COURIER - National Park Service History

The Director'sReportBy William Penn Mott, Jr.Boundaries, NotBarriers!Park areas have sometimes been likenedto little fiefdoms protected by welldefinedand enforced perimeters, with imperioussuperintendents, who engage inaggressive tactics that promote the goalsof the Service at the expense of others,and who continuously battle with thoseoutside park areas. Is this an unfairrepresentation of park areas? Sure it is.Have I overstated the animosity felttoward us? I hope so, but I'm making apoint. There are certainly a lot of folkswho see us in a completely adversarialrole, and who, unfortunately, woulddescribe us even more negatively than Ijust have. Negative attitudes in some surroundingcommunities have existed for,and developed over, a long time. Theirpersistence must mean that we still needto work hard to try to change thoseperceptions and attitudes toward us.Because we continue to learn and grow, Iam confident that we can overcome thesenegative sentiments.In the early days, interaction betweenpark areas and local communities wasminimal. One of the more obviousreasons for this was that there were nolocal communities near some of the olderpark areas. It hardly made sense to placea great deal of importance on participatingwith surrounding communities,which, if they existed at all, were few andfar between. Today, however, as thepopulation of the United States has continuedto grow, we are finding more andmore communities adjacent to park areasthat once were the most isolated ones.Not all of these growing communities area direct result of America's increasingpopulation; some are being created andexpanded to provide services to parkvisitors. Further, in recent years, Congresshas established more parks in andnear already populated areas. Why theyare there is not as important as how weintend to acknowledge and interact withthem.National Park Service areas are, in asense, intended to be enclaves, whichcreate some major and unavoidable problems.Although designed as enclaves,park areas are neither independent norself-sustaining. They interact in manyways with their surrounding areas—thelarger ecosystem, the historic area, or theurban environment. Since we are justpart of a larger picture, a change in ourown approaches and attitudes isnecessary. To maintain the integrity ofthe parks, we need to be aware of thoseforces, both political and economic, outsideour boundaries that may affect ourmission. Today, much that is going onoutside our boundaries has impact onwhat takes place inside our boundaries.Consider the impairment that zoning andeconomic decisions by local communitiescan have simply because we have notcommunicated our concerns to the localauthorities. There are obvious detrimentaleffects of pollution-causing activities.More subtle impacts can be caused by the"accepted" uses of pesticides andchemicals in surrounding areas.The potential for major impacts onpark areas from those outside park boundariesare equally apparent to others.Members of Congress have entertainedthe notion of legislatively creating bufferzones. I don't support the concept, butproponents are pushing the idea in orderto solve real problems. I agree we have aproblem, but I don't think the answerwill be found in the creation of bufferzones; as we gain more knowledge, itbecomes clear that the boundaries of thebuffer zones will be too small to satisfythe needs of the ecosystem. Therefore, Ifirmly believe the answer is in our gettinginvolved!A Dale Carnegie truism comes tomind, "You can make more friends intwo weeks by getting interested in themthen you can in two years of trying toget them interested in you." We need tobe aware of local interests and be activeplayers in the surrounding community.We are a part of the larger community,and as such, we have a fundamentalresponsibility to be involved. Communityinvolvement is also essential if we are toaccomplish our mission effectively. As aparticipant, we can ensure our side of anissue is voiced, and we can learnfirsthand what community concerns are.At every opportunity, we need to beprepared to work with neighboring communitiesto deal with problems upfrontand early on. Problems still may be unsolved,but at least the attempt will havebeen made. By referring to the surroundingcommunity, I also mean to includestate and federal agencies and otherswhose decisions will impact our resourcesand visitors.By being a part of the community, Imean being a participant in that community,not just coming forward whenthere are problems to be addressed. Tobe constructive and credible in times ofcontroversy, it is important to havedeveloped relationships beforehand.There are plenty of ways to be active andhave a positive role in your community—becoming members of organizations, suchas the Jaycees, Kiwanis, or Rotary Club;being involved in garden clubs, the PTA,or local chapters of the Boy Scouts orGirl Scouts; and taking part in communityprojects as well as getting acquaintedwith the media and government officialsat the county, state, and federal levels.We also have opportunities to inviteneighbors into parks for activities that encouragepositive interaction between parkstaff and local residents. One such opportunityis the Take Pride in America Program.This program not only promotespositive interaction between local citizensand employees, but also creates a newawareness of system areas and can helpform the basis for a concerned and supportivealliance between the Service andsurrounding areas.By encouraging your active involvementin community affairs, I am not suggestingyou have free rein—there are im-2COURIER/May 1987