Closing Plenary:
Beyond Discovery 2000

Vision statements by Jerry Rogers, Polly Nordstrand, Charles Taylor, Dennis Vasquez, Sarah Craighead, Courtland Nelson, and Jessica Brown
Friday, September 15, 10:00 am

[Remarks of Jerry Rogers]

We are not winding down, we're winding up. Above all, this conference has been about vision for ourselves in the National Park Service and for our partners, for our true and total mission. We have assembled to step briefly away from the business of the moment and to peer as far as possible into the 21st century and to try to see ... the broad future or the possible futures, not the inevitable one, that we may be able to create together.

A great deal of experience and wisdom has been brought to bear in these four days, but in this hour we will hear from selected National Park Service people whom we believe to be representative of those who may actually carry out that vision. We will also hear from two representatives of the partners who share even more of our common cause.

One look at the color of my hair will tell you that I value the contributions that experience can bring to the development of wisdom. But here is another irony. We old hands know that sometimes experience can actually get in the way of vision. Another way of saying that is sometimes new eyes can see things that old eyes have grown accustomed to overlooking.

[Pause]

Polly Nordstrand has worked for the National Park Service for just six months. She's an exhibits planner at the Harpers Ferry Center. Previously she was curator of collections in the Seminole Tribe in Florida and a researcher of the National Museum for Indians. I ask Polly Nordstrand to come forward and share with us the first of the six visions.

[Remarks of Polly Nordstrand]

Good morning. I heard more than once that Sunday night's reception was like a high school reunion, so I guess that makes me the freshman class. In fact, I'm still so new that I use phrases like, "but that's not fair." [Laughter]

I began working with the Park Service just six months ago and I suppose that's one reason why I was asked to participate in this program this morning. At first, I thought maybe I was too new to deserve this privilege. After all, some days I'm still just trying to remember which form to fill out.

So to be here, I had to ask myself what do I know about the Park Service? I come from the museum world. I would have to admit that before I started working at Harpers Ferry Center, I had no idea that the Statue of Liberty was a national monument. Oops, "who hired her?" But I had been there, and in fact I have a deeply personal connection to that place, and I went there to find my family's name on the wall at Ellis Island. My great grandparents and three great uncles went through there in 1905. I wondered about green blood and where do I fit into this institutional culture. Is my personal mission in life and work different from those of you who have made the Park Service your career?

Like many of you, I was brought to my profession through a love affair. When I was getting ready to enter the working world, I had the opportunity to be a part of the creation of an exhibition of photography. Wow, it was wonderful. I found a place where my talents blended with those of others to connect people to places, to stories, and to other people. How lucky I thought I was to find this world I didn't realize existed. Kind of like my friends' experience of driving through the park's gates. And so I sought out as many internships as I could find and that would take me, much like many of you who began your career through a series of seasonal positions, and I sought further education so that I could have a better understanding of the museum world. Even though I am still not sure how the mission of the Park Service is played out by all of its actions, I am sure that my mission is not far from that of the Park Service, of what they are about.

And as I have listened this week, not always feeling that I actually had a lot to say, I have heard a call to a renewed commitment. The most profound was a commitment to just being human. We all have that in common. And how can we not be inspired by the human experience? Sure, we have our share of history to be ashamed of, but we can look back and then move forward knowing that we have no intention of going there again. Dr. Franklin talked to us about places of tragedy and loss, as well as places of celebration. We know there are oftentimes both. The courage to move on after tragedy is worth celebrating.

I have found in my short time with the Park Service a great reluctance for it to admit failure and error. After all, we are celebrating the enormous beauty of the landscape and the pride of our national experience. But it isn't fair, there I go again, to ... to lessen the experience by not telling the whole story. It's okay to challenge the visitor; it's okay to be challenged by the visitor.

I actually had great reluctance to become part of the Park Service because of my perception of the relationship to Indian people. As I told you, I have an immigrant heritage. I also have a family that finds themselves home here in this land, since time immemorial. But as a citizen, I don't find that part of myself in your places the way you have described me. I'm glad I can bring my own connection. It's too bad that a lot of the time I feel the loss, rather than the celebration.

My work in exhibits allows me to work with a great number of parks and people, but I find it frustrating and, I have to admit, disappointing that there is a reluctance to work with communities in a really meaningful way. This can be true of the museum world, too. Maybe we're all too bogged down with the government process to try to tackle another messy situation.

But when I fell in love with exhibits, it wasn't the final product. It was the process, the process of sharing the human experience. In the 21st century, I think we should allow for a place to be messy and frustrated, angry and sad, open-minded and self-aware. Maybe the Park Service will be the place for some of us to heal. There are communities who think your gates are not for them. Find them, and welcome them, in their languages, if that's necessary.

I have found my own challenge this week. I feel fortunate that so early on ... I am given the chance to write my mission statement with a better understanding of the Park Service's vocabulary. I have heard too many times this week that -- too many times to ignore -- that our choice of words is somehow not quite what we need to take us into the 21st century. People joked in a discussion over the Park Service use of the term "visitor" versus Disney's "guest," but yesterday I also had to question whether we are discussing "resources." Isn't it "heritage?"

Native people, like many others, know that language is what makes their cultures different. What are we when we conform to another culture's language? Our thinking changes. So shouldn't we all look at the language we use in our work? I intend to.

There is a greater mission in the National Park Service than perhaps the museum world strives for its public, and that is stewardship. In museums ... we offer an appreciation of things and history, but I think it's generally expected that the institution will take care of our treasures, and our effort is mainly to find the appreciation and understanding. So I ask you how do you create stewardship for the bacteria on the bottom of your shoes, the things we don't know about, we don't see, maybe we don't care about, because we don't know how it relates to us? I don't have this answer. But I think it's worth considering those things and ideas that haven't yet revealed their relevance.

I hope that you have found a renewed sense of inspiration this week, that that inspiration will take you forward ... and your leadership will reflect it. I'm looking to all of you to guide me in making this Service the best it can be for all of us. Thank you.

