In July 2006, Fran Mainella announced her decision to step down from her post as Park Service Director after nearly six years of service. President Bush nominated NPS Northeast Regional Director Mary Bomar to the post several weeks later, and Congress quickly approved the appointment. Bomar is one of only a few career employees to rise through the ranks of the Park Service and be named to the top position. Years of work as a civilian employee of the Air Force and service at Oklahoma City National Memorial, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park have shaped her experience. Born and raised in Britain, Bomar made several trips to the national parks as a young child, fostering a love of history, preservation, and the outdoors from an early age. National Parks Editor Scott Kirkwood visited her office in the Department of Interior to discuss those topics and more.
Q. Tell me about your first experiences in the parks.
A. I was born and raised in Britain, but I have a real love of the states, thanks to my wonderful parents who traveled and brought me and my three brothers to this country when I was a young girl, in the 1950s. We came over here on the R.M.S. Samaria, on Cunard Lines. It took five days to travel from Southampton to New York, and as a kid I can still remember seeing the Statue of Liberty--I was in awe. My father loved the national parks. We saw the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Golden Gate, and even traveled along the Mother Road of America, Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles.
I was a bit of a tomboy--I loved to ride horses, I loved the outdoors, and being an English girl coming from a private school, wearing a uniform, I felt so much freedom coming to the States and seeing these amazing landscapes, and so did my brothers. England is so small and closed in, but America was big and open and I felt tremendous freedom here as a child. When I went back to England and private school it was a much different way of life.
Q. How did you end up living in the United States?
Years later, I met my husband, an American, in England--we have three children and seven grandchildren and I loved taking them to national parks as well. When my husband was assigned to Lofton Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas, we left Oxford, and I eventually started working for the Park Service in Del Rio, at Amistad National Recreation Area.
I'd worked at the Department of Defense as a civilian focusing on morale, welfare, and recreation for years, and I had a strong financial background coming from my family's business in England, so I quickly moved up to administrative officer. A great regional director gave me the opportunity to work in many parks to help with personnel issues, finance issues, and management of the parks. I spent six weeks at Hubbell Trading Post, living on the reservation, learning about Native Americans. It was a wonderful experience that I will never forget. It wasn't just about the operations of the parks and the landscape--I learned to appreciate the cultures, and learn about the people. I would go into the office each morning and Navajo ladies were weaving beautiful rugs, doing terrific interpretative programs; I'd hear the Native American music in the background, it was like stepping into a different world.
I worked at Jean Lafitte, Capulin Volcano National Monument, the Santa Fe National Historic Trails, many parks. It was a great four years--a great opportunity to really learn about Park Service operations. I already had a love for the American landscape and cultures from my early years in America, and that drew me to my husband who has the same love of his country. I became a citizen in 1977 in Spokane, Washington, and it was a very proud moment in my life.
Q. Can you talk about how the experiences that have prepared you for your role as director?
I've always believed in civic engagement, bringing people in to help you make the best decision. My father owned businesses, so I was brought up in a business environment, and my time working for the Air Force gave me a love of travel. But I've always had a very strong sense of good business management and a love of preservation: I come from a small village in England, and I can go back to where my brothers live and there are still thatch cottages, so I have a love of preservation--that's my passion.
Q. There have been several media accounts of park visitation declining in recent years, specifically among children. Are you worried about that?
No, I'm not, if you want the truth. I think it's more important to look at the quality of the visitor experience. Some might say visitation is down, but let's be honest, we've got world events that are taking place--Mount Rainier has had terrible flooding and is now closed, and there have been hurricanes in the south, extreme weather in Alaska. You look at the impact that 9-11 had on tourism for a while… But as long as we're providing a good visitor experience, and as long as we remain relevant in the 21st century, we'll get kids to the parks, they're the next generation.
Am I ever concerned? Well, yes, I want to be sure the parks are being managed efficiently and effectively, and that they are reaching out to people. Today our public affairs director told me that our website receives more than 1 million hits a day, more than any government agency except the IRS (and those hits come two weeks out of the year) so you can see the dynamics changing.
Every chance I get I talk to the young people. We have half a million kids going to our icon parks every year, so I look for every opportunity I can to tell kids about the National Park Service, and about careers in the future. You used to hear it said that national parks are the “largest university in America.” They really are. Every park in this country has a different story to tell about the history of this country, the people of this country, so shame on us if we don't get the word out about what we're doing.
Q. Global warming has also been in the news a lot lately. What is the Park Service doing in anticipation of the effects?
That's an ongoing effort we've been pursuing for years. There are 200 university partners in the parks that provide advice, research, and educational services. I spent an afternoon with some of them at the Highland Center in Cape Cod--you talk about a vibrant young group working on restoration projects, they took me around and showed me some of the brilliant work they're doing out there. We don't talk enough about our achievements, the species inventory work being done in the Smokies, and the Bioblitz, which we're about to conduct in 10 parks over the next few years, where scientists go in for 24 hours and evaluate of the habitat and species. We should be talking more about the work being done in every national park and do more to get the public involved and of course, the schools. When I was a kid growing up, I loved history and geography, but I couldn't say I was over the moon about science, but when I see what these young people are doing today, boy, is it exciting. Park Service employees are very humble about what they do, they go about their work very quietly, but we need to get the word out.
Q. Talk a little bit about the Centennial Challenge and what it will really mean for the parks.
I'm dying to talk about the Centennial Challenge. It comes down to celebrating 100 years of national parks in 2016--it's not just lighting candles and putting them on a cake to celebrate, it's about really getting serious. The President gave a mandate to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to call on all Americans to enhance our parks through cooperation and partnerships so future generations can enjoy vibrant parks for another century.
A recent Harris Poll asked people to rank the services of 14 different federal agencies, and the Park Service ranked number one. We've got 390 parks with more than 270 million visitors a year, an annual budget of $2.2 billion, and $190 million in annual donations. You might ask: What was the return on that investment? Twelve billion dollars in annual economic benefit to the nation, according to a money-generation model prepared by Texas A&M.
But I recognize we need to be honest about where we are--my reputation is very important to me, so we have to acknowledge that in spite of strong public support and the commitment of the Administration, we still have challenges. Let's be honest, we've had a lot of bad press, we've had some issues like any other business, state parks, or other large entity similar to our own--we've had shrinking budgets, a lack of relevancy as the nation's demographics change, children losing connections with parks, it's time we address those issues.
So we're identifying some signature projects, we've put a good plan together, we've invited NPCA's president, Tom Kiernan, and many other partners to many meetings in various venues such as Ellis Island, and asked them for their ideas and recommendations. President Bush has asked us to go out to the American public and seek ideas and recommendations, and we have a plan to provide the results to the White House by May 31, and we'll be talking to the American public in meetings throughout the country.
Q. And what should people expect from this effort?
Children will discover science, nature, and history; facilities will be open and resources will be protected at all 390 parks; there will be more “flat hats” out there making visitor experiences much more rewarding to the visitors. I'm an optimist and I'm pretty tenacious, and I've always said I'll vigorously seek funding for the National Park Service, but I'm also known for being accountable. If any partner donates money to the Park Service, I'm going to go back to them at a later date and tell them, “This is what we asked for this is how we spent it, and we've achieved our goal.” We need to be accountable to our donors and to the taxpayers of America. The National Park Service has some of the finest professionals in the world, and they are working hard to make sure they meet our mission. So I have one hell of an army with me to make sure that that happens.
