August 4, 2021
Dear President Biden,
We, the undersigned, urge you to nominate a National Park Service (NPS) Director as soon as possible. It’s been over four years since the NPS has had a Senate-confirmed director, an agency whose 20,000 employees oversee 423 of America’s most treasured places — national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails. Now is the time to nominate and secure a permanent director.
The NPS Director is charged with upholding the National Park Service’s mission to protect and keep unimpaired our most incredible natural, cultural and historic resources for current and future generations to experience and enjoy. Our national park rangers, and the American people, deserve nothing less than a fully empowered leader to perform their duties.
Our national parks are facing great threats, including from nearby development, air and water pollution and climate change. The parks are also experiencing record breaking visitation that must be managed carefully to ensure the protection of the resources and visitor enjoyment. The system is also enjoying strong bipartisan support as evidenced in passage last year of the Great American Outdoors Act which will dramatically reduce years of underinvestment which resulted in a deferred maintenance backlog creating safety and enjoyment challenges for visitors and threats to park natural, cultural and historic resources. These challenges and opportunities demand innovative and bold leadership from a Director to make our parks, and their air, water and wildlife stronger and better than ever before.
The NPS also needs a Director who is committed to partnerships and diversity within the park system, including working with a network of allies in the conservation, recreation and travel and tourism arenas. In order for our national parks to grow stronger in their second century, the next Director must work to ensure that everyone feels welcome and can see themselves reflected in these beautiful places, and that caring for our parks is a universal commitment.
Recognizing how long the NPS has been without a confirmed Director, we urge you to proceed with a formal nomination in the very near future of a qualified, proven leader. We look forward to supporting the next Director and all the important work ahead to ensure the protection and future of our national parks.
Thank you for your consideration,
Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area/Looking for Lincoln
Alliance of National Heritage Areas
American Battlefield Trust
American Hiking Society
American Society of Landscape Architects
American Trails
Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance
Atchafalaya National Heritage Area
Atomic Heritage Foundation
Augusta Canal Authority
Bear River Heritage Area
Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council Inc
Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership
Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area
Canal Corridor Association
Cane River National Heritage Area, Inc.
Christopher Park Alliance
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Colorado Wild Public Lands
Coltsville Heritage Partnership, Inc
Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Trust
Essex National Heritage Area
Evelyn Hill Inc
Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance
Forever Resorts
Fort Sumter Tours
Franklin D. Roosevelt Hyde Park Foundation
Freedom Trail Foundation
Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area
Friends of Arches and Canyonlands Parks
Friends of Dyke Marsh
Friends of Fairsted
Friends of Herring River
Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands
Friends of the Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters
Friends of the Mississippi River
Friends of the Upper Delaware River
Grand Junction Area Broadband — Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Great Basin Heritage Area Partnership
Greater Roseland Chamber of Commerce
Hamilton Partnership for Paterson
High Country Conservation Advocates
Historic Pullman Foundation
Hoosier Environmental Council
International Inbound Travel Association
Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy
John Burroughs Association
Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area
League of Conservation Voters
Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust
Methow Valley Citizens Council
Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area
Mississippi Park Connection
Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area
MotorCities National Heritage Area Pnsp
Mountain Trip Alaska
Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust
National Marine Manufacturing Association
National Park Hospitality Association
National Parks Conservation Association
National Park Partners
National Tour Association
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Niagara Falls National Heritage Area, Inc.
Northern Plains National Heritage Area
Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry & Tourism
Olympic Park Advocates
Outdoor Industry Association
Outdoor Recreation Roundtable
Partnership for the National Trails
Public Lands Alliance
Revolutionary Spaces, Inc.
Rocky Mountain Conservancy
Rocky Mountain Wild
San Juan Citizens Alliance
San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council
Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance
Save the Dunes
Scenic America
Shenandoah National Park Trust
Southeast Tourism Society
Susquehanna National Heritage Area
The Ansel Adams Gallery
The Corps Network
The Evangelical Environmental Network
The Trust for Public Land
Theodore Roosevelt Legacy Partnership
United States Tour Operators Association
Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area
Voyageurs Conservancy
Washington Biologists’ Field Club
Washington Parks & People
Washington’s National Park Fund
Western States Tourism Policy Council
Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation
Wild Rivers Conservancy of the St. Croix & Namekagon
Wildlands Network
Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area
Cc: Deb Haaland, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Tommy Beaudreau, U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Interior
Shannon Estenoz, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks