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AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL: PROMOTING OUR 

NATIONAL PARKS AS TRAVEL DESTINATIONS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMPETITIVENESS, 

INNOVATION, AND EXPORT PROMOTION 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, 

SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

APRIL 27, 2010 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

( 

(II) 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman 

DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii 

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts 

BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

BILL NELSON, Florida 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey 

MARK PRYOR, Arkansas 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

MARK WARNER, Virginia 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska 

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas, Ranking 

OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

JIM DEMINT, South Carolina 

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota 

ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

DAVID VITTER, Louisiana 

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas 

MEL MARTINEZ, Florida 

MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska 

ELLEN L. DONESKI, Staff Director 

JAMES REID, Deputy Staff Director 

BRUCE H. ANDREWS, General Counsel 

ANN BEGEMAN, Republican Staff Director 

BRIAN M. HENDRICKS, Republican General Counsel 

NICK ROSSI, Republican Chief Counsel 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMPETITIVENESS, INNOVATION, AND EXPORT 

PROMOTION 

AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota, Chairman 

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts 

BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

MARK WARNER, Virginia 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska 

GEORGE S. LEMIEUX, Florida, Ranking 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

JIM DEMINT, South Carolina 

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota 

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas 

MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hearing held on April 27, 2010 .............................................................................. 1 

Statement of Senator Klobuchar ............................................................................ 1 

Statement of Senator LeMieux ............................................................................... 3 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 4 

Statement of Senator Udall .................................................................................... 5 

Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 6 

Statement of Senator Begich .................................................................................. 31 

Statement of Senator Cantwell .............................................................................. 34 

WITNESSES

Hon. John Barrasso, U.S. Senator from Wyoming ................................................ 1 

Ken Burns, Filmmaker, Florentine Films ............................................................. 7 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 

Will Shafroth, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, U.S. 

Department of the Interior .................................................................................. 10 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 12 

Michael M. Ward, Superintendent, Voyageurs National Park, National Park 

Service, U.S. Department of the Interior ........................................................... 14 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16 

Diane Shober, Director of Tourism, State of Wyoming ........................................ 17 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 19 

Clyde Butcher, Photographer ................................................................................. 24 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 25 

Scott Bacher, Owner and Operator, Carlsbad KOA, New Mexico ....................... 26 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 28 

APPENDIX

Written questions submitted by Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg to Will Shafroth ... 45 

(1) 

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL: PROMOTING OUR 

NATIONAL PARKS AS TRAVEL DESTINATIONS 

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 

U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMPETITIVENESS, INNOVATION, AND

EXPORT PROMOTION, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m. in room 

SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Amy Klobuchar, 

Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Senator Barrasso, would you like to say a 

few words about your guest? 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING 

Senator BARRASSO. Well, thank you very much, Madam Chairman. 

And it is a special delight to have, visiting here in the Senate, 

from the State of Wyoming, Diane Shober. Diane is incredible. She 

is the Director of Travel and Tourism for the State of Wyoming, 

and she does a magnificent job. I think all of America knows what 

a wonderful and beautiful State Wyoming is, and why we welcome 

our visitors. We’re so happy that Diane is out there, continuing to 

share the wonderful story and the invitation, for all of America and 

all the world, to come to Wyoming. 

So, thank you, Madam Chairman, Ranking Member, I appreciate 

your time and your courtesy. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Well, thank you so much. 

And as Senator Barrasso knows, every vacation I took, growing 

up, was to—first the Black Hills and then the Tetons and Yellowstone. And my most memorable one was when we brought the family camper—we didn’t have one, we rented it—we pulled out of the 

driveway and our car went this way and the camper went down the 

hill. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. And my mom was really not mad at my dad 

all. At all. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. But, in any case, I have many fond memories of the beautiful parks in Wyoming. 

2 

So, thank you, Senator Barrasso. 

Thank you all for coming today. 

Senator LeMieux and I are very excited about this hearing. I’m 

going to say a few words, then he is, and then we will turn to our 

witnesses. 

We’re here today to examine the value of national parks as tourist destinations. We will consider the economic impact that national parks have on States and local communities, and look at 

ways to improve the promotion of national parks so we can get 

even more visitors and more people to experience the great beauties of our parks. 

As school winds down and families begin planning summer vacations, they have to remember the opportunities for affordable travel 

in our own country. 

We’re all looking closely at our budgets right now, and national 

parks are one of the most economical travel options for Americans 

and travelers from other countries. 

As I mentioned, I spent most of my time, growing up, going to 

the Badlands and the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. The national 

parks was part of my life. It is woven into our country’s culture. 

They are on ‘‘must see’’ lists for domestic and international travelers, and have become American icons, part of the fabric of our 

country. The Grand Canyon, Voyageurs, Joshua Tree, Yosemite; 

each park is a powerful symbol of America. 

Of course, these parks are not simply natural resources; they are 

also one of our greatest economic assets. The dual mission of the 

National Park Service recognizes the roles that parks play in promoting tourism in America. The Park Service both protects the natural, cultural, and historic resources of the Nation, but it also provides for their use and enjoyment. These missions work hand in 

hand, because tourists who experience the parks, appreciate them 

more, and are more likely to support the conservation mission of 

the National Park Service. 

The statistics are huge. National parks receive nearly 275 million 

recreational visits each year, and these visitors spend $11-and-ahalf billion in the communities surrounding the parks. These ‘‘gateway’’ communities, large and small, have discovered and successfully developed the economic potential of national parks. 

A wide variety of businesses benefit. Just over half of park tourism dollars are spent on lodging and meals, with 17 percent going 

for gas and transportation, 9 percent for groceries, and 14 percent 

for souvenirs. And many of these businesses are small and familyowned. 

Not only are these tourist dollars spent in and around national 

parks, they ripple through the local economy. In fact, for every dollar spent in the parks, another fifty cents is generated in the region. This is good for the economy and it helps create jobs. 

As we know from the recent debate over the Travel Promotion 

Act, one of eight Americans is employed in the travel industry. All 

told, national parks create over 230,000 jobs. These are good jobs 

that cannot be outsourced. 

In my State of Minnesota, over 640,000 people visit six national 

park units each year. These visits add nearly $30 million to the 

economy and create over 800 local jobs. From the cabins near 

3 

Grand Portage on the north shore of Lake Superior, to the outfitters along the Saint Croix Scenic River, from the gas stations outside Pipestone National Monument, to the grocery store on the way 

to Voyageurs, the national parks in Minnesota means jobs and an 

improved quality of life. 

Yet, despite their prominence, the parks face many challenges, 

which lead to innovation solutions. One way is to increase partnerships with State and local governments and businesses surrounding the parks. This is already happening; State tourism offices play a large role in promoting the parks in their States, which 

I’m sure we will hear from Wyoming. 

But, more can be done. Working together with tourism providers 

and local businesses, the Park Service can better encourage visits 

to lesser-known parks—we have one of those—it’s great, but lesserknown, right, Mr. Ward?—and underutilized areas, as well as visits 

to local sites. Another idea is to encourage visits to other nearby 

parks and attractions. By networking our parks, we can turn day 

trips into weekend vacations, and weekends into week-long adventures. 

We also need to do more to promote our national parks to international visitors. The bill that we all supported with Senator Dorgan, we’re very hopeful that that idea of finally marketing our 

country internationally will bring in loads of tourists; and specifically, we should be marketing our national parks. 

In economic terms, tourism counts as an export. Instead of shipping our product to customers overseas, the customer is coming 

here to spend money. 

Finally, we should also encourage close-to-home trips and make 

sure people know the national parks are an affordable travel option. You can tent in Glacier, Yellowstone, or Yosemite for 10 or 20 

bucks. Many parks, like Voyageurs in Minnesota, allow you to 

camp for free. That’s right, for free. 

We can also improve how our parks are promoted, within the 

United States, to Americans who may not know about the parks or 

have the opportunity to visit them. 

I look forward to hearing from our panelists today, and I will introduce them after Senator LeMieux is here. We’ve also been joined 

by Senator Udall, and it’s very special for us to have him here. We 

all miss his father very much, but, as you know, his father was 

really the spirit and heart of our national parks. And maybe when 

Senator LeMieux finishes, if you want to say a few words. 

Senator LeMieux. 

STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE LEMIEUX, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA 

Senator LEMIEUX. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for 

your leadership on this issue. 

This is really an issue that every Senator can get behind. I look 

forward to working with you and our other colleagues to promote 

travel to our national parks, and look forward to hearing the testimony from our witnesses today. 

You know, with 285 million visitors in 2009, it was nearly a 

record year for visitors to our national parks. 

4 

And I think, Mr. Burns, you might have had something to do 

with that, so thank you. 

Florida is home to many State and national parks; most prominently, Everglades National Park, which is the largest subtropical 

wilderness in the United States. In Florida, we have an abundance 

of riches, in terms of destinations that people come to. They come 

for the beach, they come for golf, they come for Disney World, but 

they also come—and they should come more—for our national 

parks; especially Everglades National Parks, 1,509,000 acres, a 

beautiful place. It covers 25 percent of the original 11,000-squaremile watershed that slowly flowed from the Kissimmee River to 

Lake Okeechobee, south to the estuaries of Biscayne Bay, the Ten 

Thousand Islands, and Florida Bay. 

According to a November 2008 National Park Service visitor 

study, between 20 and 46 percent of our visitors to Everglades National Park are foreign travelers from 19 countries. They understand—in some ways, Madam Chair, better than we do—the jewel 

that the Everglades National Park is. In fact, I’m a resident and 

a native of South Florida, and know that many of my friends, growing up, had never been to Everglades National Park. Like so many 

national parks, the Everglades plays an integral role in our surrounding economy. 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses how we can best 

protect and preserve our national parks. And it gives me great 

pleasure to welcome, today, one of our witnesses, who is really a 

hero to me, and that’s Clyde Butcher. He’s joined by his wife Nikki, 

who is also here. He is an acclaimed photographer, an adopted 

Florida son, and his photography of the Everglades, and, really, 

places all around the world, is nothing short of spectacular. I visited his studio in the Big Cypress National Preserve, and it was a 

wonderful experience. His latest exhibition is entitled ‘‘America the 

Beautiful: The Monumental Landscape of Clyde Butcher,’’ and includes 50 large-scale, stunning black-and-white photographs of the 

American landscape, spanning the United States from Maine to 

Hawaii to our own Everglades. He has been recognized by numerous organizations for his work, been featured in winning documentaries, including, Ken Burns’ documentary about the national 

parks. 

So, welcome, to all of our folks here, who are here to testify. 

Thank you for making the trip, and thank you for your dedication 

to our national parks. 

[The prepared statement of Senator LeMieux follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE S. LEMIEUX, U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA

I look forward to working with my colleagues to promote travel to our national 

parks and I look forward to hearing about the importance of our national parks 

from today’s witnesses. 

Florida is home to Everglades National Park, which is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States. 

The park covers about 25 percent of the original 11,000 square miles watershed 

that slowly flowed from the Kissimmee River to Lake Okeechobee south to the estuaries of Biscayne Bay, the Ten Thousand Islands, and Florida Bay. 

According to a November 2008 National Park Service Visitor’s Study, between 20 

and 46 percent of visitors to the Everglades national park are foreign travelers from 

19 countries, with the majority of them from Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. 

5 

Like so many national parks, the Everglades play an integral role in the surrounding economies. 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about how we can best protect and 

preserve our national parks. 

It gives me great pleasure to welcome one of today’s witnesses who is from Florida, Clyde Butcher. He is joined by his wife Nikki. Clyde is an acclaimed photographer and adopted Florida sun and his photography is nothing short of spectacular. 

His latest exhibition is entitled ‘‘America the Beautiful: The Monumental Landscape of Clyde Butcher’’ and it includes 50 large-scale stunning black and white photographs of the American landscape, spanning the United States, from Maine to Hawaii to the Everglades in South Florida. 

Clyde has been recognized by numerous organizations and his work has been featured in award-winning documentaries, including Ken Burns’s documentary, ‘‘The 

National Parks: America’s Best Idea.’’ 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Senator Udall, if you want to say a few 

words. 

STATEMENT OF HON. TOM UDALL, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO 

Senator UDALL. Sure, I’ll try to be brief here, Senator Klobuchar. 

Let me thank the Chairman very much for holding this important hearing. 

And I’d like to welcome each of the witnesses joining us here 

today. I’d especially like to thank Scott Bacher, for his willingness 

to come and speak about his interactions with the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. 

Scott—and I apologize for the baby table there. Senators also get 

that baby table, actually. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator UDALL. It’s hooked at the end, and a couple of us freshmen, we are down there. So, you should know that we treat everybody equal-handedly. 

But, Mr. Bacher runs, reportedly, the best KOA in my State of 

New Mexico. His high-end campground and RV park accommodates 

tens of thousands of visitors to Carlsbad Caverns National Park 

every year. And Mr. Bacher represents thousands of small-business 

owners across the country who depend on the visitation to national 

parks. And I appreciate his willingness to represent these individuals. 

And I thank the Chair for her interest in the economic impacts 

of the parks. 

New Mexico is home to 17 units of the National Park Service. 

These parks, monuments, historic trails celebrate New Mexico’s 

proud heritage and help preserve its remarkable landscapes. 

They’re important educational tools for local schools and traveling 

visitors; they’re essential to biological, geological and archeological 

research; they protect irreplaceable natural resources; and finally, 

it is the focus of this hearing, that, these units of the National 

Park Service are economic engines, especially in times of economic 

difficulty, when families are looking for destinations closer to home. 

And just to say a word about Ken Burns—the Chair mentioned 

my father. I know that you came out to his home in Sante Fe, 

spent a number of hours filming him. It was one of the real delights of his life, near the end of his life, to spend time with you. 

He was able to see your National Park Service series. And, believe 

me, he saw it once, and then he wanted to watch it again, and he 

6 

just kept watching it. And I can’t think of a better promotional tool, 

is one way to say it, but it’s a true work of art. 

And so, thank you for what you’re doing. 

And I look forward to hearing from all the witnesses. 

Thank you, Amy. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you. 

Senator Nelson? 

STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA 

Senator NELSON. And, you know, it’s so true. Your dad was quite 

a national asset, and was just revered as the Secretary of the Interior. And I think it’s wonderful that the family is continuing in 

public service. 

Senator UDALL. Thank you, I got the defective gene. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator NELSON. Well, we have those wonderful national parks 

in our State of Florida. It’s very interesting how we combine parks 

with other purposes. For example, back in the 1950s, the government had to acquire so much land for the Kennedy Space Center, 

and a good part of the Kennedy Space Center is the Canaveral National Seashore Park. And the rest of the land that’s set aside is 

the wildlife refuge. And Everglades is, just, this extraordinary 

treasure, only to be threatened by Burmese pythons. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. I somehow knew you’d bring up space and 

snakes. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator NELSON. Hopefully not snakes on a spacecraft. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator NELSON. But, Mr. Butcher has dedicated all these decades of his life to capturing these exquisite landscapes in the Florida Everglades, and making, as a result, significant efforts to conservation. His gallery and studio are located on 13 acres in the center of the Everglades. 

