did 

uncontrollable external factors affect goal accomplishment? If so, explain 

the circumstances. The results should be recorded in the annual 

performance report using performance measures that best indicate 

achievement at the local level, as well as those measures common to NPS 

servicewide annual goals. The annual performance report both presents 

results and analyzes them. 

65 
The Government Performance and Results Act requires annual 

performance reports so that the National Park Service, Congress, taxpayers, 

partners, and friends groups will know how well the annual goals were met. 

It shows what happened and why. Knowing and understanding why goals 

were achieved (or not) is essential for good management. Reporting 

performance measures without analysis is of little use. 

The annual performance report has two parts: (1) a report on the progress 

made toward meeting last fiscal year's annual performance plan, and (2) an 

analysis of the present fiscal year's annual performance plan, identifying 

continuing goals from the last fiscal year. The reasons why any of last year's 

goals were not accomplished is explained in this section. 

The annual performance report should specifically address park and 

program performance affected by budget changes to show the effects of 

changing budget levels and should indicate how well the National Park 

Service can plan and execute its programs. The development of the annual 

performance plan and annual performance report should be synchronized 

with budget development. 

Annual performance reports can also be used as the basis of personnel 

appraisals. Holding employees accountable for achieving the park's or 

program's annual goals may be a mind shift for some managers. 

Accountability for results should be within an employee's ability to affect the 

results. From a servicewide perspective, the evaluation of results from each 

park at the annual goal level must be reported up, with clear linkages to the 

servicewide long-term goals and mission goals. 

At this point the process continues by returning to step 4 and beginning 

planning for the next fiscal year. Annual goals and long-term goals not 

achieved in the just-completed fiscal year will be readjusted as necessary. 

The National Park Service will be preparing annual performance plans and 

annual performance reports for each year of this Strategic Plan. Each park, 

program, and central office will also be preparing these documents. 

66 
NPS PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS ("EIGHT STEPS") 

SET GOALS: STRATEGIC/CONCEPTUAL PLANNING ACT: OPERATIONAL PLANNING EVALUATE: REPORT RESULTS 

Why 

do we want to accomplish something? 

What 

do we want to accomplish? 

How 

do we plan to accomplish it? 

Feedback 

did we accomplish what we intended? 

STEP 1. Review NPS servicewide legislation, 

mission statement, and strategic plan 

Review the Organic Act and subsequent NPS 

legislation and the servicewide mission and mission 

goals from the NPS strategic plan. NPS Mission 

Goal Categories: 

I. Preserve park resources. 

II. Provide for the public enjoyment and visitor 

experiences of parks. 

III. Perpetuate heritage resources and enhance 

recreational opportunities managed by partners. 

IV. Ensure organizational effectiveness. 

STEP 2. Establish the mission of the specific 

park or partnership program — its purpose 

and significance 

'Purpose' states the specific reasons the park or 

national assistance program was established. 

Significance' describes a park's or partnership's 

distinctive natural, cultural or recreational 

resources or values, why they are important within 

a national or international context, and why they 

contribute to the purpose of the park or program. 

Together, they are a park's or program's mission.' 

As used here, parks are units of the national park 

system; programs are either formal partnership 

programs or NPS central offices. 

Note: Steps 2-5 & 8 should include public 

involvement/communication. 

STEP 3. Develop park or program mission goals 

Mission goals represent the ideal condition the NPS wants to attain 

or maintain. They must reflect the NPS servicewide mission goals 

(step 1) and elaborate the particular purpose and significance of 

the park or program (step 2). These goals should focus on results, 

not efforts, on conditions not strategies. They should be expressed 

in terms of desired future conditions: "What would success look 

like?" Most NPS goals relate directly to resource conditions and 

visitor/public experience. All park/program mission goals must 

clearly relate to the servicewide mission goals. Mission goals are 

neither quantified nor have time limits. 

STEP 4. Determine long-term goals 

Long-term performance goals are the outcomes to be achieved over 

the foreseeable future, typically 5 years (range, 3- 20 years). Tiering 

off mission goals and complements to them, long-term goals must 

describe results, not efforts, and be stated as desired future 

conditions. NPS Long term goals incorporate performance 

measures in them with clear quantified target levels of 

accomplishment and completion dates (By 2002, x%....). NPS longterm goals = GPRA general goals. 

Long-term goals incorporate the appropriate measures of 

performance in them. Outcome measures should be used unless 

there is truly no alternative; any output measures used must be 

closely linked to the goals. 

STEP 5. Assess Resources: determine current status of 

resources and visitor services and availability of fiscal and 

human resources 

Assess the condition of the park/program resources (natural, 

cultural, recreational) to be preserved and the visitor/public 

services available now. Assess the availability of fiscal and human 

resources (inputs) and their utilization, constraints and prospects 

for change. This analysis will help develop resource baselines and 

realistic goals and help prioritize the outputs (the products and 

services) needed to achieve the goals. 

Note: Steps l-5=strategic plan; Step 6= annual performance plan; 

Step 8= annual performance report; all GPRA requirements. 

STEP 6. Develop the annual 

performance plan that includes the (a) 

annual goals and (b) the annual 

workplan, the inputs and outputs needed 

to achieve the goals 

Step 6 breaks the long-term focus of Step 4 

into annual increments and specifies the 

actions and resources needed. The annual 

performance plan links outcome-related 

performance goals to specific outputs and 

inputs for a single year. Note that the annual 

performance plan deals with both "whats" 

and "hows" by identifying the annual goals 

and the activities required to accomplish 

them. 

