"conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

The bad news is that we cannot currently carry out that mission, because Gettysburg NMP is broke. It cannot be stated more simply or more honestly than that. On a broader scale, all of our Civil War parks are broke, and the entire NPS is bankrupt. If the NPS was a Fortune 500 corporation, we would be filing for Chapter 11 protection right now. We do not have either the money or the people required to carry out the missions we were created to perform: (1) to preserve our historic resources and (2) to make them available to this and all future generations.

Former Director Kennedy said it best in a speech last year:

After 80 years, the National Park System is suffering from too many years of neglect. After many years of denial, the truth is out, apparent in decayed historic buildings, eroded hillsides, obsolete sewage systems, unusable water systems, toxic waste, accumulated rot borne silently by good soldiers told to "get it [the money] out of someplace else." Well, we are out of someplace else to get "it" out of.

As a direct consequence, both our services to the public (this generation) and our ability to preserve for the enjoyment for the next generation, have declined dramatically. Nation-wide, there is now 1 Ranger for every 80,000 visitors. There is now a nation-wide backlog of $5.6 billion for critical repairs to historic structures, visitor facilities, and utility systems in parks. (The backlog at Gettysburg alone is $73 million.)

As you may guess, this is not a propitious time for a federal official to talk about being broke. There is a major debate currently taking place in the Congress - and in front of the American public - and the results of that debate will inevitably affect our ability to preserve and interpret GNMP. You are all aware of what I'm talking about - the wide-spread view that the Federal Government is too big, that it costs too much, and that it must be reduced in size and cost in order to leave our descendants with a balanced budget and a reduced national debt. (Thanks to a robust economy, it looks like we're close to the first goal, but we're no where near the second.) These are very worthy goals, and very real issues, which warrant our mutual informed debate. But the consequences of this debate will inevitably affect our ability to preserve Gettysburg NMP, as well as all our other civil war parks.

Why? The answer is simple. When all the rhetoric is stripped away, the question facing the American public is rather simple - where do you want your tax dollars applied, and for what purpose? Do you want less government services, or do you want to pay more taxes? There are no other choices. As I pursue this line of thought, please understand that preserving the historic resources of GNMP and making them available to the American public is a government service which must be paid for to occur.

How does this affect civil war parks such as Gettysburg? First, let's take a look at how it affects the National Park Service, by looking at the raw numbers. This is, in itself, an instructive way of illustrating where the preservation of our nation's most precious natural wonders and historic places stands within the priorities of our national budget. The President's budget for the entire Federal Government for 1998 is $1,601,600,000,000. The President's budget for the entire National Park Service - all 375 parks (including our 24 Civil War parks) - is $1,646,926,000. Therefore, simple division will tell us that the entire budget for the NPS is .1% of the entire Federal budget - one-tenth of one percent. Another way of calculating this is to state that for every $1000 you pay in Federal taxes, the NPS (nation-wide) gets $1 to preserve this nation's natural wonders and cultural heritage for the benefit of our descendants.

My point is, that the total $1.6 billion budget of the NPS is absolutely inconsequential when compared to the total $1.6 trillion Federal budget. Our problems should be easy to fix. Yet despite these minuscule numbers, there can be no doubt that some of the recently-debated solutions for reducing the deficit and balancing the budget have the potential to cripple the NPS. For one thing, the newspapers and journals of the last several years have carried suggestions to delete some parks from the system, as one means of reducing the deficit. Yet if we eliminated the entire NPS, remember, we would only be reducing the Federal budget by 0.1% - it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. When you read these articles, you will always note that everyone is careful to say that they would preserve the "crown jewels" of the system, such as Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon, but that we should get rid of parks which have no "national significance."

Unfortunately, there never has been and never will be consensus on what a "crown jewel" may be, or upon what "national significance" may be based. There is a very great likelihood that our definitions will not agree with someone else's. For example, the "Park Closure Bill," which was introduced, debated, and voted upon (twice) during the last session of Congress, proposed to set aside the 54 national parks of highest "national significance" and to subject all the remaining parks in the nation to a "parks closure commission" to see which ones were worth keeping and which ones were not. There were no Civil War parks - not even Gettysburg - included on the list of 54 parks of highest "national significance." Thankfully, that bill was defeated, but not by what I would consider to be a comfortable margin. We may see it again.

What's to be done?