And we’re privileged to have you here, today. 

Now, the subject matter here today, about how we can promote 

travel to our parks—that ties in, Madam Chairman, with what we 

just passed a couple of months ago, the Travel Promotion Act. It 

was signed into law last month, and it recognizes the foreign guest, 

the importance of that tourism to our Nation and economy, and 

makes the necessary investments to increase those foreign visitors 

coming to this country. And the national parks are certainly one 

of those attractions. And this committee not only has the obligation 

to boost tourism, but it has the obligation to make sure that our 

national parks, which include some coastlines and oceans and waterways, are available to the future generations for their enjoyment. 

And so, as we sit here today, there is a 40-mile-wide oil slick that 

is headed in the direction of Mobile Bay and Pensacola Beach; and 

if the wind shoots it the other way, it will head toward the coast 

of Louisiana. And we’ve got to continually remind ourselves of the 

containment and the safety of those offshore oil platforms. 

Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

7 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much, Senator Nelson. 

And I’m going to just quickly introduce our panelists today. We 

have, as been mentioned, award-winning documentary filmmaker 

Ken Burns. Many of you have seen his ground-breaking film series, 

‘‘The National Parks: America’s Best Ideas’’—we’re going to actually see a clip before everyone starts here; Michael Ward, who is 

the Superintendent of Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota; Diane Shober, from Wyoming, who was already introduced 

by Senator Barrasso; William Shafroth, who’s the Deputy Assistant 

Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks in the Department of Interior; Scott Bacher, who is the Owner and Operator of the Carlsbad KOA, and was introduced by Senator Udall. 

And then finally, Mr. Butcher, we’re very honored to have you 

here, today. 

And as was mentioned—he was mentioned by—introduced by 

two Senators. So, my prediction is that we hope to have as many 

Senators here as at the Goldman Sachs hearing that’s also going 

on today. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. But, you should be very impressed. And I 

think it’s a testament to our good panelists and the importance of 

this work. 

So, why don’t we show Mr. Burns’ clip, and then we will start 

with Mr. Burns, who, I know has to leave at 11:15. 

[Video presentation.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. OK, that was quite an introduction, Mr. 

Burns. Please go ahead. 

STATEMENT OF KEN BURNS, FILMMAKER, FLORENTINE FILMS 

Mr. BURNS. Madam Chair and members of the Committee, it’s an 

honor to speak before you today. 

I wanted to say, first, to Senators Nelson and LeMieux, that I 

just took my 5-year-old youngest daughter into the Everglades and 

spent a weekend there, 10 days ago. 

And, Senator Udall, the very first interview, roll one out of more 

than 800 rolls of film, was with your father. He spoke about Theodore Roosevelt, and said that Theodore Roosevelt had ‘‘distance in 

his eyes,’’ and I think there is not a person in this room that 

doesn’t recognize that your father also had ‘‘distance in his eyes.’’ 

And we’ve benefited from that wisdom. And we miss him terribly. 

Nearly 150 years ago, Madam Chairman, in the midst of the 

Civil War, when the Nation’s very existence hung in the balance, 

Congress and President Abraham Lincoln, nonetheless, enacted 

legislation that reverberates to the most distant generation. They 

set aside the exquisite Yosemite Valley and magnificent Mariposa 

Grove of sequoias in California, instructing that State to protect it 

from commercial development forever. For the first time in human 

history, a large tract of natural land was preserved, not for the exclusive enjoyment of royalty or the rich, but for everyone. 

Eight years later, in 1872, a wonderland of geysers in Wyoming 

territory, at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River, was likewise 

set aside, but since there was no State to entrust it to, Congress 

instead designated it a national park. This, too, was something new 

in the history of the world. And it set in motion an idea that has 

8 

now been copied by virtually every other country on the globe, becoming, like the idea of liberty itself, one of our greatest exports. 

In titling our PBS documentary film ‘‘The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,’’ we borrowed from writer and historian Wallace 

Stegner, who said that the national parks were ‘‘the best idea we’ve 

ever had.’’ We acknowledge some hyperbole in this. The idea, embedded in our Declaration of Independence, that all human beings 

are created equal, unquestionably ranks higher. But, that idea was 

what created our Nation. Once the Nation was formed, it’s hard to 

think of an idea that came from our government any better than 

the national parks. 

The parks, in fact, spring from the very same source. They are 

the Declaration of Independence applied to the landscape. Theodore 

Roosevelt, the greatest President in our history for the cause of 

conservation, noted what he called their ‘‘essential democracy.’’ A 

generation later, another President named Roosevelt, Franklin 

Delano Roosevelt, said, ‘‘There is nothing so American as our national parks,’’ that they are ‘‘the outward symbol of this great 

human principle, that the country belongs to the people.’’ 

At this particular moment in history, it’s worth noting that, during FDR’s time in office, the Nation was facing the worst economic 

crisis of the 20th century, and yet, under his leadership, the national parks prospered. The Civilian Conservation Corps made improvements at virtually every park. New parks were created, and 

park attendance went up, not down. 

Roosevelt himself made a number of well-publicized visits to the 

parks, which, because of his handicap, he had to enjoy from the 

back of his touring car. But, he constantly encouraged other Americans to follow his example, to see for themselves these spectacular 

treasures that belong to them. He declared 1934 the ‘‘Year of the 

Parks,’’ had the Postal Service create special stamps with park 

scenes on them, funded WPA artists to make posters promoting 

park tourism, and he hired the photographer Ansel Adams, for 

$22.22-a-day, to tour the parks and capture pictures that would inspire Americans to appreciate and visit the legacy they had inherited. 

Like the two Roosevelts, the first director of the National Park 

Service, Stephen Mather, understood how the parks reflected the 

core promise of America. In fact, he called them ‘‘vast schoolrooms 

of Americanism, where people are learning to love more deeply this 

land in which they live.’’ Inspired by the naturalist John Muir, 

Mather also understood that parks are, as Muir said, ‘‘places to 

play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to 

body and soul alike.’’ In his darkest moments, Mather had always 

found solace and renewed energy from visiting a national park. 

But, Mather was also a businessman, a tireless promoter, who 

had previously made ‘‘20 Mule Team Borax’’ a household name. He 

recognized that the parks could be a powerful economic engine for 

the Nation, and for the States and towns near them, and he made 

the most of it. He worked with the railroad companies to encourage 

Americans to ‘‘See America First.’’ He joined with automobile clubs 

and good-roads associations to lobby for improved highways to the 

parks that would unleash what he called the ‘‘great flow of tourist 

gold’’ into every community along the routes. He invited publishers 

9 

and journalists to accompany him on camping trips, where he 

preached his gospel of the parks around the campfire, and urged 

them to spread that gospel in their newspapers and magazines. 

The United States, Mather said, ‘‘possesses an empire of grandeur and beauty, the most inspiring playgrounds and the bestequipped nature schools in the world.’’ And they constituted, he 

said, ‘‘an economic asset of incalculable value.’’ 

Madam Chair, members of this committee, we should listen to 

these voices from our history. As Stephen Mather reminds us, national parks are an economic asset, and therefore deserve all the 

investment and support they can get, if only for the sake of boosting the balance of trade or the bottom line of the Nation’s finances. 

As Franklin Roosevelt tells us, even in times of economic distress, the parks are worth promoting, defending, and expanding. 

They are good for business, but equally good at providing muchneeded affordable recreation during hard times. 

And as Theodore Roosevelt urges us, national parks are a part 

of our ‘‘essential democracy.’’ ‘‘Our people,’’ he added, ‘‘should see 

to it that they are preserved for their children, and their children’s 

children, forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred.’’ ‘‘We 

are not building this country of ours for a day,’’ Roosevelt said, ‘‘it 

is to last through the ages.’’ 

National parks are not only America’s best idea, they are the 

best investment this Congress can make. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Burns follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF KEN BURNS, FILMMAKER, FLORENTINE FILMS

Madam Chair and members of the Committee, it’s an honor to speak before you 

today. 

Nearly a hundred and fifty years ago, in the midst of the Civil War, when the 

Nation’s very existence hung in the balance, Congress and President Abraham Lincoln nonetheless enacted legislation that would reverberate to the most distant generation. They set aside the exquisite Yosemite Valley and magnificent Mariposa 

Grove of sequoias in California, instructing the state to protect it from commercial 

development forever. 

For the first time in human history, a large tract of natural land was preserved, 

not for the exclusive enjoyment of royalty or the rich, but for everyone. 

Eight years later, in 1872, a wonderland of geysers in Wyoming Territory, at the 

headwaters of the Yellowstone River, was likewise set aside—but since there was 

no state to entrust it to, Congress instead designated it as a ‘‘national’’ park. 

This, too, was something new in the history of the world. And it set in motion 

an idea that has now been copied by virtually every other country on the globe, becoming, like the idea of liberty, one of our greatest exports. (I should note that the 

idea spread quickly to California, as well, where Yosemite was soon transferred 

back to the Federal Government for better protection as a national park.) 

In titling our PBS documentary film, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, we 

borrowed from writer and historian Wallace Stegner, who said that national parks 

are ‘‘the best idea we ever had.’’ We acknowledge some hyperbole in this. The idea 

imbedded in our Declaration of Independence—that all human beings are ‘‘created 

equal’’ and possess the inalienable rights of ‘‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’’—unquestionably ranks higher. But that idea is what created our nation. Once 

the Nation was formed, it’s hard to think of an idea that came from our government 

any better than the national parks. 

The parks, in fact, spring from the same source. They are the Declaration of Independence applied to the landscape. Theodore Roosevelt, the greatest president in our 

history for the cause of conservation, noted what he called their ‘‘essential democracy . . . the preservation of the scenery, of the forests . . . and the wilderness 

game for the people as a whole instead of leaving the enjoyment thereof to be confined to the very rich.’’ 

10 

A generation later, another President named Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, said ‘‘there is nothing so American as our national parks,’’ that they are ‘‘the 

outward symbol of this great human principle . . . that the country belongs to the 

people.’’ 

At this particular moment in history, it’s worth noting that during Roosevelt’s 

time in office, the Nation was facing the worst economic crisis of the 20th century— 

and yet, under his leadership, the national parks prospered. The Civilian Conservation Corps made improvements at virtually every park. New parks were created. 

And park attendance went up, not down. 

Roosevelt himself made a number of well-publicized visits to the parks—which, 

because of his handicap, he had to enjoy from the back seat of his touring car. But 

he constantly encouraged other Americans to follow his example, to see for themselves these spectacular treasures that belonged to them. 

He declared 1934 the ‘‘Year of the Parks,’’ had the Postal Service create special 

stamps with park scenes on them, funded WPA artists to make posters promoting 

park tourism—and he hired the photographer Ansel Adams (for $22.22 a day) to 

tour the parks and capture pictures that would inspire Americans to appreciate the 

legacy they had inherited. (Adams, by the way, said that paying him to travel to 

every national park was ‘‘one of the best ideas ever to come out of Washington.’’) 

Like the two Roosevelts, the first director of the National Park Service, Stephen 

Mather, understood how the parks reflected the core promise of America. In fact, 

he called them ‘‘vast schoolrooms of America, where people are . . . learning to love 

more deeply this land in which they live.’’ Inspired by John Muir, Mather also understood that parks are, as Muir said, ‘‘places to play in and pray in, where nature 

may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.’’ In his darkest moments, Mather 

had always found solace and renewed energy from visiting a national park. 

But Mather was also a businessman, a tireless promoter who had previously made 

Twenty Mule Team Borax a household name. He recognized that the parks could 

be a powerful economic engine—for the nation, and for the states and towns near 

them—and he made the most of it. 

He worked with the railroad companies to encourage Americans to ‘‘See America 

First.’’ He joined with automobile clubs and good-roads associations to lobby for improved highways to the parks that would unleash what he called ‘‘the great flow 

of tourist gold’’ into every community along the routes. He invited publishers and 

journalists to accompany him on camping trips, where he preached his gospel of the 

parks around the campfire and urged them to spread that gospel in their newspapers and magazines. 

The United States, Mather said, ‘‘possesses an empire of grandeur and beauty, 

. . . the most inspiring playgrounds and the best equipped nature schools in the 

world.’’ And they constituted, he said, ‘‘an economic asset of incalculable value.’’ 

Madam Chair, members of this committee, we should listen to these voices from 

our history. 

As Stephen Mather reminds us, national parks are an economic asset—and therefore deserve all the investment and support they can get, if only for the sake of 

boosting the balance of trade or the bottom line of the Nation’s finances. 

As Franklin Roosevelt tells us, even in times of economic distress, the parks are 

worth promoting, defending—and expanding. They are good for business, but equally good at providing much-needed, affordable recreation during hard times. 

And as Theodore Roosevelt urges us, national parks are part of our ‘‘essential democracy.’’ ‘‘Our people,’’ he added, ‘‘should see to it that they are preserved for their 

children and their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty all 

unmarred.’’ 

‘‘We are not building this country of ours for a day,’’ Roosevelt said. ‘‘It is to last 

through the ages.’’ 

National parks are not only America’s best idea. They are the best investment 

this Congress can make. 

Thank you. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Shafroth. 

STATEMENT OF WILL SHAFROTH, DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY FOR FISH, WILDLIFE, AND PARKS, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

11 

I also want to, if I could, just acknowledge Senator Udall’s father, 

who did so much for this country, but a personal inspirational for 

me. As an 18-year-old freshman at the University of California at 

Santa Barbara, I read his book, ‘‘The Quiet Crisis,’’ and it helped 

turn me into what now is a 30-year career in conservation. So, 

many, many people like me out there are his foot-soldiers that 

carry on his work. 

So, thank you, for all you’re doing as well, Senator. 

Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to appear before 

you today to present the Department of Interior’s views on tourism 

and national parks. 

If I may, I’d like to submit my entire statement for the record, 

and summarize my remarks here. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. It’ll be included. 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Thank you. 

Visitation levels for the National Park System demonstrate the 

public’s great interest in these national treasures as tourism destinations. In 2009, there were over 285 million visits to national 

parks, recreation areas, historic sites, and other units; a 3.9-percent increase over the previous year. We’re assuming that, because 

of the movie that Mr. Burns created, that that’s going to go up in 

2010, because it didn’t come out until the end of September, so not 

many people had a chance to book their reservations at that point. 

So, our national parks are important to local and regional economies. In 2008, visitors spent $11.6 billion in communities surrounding national park units, and supported 205,000 local jobs. 