[Applause]

[Remarks of Jerry Rogers]

Thank you for that statement from the heart, Polly.

Charles Taylor is chief of external affairs at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. He began his National Park Service career 12 years ago at the Boston African-American National Historic Site and he served for six months as aide-de-camp to Director Roger Kennedy.

Charles Taylor.

[Remarks of Charles Taylor]

Good morning. I'm glad we made it here. I'm glad because this is the last time I'm going to have to revise my notes. You know, since we began in the interest of being prepared, I drafted something that I felt would be worthwhile to say before you this morning. But in light of what we do every day, every evening, I'd have to go back home and revise.

This has been quite a week. We have been directed by our leaders. We have enjoyed sage-like lessons [from those] I comfortably call teachers. And we have been inspired by our peers. Thanks, Gayle [Hazelwood].

This has been a week of meeting old colleagues and old friends; a week of meeting new colleagues, making new friends; a week of sharing, dreaming. And even the griping we did was productive. We have truly shared a special time.

We share a purpose here, one that supports the meaningfulness to, and of, our organizations and those whom we serve. We are a Service. We protect icons, places, and stories that provide meaning for us as a collective. And the drug of that meaning is the individual power of personal experience. The places we work represent meaning for us as a collective. Our task this week has been to chart something that will keep meaningfulness so that the experiences-yours, mine, those of each individual in this nation-continue, as [in] the Organic Act, unimpaired for future generations.

I call Los Angeles home. And I say this because I envision a Service that embraces all of those who call our urban centers home. In the interest of preservation, we will have to embrace the existence of cities as places where people have decided to live. As our consumption becomes increasingly burdensome to the protection of land, it will remain important to ensure that special places are put aside. Also for that reason, those will be the places whereby in order to be accessed, they will have to be visited. Remember the experience is best once you get inside the park.

Now we know the parks that we already have in our system. However, in addition, I offer that the Service will continue to grow. As we continue to redefine exactly what it means to be an American, those icons will change. The manner in which we care for them will also change. And I can't pretend to predict what those changes will be, but if gatherings like this one become more common, I'm sure-I hope I'm sure-that we won't be blindsided.

My point is that we must evolve. All things evolve. People evolve, species evolve, governments evolve, and yes, the National Park Service can and will evolve. The vision is not to predict what the evolution will be, but to be ready for the evolution when it happens.

Allow me to return to Los Angeles. I live in an area where one in four new Americans will call that city home. Consider that by the time my children enroll in college, two out of three will be what we currently identify as minority groups. It is in the eyes of these new citizens that the National Park Service will be judged. We will be judged based on our relevancy, and I warn you that as this group grows, we will all redefine exactly what it means to be an American as a collective.

Some of the very principles that we hold very dear, conservation, preservation, they're currently defined through a culturally limited telescope. The stories we choose to preserve and the manner in which we preserve them may change to say something very different about that which we as a collective hold dear. And we should be ready.

Now I'm talking about change, but the position in the hearts of our citizenry-thanks mom, dad-need not change. It's based on the integrity that we are promoted to be synonymous with the arrowhead and with the National Park Service.

You know, we set aside land because it is essential and inherent in that unwritten-well, at least not widely published-contract with the nation that we will do our very best to be stewards. Stewardship that includes inviting everyone into the authentic integrity that pervades the National Park System, a system that extends well beyond what we now call our gateway communities. Our gateway parks are our first invitation into what I call "national parkness."

But when we invite people to experience the meaningfulness of all national parks, then we will truly do our service. Now this doesn't mean we won't make mistakes. We will. A mistake is fine, as long as you can stand earnestly before your publics and declare that ... we have done the very possible best with that which we were given. And it's our integrity and our willingness to be straight-forward in an environment of spin doctors that empowers us as keepers of the trust.

While we remain true to those who have entrusted us with the memory of this nation, I too envision a trust will pervade the organization. As a Service, we shall maintain our absolutist pride, ... at least our pride as absolutist. This will help us weather those storms that are sure to come, and whether we call it the mission, or the legacy, or the trust, our ideals as an organization will sustain us as we continue to mentor the next round of stewards.

It's for that reason that we must maintain our organizational integrity, lest we use the inspiration to accept those charges and fight the battles inherent in our chosen profession. It is that integrity that must be willed to the generation of leaders to follow.

We need people, all people, to maintain our ideals. Now they will not all wear uniforms, and they will not all look like we do now, and for that reason we will be forced to consider all invitations that we make. I'll share a story.

I was living in Boston and had no idea what the National Park Service was or what parks were doing in the middle of the city. However, I was invited-some call it recruited-but I was invited to apply for my first NPS job. It came at the right time. I needed a job. But I would not have ended up here in front of you if my invitation had stopped there. I needed a little help to crack that code of the SF-171. I needed to be supported so that I could understand the broader integrity of the Service. I needed to feel like I was a part of something. I needed to learn to be proud to wear my uniform, provided I could find one that fit well. [Laughter].

The same is true for our neighbors and partners. We must invite them into our vision of stewardship, lest they seize the reign to define it to spite us. That means being where they are, ... being the way they speak, and earnestly caring about all points of view, as different as they may be to each of us. In my vision, we stop calling them, "they."

One thing I learned this week is not to be afraid of controversy. Controversy means people care. When we stop hearing those democratic voices at our gates I can assure you that we will no longer be a Service, because that which we protect won't require protection any more.

Now as we leave St. Louis and look towards Discovery 3000, I probably won't be there. We will ensure that we make an earnest invitation to all who share any portion of an American identity. We will make good on that invitation backed by our integrity and the honest effort not to betray that trust. I'm proud to join you in pursuit of that vision, and I thank you for your time.