Outcome-related goals: Annual performance 

goals should be stated so that their 

relationship with the long-term goals in step 4 

is clear. Steps 5 and 6 identify how much of a 

goal can reasonably be accomplished in one 

year. 

Inputs and outputs: The outputs are the 

products and services and activities required 

to achieve the annual goal. The inputs 

identify the fiscal and human resources 

required to produce those outputs. 

STEP 7. Implement the Annual 

Performance Plan 

Parks/programs receive budget allocations 

and update annual performance goals to 

reflect available $ and FTE. 

Parks/programs implement the annual 

performance plans during the year. 

Do the Work! 

STEP 8. Develop the annual 

performance report 

Monitor performance toward goals using 

performance measures at appropriate 

intervals throughout the year. Evaluate 

results by comparing accomplishments with 

goals. Use public evaluations, personnel 

performance contracts, and management 

assistance process. Adjust subsequent annual 

goals, work plans, and long-term goals as 

necessary. Report results using the 

performance measures that best indicate 

performance locally and, in the aggregate, 

servicewide to inform the public about the 

National Park Service. Performance 

information should help improve 

management capability, budget formulation, 

and public satisfaction. 

A NOTE: 

Using this process and developing goals and 

their associated performance measures is 

truly an iterative process — while each step 

builds on the previous one, it is important to 

go back and refine the earlier steps. Most 

groups find that the eight steps work best in 

the order presented here but often move 

back and forth. Having the steps available 

side-by-side helps. 

The temptation to go for "hows"— outputs 

— is as considerable as wanting to skip the 

annual goals. Focusing on goals frees up 

people to discover new ways of doing things. 

Specifying annual goals helps people identify 

success immediately, for themselves and for 

their parks/programs. 
E|PS Consultations in Developing the 1997 

National Park Service Strategic Plan 

The 1997 National Park Service Strategic Plan builds directly on the 1991 

National Parks for the 21st Century: The Vail Agenda and the 1994 National 

Park Service Strategic Plan I Vision document. This new Strategic Plan is 

founded on those earlier efforts and includes the GPRA-required strategic 

plan performance measurement sections. Extensive consultation with the 

Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, stakeholders, and the 

public has been conducted in the development of this plan. 

PARTY CONSULTED 

Stakeholder public meetings in 

San Francisco, Denver, and 

Washington, D.C. 

NPS GPRA taskforce 

Key congressional committee 

staffs 

NPS employees, organizations,* 

and individuals outside NPS 

All NPS regional 

superintendents meetings 

DOl Strategic Planning 

Steering Committee (DOI 

agencies)** 

DATE 

Oct. 1995 

May 1995-Present 

Aug. 1995 

June 1996 

Dec. 1996 

April 1997 

Winter 1995-1996 

Spring and Summer 1996 

1996-Present 

NATURE OF CONSULTATION 

Consultation on 1994 Strategic 

Plan and input on goals for 

1996 Draft Strategic Plan. 

Taskforce established to guide 

GPRA implementation process 

in NPS with servicewide, field, 

and technical consultation. 

Briefings on status of NPS 

GPRA implementation. 

10,000 questionnaires mailed 

nationwide to evaluate existing 

goals and to suggest needed 

goals. 

Briefings on NPS GPRA 

implementation. 

Consultations and briefings on 

GPRA implementation in 

Department of the Interior. 

•Organizations that reviewed and commented include the American Forestry Association, 

American Camping Association, Ducks Unlimited, National Recreation and Parks Association, 

National Park and Conservation Association, National Park Foundation, National Woodland 

Owners Association, Partners for Livable Places and Garden Clubs of America. Mailing lists 

derived from 50 parks across the nation provided responses at the state, regional and local levels. 

The responses were analyzed and prepared in the booklet What Americans Think: Responses to 

Public Review of Possible Long-Range Goals for the National Park Service, published internally in 

April 1996. 

"Includes all bureaus within Department of the Interior. Coordination with the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management is especially close. 

68 
PARTY CONSULTED 

Natural Resources 

Performance Measures Forum 

(representatives from land 

managing agencies in several 

departments)*** 

NPS employees 

NPS servicewide, stakeholders 

and partners, public, key 

congressional staff, OMB, 

department, internet posting. 

Congressional consultation 

GAO 

OMB 

George Wright Society 

Conference (federal, state, 

local, and international 

government agencies, and 

individuals) 

OMB 

Key congressional staff, DOI, 

OMB 

DATE 

1996-Present 

Nov. 1996-April 1997 

Oct. 1996-Jan. 11, 1997 

Feb. 1997 

Feb. 10, 1997 

Feb. 12, 1997 

March 20, 1997 

March 27, 1997 

April 8, 1997 

NATURE OF CONSULTATION 

Briefings on NPS G PR A 

implementation status. 

Strategic planning staff trained 

100 employees in GPRA, and 

they trained an additional 2,000 

employees representing every 

park management team. 

Nearly 20,000 copies of final 

Draft NPS Strategic Plan 

distributed and comments 

requested. Extensive comments 

received from more than 100 

people and organizations 

during formal comment period. 

Briefings with Congressional 

staffs. 

GPRA briefing. 

Detailed presentation of NPS 

goals by NPS acting deputy 

director and director of NPS 

Strategic Planning Office. 

Presentation on NPS GPRA 

implementation. 

DOI Budget met with OMB to 

discuss OMB requested goals. 

Delivery of interim NPS goals 

and explanatory paragraphs. 