The levels of visitation and economic impact vary significantly by 

park. Yellowstone National Park, premier tourist destination, attracted almost 3.3 million visitors in 2009. Voyageurs National 

Park—less—somewhat less known, attracted about 220,000. I told 

Mr. Ward that I intend to be a visitor to his national park in 2010, 

the second week in August. 

So, I will look forward to seeing you there. 

One study found that communities surrounding the largest units 

of the National Park System, had, on average, almost four times 

faster population growths, almost three times faster job growth, 

and two times faster growth in real income than the Nation, overall. 

We have no estimates of international visitation for the park system as a whole, but we do—estimates do exist for certain parks. 

We’ve already heard about the importance of international visitation to Everglades, but Yellowstone National Park, with over twothirds of international visits—visitors coming from Canada, Netherlands, Germany, and United Kingdom, and Italy. At Voyageurs, 

on the other hand, internationally tourism accounts for only about 

1 percent of all visitation, with almost two-thirds of international 

visitors from Canada, Germany, and United Kingdom. 

In 2008, the National Park Service approved a national tourism 

plan, titled ‘‘Strategic Alliances for Sustainable Visitation.’’ The 

plan addresses the need for national park experiences to be as relevant to our new audiences in the 21st century as in the past. The 

National Park Service is encouraged to take advantage of the significant partnership capacity available among people and organizations in the tourism community. 

12 

National Park Service manages 17 of the 20 World Heritage 

Sites, Everglades being one of them, that have been designated 

United States. The significance placed on a World Heritage Site experience is a strong factor in influencing destination decision by 

making prospective international—made by prospective international visitors. The National Park Service sites include the 

Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Everglades, and State of Liberty, but 

also some lesser-known destinations as Chaco Culture National 

Historic Park and San Juan National Historic Site. Promotional 

campaigns based on National Park Service-managed World Heritage Sites geared toward international tourists could help increase 

international tourism in the United States. 

Two current activities may have implications for promotion of national parks to international travelers. One is the U.S. Travel Association’s annual business-to-business marketplace, known as International Pow Wow. This year, during the 4-day event in May, the 

Association will use one day to celebrate America’s national parks. 

I think it’s the first time that that’s happened. 

The other undertaking of the National Park Service’s involvement in commemorative activities related to the sesquicentennial of 

the U.S. Civil War, over the last 5—or, over the next 5 years, the 

Service and its tourism partners intend to encourage Americans 

and international visitors to visit our more than 75 park units that 

interpret Civil War battles, the Civil Rights struggle for freedom 

and equality, and home-front stories emanating from the era, such 

as expansion to the West. 

The recent passage of the Travel Promotion Act could provide 

greater opportunities for attracting more international visitors to 

national parks. International visitors typically spend at least 

$4,000 per visit, contributing $4 billion to the U.S. economy. These 

visitors have a large role now, and could have an even larger role 

in the future, in the economic support of national park gateway 

communities. 

The new Corporation for Travel Promotion could potentially contribute to the growth by showcasing the units of the National Park 

System. 

Madam Chairwoman, this concludes my testimony. I’d be happy 

to answer any questions that you or other members of the Committee may have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Shafroth follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF WILL SHAFROTH, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR FISH, 

WILDLIFE, AND PARKS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Madam Chairwoman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today 

to present the Department of the Interior’s views on tourism and national parks. 

The National Park Service is proud to be a steward of our Nation’s most revered 

natural, historical, and cultural sites and to welcome visitors from across the Nation 

and all over the world to enjoy these special places. 

Visitation levels for the National Park System demonstrate the public’s great interest in these national treasures as tourism destinations. In 2009, there were over 

285 million visits to national parks, recreation areas, historic sites, and other 

units—a 3.9 per cent increase over the previous year. Our national parks are important to local and regional economies. In 2008, visitors spent $11.6 billion in commuVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:17 Mar 28, 2011 Jkt 065327 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\GPO\DOCS\65327.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE
13 

1Stynes, D.J. ‘‘National Park Visitor Spending and Payroll Impacts: 2008.’’ National Park 

Service, 2009. 2 Ibid. 3Power, T.M. ‘‘The Economic Foundations of Public Parks.’’ The George Wright Forum, 2002. 

nities surrounding national park units and supported 205,000 local jobs.1 The economic sectors most directly affected by this visitor spending include lodging, restaurants, retail trade, transportation, and amusements. 

The levels of visitation and economic impact vary significantly by park. Yellowstone National Park, a premier tourist destination, attracted almost 3.3 million visitors in 2009; Voyageurs National Park, which is less well-known, attracted about 

222,000 visitors. In between, to give a few examples, were Mount Rushmore National Memorial, with 2,260,192 visitors; Shenandoah National Park, with 1,120,981 

visitors; Everglades National Park, with 900,882 visitors; Castillo de San Marcos 

National Monument, with 667,783 visitors; and Carlsbad Caverns National Park, 

with 432,639 visitors. 

Generally, the more visitors a park has, the greater the economic impact. Economic analyses from 2008 show that those same parks mentioned had economic impacts as follows: Yellowstone, $345 million in visitor spending and 6,300 jobs; Everglades $84.7 million in spending and 1,551 jobs; Shenandoah, $65.7 million in 

spending and 1,170 jobs; Mount Rushmore, $60.4 million in spending and 1,146 

jobs; Castillo de San Marcos, $41 million in spending and 719 jobs; Carlsbad Caverns, $22.3 million in spending and 437 jobs; and Voyageurs, $11 million in spending and 200 jobs.2 One study found that communities surrounding the largest units 

of the National Park System had, on average, almost four times faster population 

growth, almost three times faster job growth, and two times faster growth in real 

income than the Nation overall.3

Within overall levels we have no estimates of international visitation for the National Park System as a whole. However, estimates do exist for certain parks. For 

example, international tourism accounts for approximately 10 percent of all visitation at Yellowstone National Park, with over two-thirds of the international visitors 

coming from Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy. 

At Voyageurs National Park, on the other hand, international tourism accounts for 

only about 1 percent of all visitation, with almost two-thirds of the international 

visitors coming from Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. 

In 2008, the National Park Service approved a national tourism plan titled ‘‘Strategic Alliances for Sustainable Visitation.’’ The plan addresses the need for national 

park experiences to be as relevant to our new audiences in the 21st century as in 

the past. To accomplish this goal, individual parks and the National Park Service 

as a whole are encouraged to take advantage of the significant partnership capacity 

available among people and organizations in the tourism community. 

When we engage our tourism partners to invite Americans and overseas travelers, 

we expand our capacity to inform audiences about a myriad of enjoyable experiences 

and environmental stewardship which are the cornerstones of the National Park 

Service mission. We analyze and leverage common interests through tourism partnerships. Common interests include a desire to reach target audiences such as families who travel with children, diverse demographic groups that travel more often if 

their awareness is increased, and travelers who may prefer to visit during off-peak 

periods. In this way, we can highlight the special experiences and opportunities in 

visiting some of the ‘‘hidden gems’’ in our collection of lesser-known park units. 

Working in concert with our tourism partners, we can also leverage our communications resources to expand the reach of our conservation messages. 

The National Park Service also promotes a sustainable tourism project, referred 

to as GeoTourism, which is compatible with the National Park Service mission of 

preservation and education. An example of this can be found in a new and innovative marketing project in the ‘‘Crown of the Continent’’ GeoRegion, where Glacier 

National Park is located. In an effort that began with the formation of a local stewardship council, the gateway communities and state tourism office in Montana and 

the provincial tourism office in Alberta tell stories about visitor experiences that include cultural, historical, tribal, and recreational activities in a way that respects 

conservation and community values and asks the visitors to do the same. While the 

impetus and communications concept came from the community, the Federal land 

management agencies, including the National Park Service tourism program and 

Glacier National Park staff, played an important role in facilitating the project. Another key partner in GeoTourism projects is the National Geographic Society’s Center for Sustainable Destinations. 

The National Park Service manages 17 World Heritage Sites, which hold special 

appeal with international travelers. The significance placed on a World Heritage 

14 

Site experience is a strong factor in influencing destination decisionmaking by prospective international visitors, The United States is fortunate to have 20 U.S. sites 

included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which includes almost 900 important 

cultural and natural treasures around the globe. World Heritage Sites such as the 

Great Barrier Reef, the Serengeti plains, and the Taj Mahal give the World Heritage List great prestige and make the designation greatly sought after by many 

countries. The National Park System sites include the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, 

the Everglades, and the Statue of Liberty, but also some lesser-known destinations 

such as Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico and San Juan Historic Site in Puerto Rico. Many countries, particularly those in Europe, Latin America, and Asia, have taken advantage of the World Heritage designation to market 

and promote their heritage to the global community. Promotional campaigns based 

on National Park Service-managed World Heritage Sites geared toward international tourists could help increase international tourism to the U.S. 

Two current activities may have implications for promotion of national parks to 

international travelers. One is the U.S. Travel Association’s annual business-to-business marketplace known as the International Pow Wow. This year, during the fourday event in May 2010, the association will use one day to celebrate ‘‘America’s National Parks.’’ It will be an opportunity for 5,000 buyers and suppliers of U.S. package tours, as well as over 100 members of the international media, to focus on national parks. Several park professionals will be on hand during the event to meet 

with members of this influential group. 

The other undertaking is the National Park Service’s involvement in commemorative activities related to the sesquicentennial of the U.S. Civil War, and its causes 

and consequences for our Nation’s development. A Servicewide working group has 

completed a vision statement for the commemoration as well as a set of public 

events covering all facets of historical consideration—battlefields and beyond. Over 

the next 5 years, the Service, along with tourism partners, intends to encourage 

Americans and international visitors to visit our more than 75 park units that interpret the Civil War battles, the Civil Rights struggle for freedom and equality, and 

home front stories emanating from the era such as the expansion of the west. Most 

of the national park units involved in this effort are among the lesser-known parks, 

but include well-known parks, such as Gettysburg National Military Park. 

The recent passage of the Travel Promotion Act could provide greater opportunities for attracting more international visitors to national parks. International visitors typically spend at least $4,000 per visit, contributing $4 billion to the U.S. economy. According to a recent survey compiled by the Commerce Department’s Office 

of Travel and Tourism Industries, of the estimated 23.8 million overseas travelers 

to the United States, approximately 4.5 million, or 19 percent, are said to have visited a national park. These visitors have a large role now, and could have an even 

larger role in the future, in the economic support of national park gateway communities. The new Corporation for Travel Promotion could potentially contribute to the 

growth by showcasing the units of the National Park System—the icons and hidden 

gems alike—in its efforts to attract visitors from abroad. 

Madam Chairwoman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to 

answer any questions you or other members of the Subcommittee may have. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much. 

Next, we have Mr. Ward, who heads up Voyageur Park in Minnesota. 

I note, Mr. Ward, thank you so much, for accepting my personal 

invitation to be here today. And you’d better watch out, now that 

Senator Begich from Alaska has joined us. We can’t start claiming, 

like, Minnesota is the ‘‘Moose Capital of the World,’’ you know, 

things that we might almost—— 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Anyway, continue on, Mr. Ward. 

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL M. WARD, SUPERINTENDENT, 

VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Mr. WARD. Thank you. Madam Chairwoman, thank you for the 

opportunity to speak to you today on an issue that is vital to VoyaVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:17 Mar 28, 2011 Jkt 065327 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\65327.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE
15 

geurs National Park and the gateway communities that support 

the park. 

It’s fitting that Voyageurs National Park is represented here 

today. This subcommittee, with responsibilities related to trade, 

has a subject matter tied to the history that is commemorated at 

Voyageurs National Park. The original voyageurs, French-Canadian canoemen, carried various trade goods and bartered them for 

furs trapped by the Ojibwa Indians. They canoed the waters, in a 

customary route that became the international border between the 

United States and Canada. I think it’s also fitting that the discussion today covers tourism that crosses international borders, including the original boundary established by the voyageurs. 

Voyageurs National Park is a 218,000-acre water-based park located in northern Minnesota. The park was established in April 

1975, and this year we celebrate our 35th anniversary. The park 

was created to preserve the outstanding scenery, geological conditions, and waterway system that comprised part of the historic 

route of the voyageurs, who contributed significantly to the opening 

of the Northwest Territories. 

The park, and its diverse resources, provide outstanding opportunities for scientific and artistic study, environmental education, exploring indigenous and historic cultures, a wide array of outdoor 

activities, and an appreciation of the Northwoods lake-country setting. 

There are five gateway communities that support our park. They 

are the City of Orr, the communities of Ash River, Kabetogama, 

Crane Lake, and the City of International Falls. The park provides 

an estimated economic impact of approximately $11 million and 

200 jobs to the regional economy. In these small communities, the 

park serves as one of the primary employers and the reason for 

which most private businesses exist. These businesses offer gas, 

lodging, food, fishing guides, and other amenities. Within three of 

the gateway communities, the livelihood of these people is completely dependent on tourism receipts associated with park visitors. 

Over the years, services in these communities have declined substantially. The decline may be a result of the closure and sale of 

resorts near the park, or perhaps it’s associated with the downturn 

in economy. 

Over the last few years, the park has worked with its partners 

and our gateway communities to increase tourism. We have completed several projects, including creating a national—a public television film of all the National Park Service units in Minnesota, to 

link to Ken Burns’ film about national parks; constructing a new 

49-passenger tour boat to serve visitors without a boat and to increase access into the park; expanding winter activities to increase 

visitation, seasonally; and partnering with Destination Voyageurs 

National Park, a non-for-profit 501(c)(6) organization which works 

to increase and support park tourism. 

Visitation at the park in 2009 was slightly lower than previous 

years, at 222,000. Only about 1 percent of these visitors were international tourists. Two-thirds of the international visitors to Voyageurs travel from Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. For 

a park that shares an international border, we would expect a 

higher rate of international tourists. 

16 

1Stynes, D.J. ‘‘National Park Visitor Spending and Payroll Impacts: 2008.’’ National Park 

Service, 2009. 

The new Corporation for Travel Promotion could potentially help 

market and share America’s great outdoors with more international travelers. Voyageurs National Park and its gateway communities offer recreation, history, culture, and scenic beauty that 

we believe visitors from abroad would enjoy immensely, if only they 

knew enough about the park to plan a visit there. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Ward follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MICHAEL M. WARD, SUPERINTENDENT, VOYAGEURS

NATIONAL PARK, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Madam Chairwoman, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today on an 

issue that is vital to Voyageurs National Park and the gateway communities that 

support the park. 

It is fitting that Voyageurs National Park is represented here today. This subcommittee, with responsibilities related to trade, has a subject matter tie to the history that is commemorated at Voyageurs National Park. The original voyageurs, 

French-Canadian canoemen, carried various trade goods and bartered them for furs 

trapped by the Ojibwa Indians. They canoed the waters in a customary route that 

became the international border between the United States and Canada. I think it 

is also fitting that the discussion today covers tourism that crosses international 

boundaries, including the original boundary established by the voyageurs. 

