NLC
Journal
Volume 1 Number 1
EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA
National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior December 22, 2000
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The National Leadership Council (NLC) is composed of the Director, Deputy Directors, Associate Directors and Regional Directors. It meets quarterly to consult on major policy and program issues confronting he organization. It is staffed by the WASO Office of Policy with the active support of managers in the parks, program areas and regional offices.
The NLC Journal is a report from the National Leadership Council to all National Park Service employees. Beginning in January of 2001, it will be issued immediately after every NLC meeting. It will be distributed electronically, posted on the Morning Report and made available in hard copy Servicewide.
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The main business before the National Leadership Council in its meeting on November 30 and December 1 in Washington, D.C., was to assess the National Park Service's Discovery 2000 General Conference, held in St. Louis this past September. This first-of-its-kind national conference brought together over 1200 Park Service personnel and representatives of NPS partnership organizations to look far into the future and develop a vision of the Park Service's 21ST Century role in American life. For a full week, conferees heard from scholars and experts in the relevant disciplines and met in dialogue sessions to examine the most fundamental aspects of NPS work.
Discovery 2000 was an enormous success. Participants thought anew about park purposes and National Park Service possibilities and prospects in the new century. Discussions were animated by passion for the organization's preservation mission, a conviction that this purpose is growing in importance, and that it may become critical in the new century. Many participants found the conference experience deeply moving.
A VISION OF THE FUTURE IS EMERGING
We foresee a National Park Service that is a world environmental
leader, a preeminent resource management agency that demonstrates in every
park and program, in every aspect of its work, a core commitment to sustain
and to restore the natural systems of the planet. The Service actively
encourages and sponsors scientific research and study in every park and
identifies the increase and the sharing of ecological knowledge as an
organizational purpose. The National Park Service of the 21ST
Century is a principal leader of national and global efforts to
preserve biodiversity.
We envision a national park system that is revered as one of Americas premier educational institution, where people and organizations collaborate on teaching and learning about the interconnections of human culture and nature, the systems and principles of democracy, and the values of America's diverse cultural heritage. Parks are an integral part of the nation's educational system, providing unique and powerful individual learning experiences that shape basic comprehension and personal values. Within the Park Service, education is a primary organizational purpose, essential to achieve our mission.
We see a National Park Service that is the best it can be in everything it does. It sets goals of quality performance that are higher than at present, and raises the goals ever higher as progress and improvements are achieved. It is an organization in which every employee, irrespective of occupational category, organizational, or geographic location, has the opportunity to develop their fullest potential and where their contributions to the mission of the Service are recognized and valued. It is an organization that avoids the kind of hierarchy that makes one person seem less important than another.
Fundamental to accomplishing organizational goals is our success in joining with and respecting others who share in the greater common mission to preserve resources and communicate resource values to the public. The Service is thoroughly oriented toward helping them accomplish their work and looks for every opportunity to learn from and to teach others. The Service uses the power of its traditions of stewardship and public service and its popularity with the public to benefit everyone engaged in the greater preservation mission.
LEADERSHIP IS THE FOUNDATION ON WHICH THIS VISION CAN
BE REALIZED
The National Leadership Council is enthusiastic about the potential
of the National Park Service and inspired by the future that many believe
is possible. Leadership of the service, within the service, and by the
service creates circumstances and environments in which others can succeed.
The National Leadership Council believes the National Park Service must think beyond traditional concepts of leadership —becoming keenly aware of the larger systems in which parks and programs operate. The Service must think afresh about the roles of leadership, about what it means to be an “environmental leader ” when working among partners who have stewardship responsibilities of their own. Leadership derives from quality of service provided by the leader rather than from vested authority vested in the leader.
The National Leadership Council emphasizes that the National Park Service, for all the enormous good that it does, has far to go and much progress to make in order to live up to the vision that is emerging from Discovery 2000.
EFFORTS UNDERWAY
The National Leadership Council believes that important efforts are already
underway and programs in place to help the organization meet 21ST
Century challenges:
- The National Park System Advisory Board is developing for the Director,
new Administration and the public a report on the future of national
parks. The report, which will be delivered in the spring, is being prepared
in collaboration with the National Geographic Society. It is expected
to affirm basic park mandates and speak to organizational and policy
directions for the new century.
