When I heard that Jon Jarvis had been appointed as the new director of the National Park Service (NPS), I felt like joining Cousin Larry and Cousin Balki of the old TV show "Perfect Strangers" in doing the dance of joy.  At this age, I'd undoubtedly strain something (besides credulity), but the spirit was willing. 

Jarvis has been the director of the Service's Pacific West Region since 2002 and has earned widespread respect both within the NPS and among conservationists for his unswerving and outspoken commitment to the NPS Organic Act mandate to preserve "unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations."

Republican and Democratic administrations alike largely followed the intent of the 1916 Act - until 2001, that is, when the Bush Administration, led by the Department of the Interior, embarked on an eight-year crusade to undermine it, promoting commercial and recreational activities in the parks at the expense of resource conservation.  

The most blatant attempt was carried out by Paul Hoffman, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. Michael Shnayerson opined, in a June 7, 2006, Vanity Fair article, that Hoffman's proposed changes to the NPS management policies would have "opened the parks for uses that do impair them - now and for the future."