President Barack Obama?s nominee to become director of the National Park Service appeared before the U.S. Senate?s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources this morning for a confirmation hearing.
Jonathan Jarvis, who is currently director of the park?s Pacific West Region, is a biologist with 33 years of service with the Park Service. He?s a Virginia native, who grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and graduated from the College of William and Mary.
There were few surprises at the hearing ? other than North Carolina?s Republican Sen. Richard Burr, a committee member and also the ranking Republican on the Subcommittee on National Parks, was not present to grill Jarvis on the situation with off-road vehicles at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Burr?s spokesman, David Ward, said that Burr met with Jarvis last Friday and that Burr would be submitting at least two questions to Jarvis for the record, including a question about whether Jarvis will work to ensure that the community has access to the seashore beaches. In fairness, many of the committee members were absent as the senators face the busy last few days before a summer recess.
Some other senators did ask some tough questions, especially Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
He grilled Jarvis about snowmobiles at Yellowstone National Park, a situation with many parallels to the seashore?s rulemaking on off-road vehicle access.
In fact, the situation at Yellowstone may be even more convoluted than here at the seashore.
Two federal judges have issued conflicting opinions about the use of snowmobiles in the park and the regulation of snowmobiles continues to change.
The Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming in a July 26 editorial noted that a 2004 temporary NPS plan capped the number of snowmobiles allowed daily at 720. Last year, a federal judge sided with environmentalists when he rejected a plan to set the cap at 540, which he said was too many. Then another judge ruled that the cap should stay at 720 until there is a final plan.
Then earlier this month, the Department of the Interior announced a new limit of 318 snowmobiles and 78 multi-passenger ?snowcoaches.?
?Confusingly,? the newspaper wrote, ?new technology has made the machine cleaner to operate while the proposed limit ? and the number of actual snowmobiles?has been shrinking.?
And the newspaper noted that ?given the uncertainty about whether the park would even allow snowmobiles in a given year,? numbers of tourists have dwindled.
Is this beginning to sound familiar?
Are there sandcoaches in our future?
The concept was mentioned during the negotiated rulemaking meetings. A member of that committee was Jonathan Jarvis? brother Destry, who represented the Natural Resources Defense Council and The Wilderness Society.
?This administration is advancing an ideological agenda,? Barrasso said at today?s hearing, adding that in his opinion the agenda was ?less public access.?
Yellowstone was the nation?s first national park, and Barrasso read from enabling legislation passed in 1872 when Congress set aside 2.2 million acres for a public park ?for the benefit of and enjoyment by the people.?
Sound familiar?
?Part of the National Park Service mission is to make sure the public has year-round access to the park,? Barrasso said.
However, with the current situation with snowmobiles in constant flux, he said, visitors are going elsewhere.
Sound familiar?
Barrasso asked Jarvis whether he supported the park?s mission of providing public access.
?The simple answer,? Jarvis answered, ?is absolutely yes.?
Jarvis went on to note that when he needs ?to recharge? his batteries, he would go out into the parks and talk to or sometimes just observe the visitors.
?One of my top goals,? he said, ?would be relevancy ? to connect all Americans to their parks.?
He told Barrasso that, if confirmed, he would work with all stakeholders in the Yellowstone situation.
In further questioning by the senator, Jarvis said of Yellowstone, ?We have a volatile situation that results in an unclear future.?
Sound familiar?
Jarvis said he would commit to ?winter use and winter access? but that the park must complete the process of rulemaking on snowmobiles.
Does that tell us anything about what Jarvis? views might be on ORV rulemaking at Cape Hatteras?
Probably not.
Nor did Jarvis? opening statement to the committee, which was bland and basically said nothing about where he might stand on the Park Service?s dual missions of preserving resources and providing access to visitors. However, no one expected to hear him lay it all on the line today.
He must be confirmed by the entire Senate, which, given the tone of today?s questions, will probably happen, but probably not until after the summer recess.
It appears that Jarvis will be seashore Superintendent Mike Murray?s boss and will be influential in shaping the future of ORV use at the seashore.
If you missed today?s hearing, you can view it at
http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.LiveStream&Hearing_id=acf70541-c1db-dd29-a7e7-407d69e3dd08
I extracted the following from the Mr. Jarvis’ written testimony.
http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cf..
Mr. Jarvis writes:
“I do not need to tell you of the challenges before us: the economy, climate change, connecting urban kids to nature, the concerns over obesity, and a concern about a loss of cultural literacy. I believe that the National Park Service has a role and a responsibility in each of these. As Regional Director in the Pacific West, I set high standards for the parks to achieve environmental and financial sustainability. We instituted programs to reach out and connect to the urban youth of the Los Angeles basin and the central valley of California. We studied and learned that we can attract the public to the parks for their health benefits and have pioneered cooperative efforts with partners in the health and fitness community. We facilitated good science and began to interpret the changes we could link to climate change. And we worked through our community assistance programs to help gateway communities to achieve both preservation and economic goals. In each case, the extraordinary employees of the National Park System responded to these goals with energy and enthusiasm.”