[Applause]

[Remarks of Jerry Rogers]

Charles referred to looking forward to Discovery 3000. I wonder how many of you even noticed that we have had among us all week long one of America's great intellects about "deep time," Stewart Brand, the chairman of the Long Now Foundation has been here. Stewart thinks in terms of 10,000 years. He's made an enormous difference to my philosophy in prepping for this conference. I'm grateful for him being here, so Discovery 3000 is not so far away.

Dennis Vasquez is a little better known to some of us by virtue of having served in five parks and also at the Horace Albright Training Center where you meet everybody sooner or later. He is now superintendent of White Sands National Monument. I wanted Dennis to deliver one of this morning's six visions because I know him to be a thinker. He makes time to do the reflection Denny Galvin would have urged. And he has the ability to face daunting problems with optimism and creativity. He holds a degree in biology from the University of Texas at El Paso. Dennis Vasquez.

[Remarks of Dennis Vasquez]

Good morning. Let me tell you that the view from here is very impressive.

This week we have had the great fortune to hear and to see a number of former directors of the National Park Service. I'd like to share with you the words of an early leader and visionary of this organization, the second director of the National Park Service Horace M. Albright. Mr. Albright, in his departing letter to the rank and file of the National Park Service, wrote these words. "Do not let the Service become just another government bureau. Keep it youthful, vigorous, clean, and strong." Even though these words were written almost 70 years ago, I think they still ring true. While working at the Albright Training Center for a couple of years, I would read those words daily as I entered Kowski Hall, and I've reflected on them for some time now.

"Keep it youthful." I'm certain he wasn't talking about chronological age but was talking about a youthful spirit, always exploring, always learning, always growing. "Keep it vigorous," full of vigor, full of energy, full of life, and full of fun and joy. "Keep it clean." To me this means practicing the highest ideals of public service. And "keep it strong." Let us have clarity of vision. Let us speak in a powerful voice. Let us listen with empathetic ears. Let us touch hearts, minds, and souls. Let us continue to build a strong, wide, and deep foundation from which we can do our work.

Let me move now from reinterpreting a 1930s message to describing a contemporary message. In the past year or so, almost 400 of us, including many in this room and our brothers and sisters throughout the Park Service, have been engaged in the thoughtful exercise of developing a statement of the core values of this organization and of our work. As an agency, we have a very broad and idyllic mission that is well articulated, and underlying this mission at its very heart are principles and values that transcend temporal conditions. This large group of Park Service employees identified the following as core values: Integrity, excellence, respect, shared stewardship, and tradition.

These can be viewed as core values that we are living today, or they can be viewed as values that we are striving to embody in our work. About integrity, we said that we will deal honestly and fairly with a public and with one another. About excellence, we said that we continually learn and improve to achieve the highest ideals of public service, and we recognize and energetically accept a leadership role in American life. About respect, we said that inclusion, empathy, and dignity forms the basis of our actions and our relationships. We identified shared stewardship as a core value. It was obvious to Mather and Albright, as it is to us today, that we cannot be caretakers of a legacy without active public engagement. We also recognize that we don't have all the answers or always the best answers. The insights that we gain from others contributes to the preservation and interpretation of our shared heritage. The last core value that we identified was tradition. It's been clearly evident all week that our tradition sustains us. My favorite line from the entire core value statement says about our tradition that "we are proud of it, we learn from it, we are not bound by it."

As we prepare to head back home and back to work soon, let me share with you a Spanish saying, "un dicho." This is a saying that's answered in response to the question, "how much is left to be done" or "how far along are we?" The response is this. "En no más el medio y las orillas faltan."

I'll be interested to know how that appeared in the captioning. [Laughter. Speaker looks at closed captioning].

[Closed captioning says, "Keep going"]

[Laughter]

I can just keep on all day here. I'll do the rest of this in Spanish.

[More laughter]

... Which means literally only the middle and the ends are lacking. Remember the question is how much is left to be done. The response, only the middle and the ends are lacking, which means of course, we are just beginning. And in truth, we are always just beginning. We never arrive. Our work is never done, as we heard this morning. The quilt is never finished. We are always in a state of becoming.

We began this journey anew today, and it's appropriate and fitting that we should start on this new journey at this time, in this place, and with this gathering. At this time, of course, the year 2000 and all that that means; at this place in the shadow of the Arch, in St. Louis, where many courageous, bold, and hopeful journeys have begun; and with this gathering of people, the people of the world of parks and park-like places, people that I admire, respect, and have great affection for. I'm proud to be standing in your ranks and I'm proud to march with you on this journey.

We have a large role to play in American life, a role that needs to be played ,and a role that we are well suited to playing. People throughout this country-whether they have been here since ancient times, or since historic times, or whether they have just taken their first step on this soil and are just beginning to fulfill their American Dream-they expect us to take care of those places and tell those stories that define the American experience and the American spirit for all. People throughout the world, who hold the Declaration of Independence as sacred as we do. People throughout the world who draw inspiration from the words and acts of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as we do. People throughout the world who marvel at the natural wonders of Yosemite Valley, or the Grand Canyon, or the White Sands ... [feel] as we do. Even though they may never visit, these people also are counting on us to do our job.

Some of the country's most thoughtful speakers have been with us here this week. And they also believe that we have a larger role to play in environmental leadership and in the psychological and spiritual health of this country and the world. Let me say lastly about this journey that we should not be afraid or not be uncomfortable to acknowledge and embrace the spiritual nature of this journey that we are on.

People want to be inspired. People need to be inspired. Let us connect people, including ourselves, to those deep truths to which we all belong. Thank you.

[Remarks of Jerry Rogers]

Dennis led the most successful of one of the presentations [during the week]. He had the courage to walk into a 90-minute session with about three minutes of preparation. He trusted the people in the room with him, and that's the reason why the dialogue was so successful. When you go home and [imitate] this conference, as I hope you will, remember that lesson.

Sarah Craighead is the superintendent [of] Washita National Battlefield [Historic] Site, also in Oklahoma. She's worked at a number of parks around the Service before finding her first superintendency of a brand new park at Washita Battlefield. This is a bold and daring venture in ... that the primary historic resource, the area of the park by law is supposed to preserve and interpret, consists of about 3,000 acres, but the National Park Service owns and directly manages only about 300 acres.