***The National Park Service participates in the Natural Resources Forum with the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service. 

69 

Hppendix I: National Park Service Related 

Areas 

Affiliated Areas 

American Memorial Park 

Benjamin Franklin National Memorial 

Blackstone River Valley National 

Heritage Corridor 

Chicago Portage National Historic 

Site 

Chimney Rock National Historic Site 

David Berger National Memorial 

Delaware and Lehigh Navigation 

Canal National Heritage Corridor 

Father Marquette National Memorial 

Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church 

National Historic Site 

Green Springs Historic District 

Historic Camden 

Ice Age National Scientific Reserve 

Illinois and Michigan Canal National 

Heritage Corridor 

International Peace Garden 

Jamestown National Historic Site 

McLoughlin House National Historic 

Site 

Pinelands National Reserve 

Port Chicago Naval Magazine 

National Memorial 

Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley 

National Heritage Corridor 

Red Hill Patrick Henry National 

Memorial 

Roosevelt Campobello International 

Park 

Sewall-Belmont House National 

Historic Site 

Touro Synagogue National Historic 

Site 

National Trails System 

Appalachian National Scenic Trail 

California National Historic Trail 

Continental Divide National Scenic 

Trail 

Florida National Scenic Trail 

Ice Age National Scenic Trail 

Iditarod National Historic Trail 

Juan Bautista de Anza National 

Historic Trail 

Lewis and Clark National Historic 

Trail 

Mormon Pioneer National Historic 

Trail 

Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail 

Nez Perce National Historic Trail 

North Country National Scenic Trail 

Oregon National Historic Trail 

Overmountain Victory National 

Historic Trail 

Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail 

Pony Express National Historic Trail 

Potomac Heritage National Scenic 

Trail 

Santa Fe National Historic Trail 

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail 

71 
Wild and Scenic Rivers System 

(Rivers Administered by the National 

Park Service) 

Alagnak Wild River 

Alatna Wild River 

Aniakchak Wild River 

Bluestone National Scenic River 

Charley Wild River 

Chilikadrotna Wild River 

Flathead River 

Great Egg Harbor Scenic and 

Recreational River 

John Wild River 

Kern River 

Kings River 

Kobuk Wild River 

Maurice Scenic and Recreational 

River 

Merced River 

Middle Delaware River 

Missouri National Recreational River 

Mulchatna Wild River 

Niobrara National Scenic Riverway 

Noatak Wild River 

North Fork of the Koyukuk Wild 

River 

Obed Wild and Scenic River 

Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River 

Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway 

Salmon Wild River 

Tinayguk Wild River 

Tlikakila Wild River 

Tuolumne River 

Upper Delaware River 

72 
Hppendix II: Congressional Committee 

Comments Considered but Not Included in 

the Plan 

All views or modifications suggested by the congressional committees during 

consultation were considered and included in the final plan. 

The [House Interior Appropriations] Committee commends the Park 

Service for its continuing work on implementing the Government 

Performance Results Act (GPRA). This law, which seeks to make 

government more efficient and effective, places emphasis on results 

achieved (outcomes) rather than the effort themselves. More importantly, it 

provides a better framework for daily management decisions. It requires 

federal agencies to justify increases or changes to a program based on 

performance rather than a comparison to funds and FTEs received the 

previous year. The Committee applauds the Park Service goal of reducing 

unnecessary reporting requirements while providing accountability and 

accomplishment information to the Congress and the American public. 

The Park Service has worked very closely and cooperatively with the 

Committee on the initial development of its performance goals and 

strategic plan. The Committee expects the Service to continue that 

cooperation in the coming years to refine and adjust the goals as necessary 

to ensure that tax dollars are spent in the most effective and efficient 

manner. 

From the FY98 House Interior Appropriations Committee Report, p. 32 

73 
ISppendix III: Text of the Government 

Performance Results Act of 1993 

Public Law 103-62; August 3, 1993 

Government Performance and Results 

Act of 1993 

An Act to provide for the establishment of strategic planning and performance 

measurement in the Federal Government, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 

America in Congress assembled, 

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the "Government Performance and Results Act of 

1993". 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

(a) Findings- The Congress finds that— 

(1) waste and inefficiency in Federal programs undermine the confidence of 

the American people in the Government and reduces the Federal Government's 

ability to address adequately vital public needs; 

(2) Federal managers are seriously disadvantaged in their efforts to improve 

program efficiency and effectiveness, because of insufficient articulation of program 

goals and inadequate information on program performance; and 

(3) congressional policymaking, spending decisions and program oversight are 

seriously handicapped by insufficient attention to program performance and results. 

(b) Purposes- The purposes of this Act are to— 

(1) improve the confidence of the American people in the capability of the 

Federal Government, by systematically holding Federal agencies accountable for 

achieving program results; 

(2) initiate program performance reform with a series of pilot projects in 

setting program goals, measuring program performance against those goals, and 

reporting publicly on their progress; 

(3) improve Federal program effectiveness and public accountability by 

promoting a new focus on results, service quality, and customer satisfaction; 

(4) help Federal managers improve service delivery, by requiring that they plan 

for meeting program objectives and by providing them with information about 

program results and service quality; 

74 
(5) improve congressional decisionmaking by providing more objective 

information on achieving statutory objectives, and on the relative effectiveness and 

efficiency of Federal programs and spending; and 

(6) improve internal management of the Federal Government. 

SEC. 3. STRATEGIC PLANNING. 

Chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding after section 305 

the following new section: 

"§ 306. Strategic plans 

"(a) No later than September 30, 1997, the head of each agency shall submit to 

the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and to the Congress a 

strategic plan for program activities. Such plan shall contain— 

"(1) a comprehensive mission statement covering the major functions and 

operations of the agency; 

"(2) general goals and objectives, including outcome-related goals and 

objectives, for the major functions and operations of the agency; 

"(3) a description of how the goals and objectives are to be achieved, including 

a description of the operational processes, skills and technology, and the human, 

capital, information, and other resources required to meet those goals and 

objectives; 

"(4) a description of how the performance goals included in the plan required 

by section 1115(a) of title 31 shall be related to the general goals and objectives in 

the strategic plan; 

"(5) an identification of those key factors external to the agency and beyond its 

control that could significantly affect the achievement of the general goals and 

objectives; and 

"(6) a description of the program evaluations used in establishing or revising 

general goals and objectives, with a schedule for future program evaluations. 

"(b) The strategic plan shall cover a period of not less than five years forward 

from the fiscal year in which it is submitted, and shall be updated and revised at least 

every three years. 

"(c) The performance plan required by section 1115 of title 31 shall be consistent 

with the agency's strategic plan. A performance plan may not be submitted for a 

fiscal year not covered by a current strategic plan under this section. 

"(d) When developing a strategic plan, the agency shall consult with the Congress, 

and shall solicit and consider the views and suggestions of those entities potentially 

affected by or interested in such a plan. 

75 
"(e) The functions and activities of this section shall be considered to be 

inherently Governmental functions. The drafting of strategic plans under this 

section shall be performed only by Federal employees. 

"(f) For purposes of this section the term 'agency' means an Executive agency 

defined under section 105, but does not include the Central Intelligence Agency, the 

General Accounting Office, the Panama Canal Commission, the United States 

Postal Service, and the Postal Rate Commission.". 

SEC. 4. ANNUAL PERFORMANCE PLANS AND REPORTS. 

(a) Budget Contents and Submission to Congress- Section 1105(a) of title 31, 

United States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new 

paragraph: 

"(29) beginning with fiscal year 1999, a Federal Government performance plan 

for the overall budget as provided for under section 1115.". 

"(b) Performance Plans and Reports- Chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, 

is amended by adding after section 1114 the following new sections: 

"§ 1115. Performance plans 

"(a) In carrying out the provisions of section 1105(a)(29), the Director of the 

Office of Management and Budget shall require each agency to prepare an annual 

performance plan covering each program activity set forth in the budget of such 

agency. Such plan shall— 

"(1) establish performance goals to define the level of performance to be 

achieved by a program activity; 

"(2) express such goals in an objective, quantifiable, and measurable form 

unless authorized to be in an alternative form under subsection (b); 

"(3) briefly describe the operational processes, skills and technology, and the 

human, capital, information, or other resources required to meet the performance 

goals; 

"(4) establish performance indicators to be used in measuring or assessing the 

relevant outputs, service levels, and outcomes of each program activity; 

"(5) provide a basis for comparing actual program results with the established 

performance goals; and 

"(6) describe the means to be used to verify and validate measured values. 

"(b) If an agency, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management 

and Budget, determines that it is not feasible to express the performance goals for a 

particular program activity in an objective, quantifiable, and measurable form, the 

76 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget may authorize an alternative 

form. Such alternative form shall— 

"(1) include separate descriptive statements of— 

"(A)(1) a minimally effective program, and 

"(ii) a successful program, or 

"(B) such alternative as authorized by the Director of the Office of 

Management and Budget, with sufficient precision and in such terms that would 

allow for an accurate, independent determination of whether the program activity's 

performance meets the criteria of the description; or 

"(2) state why it is infeasible or impractical to express a performance goal in 

any form for the program activity. 

"(c) For the purpose of complying with this section, an agency may aggregate, 

disaggregate, or consolidate program activities, except that any aggregation or 

consolidation may not omit or minimize the significance of any program activity 

constituting a major function or operation for the agency. 

"(d) An agency may submit with its annual performance plan an appendix 

covering any portion of the plan that— 

"(1) is specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order 

to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy; and 

"(2) is properly classified pursuant to such Executive order. 

"(e) The functions and activities of this section shall be considered to be 

inherently Governmental functions. The drafting of performance plans under this 

section shall be performed only by Federal employees. 

"(f) For purposes of this section and sections 1116 through 1119, and sections 

9703 and 9704 the term— 

"(1) 'agency' has the same meaning as such term is defined under section 

306(f) of title 5; 

"(2) 'outcome measure' means an assessment of the results of a program 

activity compared to its intended purpose; 

"(3) 'output measure' means the tabulation, calculation, or recording of activity 

or effort and can be expressed in a quantitative or qualitative manner; 

"(4) 'performance goal' means a target level of performance expressed as a 

tangible, measurable objective, against which actual achievement can be compared, 

including a goal expressed as a quantitative standard, value, or rate; 

"(5) 'performance indicator' means a particular value or characteristic used to 

measure output or outcome; 

"(6) 'program activity' means a specific activity or project as listed in the 

program and financing schedules of the annual budget of the United States 

Government; and 

77 
"(7) 'program evaluation' means an assessment, through objective 

measurement and systematic analysis, of the manner and extent to which Federal 

programs achieve intended objectives. 

"§ 1116. Program performance reports 

"(a) No later than March 31, 2000, and no later than March 31 of each year 

thereafter, the head of each agency shall prepare and submit to the President and 

the Congress, a report on program performance for the previous fiscal year. 