Several things - and for most of them we need your help. The primary objective of this whole discussion is to get to my first point of the evening - the first thing which must be done. A few moments ago I mentioned the great debate which is taking place in this nation right now: how many taxes are too much?, and what services do you want your government to provide? If you are interested in the civil war, and if you are interested in the preservation of our battlefields, then you had better take part in this debate. If you don't, it will go on without you. And you had better bring the debate down to your personal level. If preservation of civil war battlefields is important to you, then you need to ask yourself whether it's important enough that you are willing to pay taxes to fund that preservation, or if you are willing to take a reduction in other governmental services, such as your social security payments, to fund that preservation. It's as simple as that.

And it seems to me that if you're not participating in that debate - if your Congressman and your Senator do not know how you feel - then you cannot really say that you are interested in battlefield preservation.

By now, you should have some slight hint about how I think, and what my major concerns are as I look towards the future. Ever since I got to Gettysburg 3 years ago, we've being trying to do everything we can at the park help ourselves - and to open the door for others to help us - to better preserve our resources for succeeding generations. Some of these initiatives have attracted a fair amount of attention, especially recently, while some have not.

2. Adopt A Position

157 groups, (again, including many of you) adopted 239 positions. 1.528 volunteers worked 7,068 hours. They cleared brush from more than 3 miles of fences, repaired more than 180 feet of stone and wooden fencing, repainted 100 feet of fence, and improved and maintained over « mile of trails, and painted historic structures. They come from as far north as Canada, and from as far south as North Carolina. The physical - visible - difference in battlefield maintenance is readily apparent between today and this time last year - thanks to you.

Donations for monument preservation - to date, 17 groups have raised and donated $30,000 for the repair/maintenance of their regimental monuments. Three groups have raised and donated sufficient funds for the perpetual maintenance of their monuments. They are led by the Gen Robert E. Lee Camp of SCV, which, by donating $10,000 as an endowment for the perpetual care of the NC State Monument, as established a standard of commitment for all others to follow.

3. Park Watch To date, 129 individuals have responded to our call for assistance in patrolling the battlefield. These volunteers, after training and orientation sessions with our Law Enforcement Rangers, check out a park radio and patrol the park, looking for situations which may lead to danger to visitors or park resources. If such a situation is spotted, they call the Rangers, who report to the scene. The dedication of these folks, who volunteered 8,119 hours to this program has increased our "eyes and ears" on the battlefield many times over. Casual vandalism of park resources has dramatically decreased since the Park Watch program began.

4. Volunteer Totals All together, our volunteer efforts are starting to make a difference. To put it into perspective:

NPS - 20,000 employees, nation-wide - 80,000 volunteers - 4/1 ratio
GETT/EISE has 97 employees & 2,451 volunteers - a 25/1 ratio
Volunteers racked up 41,466 hours last year
Equivalent of 20 extra full-time workers, or a donation of $532,423 (at $12.84/hr)

Partners

Partners are equally important for our success today and in the future. Although we have many partners at Gettysburg NMP, I'll just mention the accomplishments of our two principle ones - Eastern National Monuments and Parks Association, and the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg.

As you know, Eastern National operates the bookstores at Gettysburg, and 124 other parks (and Gettysburg, by the way, has the largest grossing bookstore in the entire NPS), as well as the Electric Map and Cyclorama program. From the revenues generated by those programs, Eastern paid all their staff salaries, paid all the utility bills for the Visitor Center and Cyclorama, and provided all the janitorial services for both buildings. The net revenue, after deduction of those expenses, comes back to the park to support historic preservation and interpretive programs. In FY98, the net revenue return from Eastern National was $520,722.

In the meantime, the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg had their most successful year ever. Between purchasing land, paying for the under grounding of utility lines, for monument and cannon carriage repairs, for the Junior Ranger program, for acquisition of artifacts and objects for the museum collection, and numerous other projects, the Friends provided $839,983 in direct support of the park last year. That, I'm sure you'll agree, is a considerable achievement.

Between the Friends, Eastern National, Adopt-A-Position donations, and general donations, we received a total of $1,408,881 in donations last year - and that doesn't count the $532,423 worth of donated labor through our volunteer programs. This means that an amazing 27% of the total dollars available for operations at Gettysburg last year came from "non-appropriated" sources. If you didn't doze through my previous remarks, you already realize how absolutely crucial these "extra" or "non-appropriated" funds are to our ability to preserve resources and maintain interpretive programs.

And now, I'm pleased to be able to announce some very good news. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of Senator Santorum (R-PA), the 1998 appropriations bill for the NPS contained a $1,052,000 increase in the base operating funds for Gettysburg NMP. This is very good news indeed, and is the result of three years of effort to address one of the park's most basic problems. Gettysburg NMP is no longer be as broke as it is currently, and our ability to preserve our historic buildings, monuments, and landscapes has been dramatically improved. But that's not enough to solve all of our problems (and it's has no effect whatsoever on the looming bankruptcy of other Civil War parks, or of the NPS.)]