Voyageurs National Park is a 218,000-acre water-based park located in northern 

Minnesota. The park was established on April 8, 1975, and this year we celebrate 

our 35th anniversary. The park was created to preserve the outstanding scenery, 

geological conditions, and waterway system that comprise part of the historic route 

of the voyageurs who contributed significantly to the opening of the Northwest Territories. 

The park and its diverse resources provide outstanding opportunities for scientific 

and artistic study, environmental education, exploring indigenous and historic cultures, a wide array of outdoor recreation, and an appreciation of the north woods 

lake country setting. 

Five gateway communities support our park. They are the City of Orr, the communities of Ash River, Kabetogama, Crane Lake, and the City of International 

Falls. The park provides an estimated economic impact of approximately $11 million 

in spending and 200 jobs to the regional economy.1 In these small communities, the 

park serves as one of the primary employers and the reason for which most private 

businesses exist. These businesses offer gas, lodging, food, fishing guides, and other 

amenities. Within three of the gateway communities, the livelihood of these people 

is completely dependent on tourism receipts associated with park visitors. Over the 

years, services in these communities have declined substantially. The decline may 

be as a result of the closure and sale of resorts near the park or perhaps it is associated with the downturn in the economy. 

Over the last few years the park has worked with its partners and our gateway 

communities to increase tourism. We have completed several projects including: creating a public television film of all of the National Park Service units in Minnesota 

to link to Ken Burns’ film about national parks, constructing a new 49-passenger 

tour boat to serve visitors without a boat and to increase access into the park, expanding winter activities to increase visitation seasonally, and partnering with Destination Voyageurs National Park, a non-profit 501(c)6 organization, which works to 

support and increase park tourism. 

Visitation at the park in 2009 was slightly lower than previous years at 222,000 

people. Only about 1 percent of these visitors were international tourists. Two-thirds 

of the international visitors to Voyageurs travel from Canada, Germany, and the 

United Kingdom. For a park that shares an international border, we would expect 

a higher rate of international tourists. 

The new Corporation for Travel Promotion could potentially help market and 

share America’s great outdoors with more international travelers. Voyageurs National Park and its gateway communities offer recreation, history, culture, and scenic beauty that we believe visitors from abroad would enjoy immensely, if only they 

knew enough about the park to plan a visit there. 

17 

Madam Chairwoman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to 

answer any questions you or other members of the Subcommittee may have. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much, Mr. Ward. 

Ms. Shober. 

STATEMENT OF DIANE SHOBER, DIRECTOR OF TOURISM, 

STATE OF WYOMING 

Ms. SHOBER. Thank you, Madam Chair Klobuchar, Ranking 

Member LeMieux, and other distinguished members of the Subcommittee, for inviting me to testify before you today. 

As you know, I’m Diane Shober. I’m the Director of Tourism for 

the State of Wyoming, a position that I’ve held since 2003. I’m also 

on the Board of the U.S. Travel Association, and a member of the 

Western States Tourism Policy Council. So, the interest that this 

committee shares in this industry, and specifically the value of our 

national parks as part of the American travel experience, is greatly 

appreciated. 

It is no doubt that tourism is big business in Wyoming. Our an- nual advertising budget is $6 million a year. And we hang our hats 

on the fact that traveling consumers associate Yellowstone, Grand 

Teton, and Devils Tower National Monument with Wyoming. And 

you will always see one of these national icons featured in our national advertising campaign. 

I brought, today, two examples of our print campaign. One features Grand Teton National Park, the sub-line there, with the— 

below the couple—‘‘For generations, finding yourself has come right 

after discovering your insignificance.’’ And then, in Yellowstone National Park, ‘‘You’ve passed down your love of cars, your record collection, but a Yellowstone tradition is something they’ll always 

treasure.’’ And so, clearly we’re using our national parks to drive 

tourism in Wyoming. 

And thanks to our sound marketing efforts, visitors still came to 

Wyoming, even during the recession last year. While national leisure travel declined by 2 percent, Wyoming’s visitation actually 

grew. As you heard, Yellowstone recorded a 3.2-million record— 

recreation visits last year. That was the highest since 1999, 10 

years ago. 

So, the correlation between tourism marketing and increased visitation to our parks is no coincidence. We spend millions to invite 

consumers to visit our national parks and immerse themselves in 

this unique experience. While other States were forced to cut back 

in 2009, we were broadening the Wyoming footprint. 

And the value of national parks to gateway communities, and 

vice versa, is also an important component in the tourism equation. 

National parks serve as a lure for visitors, and, in turn, gateway 

communities provide much of the necessary visitor services. It’s an 

effective partnership to both, as the national parks serve as an economic engine for gateway communities, and the cities relieve some 

of the pressure of the resource, helping to enhance the sustainability of the park. 

Our office has a good working relationship with our national 

parks in Wyoming. However, due to our role as a marketing agency, most collaboration is done in conjunction with the parks’ concessionaires, who have a vested interest in marketing their parks and 

18 

also have the marketing budgets with which to do so. We’ve had 

a great relationship with Xanterra Parks and Resorts and Grand 

Teton Lodge Company. 

And although the National Park Service adopted a very good 

tourism strategy in 2008, its implementation and effectiveness 

have been limited; in part, due to lack of funding, but also due, in 

part, to acceptance at the local park level. If the budget for the National Park Tourism Office were increased to one million, from the 

no-more-than 200,000 at present, that office could work more closely with the travel industry and the gateway communities—for example, by implementing cooperative marketing programs and pilot 

projects to educate visitors and park staff on their mutual interest. 

It’s my belief that, when visitors come and they personally experience these natural wonders, they are much more likely to have 

a deeper understanding about the resource and its importance to 

the world. By effectively implementing their national tourism strategy, the National Park Service could be more proactive in shaping 

tourism development and the associated impacts. 

Filming in the park also remains an issue. While we fully support the fees assessed for commercial projects, and understand the 

need for an application process and a system of rules to protect the 

resource, we also know that the required wait time for the permit, 

and the lack of priority that these requests receive, results in a disincentive for commercial use of the parks, and an economic loss for 

the national parks and our State. 

Thanks to the support and work of this committee, and particularly Senators Rockefeller, Klobuchar, Dorgan, and Ensign, the 

Travel Promotion Act was approved by Congress and signed into 

law of—March of this year. As you know, the bill creates a not-forprofit Corporation for Travel Promotion to better communicate our 

security policies and promote America as a premier travel destination. This new Travel Promotion Act will go a long way to ensure 

that visitors see us for who we really are, want to visit us, and tour 

our national parks. By attracting millions of new international 

travelers, it will help generate $4 billion annually in new revenue, 

create 40,000 new jobs, and generate $321 million in new tax revenue each year, for the U.S. economy. 

As the Federal Government moves to implement the Travel Promotion Act, it’s critical that two issues receive immediate attention. 

First, funding for the new Corporation for Travel Promotion must 

be secured as quickly as possible. This year, the Corporation is eligible to receive 10 million in startup funds from the U.S. Treasury. 

The funds are needed to form the Corporation, hire staff, develop 

marketing plans, and successfully secure the voluntary industry financial investments in year two. Without this initial transfer of 

funds, there is great risk that the Corporation’s efforts will be undermined from the outset. 

I know the Committee is aware of this concern and is working 

with the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security to determine the best path forward, and I thank you for your work on 

that. 

Second, a new effort is needed to provide the new Corporation for 

Travel Promotion, and actually every State in America, more reliable and valid data on where internationals visit when they’re comVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:17 Mar 28, 2011 Jkt 065327 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\65327.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE
19 

ing to the United States. Unfortunately, States like Wyoming are 

considered statistically insignificant, and we do not receive reliable 

data on the volume of our international visitors, their country of 

origin, or their estimated economic impact. This information is fundamental to any ongoing international marketing efforts, going forward. 

Like many others, we are encouraged by this Administration’s interest in the industry as an economic driver for America. The recent America’s Great Outdoors Initiative and the National Export 

Initiative are of particular interest to Wyoming. We fully understand the value of travel as a means to provide economic stimulus, 

and look forward to doing what we can to support the efforts to assure a healthy and prosperous future for Wyoming and the United 

States. 

Madam Chair and members of the Subcommittee, thank you 

again for inviting me here today. Your interest in learning more 

about the benefits of national parks and tourism provide to Wyoming and the rest of America is commendable and greatly appreciated. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Shober follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DIANE SHOBER, DIRECTOR OF TOURISM, 

STATE OF WYOMING

Importance of the National Parks to Wyoming 

To say the national parks are important to Wyoming would be an understatement. Fortunately, we are home to America’s fist national park, Yellowstone, and 

the majestic Grand Teton National Park and as well as our first national monument, Devils Tower. Without a doubt, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks 

are clearly the destination drivers for Wyoming’s tourism economy. But it is also 

important to note the entire greater Yellowstone ecosystem is essential to the very 

fiber of Wyoming and the west. This ecosystem includes the head waters of major 

river systems, is home to multiple species of wildlife and water fowl, abundant outdoor recreation opportunities, learning and education in a unique outdoor laboratory, the source of thousands of jobs, provides quality of life for residents and visitors and so much more. 

Marketing Wyoming 

Tourism is big business in Wyoming. And our national parks are at the epicenter 

of our tourism industry. In fact, tourists were visiting Yellowstone long before Wyoming was even a state. And today we continue to build on that love affair that travelers from all around the world have with America’s national parks. 

In 2005, we conducted a branding audit to shape the strategic vision for how we 

market Wyoming and what our marketing message should be. The outcomes clearly 

identified Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and Devils Tower National 

Monument as unique differentiators for our state, along with the authenticity of the 

west. Since then, we have conducted our tourism marketing under the brand, Wyoming Forever West. Forever West embodies Wyoming’s finest attributes, including 

wide open spaces, unobstructed views sheds, mountains and wildlife and the western way of life. 

Each year we spend millions of dollars on advertising Wyoming as a destination. 

Our advertising budget averages right at $6 million annually and we deploy marketing messages via television, magazine, online, outdoor, direct mail and through 

social media campaigns. We hang our hat on the fact that traveling consumers associate Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Devils Tower as differentiators for Wyoming 

and you will always see one of them featured in our national advertising campaign. 

Two examples of our print campaign are included: 

20 

While these are only two examples of our overall campaign, the essence of our 

message is carried throughout everything we do. And the good news is, it’s working! 


427SHOB1.eps 427SHOB2.eps
21 

1Source Dean Runyan and Associates, The Economic Impact of Travel on Wyoming, 1997– 

2008 Detailed State and County Estimates. 2Strategic Marketing and Research, Inc. 2009 Wyoming Overnight Visitor Profile. 

3 National Park Service Public Use Statistics Office. 

4 National Park Service Public Use Statistics Office. 

5 Impacts of Visitor Spending on the Local Economy: Yellowstone National Park 2006, Michigan State University Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies. 

Economic Impact of Tourism 

The year 2009 brought more than its share of economic challenges to consumers 

and businesses around the world. While the Wyoming tourism industry was challenged as well, tourism remains a key part of our state’s economy. For the first time 

in 12 years, though, we saw declines across all but one segment of the travel industry. Fortunately, the economy increasingly shows signs of life, which should give all 

of us hope for brighter days in the year to come. 

Despite the challenges in 2009, leisure travel remained a high priority for many. 

Consumers adapted their travel plans to fit the times. They spent less during their 

travels yet, the impact numbers are still impressive, with over $2.5 billion in direct 

travel spending generated for the state, which in turn generated $111 million in 

local and state tax receipts.1

And the good news for us is that visitors still came. While national leisure travel 

declined by 2 percent, Wyoming’s visitation actually grew slightly in 2009 from 7.31 

million overnights to 7.33 million.2 National park visitation was at an all time high; 

Yellowstone National Park recorded 3,295,187 recreation visits last year, resulting 

in a 5 percent increase over the previously recorded high 10 years prior in 1999 

when visitation was 3,131,381.3 And, Grand Teton National Park experienced a 4 

percent growth in recreation visits over 2008.4 The correlation between tourism 

marketing and increased visitation to our parks is no coincidence. We spend millions 

to invite consumers to visit our national parks and immerse themselves in this 

unique experience. While other states were forced to cut back, we were broadening 

the Wyoming footprint. 

As I mentioned earlier, I am also a member (treasurer) of the Western States 

Tourism Policy Council (WSTPC)—a consortium of 13 western state tourism offices. 

The mission of the WSTPC is to support public policies that enhance the capability 

of travel and tourism to have a positive impact on states and communities in the 

West. Visitors to the national parks are a vital part of the tourism economy of each 

of these 13 WSTPC member states. 

The value of national parks to gateway communities, and vice versa, is also an 

important component in the tourism equation. National parks provide a product offering that serves as a lure for visitors and by accessing the parks through gateway 

communities, the economic value of tourism is boosted by the proximity of the national park. In turn, gateway communities provide much of the necessary visitor 

services such as accommodations, entertainment, shopping, outfitters and transportation, thereby relieving some of the pressure on the resource and thus enhancing 

the sustainability of the park itself. 

A 2006 study conducted by the National Park Service Social Science Program and 

Michigan State University Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and 

Resource Studies further corroborates this important reciprocal relationship. Out of 

1.15 million person trips to the area in 2006, key research results 5 include: 

• 78 percent included an overnight stay, either in a motel, lodge or cabin (54 percent) or camping (24 percent). 

• 16 percent of the campers stayed within the park while 7 percent camped within 150 miles of the park. 

• 30 percent of the motel, lodge or cabin overnights stayed inside the park, 70 

percent within the 150 mile region. 

• Total visitor spending within 150 miles of the park was $271 million of which 

one third was spent inside the park. 

• Over 90 percent of visitors indicated the park visit was the primary reason for 

the trip to the area. 

• Including direct and secondary effects, the $271 million spent by park visitors 

supported 4,952 jobs in the area and generated $336 million in sales, $133 million in labor income and $201 million in value added. 

Although this research was conducted 4 summers ago, the magnitude of the impact remains notable and is applicable to park visitors today. 

22 

6 Jackson Hole Airport Board. 

7State of Wyoming, Department of Revenue and Taxation. 

8Marketing/Franchise Operations, Taco John’s International, Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

Last year, 68 percent of all summer airport travelers into Jackson Hole were 

Grand Teton and Yellowstone bound. Repeat visitation is high with 77 percent stating they will probably or definitely return for a future visit.6

Seeming somewhat recession proof, Cody, Wyoming near Yellowstone’s East Gate, 

remained a viable community despite economic challenges elsewhere. Sales tax collection on accommodations actually increased by 2 percent over 2008,7 attributed to 

the increase in visitation experienced in the park in 2009. 