"(b)(1) Each program performance report shall set forth the performance 

indicators established in the agency performance plan under section 1115, along 

with the actual program performance achieved compared with the performance 

goals expressed in the plan for that fiscal year. 

"(2) If performance goals are specified in an alternative form under section 

1115(b), the results of such program shall be described in relation to such 

specifications, including whether the performance failed to meet the criteria of a 

minimally effective or successful program. 

"(c) The report for fiscal year 2000 shall include actual results for the preceding 

fiscal year, the report for fiscal year 2001 shall include actual results for the two 

preceding fiscal years, and the report for fiscal year 2002 and all subsequent reports 

shall include actual results for the three preceding fiscal years. 

"(d) Each report shall— 

"(1) review the success of achieving the performance goals of the fiscal year; 

"(2) evaluate the performance plan for the current fiscal year relative to the 

performance achieved toward the performance goals in the fiscal year covered by 

the report; 

"(3) explain and describe, where a performance goal has not been met 

(including when a program activity's performance is determined not to have met the 

criteria of a successful program activity under section 1115(b)(l)(A)(ii) or a 

corresponding level of achievement if another alternative form is used)— 

"(A) why the goal was not met; 

"(B) those plans and schedules for achieving the established performance 

goal; and 

"(C) if the performance goal is impractical or infeasible, why that is the case 

and what action is recommended; 

"(4) describe the use and assess the effectiveness in achieving performance 

goals of any waiver under section 9703 of this title; and 

"(5) include the summary findings of those program evaluations completed 

during the fiscal year covered by the report. 

78 
"(e) An agency head may include all program performance information required 

annually under this section in an annual financial statement required under section 

3515 if any such statement is submitted to the Congress no later than March 31 of 

the applicable fiscal year. 

"(f) The functions and activities of this section shall be considered to be 

inherently Governmental functions. The drafting of program performance reports 

under this section shall be performed only by Federal employees. 

"§ 1117. Exemption 

"The Director of the Office of Management and Budget may exempt from the 

requirements of sections 1115 and 1116 of this title and section 306 of title 5, any 

agency with annual outlays of $20,000,000 or less.". 

SEC. 5. MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND FLEXIBILITY. 

(a) Managerial Accountability And Flexibility- Chapter 97 of title 31, United 

States Code, is amended by adding after section 9702, the following new section: 

§ 9703. Managerial accountability and flexibility 

"(a) Beginning with fiscal year 1999, the performance plans required under 

section 1115 may include proposals to waive administrative procedural requirements 

and controls, including specification of personnel staffing levels, limitations on 

compensation or remuneration, and prohibitions or restrictions on funding transfers 

among budget object classification 20 and subclassifications 11, 12, 31, and 32 of 

each annual budget submitted under section 1105, in return for specific individual 

or organization accountability to achieve a performance goal. In preparing and 

submitting the performance plan under section 1105(a)(29), the Director of the 

Office of Management and Budget shall review and may approve any proposed 

waivers. A waiver shall take effect at the beginning of the fiscal year for which the 

waiver is approved. 

"(b) Any such proposal under subsection (a) shall describe the anticipated effects 

on performance resulting from greater managerial or organizational flexibility, 

discretion, and authority, and shall quantify the expected improvements in 

performance resulting from any waiver. The expected improvements shall be 

compared to current actual performance, and to the projected level of performance 

that would be achieved independent of any waiver. 

"(c) Any proposal waiving limitations on compensation or remuneration shall 

precisely express the monetary change in compensation or remuneration amounts, 

79 
such as bonuses or awards, that shall result from meeting, exceeding, or failing to 

meet performance goals. 

"(d) Any proposed waiver of procedural requirements or controls imposed by an 

agency (other than the proposing agency or the Office of Management and Budget) 

may not be included in a performance plan unless it is endorsed by the agency that 

established the requirement, and the endorsement included in the proposing 

agency's performance plan. 

"(e) A waiver shall be in effect for one or two years as specified by the Director of 

the Office of Management and Budget in approving the waiver. A waiver may be 

renewed for a subsequent year. After a waiver has been in effect for three 

consecutive years, the performance plan prepared under section 1115 may propose 

that a waiver, other than a waiver of limitations on compensation or remuneration, 

be made permanent. 

"(f) For purposes of this section, the definitions under section 1115(f) shall 

apply.". 

SEC. 6. PILOT PROJECTS. 

(a) Performance Plans and Reports-Chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, is 

amended by inserting after section 1117 (as added by section 4 of this Act) the 

following new section: 

"§ 1118. Pilot projects for performance goals 

"(a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, after consultation 

with the head of each agency, shall designate not less than ten agencies as pilot 

projects in performance measurement for fiscal years 1994, 1995, and 1996. The 

selected agencies shall reflect a representative range of Government functions and 

capabilities in measuring and reporting program performance. 

"(b) Pilot projects in the designated agencies shall undertake the preparation of 

performance plans under section 1115, and program performance reports under 

section 1116, other than section 1116(c), for one or more of the major functions and 

operations of the agency. A strategic plan shall be used when preparing agency 

performance plans during one or more years of the pilot period. 

"(c) No later than May 1,1997, the Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget shall submit a report to the President and to the Congress which shall— 

"(1) assess the benefits, costs, and usefulness of the plans and reports prepared 

by the pilot agencies in meeting the purposes of the Government Performance and 

Results Act of 1993; 

80 
"(2) identify any significant difficulties experienced by the pilot agencies in 

preparing plans and reports; and 

"(3) set forth any recommended changes in the requirements of the provisions 

of Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, section 306 of title 5, sections 

1105,1115, 1116, 1117,1119 and 9703 of this title, and this section.". 

