Interior Department reorganization could change how the Smokies, other parks are managed

Michael Collins
Knoxville News Sentinel

WASHINGTON – Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is moving forward with a plan to relocate thousands of federal employees across the country as part a major reorganization that could impact the way the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and other public lands are managed.

The department included $18 million for the reorganization in the budget request that it sent to Congress on Monday. The proposal also will be forwarded in the next couple of weeks to the nation’s governors.

Zinke argues the restructuring, expected to begin this year, is needed to cut red tape, to move federal employees closer to the parks and other natural resources they are charged with managing, and to preserve them for future generations.

Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“It’s time to look 100 years into the future to make sure we are organized to address the challenges we know are going to occur,” he told reporters earlier this week.

Boundaries by geography, not states

But some members of Congress and advocates for the National Park Service are worried about the impact of moving thousands of employees and changing the structure under which resources are managed.

The proposal would divide the country into 13 regions, the boundaries of which would be based upon watersheds and geographic basins rather than by individual states. Employees in some key agencies within the department, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation, could be relocated to the western United States to bring them closer to the resources they are tasked with managing.

The sun rises over the Smoky Mountains as seen from Oconaluftee Valley Overlook on Newfound Gap Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017.

The goal, Zinke said, is to place an individual park or asset in one region, which would make it easier for employees to work together and avoid some of the management headaches that can occur when more than one federal agency is involved. Right now, for example, a salmon stream located near a lock or dam could fall under the jurisdiction of multiple federal agencies.

But the reorganization also would mean that some states will be placed in more than one region. Colorado, for example, will be divided among three regions.

Tennessee split into two regions

Tennessee will be split into two regions. The area east of Jackson would be placed in the North Atlantic Appalachian Region. The western half of the state would be put into the Mississippi Delta Region.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles Tennessee and North Carolina, currently is part of the Park Service’s southern region, which is headquartered in Atlanta. Under the reorganization, both sides of the park would move into the North Atlantic Appalachian Region. Exactly where that region would be headquartered has not been determined.

More:Smokies had record number of visitors in 2017, thanks, in part, to eclipse viewing

To carry out his vision, Zinke will need the approval of Congress, which must sign off on the relocation of large numbers of federal employees. So far, the proposal has gotten mixed reviews among lawmakers.

Cades Cove draws a crowd in the fall for good reason. Colors abound around Carter Shields Cabin.
A new class about Cades Cove: A Window to the Past will be offered on May 13. The geologic hiking journey will share the secrets of mountain building, the processes that shaped the high elevation peaks, and cross the Great Smoky Fault.

“The secretary's idea of creating common boundaries could lead to a more efficient operation, but I want to make sure that splitting Tennessee into two regions doesn't create some unintended problems,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.

Other lawmakers said that while they are generally supportive of moving more of the federal government out of Washington, they are concerned that offices would be eliminated or that individual states would be placed in multiple regions under the proposed boundaries.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., called the reorganization “concerning” because, he said, it appears to eliminate the Navajo Regional Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

“A change of this magnitude should only come after extensive, meaningful government-to-government consultation with the affected tribes,” Heinrich said. “On its face, this looks more like a dismantling than a reorganization.”

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Advocacy groups also have raised concerns about the restructuring and its impact on the National Park Service.

“We’re chiefly concerned about the lack of detail, in particular for a Park Service that has been struggling with considerably insufficient staffing and other budgetary challenges,” said John Garder, a senior director with the National Parks Conservation Association.

Fewer employees

Garder said the Park Service is currently operating with 11 percent fewer employees than just five years ago. “While there may be opportunities for efficiencies, which are always welcome, we don’t want to see the role of the National Park Service diminished,” he said.

Park advocates also are worried about “the morale expense” of reshuffling federal employees, whose jobs may be relocated or abolished, said Phil Francis, a Sevierville resident who is chairman of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, which represents nearly 1,400 current, former and retired Park Service employees.

The Chimney Tops before the November 2016 wildfires in the Smokies.

“It will affect many, many people’s lives, people who have dedicated maybe 10, 20 or 30 years of their lives to serving the American public,” said Francis, former superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “I just don’t believe the outcome will produce results that are worth the investment.”

Zinke said he doesn’t expect any layoffs will be necessary because the reorganization will take several years. Sixteen percent of the department’s 70,000 employees are already eligible for retirement, he said, and that number will jump to 40 percent within five years.

As employees retire, their positions could be reclassified and their jobs moved closer to the front lines “where they belong,” he said.