2003 Annual Report

National Park Service Alaska Region Visitation to Alaska’s National Parks 2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 0 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 estimated 2003 Annual Report National Park Service Alaska Region 240 West 5th Avenue Anchorage, Alaska 99501 Message from the Regional Director Fiscal Year 2003 Expense Report, Alaska Region millions of visitors but frequently not making significant efforts to connect with communities, Construction businesses, non-profit associations, interest Denali front country $8,020,419 groups and others who are, collectively, our Glacier Bay utilities, hydro study $53,188 partners in the mission of being stewards of Glacier Bay maintenance facility $63,568 Sitka collections, visitor center $166,505 America’s national parks. Wrangell-St. Elias visitor center $52,488 $8,356,167 In recent years, the change toward working Land Acquistion $3,987,635 more closely with partners has accelerated and is now becoming a fundamental piece of our Operations organizational culture. This annual report pro- Personal services (salaries, benefits, etc.) $47,761,423 vides details on the kinds of work we are doing Travel (within parks and Lower 48) $2,902,344 with others to accomplish not only the missions Transportation (supplies and equipment) $1,757,194 given to the National Park Service by Congress, Rent, communications, utilities $1,239,106 Printing and copying $196,087 but how the expertise and experience within the Services (aircraft rental, architecture NPS Alaska Regional Director Marcia Blaszak Service is helping Alaska communities and and design, contracts) $17,697,661 organizations accomplish their goals. Supplies and materials $5,305,324 Equipment (computers, vehicles, etc.) $1,376,951 ike many people who came here from These partnerships take many forms, but a few Land and structures $122,959 jobs in the Lower 48, I find it hard to special ones come to mind. The highly skilled Glacier Bay fisheries compensation (one time expense) $21,517,785 L believe I’m starting my 10th year with volunteers who join the month-long moun- Other (grants, insurance, claims, etc.) $5,088,182 the National Park Service in Alaska, and my 35th taineering patrols on Mount McKinley were rec- year as a federal employee. ognized this fall for work that has saved lives and Total $104,965,015 made the mountain a cleaner, safer environment. Those numbers are active reminders of two In a very different venue, our partners at the Recent Beringia Projects with NPS Partners things. First, Alaska continues to be the highlight Anchorage Museum of History and Art have The National Park Service funds projects in partnership with community organizations and academic of my career. Nowhere else in the National Park worked with us on the Greatland Junior Ranger institutions. The topics are of scientific and local importance in the Beringia Region of western Alaska System is there such a vast and incredible array “Dino-Might” project in conjunction with the and eastern Chukotka. The work averages one to three years in length and includes Russian collabora- of national park units and programs all working display of the T-Rex Sue. And we’ve worked tion through comparative studies, exchange and training of participants, or translation of final reports. in their own ways toward the conservation of successfully with the state of Alaska to build a our national heritage. Second, as I reflect on a more public process for the annual renewal of Alaska Nanuuq Commission: Cultural Values of Polar Bears in Chukotka $32,050 long and rewarding career in the Service, I am short-term park rules, called compendiums. University of Alaska Fairbanks: Rural Development Exchange $39,741 reminded just how much we as an organization King Island IRA: Song and Dance Preservation $40,000 have changed. These kinds of partnerships, and dozens more, National Park Service: Russian Participation in Mammoth Conference $21,000 are helping the National Park Service accom- National Park Service, Russian Elder Consultation on Exhibit $29,018 My appointment in August 2003 as the acting plish its missions more effectively and with Nome Community Center, After-school program on Native traditions $33,706 regional director for Alaska was an unprecedented greater public participation than ever before. North Slope Borough: Biosampling of Grey and Bowhead Whales $33,558 career step for a woman when my career began in Throughout my Park Service career I’ve learned University of Alaksa: Online database for Chukotka Flora Collection $25,756 1968; today, no one really thinks twice about it. a great deal on the job, and we as an organiza- Alaska Pacific University: Beringia Teacher Workship $20,380 tion are doing the same — changing, and learn- University of Alaska: Chukotka Tourism Development and Training $24,000 For many of the past 35 years, the National Park ing on the job. We welcome your participation as Richard Bland & Associates: Russian Book Translation $11,730 15 2 Service — like many large organizations — has we join with partners to accomplish our mission World Wildlife Fund: Teacher Training in US and Russia $25,514 gone about its business largely by itself, serving of preservation and public enjoyment. age Alaska SeaLife Center: Web-based writing curriculum $16,200 age P P Total $352,653 Alaska Region of the National Park Service 2003 Alaska Region of the National Park Service 2003 Greening of the Parks New Leaders arks and visitors in the Alaska Region t Denali’s Wonder Lake Range Station, a he National Park Service welcomed with community lead- are benefiting from several projects that 30-kilowatt diesel generator used to run several new people into key leadership ers in Kotzebue. He P are making facilities and operations A 24 hours a day, powering lights, radios, T positions in 2003. helped author plan- more “green.” and pumps but the noisy diesel unit marred a ning documents for portion of the spectacular quiet for which the Alaska Regional Director Rob Arnberger retired the Northwest Arctic In Kenai Fjords, visitors who walk toward the park’s wilderness is world renowned. in July, and his deputy, Marcia Blaszak, took Heritage Center in ancient ice of Exit Glacier will walk past some over as acting regional director. A new regional Kotzebue which is of the newest available energy technology. The Using grants and guidance from other federal director is expected to be named early in 2004. currently under fuel cell electrical system, located at the park’s agencies, Denali installed a new hybrid system Several changes also were made among the ranks design. new Nature Center, will provide power and consisting of a 12-kilowatt, propane-fueled of park superintendents. heat to the visitor facilities at the popular generator augmented by a battery storage system Joe Fowler was named to the top job at Katmai visitor destination. and photovoltaic panels. The generator now Julie Hopkins National Park and Preserve in November. He runs only eight hours every fourth day to returned to Kotzebue had been the chief of operations for Katmai, and The 5-kilowatt solid oxide fuel cell uses propane recharge the batteries. The $45,000 project as superintendent of had served as as its hydrogen source, with the hydrogen in reduced fuel consumption at the site by 50 per- Western Arctic chief ranger at turn being used to generate electricity. The Exit cent, or 2,500 gallons, reduced emissions of car- Parklands, overseeing Lake Clark Glacier project is the first time such a system has bon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrous oxide, Kobuk Valley National Park been used in Alaska in an area with no other and dramatically cut the maintenance require- National Park, Cape earlier in his commercial electrical source. ments. The work at Wonder Lake and other Krusenstern National career. He projects helped the park earn one of nine Monument and resides in King The project is funded by the NPS in conjunction Department of the Interior 2003 Environmental Noatak National Salmon. with a $70,000 grant from the Propane Achievement Awards. Preserve. A 21-year Education & Research Council and a $25,000 Alaska resident, she previously served as assis- Joel Hard was grant from the Alaska Energy Authority To the south, Glacier Bay National Park earned a tant superintendent there and worked two years named in December as the newest superintendent, through the Denali Commission. An additional $31,000 Unilever “Recycling at Work” in 2003, overseeing budget issues at the Anchorage taking the top job at Lake Clark National Park $35,000 from the University of Alaska’s Arctic allowing for construction of an accessible rest- regional office. and Preserve. Hard worked previously for the Energy Technology Development Laboratory is room and covered assembly area near the dock Alaska State Troopers, where he led the Public planned to evaluate and monitor the fuel cell’s at Bartlett Cove. An important component of Another longtime Alaska manager took charge Safety, Fish and Wildlife Protection Division. performance. the project is 2,500 square feet of Unilever’s as superintendent of Sitka National Historical He grew up in Juneau, is a licensed pilot and is recycled plastic Durawood lumber for the Park. Greg Dudgeon left a superintendent’s a 1994 graduate of the FBI’s National Academy. decking. The recycled plastic decking is easier to post in Utah to return to Alaska. From 1996 to maintain than wood and less prone to become 2001, he served in Kotzebue and Nome as chief covered with slippery mold. ranger at Northwest Alaska park units. Between 1990 and 1996, Dudgeon worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Yakutat, and as a river ranger for Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Brad Bennett became the superintendent at Bering Land Bridge National Preserve in Nome in late summer 2003.

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