The Oklahoma Historical Society owns preservation easements over much but not all of the remainder of the park. Sarah's everyday job involves dealing with several American Indian tribes, private landowners, the state, the local government, and the Forest Service, whose adjoining national grassland is importantly related to the park.

A first-time superintendent, she has quickly established respectful relationships with all of these many entities. Ladies and gentlemen, a park like this is likely to be in your future. I give you Sarah Craighead.

[Applause]

[Remarks of Sarah Craighead]

Jerry, you can introduce me any time.

Good morning. When Jerry Rogers first invited me to speak at this conference, I thought to myself, what a great honor to have the chance to speak to this group of people. The next thing that went through my mind was ... what can I possibly say to this group, many of which I have begged to use on my [SF]-171 as references. Many of which are dear friends and mentors and the rest of whom I have walked in awe or terror [of] through much of my career. So perhaps because of or in spite of that, I would like to talk to you today about the increasing complexity of parks now and in the future.

We can see these trends in many ways. The three ways that I would like to talk about today are the complexity of shared responsibility, the complexity of visitor connections and understanding, and the complexity of differing visions. I believe that examining these complexities can help us to discover the value of finding the underlying simplicity of a shared vision for the National Park System.

We all live and manage parks in a very complex and confusing environment. Director Stanton said on Monday that in 1916 parks were thought to be protected by their isolation. Now, superintendents spends most of their time working on issues that are outside of park boundaries. At Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, we own 1/10 of the total area that should be protected to properly interpret the southern Plains Indian wars and their impact on a nation. Folks, let me tell you that the thing here is the view, and we own none of the view.

We are surrounded by landowners that are terrified that the federal government will take their land away from them. I know many of you have found very ... ways to deal with that issue. I also know that there are parks that are still going head to head with the local population. We cannot survive unless we learn to manage and operate on a larger and more inclusive scale. The public is not on our side if it looks like the little people are getting stepped on, at least not in Oklahoma.

In 1916, parks were large with exclusive federal jurisdiction. New parks involve many jurisdictions and a variety of owners. At Washita, many of other services must be begged, borrowed, shared, or contracted, and so far we have found that this approach is more effective than if we had done it ourselves. The partnerships that we have created have given all of us a better understanding of what the park represents.

Certainly we have a huge burden when it comes to dealing with the complexity of visitor connections and understanding. As Director Stanton mentioned on Monday, in 1916, historic places served to shape the minds of the public, to conform to the domestic and cultural view. Today, these places help us to understand the full scope of human experience.

Lawrence Hart, a Cheyenne Peace Chief and descendant of the Washita, compares the Washita event to the Oklahoma City bombing. So in the telling of these stories, do we call Washita a battle or a massacre, and why do we need to make that decision for the American public? What we need to do is to help them to make connections. And speaking of rabbit holes, I would just like to say that after listening to Gayle [Hazelwood] talk yesterday about her mother, it made me think very strongly of my father who also did not live long enough to see me become a superintendent. He also didn't live long enough to see the Cubs have a winning season. He did, however, live long enough to see the Kentucky Wildcats win the NCAA tournament. I suspect if he had had a choice, he would have chosen the Wildcats. But his connection to the parks were strong because of me, even though he hardly ever visited a park. We need to make sure that all people have the opportunity to make those kinds of strong connections. And we need the help of the public in deciding how to tell those stories.

That doesn't mean that we need to make everyone happy. Perhaps that is what we have tried to do for far too long at the sacrifice of our resources, but we will have to actively listen to each constituent while we are making our decisions. And that is certainly not as easy as just doing it ourselves. And this means that we must struggle with the complexity of differing visions; even within the Park Service we struggle to find common ground.

I asked some of my coworkers in the National Park Service what they envisioned for the future of this organization. Luis Krug of Palo Alto National Battlefield says he envisions a Service where he works well with other agencies, plays well with other services. David [last name] and his group have taken a strong leadership role to ensure that happens. His vision of cooperation among agencies, individuals, and businesses has lead to some incredible fundraising efforts for a visitor center for that park. Sue Hansen of Padre Island envisions a Park Service wherever employees receive the kind of care and support that park staff gave to her and her husband Bob after his serious accident this summer. Superintendent Jock Whitworth called her after the accident, immediately took her to the hospital, and stayed with her all night after Bob underwent surgery. We should provide that kind of care to every employee in need. Kurt Foote is in the Intake Program. His visions of a career path, and an increased and effective emphasis on natural resources, are being realized this year.

As I looked out and thought about the visions and hopes and dreams of these coworkers and others, I thought about how we could develop a common vision so that we are working together toward a common goal. Lyndon Johnson once said, "A President does not shape a new and personal vision of America. He collects it from the scattered hopes of the American past." My vision of the National Park Service is only what we can make of it as a group, as a family, and as committed employees of this great institution.

Though we must deal with the complexity of shared responsibility, the difficulties of providing visitor connections and understanding, and the possible conflicts of differing visions, I believe that these complexities are in the end surpassed by a single, and overriding simplicity. That is, the human reaction to the places we serve in the National Park System. In the end, all the complexities of our sites, our work, and our visions should be transcended by the simplicity of our shared experience as human beings. For the National Park Service, its partners, and its visitors, uncovering that simplicity should be our common goal. Thank you.

[Applause]

[Remarks of Jerry Rogers]

Marvelous, Sarah. Thank you very much. There's no park, no park on earth today, that's big enough or remote enough, or self-sufficient enough to be safe without the kind of work you're doing. And as that becomes more true in the future, and as more and more parks are created that rely less and less upon fee-simple ownership, the directions you are exploring will become not the exception but the norm. Maybe they already have.

