In a brief, four-paragraph memorandum, National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis has brought to an end a budgeting process that stripped arguably key positions from parks. Dubbed "core ops" for its approach to analyzing a park's core operations, the process failed to produce wise budgeting decisions, the director said in a letter to his regional directors.
"Core ops" was instituted during the Bush administration by Intermountain Regional Director Mike Snyder. Intended to save precious dollars by eliminating operations that were not central to a park's core operation, the process forced superintendents to make tough, and at times questionable, decisions.
For instance, at Dinosaur National Monument the superintendent decided to cut two of the three positions in her paleontological department, at an annual savings of roughly $200,000 in salaries and benefits, so she could, in part, afford more law enforcement staff. Elsewhere in the Intermountain Region, officials at Canyonlands National Park did away with a deputy superintendent's position when the incumbent retired to save $122,000, and Rocky Mountain National Park officials filled a deputy superintendent's job with a division chief, and then left that position vacant to make ends meet.
In a letter (attached below) sent to his regional directors November 20, NPS Director Jarvis said the agency has better tools -- such as its Budget Cost Projection model and the NPS Scorecard -- for seeing that budgets are prudently crafted.
"As director I want to emphasize use of management tools that empower managers with unbiased data and analysis to make informed decisions, improve the justification and presentation of our budgets, and improvement the management of our financial resources. Based on extensive feedback I have received from field managers I believe that the Core Operations process fails to meet these requirements," he wrote.
At the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, Bill Wade praised Director Jarvis's action.
"I am very pleased to see that Director Jarvis has ended this debacle. It was an absolutely stupid process - born out of the minds of those who placed a higher value on efficiency (saving money) than on effectiveness," said Mr. Wade, who chairs the council's executive committee. "We never heard of a single case where the process ended up with a result that improved the capability of meeting the mission of the park involved, much less being worth the time and money invested in carrying out the process."
The Traveler has asked the Intermountain Regional office for reports assessing the impact of the core ops process, and for Regional Director Snyder's reaction to the directive.
Comments
Kudos to Rick Smith for his comments. I think that there was a huge disconnect between the IMR leadership in Denver and the implementation of Core Ops as it might have been applied to support the mission of the NPS. My experiences with the process indicated that it was not at all mission-centric, nor did it appear that those who were leading the charge necessarily grasped the central concepts of the NPS mission. The process was primarily operationally focused. As an example, during one of our Core Ops meetings, members of the team charged us with the notion that we needed to think about theoretically closing the park down and identifying critical positions based upon reopening. We untimately lost 4 permenant archeologist positions in parks that were largely focused on archeological resources. But as one comment stated earlier, the organizational charts that resulted were often the result of later discussions and intrigue with regional leadership, rather than the result of the inclusive Core Ops efforts.
I also perceived that those who were forcing the process were often lacking the real commitment to the parks (resources and people) that is deeply felt by so many of the employees of those parks. I believe that this factor alone accounts for much of torment that this ill-fated process has caused.
But another failure of this IMR Regional leadership has been the in the selection of Superintendent positions. Certainly, good selections have been made. However, some of the new Superintendents lack a serious commitment to NPS ideals and as a result fail to recognize the core mission themselves. At least one Superintendent in northern Arizona exemplifies this failure and in many ways reflects the mentality of the Regional Director who made the selection. Without changes, these selections can lead to potential long term harm to IMR parks.
In any case, it is very dangerous when one person believes he/she has the best answers to complex issues, and even more dangerous when they are given the power to institute flawed concepts on such a large scale in such important areas as National Parks and Monuments. The arrogance of that is just unbelievable.
You can be assured that the appalling comments on this page will become an issue in discussing parks budgets. The arrogance of thinking the parks are above budgeting when people are struggling too pay home heating, health care, gas and other bills is appalling. The comments on this page show that outside forces are likely to have to dictate budgets if the NPS is not willing to manage its own shop. Past budgeting methods did not prioritize. Comments such as these, and Director Jarvis attack are likely to endanger funding for the centennial projects. Think farther than in front of your nose. Unbelievable arrogance.
"The Traveler has asked the Intermountain Regional office for reports assessing the impact of the core ops process, and for Regional Director Snyder's reaction to the directive."
Well? Did we hear anything from Regional Director Snyder?
Still waiting, Rick
Wow - a few IMR regional office commenters don't seem to get it. Parks most certainly do understand the gravity of the budget situation and certainly know that times will be getting even tougher for all Americans and for all non defense related federal agencies. Director Jarvis is NOT attacking but rather leading! Most employees are excited by his inspired leadership. IMR commenters- please stop insulting us in the parks by postulating we don't understand budgets or BCPs or obligation rates or any of the important components of our very serious fiscal responsibilities.
The CORE OPS was a Titanic from its inception.
Great discourse here on the Traveler. Thanks to all who have shared. I've worked with Rick Smith and he is absolutely on the mark with his comments - kudos Rick!
"The arrogance of thinking the parks are above budgeting when people are struggling too pay home heating, health care, gas and other bills is appalling."
Typical straw man argument. The parks are acutely aware of the need to manage budgets carefully. Acknowledging that "Core Ops" was an abysmal way to go about the process does not negate that reality.