That, in summary, is the context within which we are trying to solve some of most crucial problems at Gettysburg NMP. With your help, and especially through your donated time and dollars, we have made significant strides in our ability to take care of our precious park resources. However, there are some things which have to get done, which are beyond our mutual capabilities. In the fall of 1994, the park identified four significant long-term goals for the preservation of precious park resources and the improvement of visitor interpretation and education capabilities.

Protect the park's collection of objects and archives: Gettysburg NMP has over 40,000 items in its museum collection, and over 350,000 in the archival collection. The current facilities which house these priceless (and irreplaceable) objects are woefully sub-standard. The facilities lack heat, lack air conditioning, lack humidity control, lack dust protection, and lack adequate fire and intrusion protection. Our collections are currently deteriorating just as surely as would a historic building if I were to remove a shingle from its roof every day. We must provide museum-standard, environmentally-controlled space for the permanent protection and preservation of the park's world-famous collection of Civil War era artifacts and archives.

Preserve the Cyclorama Painting: The building which houses and displays the Cyclorama painting, "High Tide of the Confederacy," was inadequately designed and has structurally failed, exposing the painting to both excess humidity and structural stress. We must provide adequate facilities for the long term preservation and display of the painting.

Provide High Quality Interpretation and Educational Opportunities for Park Visitors: We must provide visitors with an understanding of the Gettysburg Campaign in the context of the causes and consequences of the Civil War, and that struggle's continuing legacy to all American people today. The current visitor center, which was begun as a private residence and museum in 1921, and which was modified 14 times before the NPS purchased it in 1971, has neither sufficient space or infrastructure to make this possible. If you remember that far back, you'll know that the NPS announced when we purchased the building in 1971 that we planned to remove it and replace it within 7 years. We'll just a little bit behind that schedule.

Restore the High Water Mark of the Battle: Finally, we must rehabilitate the significant historical landscapes of the Union battle lines of the 2nd and 3rd days of the Battle of Gettysburg. The current visitor center and Cyclorama building were both constructed on some of the most hallowed ground at Gettysburg NMP. We need to remove those buildings and resanctify the ground they are now occupying, in order to honor the valor and sacrifices of those men who fought and died on that ground for their beliefs.

Our estimated costs for doing all this was $43 million. In January 1995 NPS reached the decision that it was highly unlikely that appropriated funds could be obtained from Congress to resolve the current deficiencies in park facilities and achieve the park goals. Remember, the NPS has an estimated construction backlog of $5.6 billion. In FY98 - one of the best years ever for NPS appropriations - Congress provided us with $157 million in construction dollars. At that rate, it will take 36 years to fix everything which is currently broken in your National Parks; assuming, of course, that nothing else breaks or wears out in the next third-century, and assuming have no more floods, storms, fires or other natural disasters. Consequently, the Director of the NPS approved the concept of exploring a public-private partnership.

That DCP recommended that the NPS release a nationwide Request for Proposals, to seek an appropriate partner to accomplish the park goals (above). As part of the public review process of the DCP, the public was specifically invited to comment upon the proposed criteria which would be used to evaluate any proposals received.

Request for Proposals

In December 1996 the NPS released a formal "Request for Proposals for Visitor Center and Museum Facilities" (RFP) at Gettysburg NMP. The RFP was open for 150 days, and attracted six responses. A national evaluation panel was formed to review and analyze the responses. The panel evaluated all proposals against all ten criteria listed in, and required by, the RFP. After four months of evaluation, the panel unanimously recommended one as best meeting the NPS goals and the stated criteria of the RFP. On October 1, the panel sent its recommendation to the Director of the NPS. On November 6, after a month of careful review and analysis of the panel's evaluations and findings, the Director of the NPS approved the recommendation.

The team of Kinsley Equities, in partnership with National Geographic Television, Destination Cinema, Gettysburg Tours, and John L. Adams & Company, was unanimously recommended by the evaluation panel as having presented the best overall proposal. The summary reasons for that decision were:

The proposal satisfies completely the park's four main goals for preservation of artifacts and archives, preservation of the Cyclorama painting, substantially enhanced interpretation of the Gettysburg Campaign, and complete rehabilitation of the Union battle lines. Only two of the final four proposals completely satisfied those 4 goals.
The proposal provides an excellent site for the new facilities, on privately-owned land inside the park boundary.

