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Opening Statement of Rep. Donna Christensen
Oversight Hearing on Visitation Trends
Parks Subcommittee
April 6, 2006

Mr. Chairman, we join you in welcoming our witnesses and thank them for their time and effort to be with us today. As we explore the role of our National Parks in the 21st century, input from today’s witnesses will be invaluable.

We have two goals for this hearing, Mr. Chairman. First, it is our understanding that the National Park Service has scientific data regarding visitation to our National Park System dating back only a decade.

Such data is critical if NPS managers, and we as policymakers, are to gain a full understanding of the health and well-being of our National Park System and ten years is too narrow a snapshot on which to base future park planning. We want to continue working with you and the NPS to insure that reliable data continues to be collected, analyzed and disseminated so that future Congresses might have a little more to go on.

Secondly, beyond the bare statistics, we are interested in any insights our witnesses may have regarding what motivates people to visit National Parks and what motivates others to spend their time and money elsewhere.

We would caution, however, against simplistic explanations. Anyone who has tried to plan a family or group vacation knows it is a complicated process of trying to please all the people, all the time, while saving money and maximizing time. Rather than searching for one thing the NPS could do differently to boost visitation, we look forward to hearing from our witnesses regarding the wide array of travel and tourism variables that should be considered in park planning.

And of course, Mr. Chairman, while we want to encourage visitation to our Parks, we must make certain that nothing interferes with the NPS core mission: the conservation of the amazing resources found within our National Park System. We want our Parks to conserve and interpret our past, without becoming things of the past themselves.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.