(b) Managerial Accountability and Flexibility- Chapter 97 of title 31, United 

States Code, is amended by inserting after section 9703 (as added by section 5 of this 

Act) the following new section: 

"§ 9704. Pilot projects for managerial accountability and flexibility 

"(a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall designate not 

less than five agencies as pilot projects in managerial accountability and flexibility 

for fiscal years 1995 and 1996. Such agencies shall be selected from those designated 

as pilot projects under section 1118 and shall reflect a representative range of 

Government functions and capabilities in measuring and reporting program 

performance. 

"(b) Pilot projects in the designated agencies shall include proposed waivers in 

accordance with section 9703 for one or more of the major functions and operations 

of the agency. 

"(c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall include in the 

report to the President and to the Congress required under section 1118(c)— 

"(1) an assessment of the benefits, costs, and usefulness of increasing 

managerial and organizational flexibility, discretion, and authority in exchange for 

improved performance through a waiver; and 

"(2) an identification of any significant difficulties experienced by the pilot 

agencies in preparing proposed waivers. 

"(d) For purposes of this section the definitions under section 1115(f) shall 

apply.". 

(c) Performance Budgeting- Chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, is 

amended by inserting after section 1118 (as added by section 6 of this Act) the 

following new section: 

"§ 1119. Pilot projects for performance budgeting 

"(a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, after consultation 

with the head of each agency shall designate not less than five agencies as pilot 

projects in performance budgeting for fiscal years 1998 and 1999. At least three of 

the agencies shall be selected from those designated as pilot projects under section 

81 
1118, and shall also reflect a representative range of Government functions and 

capabilities in measuring and reporting program performance. 

"(b) Pilot projects in the designated agencies shall cover the preparation of 

performance budgets. Such budgets shall present, for one or more of the major 

functions and operations of the agency, the varying levels of performance, including 

outcome-related performance, that would result from different budgeted amounts. 

"(c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall include, as an 

alternative budget presentation in the budget submitted under section 1105 for fiscal 

year 1999, the performance budgets of the designated agencies for this fiscal year. 

"(d) No later than March 31, 2001, the Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget shall transmit a report to the President and to the Congress on the 

performance budgeting pilot projects which shall— 

"(1) assess the feasibility and advisability of including a performance budget as 

part of the annual budget submitted under section 1105; 

"(2) describe any difficulties encountered by the pilot agencies in preparing a 

performance budget; 

"(3) recommend whether legislation requiring performance budgets should be 

proposed and the general provisions of any legislation; and 

"(4) set forth any recommended changes in the other requirements of the 

Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, section 306 of title 5, sections 

1105,1115, 1116,1117, and 9703 of this title, and this section. 

"(e) After receipt of the report required under subsection (d), the Congress may 

specify that a performance budget be submitted as part of the annual budget 

submitted under section 1105.". 

SEC. 7. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE. [OMITTED] 

SEC. 8. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT AND LEGISLATION. 

(a) In General- Nothing in this Act shall be construed as limiting the ability of 

Congress to establish, amend, suspend, or annul a performance goal. Any such 

action shall have the effect of superseding that goal in the plan submitted under 

section 1105(a)(29) of title 31, United States Code. 

(b) GAO Report- No later than June 1,1997, the Comptroller General of the 

United States shall report to Congress on the implementation of this Act, including 

the prospects for compliance by Federal agencies beyond those participating as pilot 

projects under sections 1118 and 9704 of title 31, United States Code. 

82 
SEC. 9. TRAINING. 

The Office of Personnel Management shall, in consultation with the Director of 

the Office of Management and Budget and the Comptroller General of the United 

States, develop a strategic planning and performance measurement training 

component for its management training program and otherwise provide managers 

with an orientation on the development and use of strategic planning and program 

performance measurement. 

SEC. 10. APPLICATION OF ACT. 

No provision or amendment made by this Act may be construed as— 

(1) creating any right, privilege, benefit, or entitlement for any person who is 

not an officer or employee of the United States acting in such capacity, and no 

person who is not an officer or employee of the United States acting in such capacity 

shall have standing to file any civil action in a court of the United States to enforce 

any provision or amendment made by this Act; or 

(2) superseding any statutory requirement, including any requirement under 

section 553 of title 5, United States Code. 

SEC. 11. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

(a) Amendment to Title 5, United States Code- The table of sections for chapter 

3 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to 

section 305 the following: 

"306. Strategic plans.". 

(b) Amendments to Title 31, United States Code.-

(1) Amendment to Chapter 11- The table of sections for chapter 11 of title 31, 

United States Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to section 1114 the 

following: 

"1115. Performance plans. 

"1116. Program performance reports. 

"1117. Exemptions. 

83 
"1118. Pilot projects for performance goals. 

"1119. Pilot projects for performance budgeting.". 

(2) Amendment to Chapter 97- The table of sections for chapter 97 of title 31, 

United States Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to section 9702 the 

following: 

"9703. Managerial accountability and flexibility. 

"9704. Pilot projects for managerial accountability and flexibility.". 

(c) Amendment to Title 39, United States Code- The table of chapters for part III 

of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the 

following new item: 

"28. Strategic planning and performance management... 2801". 

Approved August 3,1993. 

