WHAT WE DO

   The 2001 National Park System Advisory Board report, Rethinking the National Parks for the 21st Century, focused attention on the institutional capacity of the Park Service to accomplish its evolving mission. According to the report, "The Park Service must have the expertise to administer parks as educational resources, protect park resources in landscapes that are increasingly altered by human activity, and fashion broad collaborative relationships with academia, the private sector, state, local, and other federal agencies. It must continue to provide high quality visitor experiences, and present America's unfolding story in a manner that connects with the nation's increasingly diverse population."

   While the Park Service's operating budget, adjusted for inflation, has increased on average 2.9 percent annually since 1998, this report will demonstrate that the Park Service is woefully lacking the annual funds needed to carry out its mission. That mission, as outlined in the Act of August 25, 1916 (the "Organic Act"), is to "... conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."