Throughout their entire system, Taco John’s restaurants, a quick service Mexican 

chain headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, experience seasonality of sales impacted by location and geography. The gateway markets in an around national 

parks and monuments, particularly in the Wyoming restaurants experience huge 

impacts on seasonality of sales. The Taco John’s in Cody, Wyoming does 46 percent 8

more business in the summer months than it does in the winter months. The Taco 

John’s markets that pool their advertising dollars for publications like the Sweet 16 

which focuses on U.S. Hwy 16 out of South Dakota to Yellowstone find it extremely 

beneficial to publicize the route to the Park. 

These spikes in sales obviously provide jobs in these communities, provide the 

independent Taco John’s franchisee his livelihood, and help to build chains like Taco 

John’s into a 400+ regional business entity, which located in Wyoming helps the 

overall business diversity of our state. 

Working with the National Park Service 

The Wyoming Office of Tourism has a good working relationship with the national 

parks within our state. I personally believe it is in our best interest to be proactive 

in cultivating a relationship with each park and its leaders. I enjoy working with 

both Yellowstone Supt. Suzanne Lewis and Grand Teton Supt. Mary Gibson Scott. 

However, due to our role as a marketing agency, most collaboration is done in conjunction with the park’s concessionaires who have marketing budgets and a vested 

interest in marketing their particular park. Both Xanterra Parks & Resorts and 

Grand Teton Lodge Company have been proactive partners in marketing our national parks and the state of Wyoming. Our collaboration includes co-operative advertising, hosting travel trade and media fams (familiarization tours), providing 

product for sweepstakes and promotion efforts. Their executives serve in leadership 

roles at both the state and local level. 

Although the National Park Service adopted a very good national tourism strategy, its implementation and effectiveness have been limited, in part due to lack of 

funding but also due to lack of acceptance at the individual park level. If the budget 

for the National Park Service Tourism Office were increased to $1 million from no 

more than $200,000 at present, the office could work more closely with the travel 

and tourism industry and with gateway communities, and also to promote lesser 

known national parks. While the National Park Service was created to manage 

these public lands and provide responsible steward ship over their use, there often 

times appears to be an imbalance between protection and access and visitor services. It is my belief that visitors who personally experience these natural wonders 

are much more likely to have a deeper understanding about the resource and its 

importance to our world. Tourism provides a means of education to the greater public and plays an important role in the economic sustainability of parks and their 

surrounding regions. By effectively implementing their national tourism strategy, 

the National Park Service could be more proactive in shaping tourism development 

and associated impacts. 

Film projects are an integral part of tourism development. One of the challenges 

we face is access to the park or park resources. While the discrepancies in rules, 

applications and fees vary from park to park, the challenge stems more from the 

response to these requests. We fully understand/support fees being assessed for commercial projects and agree that their needs to be a process and system to protect 

the resource. However, the required wait time for a permit and the low priority in 

which these requests are given are counterproductive to customer service and the 

accessibility of public lands. 

In a proactive effort to rectify this situation, I am pleased to report that the Wyoming and Montana Film Offices are conducting a training session in West Yellowstone next month for Federal employees. We are bringing in a third party producer 

from Los Angeles to discuss how Federal land management agencies and film companies can work more cooperatively together. Film permitting staff from both YelVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:17 Mar 28, 2011 Jkt 065327 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\GPO\DOCS\65327.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE
23 

lowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the Shoshone and Bridger-Teton National Forests will be in attendance. 

Travel Promotion Act 

It is true that our national parks are beloved by Americans but Yellowstone is 

clearly recognizable around the world. It is an American icon. It was most obvious 

in the summer of 1988 when wildfires raged and were the top news stories everywhere. The worldwide concern over the health, wellbeing and future of Yellowstone 

was paramount. In fact, it was so profound that in September 1988 the Federal Government, under the then Dept of Commerce USTTA, organized and paid for a coalition to travel to Europe to meet with travel agents, wholesalers, operators and 

media in London, Frankfurt and Paris to address their questions and concerns and 

assure them that Yellowstone was intact and visitors could indeed still experience 

the wonders of this national park. 

Just spend an afternoon at Old Faithful or hang out in the lobby of Jackson Lake 

Lodge and you will personally know that these parks are revered by cultures from 

around the world. Clearly a tourism opportunity to promote our national parks as 

travel destinations to international visitors. 

Thanks to the support and work of this committee particularly, Senators Rockefeller, Klobuchar, Dorgan and Ensign, the Travel Promotion Act was approved by 

Congress and signed into law on March 4th of this year. 

The bill creates a nonprofit Corporation for Travel Promotion to better communicate our security policies and promote America as a premier travel destination. 

It will help address the sharp decline in the number of international visitors the 

United States has experienced since 2000. 

The fact is that the world travel market is expanding but our share is shrinking. 

According to the U.S. Travel Association, of which I am a member, the U.S. welcomed 2.4 million fewer overseas visitors in 2009 than in 2000. Had we kept pace 

with the growth in international long-haul travel since 2000, the U.S. economy could 

have gained an additional $509 billion in spending. 

Yet, overseas tourists are going elsewhere and the reason is painfully simple; we 

haven’t made a coherent effort to tell America’s story—to say to legitimate foreign 

visitors that they are welcome here and that we are working every day to improve 

the entry experience for them. 

We need look no further than last year’s selection process for the 2016 Olympics. 

In explaining his vote against Chicago, an IOC member from Pakistan went out of 

his way to note that going through the entry process in the U.S. can be a harrowing 

experience. President Obama responded by offering ‘‘a reminder that America at its 

best is open to the world.’’ The President was right. 

The new Travel Promotion Act will go a long way to ensuring that the world 

views us as we really are, ready to welcome those who want to visit us and tour 

our national parks. And by attracting millions of new international travelers, the 

public-private partnership established under the new law will help generate $4 billion annually in new revenue, create 40,000 new jobs and generate $321 million in 

new tax revenue each year for the U.S. economy. 

As the Federal Government moves to implement the Travel Promotion Act, it’s 

critical that two issues receive immediate attention. First, funding for the new Corporation for Travel Promotion must be secured as quickly as possible. This year, the 

Corporation is eligible to receive $10 million in startup funds from the U.S. Treasury. The funds are needed to form the Corporation, hire staff, develop marketing 

plans, lease office space and conduct activities that will allow the Corporation to 

credibly and successfully secure voluntary industry financial investments in year 

two. Without this initial transfer of funds, there is a great risk that the Corporation’s efforts will be undermined from the outset. 

I know the Committee is aware of this concern and is working with the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security to determine the best path forward to 

provide the $10 million transfer to the Corporation before Oct. 1. I thank you for 

your efforts to date and urge you to continue to work toward a successful resolution 

to this issue. 

Second, a new effort is needed to provide the new Corporation for Travel Promotion and every state in America more reliable and valid data on where international visitors travel when they visit the U.S. Unfortunately, today, states like 

Wyoming are considered statistically insignificant and therefore we have no reliable 

data on the volume of our international visitors, their country of origin or the estimated economic impact to our state. This information is a fundamental component 

necessary for any international marketing campaign. 

Without more reliable and valid data, the new Corporation for Travel Promotion 

will be unable to successfully target its marketing resources to attract more visitors, 

24 

and states like Wyoming—which will be asked to provide matching in-kind and cash 

fund—will be unable to justify additional investment in the overseas markets as 

they cannot justify their existing investment based on the current lack of critical 

volume and spending data. 

It is my hope that this committee will work together with the Commerce Department and the states to achieve the collection of international traveler data that provides valid and reliable data for each of the 50 U.S. states and the five U.S. territories. 

Presidents Initiatives on Travel and Tourism 

Like many others, we are very encouraged by this Administration’s interest in 

this industry as an economic driver for America. The recent ‘‘America’s Great Outdoors Initiative’’ is of particular interest to Wyoming, as was the passage of the 

Travel Promotion Act. We fully understand the value of travel as a means to provide 

immediate economic stimulus and look forward to doing what we can to support efforts to assure a healthy and prosperous future for Wyoming and the United States. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Butcher. 

STATEMENT OF CLYDE BUTCHER, PHOTOGRAPHER 

Mr. BUTCHER. Is that turned on? Am I turned on? 

Well, thanks for inviting me. This is a little different than the 

swamp. 

I’ve lived in Big Cypress for 18 years, and had a gallery there. 

I’m surrounded by over a million acres of Everglades systems plus 

Everglades National Park, to the east, and the south. Big Cypress 

is one of the main filters for the Big—for the Ten Thousand Islands. 

When my son was killed by a drunk driver, it was the wilderness 

that I fled to, to get my equilibrium. Wilderness is a spiritual necessity, I think, for all humans. In—after many years of 

photographing the Everglades and around the country, I was asked 

to do a traveling show of America, by William and Mary College 

in Virginia. It’s called ‘‘America the Beautiful.’’ It’s now a traveling 

exhibit. It just finished in St. Paul. And also, the Friends of Acadia 

National Park, we created ‘‘America National Park’’ exhibit, which 

is also traveling, which is opening in Indiana this week. 

This is my way of actually getting people interested in the parks. 

I think these exhibits, along with Ken Burns’ film on the national 

parks, has generated a new interest in our park system. It’s exciting. I’m sure I can say, for both Ken and I, that it is our desire 

to keep the parks healthy and strong. I believe we have achieved 

success by making people aware of the beauty and the unique history of our country, and to save those important wilderness areas 

for our future generation. 

One of the most important ways to get people to the parks, unfortunately, is advertising. Advertising—needs to capture the essence of the park. It has been my experience that when imaginative people invoke the beauty and adventure the people will have 

in the parks, they will fall in love with the parks and want to experience them for themselves. 

Therefore, the advertising needs to be done by someone who 

knows and understands the ecosystems of the parks should have 

control of the advertising. Giving jobs to the lowest bidder rarely 

achieves this kind of success. Often, the lowest bidder lives in some 

other State, has no idea what the real park is about. So, in order 

25 

to get high quality imagery to achieve visitors, a budget needs to 

be created to lure people, for the advertising, and not a low bid. 

When choosing a company for the park, a panel from the park 

should be working with the ad agencies and to feel which ones are 

the right people for that purpose. The superintendent should be totally involved in this process. And the OK for the job should not 

come from the—outside his or her park, it should come from the 

superintendent of the park. 

I believe this process should be started using a very few parks— 

this is the unknown parks, not like the Tetons; everybody knows 

about the Tetons. And that’s a great—I mean, I love the Tetons; 

I learned some interesting things while I was there. But, if you do 

do that, I think you should pick a few parks, to experiment. And 

so, you spend a good amount of money on those parks so that you 

can actually do something with those parks. 

So, anyhow, the—so, those unknown parks then would be experiencing more visitors, I would hope, so you’re going to need more 

funding. So, you’ve got to think about the funding for those parks, 

to help the park give those people a good experience. 

We all talk about bringing peace to the world. I could think of 

no better way to encourage peace than encourage people from all 

over the world to enjoy the spiritual sanctuary of our national 

parks. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Butcher follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF CLYDE BUTCHER, PHOTOGRAPHER

For 18 years, I have owned a gallery and home in Big Cypress National Preserve 

surrounded by over a million acres of the Everglades ecosystem. When my son was 

killed by a drunk driver it was to the wilderness that I fled to regain my serenity 

and equilibrium. Wilderness is a spiritual necessity and for that reason I feel compelled to give my opinion here today. 

In 2005, I began a project of photographing America for a museum exhibit at Williams & Mary College in Virginia. ‘‘America the Beautiful’’ is now a traveling exhibit. From that exhibit the Friends of Acadia National Park created ‘‘America’s National Parks,’’ which is also a traveling exhibit. These two exhibits, along with Ken 

Burn’s film on the National Parks, has generated a new interest in our Park system. 

It is exciting. I’m sure I can say for both Ken and I, that it is our desire to keep 

our Parks healthy and strong. I believe we have achieved success by making people 

aware of the beauty and the unique history of our country to have saved those important wilderness areas for future generations. 

The most important way to encourage people to visit our National Parks is 

through advertising. Advertisements need to capture the essence of the park. It has 

been my experience that when imagery evokes beauty and adventure, people will 

fall in love with the park and want to experience it for themselves. 

Therefore the advertising needs to be done by someone who knows and understands the ecosystem of the park they are advertising. Giving the job to the lowest 

bidder rarely achieves that kind of success. Often the lowest bidder lives in some 

other state and has no idea what the ‘‘real’’ park is about. So, in order to get high 

quality imagery to entice visitors, a budget needs to be created that can lure good 

advertisement agencies to apply. 

When choosing a company for the job, a panel from the park that the ad will be 

about should look at the work of the agency to see if it feels ‘‘right’’ for their purpose. The Superintendent should be totally involved in this process. The ‘‘OK’’ for 

the job should not come from outside his/her park. It should come from the Superintendent of the park, 

I believe this process should be started using just a few parks to see what the 

response will be. It would be better to spend a greater amount of money on the ads 

for just a few parks, rather than ‘‘bare bones’’ for many. The quality of advertising 

would be better and therefore the response better. When the results are in, then 

a larger advertising effort can be created. 

26 

National Parks that are ‘‘unknown’’ are also underfunded. If the ads succeed (and 

I believe they will), then in order for the experience of the visitor to be a good, the 

park will need to be funded appropriately. The object is for the visitor to share their 

fun stories with friends, who will then also want to visit the park. We don’t want 

them to have a bad experience in the park. Because the ads will be bringing more 

than the normal amount of people to the park there will be a need for more people 

on the park staff in order to deal with the increased number of people in the park. 

We all talk about bringing peace to the world. I can think of no better way to 

encourage peace than to encourage people from all over the world to enjoy the spiritual sanctuary of our National Parks. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much—— 

Mr. BUTCHER. Thank you. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR.—Mr. Butcher. I really appreciate it. 

Mr. Bacher. 

STATEMENT OF SCOTT BACHER, OWNER AND OPERATOR, 

CARLSBAD KOA, NEW MEXICO 

Mr. BACHER. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you, Madam 

Chairman. 

It has been an honor and a blessing to be here. I’m coming as 

a private corporation, private small business, to tell you about how 

the national parks drive our business. It is not just driven; it ‘‘is’’ 

the business. We’re—90 to 95 percent of our attendance comes from 

the national parks. In particular, Carlsbad Caverns, which is right 

there, but we have, also, so many other—White Sands Missile, 

White Sands Monument—we have a tremendous amount of other 

things to see, that—when you’re there. So, the national parks is 

our business. 

I didn’t start in this business. I was a contractor in New York. 

I built jails and schools for a living. So, I’ve always been in the accommodations business; they just never wanted to be there. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. BACHER. My wife and I, when we got rid of our business in 

New York, we traveled the country, and we viewed over 100 parks, 

from Cape Cod to Oregon, looking for just the right site, saying 

that we would never be in the Southwest, because it was too hot. 

We ended up there. It has been a phenomenal business. 

In the, when we bought the business, we had less than 19,000 

visitors a year in our park. Last year, we topped over 50,000 and— 

doubling our—more than doubling our business and our gross income, and consequently, our taxes to the system. 