84 
Ippendix IV: National Park Service 

GPRA Process and Terminology 

Eight-Step Process: The NPS-developed performance management process is a set 

of eight steps to be followed by parks and programs to determine the why, what, and 

how of performance management and to determine if performance goals are 

accomplished. 

Why-What-How: The NPS GPRA planning approach defines first the why (purpose 

and significance), then the what (goals), and lastly the how (methods). This 

approach forces clear thinking about success before deciding methods to achieve it. 

Mission Statement: A concise summary of why the National Park Service exists and 

what its parks, programs, and central offices do, as required by law. The mission 

statement presents the main purposes for major functions and operations: 

for the National Park Service, as defined by the NPS mission statement 

for park units, as defined by their purpose and significance and as derived from 

their legislation 

for partnership programs, as defined by legislation and NPS policy 

for central offices, as defined by legislation and NPS organizational structure. 

Park Purpose: The purpose (or purposes) for which a park unit was created. The 

purpose is usually described in the enabling legislation or presidential proclamation 

that established the unit. Subsequent federal actions, such as designation of wilderness areas or wild and scenic river status, or international program designations, 

such as a world heritage site or biosphere reserve, add new purpose(s) to the unit. 

Park Significance: The many exceptional resource values of a particular unit. Park 

significance is sometimes found in the establishing documents, but more often 

significance is refined after establishment, reflecting the values society places on the 

unit at the present time. A unit's exceptional resources are sometimes ranked as 

global, national, or regional in significance. 

Mission Goal: A servicewide, park, program, or central office goal that directly 

reflects the NPS mission of preserving and managing resources in perpetuity and 

providing visitor and public experiences. Mission goals (which are not quantified) 

provide the framework for long-term and annual goals (which are quantified). 

Taken together, NPS mission goals encompass the entire NPS mission. Stated as 

desired future conditions, mission goals reflect the never-ending commitments that 

come from the NPS Organic Act and subsequent legislation. The National Park 

Service, as a preservation agency, added mission goals because its mission has a 

much longer time frame than GPRA five-year "general goals." This plan has nine 

servicewide mission goals. 

85 
Desired Future Condition: All NPS/GPRA goals, whether mission goals, long-term 

goals, or annual goals, are stated as desired future resource or visitor experience 

conditions. When combined, desired future conditions articulate a servicewide 

vision for the park's, program's, or central office's future, as well as the conditions 

necessary to accomplish purpose and maintain significance. They describe "what 

success would look like." 

Long-term Goal: Known as a "general goal" in the Government Performance and 

Results Act, a long-term goal is a subset of a mission goal. Long-term goals are 

outcomes that describe results, not efforts. They show results in the condition of 

natural and cultural resources and recreational opportunities and in visitor 

experiences. Long-term goals allow future assessments of goal achievement. They 

incorporate performance measures in them and are stated in measurable terms with 

clear performance targets (levels of accomplishment) and completion dates. For 

planning purposes, a long-term goal is 5 years in duration, but may have a duration 

of 3 to 20 years. The National Park Service has 31 servicewide long-term goals that 

nest under the 9 servicewide mission goals. Parks and programs must use the NPS 

servicewide goals if applicable to them but can also have additional park or 

program-specific goals that complement the NPS servicewide goals and fit under the 

NPS servicewide mission goals. 

Annual Performance Goal: A single-year target level of performance in the 

framework of the long-term and mission goals and a further refinement of them. 

Annual goals are outcomes. Annual performance goals for a park or program are 

tiered from that park's or program's long-term goals and usually are stated in the 

same way as long-term goals. They, too, describe results, not efforts, and they are 

written as a desired resource or visitor experience condition. Annual goals allow 

future assessments of goal achievement. Annual performance goals incorporate 

performance measures in them; they are stated in measurable terms, with clear 

performance targets (levels of accomplishment). They specify achievements within 

that fiscal year. They are neither products nor activities (outputs), but the results of 

products or activities. They show results in the condition of natural and cultural 

resources and recreational opportunities and visitor experiences. Over time, annual 

goals "stack up" to achieve long-term (five-year) goals. 

Annual Performance Plan: The annual performance plan consists of the park's 

annual performance goals (outcomes) and its annual work plan (outputs and 

inputs). Sometimes called a performance management plan, this plan is required by 

the Government Performance and Results Act. This document guides the 

organization's actions on a day-to-day basis. It displays and explains what personnel, 

86 
time, materials, and funding are needed in the upcoming fiscal year to achieve the 

stated annual performance goals, and how they contribute to achieving the longterm goals. 

Annual Performance Report: The Government Performance and Results Act 

requires annual performance reports for reporting on performance. Each park, 

program, and central office, as well as the agency itself, will prepare a report on 

accomplishments and failures in achieving the annual goals stated in its previous 

year's annual performance plan. Note that the Government Performance and 

Results Act allows for "key external factors" to help explain why a goal was not 

achieved. 

Resources: Resources include (1) natural and cultural: as in preserve the resources; 

(2) funds, personnel, supplies, equipment used: as in resources available. 

Inputs, Outputs, and Outcomes: 

Input: The resources used in producing an output or outcome (like personnel, 

materials, time, and funding). (FTE, dollars, park brochures, photographs in 

interpretive programs, hand tools, weapons, and water bars) 

Input Measure: The quantity of resources available to produce products and 

services. (Number of FTE, number of dollars, number of park brochures, number 

of photographs in interpretive programs, number of hand tools, number of weapons, 

and number of waterbars) 

Output: Products or services produced or provided. (Interpretive programs 

provided to visitors, IPM treatments conducted, AREA arrests made, miles of trails 

rehabilitated) 

Output Measure: The actual number of products or services accomplished. 