Now let's hear from a couple of these valued partners, and boy they have a heavy responsibility because they're representing all the partners here, with whose fates our own is so inextricably intertwined. National Park Service recognition of state parks as essential partners dates all the way back to Steven Mather who vigorously promoted state parks as places where travelers might camp on their way to and from national parks, moving from one remote national park to another.

Many of you know Courtland Nelson, Director of Utah State Parks. [He holds] degrees in history, sociology, and outdoor education [and has served as] Arizona State Parks Deputy Director. He currently serves as president of one of the national partner organizations, the National Association of State Outdoor Recreation Liaison Officers, and in fact, the national annual meeting of that group has just concluded, and we especially appreciate him being here at such a busy time to contribute to our greater common vision. Courtland Nelson.

[Remarks of Courtland Nelson]

Well, good morning. I feel very ... here and that's because I'm among folks who [have] had the same kind of life experiences, the same kind of challenges, and are facing the same kind of problems. I represent a number of folks here today, and at least 50 states, and a number of partners along the way. I've [had] a wonderful week and I want to thank all of you for inviting those of us who represent partners and coconspirators in this effort that we have here to come and join you. It's been a wonderful conference.... A measurement of these is how much you gain versus how much you have given. Jerry, I've gained a great, great deal this week. Thank you.

I want to have you think about the traditions of your organization as I speak here for a few minutes and hopefully later on. Traditions are very interesting. Some of us went to the ball game last night and you saw maybe the most tradition-laden activity in our country. Baseball has been around for 140 or 150 years and there are certain things that you do in absolutely every situation wherever a baseball game is played, maybe above tee-ball league... .The pitcher never steps on the chalk line when moving off of the mound and going to the dugout. The catcher, after a strikeout, always throws to the third baseman. You have traditions that have been built and are accepted in a great way ... by people who like baseball. There have been books written about this. There have been wonderful stories done about it. It's the tradition of baseball that makes it so precious to us as an activity.

You are very close to that, I think, in terms of what you provide for the citizens of our country, and the question that I would pose to you has to do with what traditions ... you want to keep- which is the glue that keeps you together-and what traditions do you need to move away from, as you get prepared, as we get prepared, as a fellow park provider, for this next decade, this next century of activities. What are the traditions that you most feel are important to continue your mission, whatever that mission is?

Certainly the value of the arrowhead, the quintessential park ranger, and there's been a number of stories that have come out in this group of meetings about that.

I find one of your traditions to be just very exciting, and in awesome ways, the fact that your former leaders would come back in the numbers that they came back and they would be given a role and activity here. I can guarantee you, in other federal organizations that does not happen; in most state organizations that does not happen. And the fact that there's this continuity, this chain-like effect between people who have worked for you for a number of years, and you create space for them and they're able to return and participate emotionally as well as intellectually with your activities, that's a wonderful tradition, and I would hope that you would never lose that.

The strongest tradition, of course, is the opportunity to travel and see our national parks. There are other traditions that you may be wanting to evaluate, how you train people, how you do your maintenance programs, how you recruit, how you do some of your local connections with your partners in your communities. Are you going to have to jettison some of those traditions and move on to new ways of doing business? I think you are.

What about the tradition-and tradition maybe isn't exactly the right word-the process that has traditional components that has created maybe your biggest problem in your parks right now, which is your backlog of capital dollars. Are there new traditions, new ways of getting money through the congressional process, as well as others, that park managers, park superintendents-I'm sorry-and other leaders in the organizations need to apply so that you can lessen that gap between what you have and what is needed? There may be a traditional element there that you need to look at [closely]. Also the opportunity to work with the private sector, with nonprofits and others. [You] do need to be building more traditions and I think we have had many testimonies that you do.

I would encourage you to think about the traditions within your organization, down to the park and the work-unit level. You do have a couple of new filters that have been offered to you through which you can look at some opportunities. The Northern Arizona University study that we were handed a copy of a couple of days ago, at least a summary of that, provides you an insight from the other direction as to what people think of you, and I think it can be a tool for some of your evaluation of this tradition issue.

And then secondly, the [messaging] survey and the [messaging] work that has been done, a wonderful study, and certainly will be revolutionary, I think, in some ways as your agency looks ahead to define where you want to be.

I'd like to move on, and to maybe make some comments as an outsider to a degree, but one who deals day to day with the same issues that you do. I have heritage sites in my park system. I have scenic areas, I have recreation sites, I have statewide programs, partnerships, grant programs, so I'm a microcosm of what you are. I'm going to not comment on the leadership banner over here because I think it was so well covered and my time is limited, and really there is so little to add to the great presentations that were made yesterday, so I'm going to move on.

Education is, in speaking of this in a broad way, I think, is a very, very strong card for you to be playing now, and to create some very, very important solutions for you in the future. You have had high achievement, many successes, the awards program a few minutes ago, I think, represented that. The motivation of your employees is very high, unlike maybe the story yesterday from FEMA where you had disassociation from work and product by employees, you had low morale, etc. I don't get the feeling, in looking through a number of the documents that have been handed out, in reading the reports, that there is anything but a conviction to do better and that's a wonderful beginning point.

I guess my perception would be that you have an opportunity that may be quite rare in the federal government to, with patience, with good politics, with partners, over the next few years, to create a tremendous fund for education on the broad sense for the National Park Service. I think you have partners who would love to come and to help you in Washington, D.C. and at your regional offices and at your local parks, get the dollars, get the new knowledge, create the energy that is out there for education.

It will take a number of things. There need to be more contacts made. Has the Director been invited to the National Education Association to talk to them about what a great partner NPS would be with that organization. All of the schoolteachers in our country are represented there, or with their sister organizations. That is a wonderful rich menu for partnerships in the future. The tools that you can work with with teachers, with universities, are more than one could count. It's just a matter of putting together what is the right package for you.

