It is the nation's premier preservation agency, yet it usually behaves like a Ministry of Tourism. It has never been able to define a coherent set of preservation policies. Saving the parks, therefore, requires reforming the Park Service. But this is not something the agency can do itself. Yet rather than growing as a political force, the Park Service's circle of friends is shrinking.
Public support is a mile wide and an inch deep.
These weaknesses were glaringly revealed in 1991, a year that was to have been a gala one for the Park Service. Manager of the Kennedy Center and sponsor of the Statue of Liberty celebration, the Park Service knows how to throw a party. And in 1991 it outdid itself. Television networks cranked out specials on the national parks. Celebrities effused about their nights in the woods.