(Number of interpretive programs provided to visitors, number of IPM treatments 

conducted, number of ARPA arrests made, number of miles of trails rehabilitated) 

Outcome: The intended result, effect, or consequence of carrying out a program 

or activity. (Satisfied, knowledgeable visitors; resources in good condition) 

Outcome Measure: The actual results, effects, or consequences of activities 

compared to their original intentions. (Percent satisfied, knowledgeable visitors; 

percent of resources in good condition) 

87 
Haptions for Photos in Strategic Plan 

In order of appearance: 

Page ii In the Garfield Grove, Sequoia National Park 

Photo by Tim McLaughlin 

Page viii Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park 

Photo by Larry Norris 

Page x Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 

Photo by Larry Norris 

Page 6 Nature Walk, Everglades National Park 

NPS Photo 

Page 42 Gateway Arch, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial 

NPS Photo 

Page 58 Liberty Bell, Independence National Historical Park 

NPS Photo 

Page 70 Point Reyes Lighthouse, Point Reyes National Seashore 

NPS Photo 

88 
Hreparcrs and Contributors 

This document was prepared with the contributions of many NPS employees, 

members of the NPS GPRA taskforce, and members of the NPS National 

Leadership Council. 

Plan Contributors 

Carol Aten, formerly National Park 

Service 

Larry Belli, Everglades National Park 

Roger Brown, Washington Office 

Sharon Cleary, Washington Office 

John Cook, Intermountain Region 

John Crowley, Intermountain Region 

Gary Davis, Channel Islands National 

Park 

Maureen Finnerty, Washington Office 

Denis Galvin, Washington Office 

Lee Gurney, Northeast Region 

Bryan Harry, Pacific Island Support 

Office 

Ken Hornback, Washington Office 

(retired) 

Glen Kaye, Southwest Support Office 

(retired) 

Marc Koenings, Assateague Island 

National Seashore 

Toni Lee, National Program Center 

Howard Levitt, Golden Gate National 

Recreation Area 

Abby Miller, Washington Office 

Bob Martin, Redwood National Park 

Corky Mayo, Washington Office 

Howard Ness, Mexico Affairs Office 

Patty Neubacher, Pacific West Region 

Dave Parsons, formerly National Park 

Service 

Dwight Pitcaithley, National Program 

Center 

Kendra Peel, Washington Office 

Jerry Pendleton, Washington Office 

Tom Ross, National Program Center 

Dick Sellars, Southwest Support 

Office 

Gail Slemmer, Washington Office 

Michael Soukup, Washington Office 

Cathy Spude, Southwest Support 

Office 

Katherine Stevenson, Washington 

Office 

George Turnbull, Pacific-Great Basin 

Support Office 

Merle Van Home, National Program 

Center 

Ed Zahniser, Harpers Ferry Center 

GPRA Taskforce 

(* denotes former member) 

Paul Anderson, Alaska Region 

Connie Backlund, Carl Sandburg 

Home National Historic Site 

Larry Belli, Everglades National Park 

Rowland Bowers, National Program Center 

(retired)* 

Mary Bradford, Washington Office 

Warren Brown, Washington Office 

Maria Burks, Cape Cod National 

Seashore* 

Linda Canzanelli, Washington Office 

Deke Cripe, Washington Office* 

Darrell Cook, Bighorn Canyon National 

Recreation Area 

John Cook, Intermountain Region 

Constantine Dillon, Fire Island National 

Seashore 

Jim Donoghue, Intermountain Region 

(deceased)* 

John Duran, National Capital Region 

Douglas Eury, El Malpais National 

Monument 

Loran Fraser, Washington Office 

89 
Denis Galvin, Washington Office 

Jim Giammo, Washington Office 

David Given, Midwest Region 

Lee Gurney, Northeast Region 

Ann Hitchcock, National Program Center 

Heather Huyck, Chairperson, 

Washington Office 

Dan Krieber, Sleeping Bear Dunes 

National Lakeshore 

Abby Miller, Washington Office 

Stephen Miller, Tallgrass Prairie 

National Preserve 

Bob Newkirk, Southeast Region* 

Jim Poole, Washington Office 

Dick Ring, Everglades National Park 

Frank Seng, Washington Office 

Michael Tollefson, Sequoia and 

Kings Canyon National Parks 

Rory Westberg, Columbia Cascades 

Support Office 

Alex Young, Washington Office 

Production Team 

Office of Strategic Planning 

Heather Huyck, Director 

Michael Brown, Program Analyst 

Larry L. Norris, Production 

Manager for Strategic Plan, 

Program Analyst 

Eileen K. Peterson, Program Analyst 

Denver Service Center 

Joan Huff, Visual Information 

Technician 

Jon Nickolas, Producer of Internet 

Version 

Linda Ray, Senior Visual Information 

Specialist 

Mary Ryan, Visual Information 

Technician 

90 
As the nation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for most 

of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering sound use of our land 

and water resources; protecting our fish, wildlife, and biological diversity; preserving the environmental 

and cultural values of our national parks and historical places; and providing for the enjoyment of life 

through outdoor recreation. The department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to 

ensure that their development is in the best interests of all our people by encouraging stewardship and 

citizen participation in their care. The department also has a major responsibility for American Indian 

reservation communities and for people who live in island territories under U.S. administration. 

NPSD-1151A/September 1997 

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