There is a problem that we all share and that is we will have, I speak of it as a problem, it's a reality, one million immigrants a year will be coming ... for the foreseeable future. These are people that have no connection with the National Park Service or your programs. What are the tools, from an education point of view, that you are going to need to connect with these people and all that that means, language-wise, values-wise, but early on to have an entry with them into one of the finest things that we have done in our country and that's to create the National Park Service programs.

I also want to mention that-and by way of an explanation, in museum design, there's a bromide that is used and it talks about meeting the needs of streaker, strollers, and scholars-and you have all had a opportunity to either participate in this or be a streaker, a stroller, or a scholar. It appears to me, looking through a number of handouts, reading a couple of books, and the number of conversations, that you have got some work to do in the scholarship end, more possibly than those other ends. There are some unmet needs and some wonderful opportunities that are out there.

I would also want to mention, I think your Natural Resource Challenge has been articulated very, deeply and I think you are well on the way of working with other partners for that solution.

The global issue came up this week, the global issue was mentioned a number of times, and that is going to take an overwhelming amount of work. It may be somewhat of a bloodless revolution that we're all going to have to get involved in in order to secure the opportunities for protecting our natural environment.

And finally, the opportunity in recreation. I do not see a recreation banner up here. I thought that was interesting, and in rereading the Sellars book, clearly there were some from the very first beginning of the Park Service, some ties with recreation, and I would suggest that this is something that needs to be evaluated, possibly at a higher level, and that it would need to have a banner at your next meeting when you evaluate that.

Many successes in the cultural resources, and congratulations on that, those of us who work with you locally are well aware of the wonderful opportunities that you have provided for us and the great partnership opportunities. If the Conservation and Reinvestment Act passes, there will be some new dollars, there will be some new partners, and I echo what a number of my fellow speakers have said with regard to the partnership opportunities of not only with state parks, not only with other nonprofits, but the communities where you live, where those parks and historic sites are going to be preserved, protected, and developed for the next hundred years. Thank you for having me.

[Applause]

[Remarks of Jerry Rogers]

Court, I've never known you to be anything other than stimulating and challenging, and you've lived up to that today, and I thank you for that.

Jessica Brown is Vice President of the nonprofit QLF/Atlantic Center for the Environment. "QLF" stands for Quebec-Labrador [Foundation]. She works with conservation professionals and leaders in the Caribbean, Latin America, Central Europe, and the Middle East promoting training, technical assistance, policy research, and peer exchanges focusing on lands, conservation, and stewardship. She assists rural areas in extreme southeastern Canada and northern United States to develop their own custom-tailored stewardship programs for local governments and for private landowners. For many reasons, the greatest of parks will never be safe as long as the park-like values of tens of thousands of local towns and villages and those on private lands go unrecognized and are often lost without even being known.

I think it especially important that our long-range vision includes such resources and such places. Jessica's situation is even more urgent than Courtland Nelson's. I will tell you more about that later, but in order to be with us this morning she had to arrange for some workshops in central Europe to start without her, and to rearrange some probably nonrefundable transatlantic airline tickets. So I'm very grateful for that extra effort to which she has gone.

[Applause]

She holds degrees from Brown University and Clark University. Ladies and gentlemen, Jessica Brown.

[Remarks of Jessica Brown]

I think those workshops in central Europe will do just fine without me. Let me say after sitting on this stage all morning that I would like to rename this session from "six visions" to "five really tough acts to follow."

I am here today because, like each of you in this room, I love parks. And I also love the many special places that are not called parks, but which are being cared for and protected by a rich diversity of people and organizations. They, too, are stewards.

I have spent almost 20 years working in conservation in the nonprofit sector. Many of those years with QLF/Atlantic Center for the Environment. In 20 years of international work, I have had the great privilege of working closely with colleagues in countries of all the regions that Jerry just mentioned. I have been inspired by their courage and their commitment, so often in the face of overwhelming challenges. And I have learned from them.

Our history of partnership with [the National Park Service] goes back to the 1980s and has deepened considerably in the last three years with our role as a founding partner in the Conservation Study Institute, based at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Vermont's first national park.

The subject of partnerships has come up in a number of sessions this week, so let me just observe that this partnership has been founded on the solid ground of real participation. Our connection to NPS through the institute, as well as through other programs, such as rivers and trails, has been enormously rewarding for my colleagues, and for me.

We have been asked here to look ahead into the next century, a daunting task. I have a hard time sometimes looking ahead to the next week. As a mother, I find that my two young children request-require, perhaps, I should say demand-the most direct and unflinching glimpse into that future. Suddenly, this idea of intergenerational [equity] is no longer a theoretical concept, but something very real, often uncomfortably so.

A few months ago, my eight-year-old son was leafing through a magazine on natural science, one of those wonderful national geographic publications for kids. He's not reading E. O. Wilson yet, but he will. He's very passionate about this stuff. He came upon an article about the dwindling number of species of bear in Asia, but it could just have easily have been the New England cottontail, something local, which is also on the verge of extinction. He read about the growing likelihood of this species' extinction. He was outraged. "Mom," he said, "you work in conservation. What are you doing about this?"

Most households have the facts of life chat. We have the biodiversity chat.

So I told him about QLF's long history of working with communities to foster stewardship of wildlife, seabirds, fisheries, and forests. His parents work for discovering new approaches to land, places he has traveled to with us over the years, so they're real to him. I tried to explain how these projects contribute to protecting biodiversity. Well he was not impressed. It's not enough. How do you spell guilt?

So, then I told him about the work of the big nonprofit organizations, like The Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund, and others, and I talked to him about the growing role of land trusts. I talked about some of the exciting community-based conservation work of smaller organizations, here and abroad. Well, he was intrigued, but not convinced.

Finally, and I should admit that his attention was flagging at this point, I hope yours isn't, I told him about the many federal and state agencies responsible for our public lands and their resources. I talked to him about the work of the National Park Service in protecting so many of the nation's special places. "Mom, that just doesn't seem like it's going to be enough."