So, let me get this straight. The priority concerns of the next director of the National Park Service are:
The bad economy
Climate change
Obesity
Loss of cultural literacy
Attract the public to the parks for their health benefits
Cooperative efforts with partners in the health and fitness community
Good science to interpret the changes we could link to climate change in parks.
I wonder if it every occurred to Mr. Jarvis or the NPS staff that helped him write the testimony to say something about “public access”, and increasingly the denial of public access to places like the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area.
Too bad Senator Burr could not find the time to ask him access related questions at the hearing so they would be a permanent public record.
Senator Burr didn?t attend the hearing???
I?d suggest that we not attend the little box by his name in the next election.
Sandcoaches? Get real the first time a lightning storm comes up and the NPS sandroaches can?t get everyone off and to safety in time and some one gets fried there will be a lawsuit for $$$$$$$s. Inside an ORV is the safest place to be if thunder is heard, this is a fact with science to back it up.
What I found interesting was questioning of Sen Barrasso and Sen Wyden D-Oregon. Viewed independently there may not be much to be culled from the testimony, but if you compare and contrast Jarvis response I think it is telling on his opinion of mechanized recreation in the parks.
To view this part of the questioning fast forward the viewer to about the 70:00 min mark.
http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cf..
This is where Sen Barrasso begins his questioning. For those who aren?t aware, in order to ride a snowmobile in Yellowstone you have to sign up with one of the approved vendors that guide you through the park, and you use their snowmachines (you can?t bring your own). They lead a group in a line (you can?t go off on your own) on the approved trails which are overwhelmingly the same roads that host millions of cars each summer covered with snow pack. Only a very small portion of the park is open for snowmobiles. And they are contending this park, that is bigger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined, can only host 318 a day without environmental damage according to ?the best available science?? I wonder how many snowmobiles are registered in Delaware and Rhode Island? Jarvis concludes by saying he wants to ?work with all parties to reach a ?sustainable? plan, one that can withstand court challenges?. What does that mean?
What?s interesting is the next line of questioning is from Sen Wyden of Oregon. He?s upset at proposals to allow helicopter tours over Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Wyden is asking Jarvis for his opinion on the debate. Jarvis initially goes into discussion of the park, which he spent a fair amount time at, primarily focusing on what he calls ?sound booth quality quiet?, then talks about the role of the FAA and the Park Service in making the determination. (this is near the 78:00 min mark). What is dominant in this discussion is that ?quiet? is a resource. When pressed by Wyden it?s interesting to see the body language of Jarvis and an almost wink and grin you can see he will shoot down the helicopters.
Senator Barrasso stayed around to follow up and try to press Jarvis for an answer to no avail (around the 87:00 min mark). Jarvis stones him behind a litany of buzz words we have all heard too often; ?best available science? ?working with all stakeholders? ?sustainable plan?
Viewed independently these three segments many not show much but when you compare them Jarvis? leanings are obvious, he is against mechanized recreation in the National Parks. He gives the snowcoaches a glowing review talking about the ?quality of the visitor?s experience?. I?m often bothered by the constant use of this term. It would seem people are constantly trying to plan and determine for the visitor exactly what their experience should be. Why not allow multiple activities and allow the visitor to find their own favorite? Most of these parks are more than large enough. Aren?t these the same people who love to talk about ?diversity?? Why are backpacking with granola bars and dehydrated food, or being shuttled around in mass transit coaches getting viewed as the only ?proper experience? in our parks?
I looked into some the facts on the helicopters. They are looking at 300 flights a year over only one rim, that would only be over the park for 10 minutes. So not surprisingly it?s hardly the constant buzz the opponents suggest it would be. I read some comments online and not surprisingly the backpack crowd bashes the idea as not being a ?real experience? and that it would destroy theirs. It made me think of this, if someone enjoys the experience of looking at the beauty of Crater Lake from the air, couldn?t THEY say all the autos, RV?s backpack trails and campsites THEY see, are destroying THEIR experience? Polluting the otherwise ?pristine? view they would have?
This is the real problem. One group of politically active users have determined that THEIR activities are superior and trump others that should therefore be banned.
Ultimately the parks should have local control, if in Oregon they overwhelmingly don?t want the over flights, don?t have them. If in Wyoming they want snowmachine access in Yellowstone they should have it. Just as in CHNSRA ORV beach access should allowed because the majority of local people want it.
Very insightful observations, Denny.
I think you called it right ?
Name: Alexy
Email: aabdo@verizon.net
City: Buxton
State: NC
I know this is off the main subject but does anyone have a reason why Senator Burr, who is on the Senate Energy and Natural Resuorces Committee and could have asked Obama?s appointee Jonathan Jarvis his poistion and give our plight national exposure , DID NOT EVEN SHOW UP TO THE MEETING?!!?!?!?
I am so mad right now ???.