Letter to Representatives Alcee Hastings, Rob Bishop, Peter Defazio, and Raul Grijalva - Review Park Service Contracting Procedures and Their Impact on Local Economies

Letter

After the National Park Service (NPS) announced it would not renew a contract with a Maine-based company that has provided concessions in Acadia National Park for 80 years, Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree have asked the House Natural Resources Committee to review Park Service contracting procedures and their impact on the local economy. The Park Service is expected to submit a new ten-year concessions contract for Acadia National Park (ANP) to the committee next month, which will start a 60-day congressional review process.

In a letter to the House Natural Resources Committee, which must review the contract change, Pingree and Michaud wrote: "Acadia is a critical part of eastern Maine's economy, with a significant impact on our entire state. The NPS recently estimated that visitors to ANP in 2012 created $186 million in local economic benefits. As visits to NPS lands across the country decline, the time is long overdue for Congress to take a serious look at how the NPS regulates access to its parks and facilities for members of the public and private contractors."

The full text of the letter sent today can be found below:

Dear Chairmen Hastings and Bishop, and Ranking Members DeFazio and Grijalva:

We write to urge the House Committee on Natural Resources to review the impact of National Park Service (NPS) government shutdown protocol and concessions contracting procedures on local economies that are dependent on the Parks. The recent shutdown of the federal government had a damaging effect on the region surrounding Maine's only National Park, and a recently proposed concessions contract could exacerbate these problems.

The Bar Harbor, Maine-based Acadia Corporation has operated concessions within Acadia National Park since 1933. Today, the company operates three retail facilities in the park, as well as the historic Jordan Pond House restaurant. The seasonal restaurant has been in operation in various incarnations since the 1870s and serves about 1,000 customers each day.

The shutdown of the federal government in October cut off access to Acadia National Park during 17 of the last 27 days of the restaurant's five-month season. During the first 10 days of the shutdown, 16 cruise ships averaging 5,000 passengers each were scheduled to dock in nearby Bar Harbor. The catastrophic impact of the shutdown on access to the restaurant at the height of Maine's fall foliage season cannot be overstated.

Additionally, earlier this fall, the NPS announced that it would award a 10-year contract for ANP's concessions to a subsidiary of the New Mexico-based Ortega National Parks, LLC. We commend Ortega's stated intentions to avoid a disruption in employment for many workers. We question, however, whether or not the NPS' decision not to renew an agreement with the corporation that has served the ANP for more than 80 years was the best decision for the Park and the local economy.

Since the NPS announced its contracting decision, constituents have expressed serious concerns that the evaluation process used to consider contract proposals did not fairly reflect the work that the Acadia Corporation has already done to improve operations at the park. Others have expressed their belief that despite the best of intentions, competing proposals may have offered goals that are unattainable by current guidelines in place to preserve the feel of the park.

Acadia is a critical part of eastern Maine's economy, with a significant impact on our entire state. The NPS recently estimated that visitors to ANP in 2012 created $186 million in local economic benefits. As visits to NPS lands across the country decline, the time is long overdue for Congress to take a serious look at how the NPS regulates access to its parks and facilities for members of the public and private contractors.

It has been more than a decade since Congress seriously evaluated NPS concessions contracting procedures. As Americans grow increasingly interested in issues surrounding National Park access, we urge you to provide oversight into how NPS visitation policy is impacting contracting terms and NPS's process for considering and approving concessioner agreements.

We urge you to consider these issues in regard to the proposed ANP agreement which will soon come before your committee under the National Park Service Concessions Management Improvement Act. It is critical that we ensure Acadia and all National Parks are best positioned to allow communities to both support and benefit from our national conservation efforts.

Sincerely,

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