Well any parent can tell you eight-year-old reasonableness can be something of an oxymoron. Still, he's right. Right in his outrage and right in his assessment of what all of us are doing is not enough. Not as long as we work in isolation. But if we reach out to each other, coordinate our protection efforts, cooperate across institutional lines, and especially, I think, if we encourage people to engage in stewardship of the places most special to them, then I think we have a fighting chance.

My vision for NPS in the next century, therefore, is of an agency that is able to reach out beyond boundaries, not just park boundaries, but institutional, cultural, and geographic ones. I envision a National Park Service that is concerned with and sees itself as sharing responsibility for the larger landscape. I envision parks that reach out to local communities, and that play a role when needed in land issues, land use issues beyond their borders. We discussed these ideas at length in the session on sprawl this week, and David Hayes has raised these same issues this morning.

I imagine an agency that reaches out across institutional [lines] to forge strong and mutually supportive partnerships with diverse institutions and local stakeholders. As someone from BLM said in yesterday's session on the conservation ethic, "to succeed, we have to take our fences down." I envision an NPS that reaches out to the diversity of people and communities in our society in a way that is inclusive and culturally sensitive. Finally, I envision an agency that reaches beyond national borders, to share with and just as important, to learn from our counterparts in our regions of the world, for there is so much we can learn from each other and we have to take a global perspective.

Despite the many challenges we face, I think this is an exciting time for protected areas all over the world as our view broadens to see parks not as islands, but as an integral part of our landscape, as we embrace ideas like ecosystem management and bioregionalism, and as we move from approaches that exclude people to those based on inclusion, collaboration, and meaningful participation.

If you were to ask that little boy I mentioned earlier to describe the landscape that is most special to him, he would probably not mention a national park, not yet. Maybe later. More likely, he would look out our window and talk about the Old Town Hill Reservation across the street, which is protected by the country's oldest land trust. He would see the village green cared for by our town. While he might mention the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, which is a few miles away, he would surely mention the town woodland near our house whose [border] abuts that refuge. If pressed, he might include the historic house next door built by the first European settlers in the area and cared for by a local citizens group.

Stewardship surrounds my home. It is found in my family's back yard and front yard. These stories are paralleled by similar examples, some small and local, some encompassing large landscapes all over the country, and increasingly all over the world. I believe that in this growing movement of stewardship lies our common future. Thank you.

[Applause]

[Remarks of Jerry Rogers]

That was wonderful.

I want to tell you something, a little more, I told you what sacrifice Jessica had gone through to be here. One other of these six people has stayed here despite the death, a couple of days ago, of a beloved close relative. Another was required to fly 1,500 miles for a meeting and then come back to be here. They wanted to be here. They did feel that it was an honor to be with you in this capacity at the end, near the end of Discovery 2000.

I believe these people did all this not just for their own interests, but on behalf of all the other partners who are with us and yet, indeed, yet others who would become a part of this great phalanx in the future. So those of us in the National Park Service can do no less for partners than these partners have done for us.

With regard to people doing things for us, it is important for everyone to know that the speeches of John Hope Franklin, Edward O. Wilson, Peter Raven, and Peter Senge have all been pro bono. These people all have donated their time and their talent because they believe in what the National Park Service and its partners do.

I want to acknowledge the role of Nora Mitchell as a member of the Discovery 2000 team. I overlooked that in my earlier acknowledgments this morning, and I also want to share with you the one person that would have been on this stage this morning would have been Gary Everhart, and Gary was unable to come, but he did send his warm affection to all of you, and best wishes.

Permit me a few moments, please. We've covered a lot of ground between the Director's Monday morning exhortation to think aloud among friends and these six visions. Mindboggling in a way. A number of people throughout the week have commented on the enormous amount of thought that has gone on here and particularly the newness of some of the thought that's been hard to keep up with. It's been hard to assimilate, and it will be hard to follow up. These comments have not been complaints. Far from it. They have been expressions of enthusiasm and even wonder.

Those who dislike what we have done here have not communicated it to me. The nearest thing I have heard to a complaint is a disappointment at being unable to get into highly desirable sessions that were filled up soon after registration began, or that many really attractive sessions were scheduled at the same time, so you had to make a choice. And in a few cases, that sessions that were intended to be dialogues didn't have enough time for dialogue. That simply tells you how much energy there ... waiting to be used. But it's far better for people to leave here with appetites stimulated than sated, because this has been a lot to assimilate.

I want to take a moment to talk about what has happened, not to recap the week, but to share some of the intentions behind the events and hope that it may help you get just a little more benefit out of your experiences during the week... It may also help you if you should be involved in follow-up activities patterned after the Discovery 2000 technique and I hope there's no one here who won't be.

First, take note of who we are assembled here as Discovery 2000. In the National Park Service we're accustomed to superintendent's conferences, and this one started with the idea that it would be a superintendent's conference. But in fact, it soon became much, much more than that. So complex is this gathering that the invitations from the Director were issued in no fewer than 26 categories, and all of the superintendents and assistant superintendents combined make up only one of those 26. I wonder if those of you who are here who are not employees of the National Park Service would just please stand up and make yourself visible for a moment.

[Applause]

And I would like also, those of you who are National Park Service employees, but who are not superintendents, or approximate counterparts or assistants or deputy assistants to please stand.

[Applause]

Gathered here are representatives of at least 25 federal agencies, at least 20 Native American tribes, numerous state and local governments, probably more than 75 nonprofit organizations, and a significant number of private citizens and scholars. We have people here who are blessed with many years of experience, and we have other people here who are blessed with the freedom from the impediments that may come with experience! People who have made their contributions and people who are only about to make them. Only at Vail have I seen such a diverse group assembled by the National Park Service, and this diversity has been the result of deliberate effort and the Director's guidance.

Look how free we have been from politics. There is nothing wrong with politics. It's not a dirty word. It's the way the business of a people gets done in a democratic society, but it does tend to divide people into opposite parties or factions, and the work or the ideas or the vision of one faction tends to be rejected by the other sometimes without regard to the merits. That hasn't happened here. Our work has not been the work of any political power or group or administration, not even the present one. And it has neither the benefits nor the disadvantages that come with such affiliation. This is our work. You and I have done this.