So, we have a great corporation, a great business. KOA has 

helped us along the way. The national parks drive so many different things. The gateway communities, that everyone has talked 

about, is really the key, but it starts so much further. It starts 

when they decide to be an RVer or to come vacation at a park. It 

comes from Indiana, when they build new RVs; or Detroit, when 

they build new trucks; or the airlines, when they come across in 

self-flights to fly into—to rent different RVs across the country. It’s 

just—just an amazing business to us, and driven by people that 

want to reunite with the national parks. 

In the trend of—that we’ve seen in the KOAs is that the grandparents are now taking the grandchildren. We’ve seen a—just an 

unbelievable amount of grandparents, with one or two grandVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:17 Mar 28, 2011 Jkt 065327 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\65327.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE
27 

children, coming across the park, and it has been a great thing to 

see. 

We run a high-end park in New Mexico. It is the top park in 

New Mexico. And there are 12,000 campgrounds in the country of 

the United States. We’re in the top 300. So, we run a real highend park, which people enjoy to be—with all the amenities—because the national parks don’t offer, I mean, they offer the sites, 

but they don’t have the parks to support to the big RVs, which we 

come into, and many, many other RV parks in the area. 

As far as foreign countries, in our park last year we had 17 countries—visitors from 17 countries. But, another interesting number 

is—back in 2006 or 2007, when we bought the park, the average 

stay in our park was 2.2, now it’s up to 3.57 days per stay, which 

mean people are coming to enjoy areas in the national parks in 

the—across the country; they’re not just coming for 5 minutes and 

then leaving. They’re seeing many sites, many particular areas, 

and they’re spending a lot more money across the country to get 

there, and to enjoy the parks once they are there. 

Like—as I said, the—our community of Carlsbad Caverns had 

only 430,000 customers, last year, come in, and it’s starting to rise 

up again, and we believe that, with increased roads—better roads 

and better advertising—the advertising, I think, is—personally, is 

going to be the driving factor to make the national parks attractive 

to foreign customers and to different people on—as the baby 

boomers reach, and want a vacation, to get back to the roots, see 

Yellowstone and, hopefully, Carlsbad Caverns, and many different 

sites all over the country. 

The other way that we really work with the gateway—as a gateway community is with our Chamber of Commerce, and that’s the 

organization that wanted me to come here. I’ve been so impressed 

with our Chamber, who meets every Friday. We have a breakfast 

with our businesspeople, and the national parks are there every 

week, and along with the State parks. And we converse. We talk 

about different activities, every Friday. And it’s—and it really does 

seem to help. We don’t—when one of us needs a plumber or any 

kind of a service, we don’t go to the white—or, the Yellow Pages, 

we go to the Chamber of Commerce and find out who’s in that 

area. And the national parks are right there with us. Since they 

can’t advertise, they work very closely with us in our Chamber of 

Commerce to explain—last week was our National Free Week for 

national parks; I believe it was all over the country. And they really promoted that, and, in turn, telling us, we promoted it with our 

customers. So, it’s been a great cooperation, and we enjoy being 

there, and it’s been a great business. 

I hope I never have to go back to being a contractor again. I really enjoy this. 

So, thank you for your time and energy, and thank you very 

much. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bacher follows:] 

28 

1Data from CCNP made up of the sum of ticket sales, an additional 10 percent for those who 

don’t enter a cave, and backcountry permits. 15 year average is 460,000 visitors annually. 2 Economic Impacts of Carlsbad Caverns National Park on the Local (Eddy County, NM) Economy, 2002; Daniel J. Stynes, Michigan State University; February 2003. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SCOTT BACHER, OWNER AND OPERATOR, CARLSBAD KOA, NEW MEXICO

Madame Chairperson (Senator Klobuchar), distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony on this important subject. 

My wife and I own a KOA campground north of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Carlsbad 

Caverns National Park is the main tourist attraction in the area. About 90–95 percent of my customers are there only because they are going to the Caverns. There 

are several other attractions in the area, such as state parks and the national forest, that may keep them in the area, but it’s the Caverns they come to see. 

You can probably tell from my accent that I’m originally from New York. I purchased Carlsbad KOA in 2007 after looking at over 100 locations. I wanted a place 

near a national park so I felt secure in the cash-flow. I have been very fortunate 

to have a successful business that has doubled in 4 years. Carlsbad KOA is rated 

the top KOA in New Mexico and in the top 300 of over 12,000 campgrounds in the 

Nation. Business has been so good for us that we encouraged our daughter and family to move down and help us run the business. If you want to know more about 

our operation, please visit our website at www.CarlsbadKOA.com. 

I was told to address what impacts the national park has on my business. A direct 

benefit, of course, is that the world famous site draws visitors who spend money on 

lodging, food, and other services. At Carlsbad KOA, we have about 50,000 visitors 

every year. Most of them go visit the Caverns which had over 432,000 visitors last 

year.1 From this steady income, we were able to build the business from 19,000 customers in 2007 to 50,000 last year. Indirectly, we benefit from the parks’ impact on 

the local economy, such as the hospitality industry employing and spending money 

locally. The park helps make the area a better place to live. An economic study done 

in 2002 by Michigan State University states, 

‘‘Including secondary effects from the circulation of the park payroll and visitor 

spending through the economy, the total impact of the park is almost 1,000 jobs 

and $17 million in income in the county.’’ 2

Looking to the future, I feel positive that good changes are coming. In the near 

term, I think that the baby boom generation will continue to travel to national 

parks in steady numbers, which means a dependable income for me. At the local 

level, we will be happy when the four-lane highway construction is completed that 

links Texas and southwestern states to this corner of New Mexico. Our roads have 

not been in good condition making RV drivers unhappy or uneasy. Good roads mean 

travelers are more likely to come and stay longer. The park also has construction 

going on right now designed to make the roads and parking lots better and safer. 

Last, there is currently a campaign to beautify Carlsbad. As a gateway community, 

to both the national park and my business, having a welcoming, clean town is critical for visitors overall perception of the area. As Carlsbad becomes more attractive 

to visitors, there is a greater chance they’ll stay longer and spend more. 

I look forward to these improvements, but there are other issues that need attention. The most critical to me is the need for the parks to advertise, or raise awareness of what they are and have to offer. National parks are great places to connect 

with our national heritage and nature and to reconnect with family and friends. I 

understand the restrictions that the parks can’t advertise directly, but perhaps 

there could be ways to support businesses or help organizations, like the local 

Chamber of Commerce, advertise the parks. Second, there needs to be tourist friendly businesses in the area. This could be another awareness issue, but directed at 

gateway communities and business owners. How much money do we lose because 

the service wasn’t good or the town looked uninviting? Finally, we need to attract 

more foreign visitors. Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a World Heritage Site. 

That’s like naming it the eighth wonder of the world. We should capitalize on this 

designation and boost the chances of other national parks gaining the designation. 

For example, I’ve heard that White Sands National Monument has been nominated 

to be a World Heritage Site. 

The collaboration between Carlsbad Caverns and KOA has been great. For instance, the national park makes their literature readily available which keeps customers informed and interested. Also, the park offers free programs that cannot be 

experienced elsewhere. For example, I love being able to tell visitors about the bat 

29 

flight program that happens every night in the summer. The visitors have a great 

time if there are a lot of bats or not. It’s one of those rare things to do unlike anything they’d find at home. Most often, I meet park staff through the Carlsbad 

Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber has a networking breakfast every Friday and 

we see each other at the local Tourism Council meetings. Last, I was invited to 

speak at a park-hosted conference for local business owners and community leaders 

to conservation efforts, ‘‘green’’ practices, and recycling because at the campground 

we have a wind powered generator and solar panels. 

In summary, let me say that the park’s impact on me and my business is significant. I know that if the national park closed for good tomorrow my business would 

dry up and blow away. I count on the Caverns to be there and provide the excellent 

services that they do and on having such as great working relationship with them. 

Again, Madame Chairperson, distinguished members, thank you for allowing me 

to present testimony on this issue. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Well, thank you so much. That was a great 

way of describing how the two work together; and that the parks 

people actually go to your chamber meetings is interesting, as well. 

We’re going to start with questions now. Senator LeMieux will go 

first. I’m going to step out for just 5 minutes. 

He’s promised me, Mr. Ward, that he won’t do a major cross-examination of why the Everglades has more business than Voyageurs. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. So, I think you’re going to be OK. 

Mr. WARD. Thank you. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. All right. 

Senator LEMIEUX [presiding]. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

I wanted to start off with you, Mr. Shafroth, and talk about what 

we can do better, in terms of advertising our national parks. And 

is it true, now, that the national parks can’t directly advertise on 

their own? 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Mr. Chairman, I actually don’t know if there’s a 

legal impediment to the Park Service being able to advertise on its 

own. I could certainly get you that information or even ask our solicitors that question. 

Mr. SHAFROTH. It’s a good question. I think—you know, I made 

a comment, earlier in my testimony, about the impact of Mr. 

Burns’ film. I know there was a huge increase in the visitation to 

Civil War battlefields, and—after your film on the Civil War—and 

we certainly expect and uptick. I think there were nearly—Ken, 

tell me, was it 35, 36 million people in the first round? 

Mr. BURNS. Yes. 

Mr. SHAFROTH. And something more, on the second round of the 

showing. So, I think we’re going to see a higher level of, certainly, 

knowledge about, and interest in, national parks coming from that, 

and I think that’s something that we ought to continue to—you 

know, through the National Park Foundation and other—our 

friends, organizations that we work closely with at the Park Service, to figure out ways to promote those activities. 

The National Park Foundation also does have sort of a capacitybuilding program, where they help organizations that are friends 

of our national parks, which do have—don’t have the kind of limitations that the Park Service has, in terms of promoting activities 

in the national parks. So, we—again, the Park Service has a very 

close relationship with the National Park Foundation and those 

30 

friends groups. It’s probably the most effective way to getting the 

word out. 

Senator LEMIEUX. Well, I’d like for you to check on that. It is my 

understanding that there is not direct advertisement by the national—— 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Right. 

Senator LEMIEUX.—parks. And I think that—you know, especially with what we have to offer, that it makes a lot of sense. I 

mean, if we’re going to get more dollars back than it costs to advertise, which we’ve found in other experiences, I think that that’s 

something that we should look into. 

Mr. SHAFROTH. OK 

Senator LEMIEUX. And it makes sense, what Mr. Burns and Mr. 

Butcher and others have done to show and depict what these parks 

look like. We’ve talked about, often, when folks are coming into this 

country to visit, the Customs/Homeland Security experience is not, 

sort of, the best welcome to the United States. And we’ve talked 

about the fact of showing movies of the country, and, maybe excerpts from Mr. Burns or pictures from Mr. Butcher, that just, you 

know, give a depiction. So, whether they’re on this trip, they could 

go to a national park or they think, ‘‘Wow, next time I come, maybe 

I’ll make a national park as part of my trip.’’ I think that we’ve 

got a great opportunity to market to the people who are coming to 

this country, potentially for completely different reasons, to get 

them to go to our national parks. 

Mr. Burns, what thoughts do you have on what we could do better to promote our national parks? You’ve done a tremendous job 

of doing that on your own. 

Mr. BURNS. Well, I agree that it needs an extra helping hand. 

Remember the high school philosophy class, where you were presented with the notion that, if a tree fell in the forest, and a human 

being didn’t hear it, did it make a sound? Making a decision on 

that is way above my pay grade, but I know if you make a good 

film and no one knows it’s on, it’s not a good film. If you’ve got a 

good park, and no one knows it’s there, it’s actually not a good 

park. And I think that we really have to accelerate our efforts. 

We—on our limited scale—are making a huge effort to reach out 

to international broadcasts of our film, to attract the foreign visitors. You stand at the rim of the Grand Canyon, and you will hear 

German and Japanese as the primary language, followed by 

English, Spanish, French. We know the potential is there to increase it, and I think that we can require our government to take 

more steps to coordinate those activities. 

Just one anecdotal thing related to our Civil War series. The 

State of Virginia, after the broadcast in 1990—original broadcast of 

our series—bought, sort of, advertising rights, or promoting/sponsoring rights, on the BBC showing of the film, the second year, and 

had tens of thousands of identifiable British visitors that came to 

the United States specifically to visit Civil War battlefields, mostly 

in the State of Virginia, and were incredibly encouraged by that; 

and, as a result, helped to fund another film of mine on Thomas 

Jefferson. We have then, subsequently, gone out to various States 

to partner with them and the public television underwriting of the 

films that we’ve done and seen, with ‘‘Jazz’’ in Louisiana and other 

31 

states, a kind of concurrent uptick in visitations at those places. So, 

we can only assume that it takes some gold to get—to make some 

gold, to find some gold. 

Senator LEMIEUX. That’s well said. 

Ms. Shober and Mr. Ward, I wonder, too, that—it was mentioned 

about, advertising to folks in your State, as well as people in America, to stay—we call them ‘‘Staycations’’ in Florida—and we’ve had 

a lot of success, in Florida, with our Visit Florida enterprise, to get 

people, especially in a difficult economy, to stay and visit our parks 

and visit our amenities in Florida. Do you think that that’s something else that we should be emphasizing? 

Mr. WARD. Well, I think in the case of Minnesota, we all—in 

Minnesota, we have fairly young sites, still. So, we’re still evolving 

and we’re still growing, in a sense, compared to some of the park 

sites across the Nation. And so, I think we are at the point where 

we’re kind of at an apex of being able to move into a greater awareness in the communities of ‘‘just the State.’’ And we tried to that 

with the Twin Cities public television film that we created, that 

would go in concert with Mr. Burns’ film, because in the State of 

Minnesota, there are a lot of folks that don’t even—that aren’t even 

aware of the seven sites; there are actually two affiliated sites, 

also, and trails. And so, I think, in the case of Minnesota, we’re actually at a very young age, and we’re going to keep moving; and 

the things that we’re working on now, are working; and we’ll see 

some successes from that. 

Ms. SHOBER. Madam Chair and Senator LeMieux, from the 

standpoint of Wyoming, advertising a ‘‘Staycation’’ doesn’t do us 

much good, just by the sheer size of our population. And so, we 

really had to focus, this year—while other States’ tourism offices 

did take that approach, we certainly still had to—and we were fortunate enough to have the budget with which to do it, but we had 

to maintain our national efforts, and even on a regional basis. 

But, I certainly know that, in other parts of the country, my 

counterparts are focusing on that, and the national parks serve as 

a great venue for—they’ve always been a good-value vacation. And 

that’s what we continue to promote in Wyoming, is that you can 

come, it’s an affordable family vacation, and it’s an experience that 

you can—it’s a bonding time together; so, not only are you having 

great value financially, but there’s a great value for memories and 

building families and time together. 

Senator LEMIEUX. Thank you. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR [presiding]. Senator Begich. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MARK BEGICH, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Thank you very much for all being here. 

And, Madam Chair, thank you for giving the precursor that I 

would not brag about how big our State is, that we have eight of 

the largest top 10 national parks—— 

[Laughter.] 

Senator BEGICH.—that we have the tallest mountain, that we 

have a million lakes—— 

32 

[Laughter.] 

Senator BEGICH.—we have three-quarters of coastal—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. But it’s not on your license plates. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator BEGICH. It’s—we are called ‘‘The Last Frontier’’—well, 

it’s too big to put on our license plate—— 

[Laughter.] 

Senator BEGICH.—too many zeros. So—— 

But, thank you for hosting this hearing. 

And thank you all for being here. 

I want to follow up Mr.—the Senator from Florida’s— 

LeMeiux’s—comments on advertising, because your point is a good 

one; and that is, the national parks is—what I understand, there 

is one person—and I don’t know who could answer this, but I— 

there’s one person who actually handles, within National Park 

Service, all the tourism activities, or is in charge of it. That’s it. So, 

how do we get more aggressive—I recognize that the groups who 

are off, decide—who are helping—but, if we have just one person 

in this mega-operation, in the sense of our asset, maybe not as 

much money—Mr. Butcher, your comments, too, about the resources—you have to have the resources. But, we have the product. 

That’s the good thing. 

Mr. BUTCHER. We definitely do. 

Senator BEGICH. We have great product, 

Mr. BUTCHER. Yes. 

Senator BEGICH. But, we, maybe, lack the ability to market our 

product. Without marketing, people don’t know about it. I mean, I 

traveled, in August last year, with my family. We drove from Alaska to here. We went to Wyoming. We went to Cody, saw the rodeo. 

We went to Yellowstone. We went all the way through. We drove, 

19 days, across the country to see our national park system and 

visit many of the small towns and communities. But, if you’re not 

marketing, then it doesn’t matter; people won’t come, because they 

don’t know it. 

So, give me, first—anyone’s comment—one, Should the National 

Park Service have an advertising budget that’s aggressive? Two, I 

think this second one is an easy one—Should they increase from 

one person to more people to do the marketing? I think that’s a 

given. And how much do you think we engage with young people, 

the next generation, to engage in our park systems? Whoever 

wants to start with that. 

Mr. Butcher? 

Mr. BUTCHER. Well, I—let me answer your—Mr.—Senator 

LeMieux’s question. The park can’t advertise. They can’t do anything political. They’re the park. That’s it. So, this corporation, 

that’s outside the park, sounds like a good idea, so that can happen. 

Senator BEGICH. Can I hold you there? 

Mr. BUTCHER. Sure. 

Senator BEGICH. Advertising isn’t political, so let me—— 

Mr. BUTCHER. No. 

Senator BEGICH.—other than when we’re running them. 

[Laughter.] 

33 

Senator BEGICH. But, they can’t, because Congressional efforts 

restrict them, probably. 

Mr. BUTCHER. Oh, OK. Yes. 

Senator BEGICH. One thing I learned about coming here, a year 

and a half ago, is, we make the laws. So, if there’s—— 

Mr. BUTCHER. Right. 

Senator BEGICH.—a law prohibiting it, we should think if the law 

is logical. And if it’s not—— 

Mr. BUTCHER. Yes. 

Senator BEGICH.—logical, we should consider changing it. 

Mr. BUTCHER. Yes. 

Senator BEGICH. But, let’s assume that—if they could advertise, 

should they? 

Mr. BUTCHER. Oh, well, I’ve—you know, how many people have 

been to Delaware Gap? Gorgeous place. Within 35 miles, 100 waterfalls. Probably one of the most pretty parks in the United 

States. Now, I mean—yes, we have to. I mean, no—you have—but, 

you—when you do advertise, you have to get the spirit of the park. 

Senator BEGICH. Right. 

Mr. BUTCHER. You know, you can’t just send somebody out there 

and take a few pictures. It’s—the spirit of the park is not an easy 

thing to get. 

I’m thinking that one of the things you could advertise is, in 

D.C., in the Smithsonian. I mean, people from all over the world 

come to the Smithsonian. 

Senator BEGICH. Good idea. 

Mr. BUTCHER. I mean, to me, that would be a permanent—advertising that you can—that doesn’t go away. I think that kind of advertising would be kind of nice; you can develop—that it’s there. I 

mean, when you do an ad on television, it’s there for 30 seconds, 

and it’s gone. But, if you have it in the Smithsonian or somewhere 

in D.C., where all these people from the world come, I think that 

would be a great way to advertise; would be here in D.C., the heart 

of the country. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you. 

Anyone else wish to comment? 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Mr. Chairman—Madam Chair, Senator Begich, 

you make some very good points. I want to make—respond in three 

different ways. 

First is, I think we have to do a much better job, through our 

website and the new media that’s available, and how people are 

communicating today, especially our young people, to connect with 

them in ways that they are listening for and gaining—gathering information. And I think our Department and our National Park 

Service website is beginning to do that; we’re beginning to get 

smarter about how to do that. 

Second, I think, you know, while there may not be official advertising—you’ve heard the gentleman from Carlsbad Caverns—there 

are these relationships, at every park, with the community, with 

the gateway communities, with businesses. And so, I think that cooperation and collaboration is happening. Could it happen more aggressively? Well, certainly—possibly, we could do that. 

And the third question you had, relative to young people—it absolutely is a—it’s the future, we have to do it. I think it’s one of 

34 

the great benefits of what Mr. Burns did with the film, but we— 

it was mentioned earlier, the President spoke, about 10 days ago, 

at the America’s Great Outdoors conference. And he spoke directly 

to the need for us, as a country, to reconnect our citizens, especially 

our young people, with the out of doors and with the natural world. 

And Secretary Salazar, Secretary Vilsack, Chair Sutley, and Administrator Jackson are working together to develop a broad-based 

initiative to go out and both listen to the people of this country 

about their ideas on that, but also to bring forward to the President 

some recommendations about how we do that. 

So, I think you’ll be hearing more from us on that subject, because it’s our greatest challenge. If we don’t reconnect the next 

generation to our national parks, our national forest, our other outdoor resources, then we’re not going to have the opportunity to 

build for the future. 

Senator BEGICH. Great, thank you very much. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you. 

Senator Cantwell. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON 

Senator CANTWELL. Thank you. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. From the beautiful State of Washington. 

Senator CANTWELL. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for 

holding this hearing, and to Senator LeMieux, for being here, as 

well. They are important issues. 

And I appreciate all of our witnesses here. 

And, Mr. Burns, thank you for your documentary and inclusion 

of, I think, at least one of our parks in Washington State—— 

Mr. BURNS. Yes. 

Senator CANTWELL.—and the history of that. I think we get something like $250 million a year from nonlocal visitors to our 

parks. So, you can easily say it’s big business in Washington State. 

But, I was curious, out of your documentary experience, how do 

you think we might continue to educate people from the history 

and the information? The reason why I’m saying this, sitting on the 

Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a lot of the legislation 

to either create new parks or create national scenic areas, what 

have you, always come with this question of an interpretative center. A few people will say, ‘‘Well, what do we want to do?’’ ‘‘Well, 

let’s create an interpretive center,’’ or, ‘‘Let’s explain,’’ you know, 

why we have—— 

Mr. BURNS. Yes. 

Senator CANTWELL.—legislation, that we were successful in implementing, that commemorates the Ice Age Flood Trail, all the 

way from Montana, you know, through to Washington State. Yet, 

you know, it’s hard to explain something like the history of the Ice 

Age Flood, but yet there’s so much information there. 

Did that experience of the documentary give you ideas about how 

we might take the information for so many of these special places, 

and present them to the public? 

Mr. BURNS. Well, I think, in answer almost to all the questions 

today, we’ve got several opportunities. One, I think, is some coordiVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:17 Mar 28, 2011 Jkt 065327 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\GPO\DOCS\65327.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE
35 

nated national effort. I’m so heartened to hear what’s going on in 

Carlsbad, but we don’t hear about that; and we need to have a kind 

of top-down advertising that would help let people know about the 

glories, not just here in the United States, but elsewhere. That’s 

usually important. 

But, a huge component, I think, in answer to your third question, 

sir, and to your excellent question, is education. We have to begin, 

in the schools, to tell stories, to teach the history of this. 

We were stunned to find out about Stephen Mather, who was 

this great promoter of the national parks, who almost willed the 

National Park Service into existence by the sheer force of his passion and energy. And then, relentlessly, spent every day of the rest 

of his life passionately defending those parks against the inevitable 

conflicts that come up about their very existence, but also educating people. 

And, I think that, in some ways, we’ve abdicated that. Perhaps 

in a rush to be able to explain, in any specific place with a visitor’s 

center, about this event or that event, we may have missed the forest for the trees, here. And I think we’ve got an enormous resource—economic resource, but obviously a great educational one, 

as well. And I think that these are not incompatible, and that we 

need to coordinate not only a sort of top-down advertising with the 

bottom-up sense of how we reach our children with the stories of 

the glories. 

Most people don’t realize that they—that we are all co-owners of 

the most spectacular waterfall on this continent, the greatest collection of geothermal features, and the grandest canyon on Earth, 

and that this shared ownership has very limited responsibilities. 

We ought to go and visit them once in a while, to make sure they’re 

being taken care of, and we ought to pass them down to our posterity unimpaired. 

Senator CANTWELL. I appreciate your thoughts—I think we need 

to explore more—you know, the little interpretive trail sign on the 

side of the road just isn’t enough—— 

Mr. BURNS. It is not enough. 

Senator CANTWELL.—in today’s Internet Age, to say that that’s 

what we’re going to do to commemorate, not just the specialness of 

these places, because that grandeur can be seen when people go 

there, but the history that goes along with it, in its creation and 

sense, and whether it’s the Olympic National Park, and how it was 

created or, you know, the history of Mt. Rainier. I mean, there’s a 

lot of history in all of that. 

Mr. BURNS. May I just add something very briefly—is that I 

think that we’re all concerned by what we see is the virtual world 

that so many of us live in and can’t live without; and that, in some 

ways, we’ve replaced the virtual experience with actual experience. 

And we can rub our hands and lament this. It’s a fact of our lives, 

and all of us here are either in the process of consulting our BlackBerries, or will shortly do so. 

Nonetheless, what the parks represent are real experiences. And 

they’re real American experiences, tied to a vast geological history, 

and tied to a more immediate national history. 

And the parks have done a superb job in gathering together the 

threads of that political/military/social history, along with the 

36 

grand geological history. And this is a huge resource of incalculable 

value as we go forward. And I just think we need to marshal that, 

and remind people, through these social medias and other things, 

how real experience can affect them. The kind of things that Wyoming is doing to connect, emotionally, to the generational thing is 

what we found in every person that we spoke to. ‘‘My dad,’’ they’d 

always start a conversation, or, ‘‘My mom,’’ or ‘‘My grandma took 

me.’’ And all of a sudden you realize, you’re not just talking about 

the ‘‘thing,’’ as you stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon, perceiving the incredible power of the Colorado River to carve out 

Precambrian Vishnu Schist that is half the age of the planet; you’re 

also very much concerned with whose hand you’re holding. And 

that’s a huge element, I think, in how we should ‘‘sell’’ this, if that’s 

the correct word. 

Senator CANTWELL. Well, I don’t want to call out the Chair, but 

I know that her father was, obviously, a great mountaineer. And 

I read his book, and saw a picture of our Chairwoman, biking over 

the mountains with her father, so I’m sure she, too, was influenced 

by that. But, that’s what makes it even more special. 

So, thank you very much, Madam Chair. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much, Senator Cantwell. 

And I was just thinking, I know you have to leave, Mr. Burns, 

and I think we’ll have a few more questions here. But, I wanted 

to thank you, first of all. And I just had one question, as I was 

thinking of this marketing—just so you understand—this national 

promotion bill, the travel promotion bill, we’re very excited about, 

and I hope you will, once we get the group gathered. Commerce, 

I think, is making the decision on who serves on it. But—it’ll be 

a public/private partnership—it would be very nice, listening to the 

poetry of your words, if they consulted with you on how to do this. 

Disney put together a ‘‘Welcome to America’’ movie. 

Mr. BURNS. Yes. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. I don’t know if you’ve seen it. 

Mr. BURNS. I have. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. It doesn’t have their name on it, there’s no 

Mickey Mouse. But, it’s beautiful. And their idea is to have it, you 

know, on huge screens, in every airport that serves international 

visitors, so that, when they’re waiting in line, they see the national 

parks, and they have that image, so it’s much more welcoming. I’ve 

talked to Secretary Napolitano about this, just recently, and I think 

that that’s a piece of it. 

The other piece of it is marketing through this public/private 

partnership, and if we do this smart, and we do it right, like other 

countries have, I think we could make a huge impact. 

Every 1 percent we lost to that international tourism business— 

we’ve gone down 20 percent since 9/11—has cost us 170,000 jobs 

in this country. And that’s why those of us on this panel are so obsessed with this. 

But, my question is, as you looked at the history of the parks, 

and you saw, way back in time, did you learn anything about how 

they marketed the parks, back then? Was it just like Yogi Bear and 

Jellystone Park? I mean, what were the ways that the marketed? 

And is there anything that we can learn from that? 

37 

Mr. BURNS. Well, I think that what’s so clear from studying history, on any subject, is the more things change, the more that 

there’s—they’re the same. There’s nothing new under the sun. And 

we can take, from the example of Stephen Mather, from the railroad companies, which were the parks’ first promoters, and the 

‘‘See America First’’ campaign that happened, that there had been 

prime examples, throughout our history, of coordinated, educational events that have boosted park attendance, that have gotten generations of schoolchildren engaged with it. Some of the creation of the parks, like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 

had to do with a kind of local campaign, where kids, in the middle 

of the Depression, were raiding their piggybanks to add pennies, 

nickels and dimes, literally, to help buy the land from the loggers 

who were about to destroy the last major stand of virgin timber on 

the eastern seaboard. And we would create the park with extraordinary attendance, Great Smokies National Park. 

I think even a cursory look at our documentary would give dozens of ideas of how people went about doing this. And all one needs 

to do is just apply the lessons of one age to the new forms of media, 

that Will was speaking about, that we are in, today. And I don’t 

think it’s a big leap. And what I love is, you’ve got, here at this 

table, examples of local coordination, you’ve got State coordination, 

and you have a kind of national interest, ‘‘We’re going to do this.’’ 

We hope that our film will be picked up by broadcasters around 

the country, that that might interest more people, but we ought to 

be able to back that up with information. Maybe there are States, 

or there is an entity, that might help to promote that. I think the 

idea of having our borders filled with what we’ve got in here would 

be great. I know that people watch my films, waiting for jury duty, 

in the District, here. And I meet people all the time who say, ‘‘I 

had jury duty, but I got to watch half of ‘Jazz’ or ‘Baseball,’ ’’ as 

they were sitting doing that. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. This is a new marketing technique. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. BURNS. I guess. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Force them—— 

Mr. BURNS. No one consulted me, but there seem to be limitless 

possibilities of how to do this. And I’d just—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. I agree. 

