254 



Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands Page 7 



July 25, 1995 



work on the high-profile concession service agreements. This is clearly not in the public 

 interest and Congress must keep in mind the implications of legislation on the field 

 managers. 



Nonetheless, this second tier of concession authority is important and we will 

 support it if changes are made to clarify and simplify its form. Permits need to rest on 

 legitimate authority if there is to be hope for consistent application. Current National 

 Park Service policy utilizes a CUL as the authority to allow access to national parks for a 

 large number of operators. CULs have no statutory basis and existing regulations only 

 define what a CUL is not, not what it is: CULs are described as not being concession 

 permits (36 CFR § 51.1). By providing both statutory authority and congressional 

 direction for this level of authorization. Congress will clean up a problem that the 

 agency has created in the vacuum of congressional intent. Competing concession 

 management bills, S. 309, H.R. 721 and H.R. 773, are supported by NOLS with regard to 

 provisions dealing with authorizations for non-proprietary interest services. 



(a)(3) LANDS UNDER MULTIPLE JURISDICTIONS. This is a terrific idea. On roughly 30 

 percent of our courses NOLS operates on land managed by several agencies. For 

 example, one NOLS course travels across Canyonlands National Park, the BLM's San 

 Juan Resource Area and the Manti-LaSal National Forest. We deal with three very 

 different permitting regimes for this one course. Having a single agency coordinate with 

 other agencies in order to issue a single authorization is proper. 



(b)(1) TERM. IN GENERAL. This provision providing a minimum term of 10 years 

 for concession agreements requiring substantial capital investment is good, but the 

 language should read "substantial investment" rather than focus on capital investments 

 alone. Organizations such as NOLS have substantial personnel training programs, 

 marketing and student building demands. This should encourage both a commitment 

 to quality service and a recognition of the financial commitment. 