And as such, it has reasonable hope of not being rejected by an incoming Administration and a new Congress four months from now. This has been the result of deliberate effort, including the timing of the conference.

Director Stanton jump-started our work on Monday by declaring us a gathering of friends among whom it is safe to think aloud. He urged us, each of us-not just the powerful among us-to say what needed to be said without fear of who may hear it. That sounds simplistic. We can say, of course, "What else would I do? I do that all the time." I grant that many of us may go to great lengths to put people at ease and create safe places for dangerous truths and to free every mind to think and every voice to express, but I guarantee you that we do not all do that. We need to all the time, everywhere. I have had an unusual career and worked in close proximity to eight of the 15 Directors that the National Park Service has ever had. Bob Stanton's keynote on Monday was the first time I ever heard a Director open a meeting that way. I think that's significant. It certainly was not an accident, and I think it's critical to keep that attitude alive. Don't let it die.

Did you notice that the cultural and natural resource tracks held up to public scrutiny virtually every value and principle upon which those fields have been constructed? That takes courage. One by one, they asked, "Is this principle valid for the 21st century?." And, "Is this value right for the future?" It would have been less risky to ask how can this be adapted, and to therefore prearrange that the value continues or the principle. But they went further, asking, "Is this true, was it ever true?" It's my judgment from experiencing those tracks that most of the presumed verities were verified and will be updated rather than replaced, but the real reassurance comes from the demonstration that we had the courage to ask. Mediocre, weak, and uncertain institutions, just like mediocre, weak, and uncertain individuals, when questioned, vigorously defend their values. There's no enemy as fearsome as the one who knows his error but dares not admit it. Only great institutions like great individuals are [intrinsically] strong enough to question themselves as we did here. This questioning, too, is the result of deliberate intent, and it provides great hope as we enter the new century.

Not long ago, education in the National Park Service meant two very specific things-training and interpretation-and that's all it meant. Now it means much, much more, and after this week, I don't believe it will ever go back to the more limited meaning. We know that certain techniques of classroom education no longer work for America as they once did or were presumed to have worked. We know, too, that some of the fields in which the educators most need help, the historical foundations upon which democracy survive, and the biological comprehension that might enable human life on earth to survive, are abundantly available in the places that we preserve. It's difficult to imagine a vision of the future in which we do not discover our effective roles in classrooms and have teachers discover the effective ways to use parks and park-like places. The education track placed those opportunities before us with deliberate intent.

What about leadership? Here is a truth I dread to utter in public, but I will. This is a safe place. For most of my career in the National Park Service people and their partners have grumbled about the quality of their leadership. Because I served most of that career in one or another position that can be described as leadership, I feel empowered to say that I think those complaints have been substantially valid. But when you ask exactly where the problem is, the fingers always point everywhere except at first person singular. People will say, "Well, you know, political appointees or the National Leadership Council or the superintendents or my boss, are not what they ought to be." People will say that "one or more of these are pro ... or incompetent or lazy or uncourageous, or tyrannical," or worse. Parks complain about regions. Regions complain about Washington, and Washington complains about being unloved. Well I've been around long enough to know that when you have that long-term consistent pattern of those [grumblers], the answer doesn't lie in hanging on until the current political appointees or Directors or National Leadership Council or superintendents or your boss leave and may perhaps be replaced by better ones. I know, too, that ultimate satisfaction is unlikely to come from the next reorganization. [Laughter]

[Applause]

I have seen the alleged problems come and go and come, and go and come, and go and come again. But the cycle of complaint never changes. Of course I've also seen that after old so-and-so is finally gone, we usually begin to discover some virtues that weren't as obvious close up. And after each reorganization, the old one looks better than it did. The only hope of breaking this syndrome lies in the first person singular of every one of us, and if the leadership track didn't tell you that, you weren't paying attention.

Let's think about the journaling sessions. What first appeared to be an exercise in note taking grew through the week to be not only a means of cementing things in memory but a means of sharing, a different kind of dialogue that works better for some people than the oral kind. And this morning it emerged as the deep reflection without which no one can achieve vision. We've been given the chance and a means to break out of frantic action upon action that keeps us from finding the vision and depth that can keep our inner compass true.

This whole week has been about our inner compass. Even the earth's inner compass shifts, and so do ours, both as organizations and as individuals. When we look out across the unformed first three decades of the 21st century, do we know just where our North Star is or where it will be then? That's what Discovery 2000 has tried to do. Not to give you a vision, but the chance and the motivation to develop one, or to update one, or to test and verify one. Not to turn cynics back into the idealists they once were, but to give them grounds for rekindling their own inner fires.

Doing so has been a long and complex labor. A labor of sorrow and a labor of love. A labor of depression and a labor of elation. A labor of fear and a labor of hope. But above all, it has been a high honor and a privilege for which your Discovery 2000 team is unanimously grateful.

What about follow-up? Everyone wants to know that. We have all been through events where they gave a big conference but they didn't follow up. You are they. Please think of yourselves that way. Follow-up lies with you, not with your boss. Follow-up lies with you, not with the Director, although all those people may follow up. Follow-up lies with you, not with the National Leadership Council, not with the Secretary of the Interior. What happens now is what you make happen. Peter Senge said that leadership does not reside in position or authority. We have attempted to plant seeds here, and we hand the care of the garden off to you, to nurture and cultivate the sprouts or to go back to your normal routine. You have that choice.

Four months from the day before yesterday I anticipate retiring. It won't be I who creates a follow-up. And I'm happy to believe that-I don't intend to quit, by the way-but I'm happy to believe that that follow-up is safe in your many hands and in the hands of your leaders, as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 15th Director of the National Park Service, the Honorable Robert Stanton will have the final word in Discovery 2000.

[Applause]