DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1971 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1970. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WITNESSES GEORGE B. HARTZOG, JR., DIRECTOR J. E. N. JENSEN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR EDWARD A. HUMMEL, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR C. P. MONTGOMERY, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR ERNEST A. CONNALLY, CHIEF, OFFICE OF ARCHEOLOGY AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION THEODOR R. SWEM, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL CAPITAL AND URBAN PARK AFFAIRS RUSSELL E. DICKENSON, GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT, NATIONAL CAPITAL PARKS GEORGE A. GOWANS, CHIEF, DIVISION OF PROGRAM PLANNING JOHN A. RUTTER, DIRECTOR, NORTHWEST REGION, SEATTLE, WASH. FRED C. FAGERGREN, DIRECTOR, MIDWEST REGION, OMAHA, NEBR. DR. LESLIE L. GLASGOW, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE, PARKS AND MARINE RESOURCES RICHARD R. HITE, DIRECTOR OF BUDGET, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY Mrs. HANSEN. The committee will come to order. This afternoon we will hear the National Park Service. We are pleased to welcome back our old friend George Hartzog, the Director, as the principal witness. GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE DIRECTOR Mr. Hartzog, will you insert your general statement in the record and summarize it for us. Mr. HARTZOG. Thank you, Madam Chairman. (Prepared statement follows:) STATEMENT OF GEORGE B. HARTZOG, JR., DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, I am pleased to appear before you again to report on our management of the National Park System and to review with you our plans, programs, and fund requirements for the forthcoming year. At the outset, let me express my deep appreciation for your constructive participation as our partners in presenting America's natural and cultural heritage and in preserving it for the benefit and enjoyment of our posterity. Your strong support, interest, and enthusiasm mean much to each of us in the National Park Service in our efforts to manage the National Park System. Without your helpful suggestions, guidance and confidence we simply could not have accomplished that which has been achieved. It is a pleasure, also, to appear before the newly appointed Member of the Subcommittee, Representative Obey. We stand ready to serve you in every way we can, and we look forward with pleasure to working with each of you in this second session of the 91st Congress. The National Park System, An Old Program - A New Relevancy The National Park System is a living legacy linking generation to generation and century to century. From 1872--when Yellowstone National Park was established--to 1906 the purpose of the National Park System was the preservation of large areas of scenic grandeur as public parks for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. The Congress broadened the concept and purpose of the National Park System in 1906, when, largely in response to the depredations on the Indian ruins of the Southwest, it authorized the President, by Proclamation, to establish national monuments on lands owned or controlled by the United States to preserve historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other areas of historic or scientific interest. In the midthirties the Congress again broadened the concept and purpose of the National Park System: First, the act of March 3, 1933, providing for reorganization within the Executive Branch, resulted in an Executive Order transferring to the Department of the Interior for administration by the National Park Service the national memorials and parks of our Nation's Capital, many national monuments, and historical and military parks administered by other Federal agencies. Second, in the Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935, the Congress enunciated a national policy, charging the Secretary of the Interior through the National Park Service, to preserve for public use historic sites, buildings and objects of national significance for the inspiration and benefit of the people of the United States. Today, historic areas represent more than one-half of all of the areas of the National Park System. More recently, as the result of the creative work of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission appointed in 1958, the national recreation areas added to the National Park System have accelerated in response to the burgeoning demands of our urban society for outdoor recreational opportunities. Thus, the National Park System has evolved until today, in more than 270 areas, it is concerned with the preservation of natural wonders and scenic grandeur; the protection of places of scientific interest; the commemoration of the places and the sources of our greatness and of our prosperity; and the management of natural and man-made environments, primarily, for healthful outdoor recreational opportunities. Our Nation began with migrations, grew with migrations, and remains a Nation of people on the move. Love of locality is one of the roots of social cohesion, according to Charles E. Merriam, who was one of our greatest political scientists. But in a new country like the United States, and in a society where one family in five moves each year, and where we have over 80 million automobiles, we have a hard time developing local roots of the kind familiar to Englishmen in Sussex, Frenchmen in Brittany, or Irishmen in County Cork. Our national parks like Yosemite and Grand Canyon, and our historic places like Independence Hall, the Lincoln Memorial, and Mount Vernon, take the place of local roots for tens of millions of mobile Americans. They give us the assurance of a "sense of place" expressive of our country that we can tie to permanently, wherever we move or live. Many people go to the national parks and landmarks not simply to satisfy a need to get back to nature from crowded cities or for outdoor recreation. Many people go to the national parks and landmarks to strengthen their identity with their country. "Seeing is believing, and touching the Liberty Bell or setting foot in Yosemite Valley is worth a long trip to experience a sense of identity with America where it is unchanging. It isn't subtle. It's the deep human need to know "I was there" at Independence Hall or Yosemite Valley; and, as a result am a little more of an American. This experience is especially needed in these times of war, turmoil, and technological change. Beyond our need to identify with the Nation is the urgent need to understand our place in the world environment and to join hands in doing our part to rescue it from impending ecological disaster. As Freeman Tilden put it, we need "to understand our place in nature and among men. We will reach this objective more quickly and we will heal our environment more rapidly if we develop social cohesion "at home" by learning we 11 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-FIRST CONGRESS SECOND SESSION SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES JULIA BUTLER HANSEN, Washington, Chairman MICHAEL J. KIRWAN, Ohio BEN REIFEL, South Dakota JOSEPH M. McDADE, Pennsylvania |