Mr. BURNS.—if you were to focus on the life and example of Stephen Mather, you could be occupied for dozens of years on how 

would be the best way, the correct way, to run such a campaign, 

both at a national and a State and local—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. OK. 

Mr. BURNS.—perspective. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Well, very good, thank you. And if you have 

to leave, we understand. 

Mr. BURNS. I do. And I just beg your indulgence, Madam Chairman, for having to do this. I had something scheduled before this, 

and I feel bad about leaving you, particularly with a subject so dear 

to my heart. But, I thank you for the opportunity. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. 

Senator LEMIEUX. May I make a shameless plug for Florida—— 

38 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Well, I’ll—— 

Senator LEMIEUX.—before Mr. Burns leaves? 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Yes. Oh, please do. 

Senator LEMIEUX. Just because I may not have the opportunity 

to speak to you again. I don’t know what your next project is, but 

I would like to give you a possible idea. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LEMIEUX. In 3 years, we will celebrate the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon coming to Florida. And in 5 years, we will 

celebrate the 450th anniversary of the oldest city in America, 

which is St. Augustine. 

Mr. BURNS. St. Augustine. 

Senator LEMIEUX. And we, in Florida, don’t even do enough to 

have recognition of this gem, of what it is, the oldest city in America. And I know my friends from Virginia are always very big about 

how they have the first settlement, and—they’ve really had good 

propaganda on this, because the truth is, they don’t have the first 

settlement; we did. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LEMIEUX. So, I just wanted to leave that with you. That 

is a layperson’s suggestion of maybe a possible idea for a future 

documentary. 

Mr. BURNS. What is so thrilling to me, Senator, is that, if I were 

given a 1,000 years to live, I would not run out of topics in American history. 

[laughter]. 

Senator LEMIEUX. Well said. Thank you very much. 

Mr. BURNS. Thank you all. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Very nice. Thank you. Thank you very 

much. 

I wanted to follow up on Mr. Bacher’s point about this—a collaboration between the chamber and the parks, and how important 

that is as we look at things on a regional model. And I guess I’d 

first ask Mr. Ward, because I realize that our Voyageurs park 

there, there was some real tension on some issues, because we actually have people still living in the parks, and gradually some of 

that land is being sold; a conservation trust is buying it. But, there 

has been a real sea change; there used to be, like this, and people 

soon realized, as Mr. Bacher pointed out, that was in their best interest to work together, and that they’re very proud of this sea 

change, with the local businesses and the park working together. 

Do you want to talk a little bit about that, and how we can use 

that as a model for a smaller park, but nevertheless, a model? 

Mr. WARD. Well, it’s unfortunate that Mr. Burns just left, because I think this was touched upon in his film a great deal, at just 

about every national park, with that struggle when we first come 

in. 

Voyageurs, in terms of what you just asked me, I think, is best 

described as—we’re kind of at a new birth, at this point, as I was 

kind of touching on earlier. And, you know, we are actually in the 

neighborhoods or—you know, Chamber of Commerce, the CVB, Rotary, those people that actually make up the towns that are close 

within our communities, our gateway communities, are seeing how 

important the park is in their backyard now. And I think it’s going 

39 

to take another generation before we get fully there, but some of 

the things that Mr. Shafroth touched on are occurring at Voyageurs that help us with that. And primarily, that’s the connection 

that we have with the children in those gateway communities. 

Even though they’re limited—there’s not a huge population base 

there—that is who we are spending a great deal of time on. Whether it’s through education programs, whether it’s through getting 

them out in the park on a seasonal basis, whether they go out in 

the new Voyageur tour boat for one of their classroom settings, 

we’re doing whatever we can to actually raise their awareness of 

the park, in their backyard, in the hopes that we are going to grow 

a new generation of constituents and supporters of the national 

park there. So. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Mr. Shafroth, there’s a new project called 

‘‘Trails & Rails’’ working to advertise the parks through Amtrak? 

Do you want to explain that? 

Mr. SHAFROTH. I’m not familiar with that, to be honest with you, 

Senator. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Well, there you go. 

Mr. SHAFROTH. I apologize. I—we could certainly give you some 

information—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. That’s good. 

Mr. WARD. Actually, coming from the St. Louis, Missouri, area, 

prior to where I am now in Voyageurs, there was an active Rails 

to Trails—Trails—— 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Rail to Trail. 

Mr. WARD. Thank you. 

And it—they would travel from park to park, and actually get 

programs. And I know that was at, kind of, its infancy several 

years ago. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. So, the idea is, on their iPods, these people 

that are—— 

Mr. WARD. Yes. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR.—traveling across country, they can 

download info on the park, I think, and look at it. But, it’s just an 

example of using new technology. 

I just wanted to go back to what can be tension, but can turn 

into a positive thing, Mr. Bacher—before I turn it over to Senator 

LeMieux—in terms of promoting the park and just—have you had 

things, where you had problems, like I know we did back when 

Voyageurs first started out? And have you been able to work them 

out and then try to look at this as a net gain for everyone if you 

work them out? 

Mr. BACHER. Well, first of all, I only have a 4-year history in 

Carlsbad, and it has been 100-percent positive, the whole time, because the park has been there, with their literature; every time we 

need literature, they make it available to us. And they have a bat 

flight that’s—that is actually a free item; as the bats come in and 

out at night, or in the morning sometimes, that they allow that. 

There has really been not a lot of tension, that I know of, at all, 

between the parks and the private industry of—and the private 

citizens of my area, in Carlsbad. It has been a positive thing the 

whole time. 

40 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Right. And then you went from 19,000 visitors in 2007 to 50,000 last year, a 30,000 jump. How did you do 

that? 

Mr. BACHER. Well, we’ve redesigned our park; we do a lot more 

accommodations. America is traveling less, sometimes with an RV, 

so we’ve put in a lot—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Have you seen the movie ‘‘RV’’? 

Mr. BACHER. Yes. And our park—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. OK, good. Well, now you know—— 

Mr. BACHER.—is not like the movie RV, in the desert, with the 

pumps and the—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Yes, it sort of made me think of it. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. BACHER. So, it—the industry we see, as grandparents and 

parents, sometimes they don’t have that extra 100,000 or half a 

million dollars to buy a rig. They may want to just come and tent, 

or they make want to come—we have—our—the whole KOA system 

is going to lodging. We have beautiful wood, pine interiors. It just 

is—looks like a log cabin, but they have all the amenities. We have 

Wi-Fi and, you know, flat-screen TVs, and air-conditioning, the 

whole—it’s very high-tech. We have a restaurant, we smoke—you 

know, we smoke all our meats. I get up at 5:30 in the morning and 

start smoking meats, and—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Wow. 

Mr. BACHER. So, we try and cater to what the people really want. 

It’s a different buyer, it’s a different client. There’s an app for that. 

They—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. That’s great. 

Mr. BACHER.—really want the high-tech stuff. If we didn’t have 

Wi-Fi, they wouldn’t come to our park. I mean, they have to have 

Wi-Fi, they have to have good cellular service. We are—you know, 

we have to have all that stuff. And that’s the new buyer that—you 

know, the baby boomers are going to last for another 12 to 15 

years, and our—we believe our business will go up. I’m hoping to 

have 100,000 visitors in another 4 years. That’d be wonderful. 

We’ve—it has been so good, we’ve brought our daughter and sonin-law into the business, because we can’t manage it anymore. It’s 

just—you know, we went from 10 employees, 10 years—4 years 

ago, to 20, and it gets bigger. But Generation X, we don’t know. I 

mean, it’s not a—something that you have to solve today. There are 

about 15 years before Generation X starts to retire, or vacation and 

spend the money that is being spent now by the baby boomers. And 

the baby boomers are a huge portion of our business, if not the biggest. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Mr. Butcher? And then we’ll turn over to 

Senator—— 

Mr. BUTCHER. The question was about teaching kids about—getting kids interested. I know, in Collier County—I think it’s in your 

sixth or seventh grade—a park interpreter goes to the classrooms 

and tells the people about the park, then they take them out in the 

park. So, every schoolkid in Collier County gets to experience the 

Everglades, and get in the water, and get wet. And I think if every 

community that has a park have—make sure that there’s money 

41 

for the park to bring those kids into that park, would help get kids 

excited about it. 

And I think in Miami there’s the same thing, in Everglades National Park, is that—I think it’s fourth—is it fourth-graders? I 

think it’s fourth-graders—are—they have to go to the park. And 

some of them think, ‘‘Wow, this is better than television.’’ And 

some of them say ‘‘Uh-uh, I’m not going to do this again.’’ But, at 

least we’re getting them out there and—to get that experience. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. OK. 

Senator LeMieux? 

Senator LEMIEUX. Madam Chair, I want to follow up on Mr. 

Butcher’s point, with Mr. Shafroth. 

I mean, it seems like there is a great ability for you to coordinate 

with the Department of Education here. We do do that in South 

Florida. I remember doing it when I was a kid, I think in fourth 

grade. And I’ve taken my boys out to the Everglades. And, you 

know, I have a little girl now; she’s only a month old, so we’ll see 

how she adapts to it. But, for little boys, going to the Everglades 

is about the neatest thing in whole world, because they see alligators, they see snakes; it’s beautiful. And I think that if we can 

work with—between the different agencies of government to—I 

would, you know, encourage you to try to partner with DOE, for 

them to promote this. 

I also think—and wanted to ask you what kind of work you do 

with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. You know, are they promoting 

tourism, you know, in their work? They’re—certainly have a broad 

swath of area that they cover. So, maybe you could speak to that, 

Mr. Shafroth. 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Sure. 

Madam Chair, Senator LeMieux, a couple of things. You’re right, 

we are in a conversation right now with the Department of Education about how we can work together to promote environmental 

education at our national parks, at our 555 national wildlife refuges, BLM lands, and other lands that we manage. Fully 20 percent of our Nation’s lands are under the Department of the Interior. So, you’re—you make a good point. It’s not just national parks 

here, there’s a much a broader swath—Forest Service is not represented here, but they have an important contribution to make, as 

well. 

I did want to mention that the Park Service does work very 

closely with the National Park Foundation on the creation of, sort 

of, a virtual classroom. And they have these periodic stagings that 

they have in national parks; most recently, one they had in Great 

Smokies, where 3 million young people in schools around the country were participating, through a live broadcast of an activity that 

was going on in Great Smokies. 

And so, it’s difficult—you know, it’s difficult to get every kid out 

to every park; and yet, this is an opportunity for them to learn 

about this park, and the natural flora and fauna of this area. 

Right now, this week, in Biscayne Bay, in your State, there’s 

something called ‘‘BioBlitz’’ going on, where hundreds of people are 

participating in an effort to gain information about the biology of 

the Biscayne Bay. And it’s a big event, big promotion. We hope to 

use that as a way, again, to educate citizens in Florida, in South 

42 

Florida, about the value and importance of the ecosystem in Biscayne Bay. 

So, you make a very good point, the Fish and Wildlife Service 

does—has similar relationships with friends groups throughout the 

refuge system, but I think—I take it that there is a limitation on 

their ability to actually go out and formally promote and advertise 

their activities, but it’s something we need to figure out how to do 

better. 

Senator LEMIEUX. Well I think that’s something that this committee may address, is that limitation. And we can take a look at 

that and—— 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Yes. 

Senator LEMIEUX.—see that we can put some ability of these 

parks to advertise. And I think that Mr. Butcher’s brought up a lot 

of good points, too, about how it should be done, so that there’s 

local input by the superintendents of these park, because they’re 

going to know best how to work with local folks to capture that 

image. 

While we have you here, too, I wanted to, just by curiosity, ask 

you, Mr. Shafroth, is there any plans for any new national parks? 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Well, the Park Service has conducted a number 

of studies on national park—potential national park units. And I 

don’t know what the number of that is—maybe somebody here 

could help with that—but, a whole host of them that you all, in the 

Congress, have authorized them to do. And I think they would be 

there to await action by Congress, because Congress is the only 

body—entity that can create a new national park, or a new unit of 

National Park System. So—— 

Senator LEMIEUX. Do you propose a list to us of what you think 

are the top five? Or, how does it work? 

Mr. SHAFROTH. Those are, sort of, incrementally proposed, and 

then I think they’re out, sort of in a holding pattern. We’re certainly—you know, the new administration has expressed interest 

in the potential for some new units, but they were not prepared to 

go formal, in terms of our presentation yet. You may hear from 

John Jarvis, our Director of the Park Service, on that soon. 

Senator LEMIEUX. OK. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Well, I want to thank all of you. 

And I take away from this hearing—as we think about the parks, 

vis-a`-vis Congress, I think it’s always—what Senator Cantwell was 

talking about, ‘‘Well, can we get an interpretive center? Can we get 

this funded?’’ It tends to be more focused on those kinds of issues. 

And I think having our Tourism Subcommittee—while we may not 

have direct jurisdiction over the parks, we can pretend we do. 

Right, Senator LeMieux? 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Having us look at it in a different way, in 

terms of the function of those parks for jobs and for education, 

learning experiences, and how they can be a major part of driving 

this economy, I think, is very important, and I think we should— 

I know Senator LeMieux and I are very focused on looking at it 

that way, and talking to some of our colleagues. We’ll look at what 

those restrictions are, but also making sure that, when we do that 

43 

international marketing, that the parks are a part of that, and 

then looking at how we can do it on a local level, as well, because 

I think there’s just so much more that we could do here, in terms 

of selling our parks in a very positive way, for the best of all reasons, as we know, for international visitors and others in our country. And I think it could be a very good thing. 

So, that’s what I come away—we just haven’t—I don’t think we 

usually talk about the parks in this way, and I think that it’s time 

that we do, because they’re a treasure that we want to share with 

others, and create some jobs in the meantime. 

So, I want to thank all of you for being here. It has been a very 

interesting hearing. And keep up the good work. 

Thank you. 

The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:33 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

(45) 

A P P E N D I X 

WRITTEN QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY HON. FRANK R. LAUTENBERG TO

WILL SHAFROTH

Question 1. What steps, if any, is the National Park Service taking to understand 

the impact of the new National Park Service firearms law on visitation and tourism 

to the parks? If visitation falters, what action will the Department of the Interior 

take to ensure domestic and international visitors that their families will be safe 

in America’s national parks? 

[The witness did not respond.] 

Question 2. How will the Administration record and report firearm incidents, such 

as poaching, intimidation of visitors or park rangers, or the discharge of a weapon, 

that may take place and impact park based tourism? Please explain how DOI plans 

to capture National Park System wide incidents relating to the new law, so that 

lawmakers can know whether future action may be warranted on this important 

issue. 

[The witness did not respond.] 

Æ