- The proposed site will have no impact upon significant park resources. The site lies in an area that was behind Union battle lines, between the Union positions on Cemetery Ridge and Culp's Hill. The only activity which took place on this land was artillery positioning and occasional troop movements. As compared to the blood-soaked ground upon which the current Visitor Center and Cyclorama building are located, no fighting took place on this land, and no blood was spilled there.

- The site provides easy access for park visitors to prime interpretive areas of the park, such as the National Cemetery and the High Water Mark.

- Due to the topography of the land, below Cemetery Ridge, we can guarantee that the new facilities can be constructed in such a way that there will not be visible from any point on the Union battle lines, from Cemetery Hill, through Cemetery Ridge, to Little Round Top.

* An non-profit corporation will be formed. Approximately 55% of the total project cost ( $22 million) will be raised from donations, grants, and corporate sponsorships, while the remaining 45% ($18 million) will be borrowed.

An appropriate range of related facilities is proposed, to both provide service for visitors and to provide a revenue stream to pay off that $18 million mortgage. Those facilities include a theater to show an educational film on the Gettysburg Campaign, a gift shop, an arts and craft gallery, a tour center where visitors may board buses for an interpretive tour of the park led by a Licensed Battlefield Guide, and family-style food service. (Eastern National will continue to operate the bookstore, and all its proceeds will continue to return to the park.) You will find nothing of a "commercial" nature in this museum complex that you cannot find at the Smithsonian, or other leading museum complexes throughout the United States. And you will find far less of a commercial nature than may be found in those parks with concession operations, such as Shenandoah, Great Smokies, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, or Yellowstone.

Since this site is inside the Park boundary, both the land and the new Visitor Center/Museum complex will revert to NPS ownership, as soon as the revenues from these visitor facilities have paid off the mortgage . This can only happen for a site within the park boundary. In addition, since we are inside the park boundary, the NPS's has the ability to totally control everything that happens on the site - design and construction, to operations of the facility - which we would not be able to do outside the boundary.

Two things will now happen, simultaneously:

* The NPS has entered into negotiations with the non-profit corporation formed by Kinsley Equities, leading towards a cooperative agreement for the funding, design, construction, operations and maintenance of the facilities. As part of these negotiations, we will revise and enhance the original proposal with the intent of improving its ability to fully satisfy NPS needs and to provide exceptional service to our visitors. If we can reach a successful conclusion to those negotiations, the agreement will be signed, but not until after the current General Management Plan process has been completed.

* We have "folded" this proposal into the General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement process that is currently underway. We will present to the public the major components of the proposal, as revised, along with any potential environmental and/or socio-economic impacts. In other words, the public will have the opportunity to see and comment upon the impacts (if any) of the proposed cooperative agreement before we enter into a binding agreement.

* We think it will take until about September (1998) for these two processes to be completed. As we work through this, we need the participation, analysis, and feedback of thoughtful members of the Civil War community. We know what we're attempting to do is somewhat new and different. However, I can give you several personal guarantees:

- Everything that is done inside the park boundary will be done by a non-profit corporation. There will be no "commercialization" of the park, and there certainly will be no "Disneyfication." Everything that happens in this new complex will be to the long-term benefit of the NPS.

- Everything that is done inside the park boundary, from the types of goods and services offered to our visitors, to the prices charged for those goods and services, will be subject to the review and approval of the NPS. No one is being given a free reign - if we don't approve it, it cannot happen.

As we take this concept through the next steps leading from a proposal towards actual implementation, I know full well that the eyes of the Civil War community are upon Gettysburg. What we are trying to do here is a change from the way the NPS has conducted business in the past. I know that change can be frightening to some people. But if we can do this tastefully and appropriately, we will not only have solved some of the most significant long-term problems facing Gettysburg NMP, but we may have shown a way in which other national parks - both Civil War and not - can use to help them solve some of their problems. The eyes of the entire NPS will be upon Gettysburg NMP over the nest several months, and the next several years. I do not take that responsibility lightly.

The bottom line is: due to the lack of adequate Congressional appropriations for the NPS, I have the choice of (1) condemning our museum collection, our archives, and the Cyclorama painting to slow but certain destruction, and of failing to remove those modern intrusions from some of the most sacred soil in America, or of (2) taking the risk that we can control the appropriateness of this kind of enterprise. I choose to take the risk.

Again, I thank you for the privilege and the honor of addressing you this evening. I trust that I have not droned on overlong. But if you remember nothing else, please remember this: The status of Gettysburg NMP, of all our Civil War parks, and of the entire NPS, is perilous. We do not have the ability to preserve our national resources for future generations by ourselves. We need your help. Thank you very much

QUESTIONS:
How many of you own your own homes or businesses?

How many of you paid cash??