After weeks of political shenanigans that had nothing to do with Mr. Jarvis himself, the Senate has finally confirmed Jonathan Jarvis as Director of the National Park Service.
“This is a great day for the National Park Service and for the American public,” Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar said Thursday evening. “Jon Jarvis is a career professional who has consistently stood up for protection of national parks. He brings great wisdom and three decades of experience to the job.”
Jarvis' name was on a short list of candidates rumored to be in the running for the job last December, before the current administration even took office. His nomination was officially announced in early July, but Senate action was stalled by political maneuvering that had nothing to do with the nominee himself.
Senate confirmation finally came late yesterday, and was announced in a NPS press release.
"America's National Park System is a gift from past generations to this and succeeding generations,” said Jarvis. “I look forward to working with Secretary Salazar, the Congress, our partners, and the extraordinary employees of the National Park Service as we prepare for the next century of stewardship and excellent visitor experiences."
Jarvis, a 30-year veteran of the National Park Service, has served since 2002 as regional director of the agency’s Pacific West Region, where he was responsible for 54 national parks in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands of Guam, Saipan and American Samoa, as well as a host of NPS community revitalization programs that serve those states.
The new Director has served as superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park in Ashford, Washington, Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve in Alaska. A trained biologist, he was also chief of natural and cultural resources at North Cascades National Park. Jarvis is currently the co-leader of the Children in Nature taskforce with the National Association of State Park Directors.
A native of Virginia, Jarvis has a B.S. in biology from the College of William and Mary and completed the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Program in 2001.
Congratulations to Mr. Jarvis from the Traveler!
Comments
Sixty years ago I could and did experience the wonders of our National Parks on foot, enjoying the solitude and beauty. Today, my wife & I no longer are able to backpack or hike distances, but we still enjoy the beautiful scenic wonders of the Parks, traveling, by necessity in our small RV. We have duties and obligations that require communication with others by email and find that, it appears, by policy, the Park Service refuses WiFi services within the Parks, except for their employees and contractors. Making this service available does not, in my opinion, detract from the natural wonders & enjoyment of the Parks. We do know that the attempt by the Park Service to maintain the Parks in "natural condition" is a failure - life evolves. I do not believe that Parks can be managed, only given guidance, humbling acknowledging mankind's ignorance in it's desire to be good stewards of the land. It would be better for the Parks Service to ask, in partnership with the public, to aid it in it's work rather than dictate rules that too often are at odds with logic or necessity.
We wish Mr. Jarvis personal enjoyment & satisfaction in his work and good luck in avoiding the trials of reporting to politicians.
Jim & Sylvia Ewins, Seattle
As one who is still in the trenches within the NPS, a mere 34 years since my first day on the job, I can honestly say that I'm completely thrilled to see Jon as our Director. I've known Jon for years and he's a great leader and hopefully shall proove to be a most effective Director. It's been far too long since we've had a Director who truly came up through the ranks - the only down side is that I may have to delay my retirement for a bit longer just so I can support his efforts.
Good for you, Anon. His appointment has thrilled many of us retirees, also. We wish him the very best in his run at the NPS's new director.
Rick Smith
What a tragedy for the nation. Under his watch federal employees ... attempt(ed) to ruin a perfectly legitimate and licensed business at Pt. Reyes. Mr. Jarvis should have insisted that these employees .... be fired for their actions. In the private sector such behavior would not be tolerated. One can only guess what he will tolerate (and encourage?) in his new position. A sad day for scientific honesty and the American taxpayer.
Editor's note: Portions of this comment were edited due to their potentially libelous nature. While it is true that a report the National Park Service prepared on the impacts of Drakes Bay Oyster Co. contained errors, as the agency acknowledged, they were corrected.
As a former DOI employee the exchange between Anonymous and Editor caught my eye. I'm afraid editor's comment tht the "report contained errors" is not entirely accurate. As a matter of fact the National Academy of Sciences was brought in to review the entire episode and documentation and concluded the Park Service "...selectively presented, over-interpreted, or misrepresented the available scientific information...". That suggests more than a report "containing errors". This is a sad chapter in the history of the NPS.
Anon & Observer - Why not tell the entire story? Was there a question about whether the oyster farm is harming the ecology of Drakes Bay? Yes - but that's not the point. Go back to the law - the law that was passed in 1976 that called for elimination of the oyster farm in 2009. The present owner bought the oyster farm with full knowledge and acknowledgement in the deed that they had to cease operations in 2009. So now he whines and wants the lease to be extended and you blame Jon Jarvis for that? Rediculous.
There was no timetable set in the 1976 wilderness law for removal of the oyster farm. In addition the reservation of use signed in 1972 was set to expire in 2012, but had a renewal clause. All it would take is the signature of Superintendent Neubacher.
The have also been allegations that the PORE administration was looking for scientific research that would force to farm to vacate before 2012. I heard part of it was that Superintendent Neubacher was also trying to get them to relocate completely to Tomales Bay, but that would have been tricky trying to get all the permits and the cost would have been pretty high too. In the end I think everyone abandoned that as unworkable. Drakes Estero is different than Tomales Bay. The amount of food for the oysters is higher and the water quality is cleaner. Tomales Bay oyster farms have to stop oyster harvesting operations when the bacteria counts shoot up after rains carry runoff from Marin streams that contains bovine fecal waste (sounds yummy doesn't it). They can harvest every day at Drakes Bay.
Here's the law. It's short and has simple language. It has no specific mention of the oyster farm or any date past 1976. The only assumption we can make that's not in there is that the oyster farm is probably in what marked as potential wilderness in the map that accompanied the act. I can't find a source for the map. There have already been potential wilderness areas that have been converted to designated wilderness, while I'm sure there are other areas that have not.
http://www.nps.gov/pore/parkmgmt/upload/lawsandpolicies_publiclaw94_544.pdf
Apparently the law was also replicated in some larger law, but that appeared to be some sort of oversight.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/wilderness/94-567.htm
I'm sure that new Director Jarvis was well meaning, but there have been allegations that the content of the original report was more than just a mistake that could be corrected.
The NAS report is available for free download with an email address:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12667
I think this section goes more in depth about the concerns of the accuracy and corrections to the original report.