ABSTRACT
The mission of the National Park Service, Intermountain Regional (IMR) is to promote sustainable park environments. This involves blending environmental preservation with visitor services and uses. In order to support this mission, the Intermountain Region, Rocky Mountain and Colorado Plateau System Support Office is committed to the goal of empowering parks to develop and implement an effective environmental management program that will meet the goals outlined in their initiative, Park Environments 2000: Investing in Safe, Unimpaired Park Environments. The strategy of the Park Environments 2000 Initiative is to create a coalition of System Support office, NPS Headquarters and park operations to protect and repair environmental damage from human use through development and implementation of an integrated environmental management program within each park that centers around sustainable development.
In order to implement this strategy of developing sustainable parks, the NPS/EPA Partnership Project has focused its efforts on incorporating pollution prevention concepts into park practices. To achieve these goals, the NPS IMR looked for support and expertise from the Environmental Protection Agency Region VIII because of their commitment to a similar mission: “To restore and protect the ecological integrity of the Rocky Mountains and the plains and the health of their inhabitants.”
The partnership was formalized through a federal Interagency Agreement (IAG) between EPA Region VIII and the NPS IMR. Under this agreement, NPS provides financial and management support to the project and coordinates activities with the cluster parks. The EPA provides technical expertise in pollution prevention and regulatory compliance and oversees the field work for pollution prevention assessments of the parks.
This project was underway during a structural reorganization of the National Park Service. Questions concerning the role of the NPS central office in environmental decision making and how to empower and support environmental managers at the local park level were addressed.
The partnership between the NPS IMR and EPA Region VIII has resulted in quantifiable environmental results that support the goals of both agencies. The cost savings to the Park Service to date is estimated at over $500,000. EPA Region VIII has been able to gain valuable field experience and insight by working directly with a regulatory “customer.”
460The NPS IMR will collaborate with parks to determine the next steps to meet the project goal: To empower parks to develop and implement an effective environmental management program that will meet the goals of the Park Environments 2000 Initiative.