- The NPS Strategic Plan identifies central mission goals and actions needed to accomplish those goals. The Natural Resource Challenge, in its second year of funding, is building new capacity for science-based resources management. The just-completed Cultural Resource Challenge, which outlines strategies to strengthen cultural resource stewardship, will be submitted for funding in the new fiscal year. The NPS Interpretive Plan "Connecting Parks to People" is contributing to a growing emphasis on education. The Diversity Action Plan and the developing Workforce Challenge address commitments to broaden and professionalize the workforce.
NEXT STEPS
The National Leadership Council is committed to continue the
dialogue about new century National Park Service roles that Discovery
2000 inspired. Discovery 2000 type dialogue and scenario-planning techniques
will be incorporated into National Leadership Council other NPS
meetings. An NLC meeting is scheduled in Washington
—on January 17 and 18, 2001 to identify specific steps, to expand deliberations
and to consider long-term strategies. The NLC believes
that the National Park Service must enhance its capacity to think strategically,and
the principal purpose of the NLC is to lead and
encourage the organization in this regard. The NLC
will explore opportunities to work with experts in the fields of management
and organizational change to strengthen itself as a leadership body.
APPRECIATION
The National Leadership Council acknowledges and expresses
heartfelt appreciation to all of you, the people who are the National
Park Service, for your hard work and dedication. You are the most important
and valuable resource available to this great organization. We ask that
you join with us in imagining the future, to develop your own personal
vision, strategic goals, and plans, and to begin aligning them and your
everyday actions with the vision that is emerging for the National Park
Service. The promise in pursuing this vision is that together we can —and
will —build an organization that more successfully pursues its mission
and affects the lives of people for the better.
OTHER MEETING ITEMS
- The NLC is placing high priority on addressing
issues raised in the report of the International Association of Chiefs
of Police (IACP) and will expedite the NPs
response using the approach of an incident command team. Superintendents
who manage law enforcement programs will attend law enforcement training.
The NLC compliments the IACP
taskforce for exceptional work.
- The NLC received the final draft of the Women
in Law Enforcement Task Force Report and expressed concerns about the
problems it identified. The NLC is currently reviewing
the draft and will be working with the task force to prioritize the
action recommendations so that corrective measures can be taken expeditiously.
- The NLC affirmed its support for a program to
bring NPS structural fire safety into compliance
with National Fire Protection Association codes and standards, Occupational
Safety and Health Administration rules and regulations, and National
Park Service policy. A reprogramming is being considered to support
structural fire safety needs.
- The NLC discussed the implications of actions by the outgoing 106TH Congress that authorized almost $90 million worth of grants from National Park Service appropriations to support activities for which the NPS has no administrative or management responsibilities. When actual appropriations for these purposes are made, they result in fewer dollars being available to support priorities identified by the NPS in line-item construction programs, because these “pass- through” funds count against NPS appropriations ceilings. The NPS will continue to oppose these types of authorizations. The NLC encourages all employees to consider the consequences of proposals for new park areas and programs,as well as pass-through grants,on existing base capabilities.
Discovery 2000 was an enormous success. Participants thought anew about park purposes and National Park Service possibilities and prospects in the new century.
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NATIONAL
LEADERSHIP
COUNCIL
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Robert (Bob) Stanton
Director
Denis (Deny) Galvin
Deputy Director
Karen Atkinson
Deputy Director
Sue Masica
Associate Director
Administration
Katherine (Kate) Stevenson
Associate Director
Cultural Resource Stewardship
and Partnerships
Michael (Mike) Soukup
Associate Director
Natural Resources
Stewardship and Science
Richard (Dick) Ring
Associate Director
Park Operations
and Education
Terrel Emmons
Associate Director
Professional Services
Robert L. (Rob) Arnberger
Regional Director
Alaska
Karen P. Wade
Regional Director
Intermountain
William (Bill) Schenk
Regional Director
Midwest
Terry R. Carlstrom
Regional Director
National Capital
Marie Rust
Regional Director
Northeast
John J. Reynolds
Regional Director
Pacific West
Jerry Belson
Regional Director
Southeast