96-14315. National Park Service To Update Planning Process Guidelines

[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 111 (Friday, June 7, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 29133]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-14315]




[[Page 29133]]


National Park Service To Update Planning Process Guidelines

    The National Park Service is updating its Park Planning Guidelines. 
The purpose of this update is to document a concise, agreed-upon 
planning philosophy and approach to the major components of NPS 
planning, focusing on results rather than procedures. The revised 
guideline is expected to help streamline internal procedures, and will 
replace the current Planning Process Guideline (NPS-2) that was adopted 
in 1982. The current guideline addresses the basic framework for NPS 
planning: Statements for Management, General Management Plans, 
Development Concept Plans, and studies of potential new parks or other 
designations. More detailed instructions for operational and 
implementation plans addressing natural and cultural resources, 
concessions, interpretation and other functions is provided in 
directives and guidelines for those program areas. The intended 
outcomes to be produced by the revised Planning Process Guideline are:

--shared understanding about the purposes of planning in the National 
Park Service, recognizing that planning is an iterative process that 
provides the rationale for effective and accountable decisionmaking at 
all levels of the organization
--comprehensive knowledge of the basic elements of the NPS planning 
process, including why each element is important, and the kind and 
level of information each element contains
--the relationships and linkages among the various planning products 
and services produced in parks or central and field offices, and the 
appropriate level of consistency for products needed to comply with 
legal mandates that apply Servicewide
--guidance regarding roles and responsibilities for planning and 
compliance with applicable laws, regulations and management policies
--an agreed upon common nomenclature of planning terms to facilitate 
communications within the agency and with Congress and the public

    The updated guideline will not be a detailed prescription for how 
to plan. In keeping with the governmentwide goals of streamlining and 
reengineering work processes, the guideline will focus on the intended 
outcomes of planning and on criteria for evaluating when those outcomes 
have been achieved. Practitioners will have flexibility to adapt 
processes to their particular circumstances.
    Organizations and individuals with an interest in NPS planning will 
have an opportunity to review and comment on a draft of the guideline 
in midsummer. A review draft is scheduled to be available by July 30, 
with comments due within 30 days. Following the public comment period 
the guideline will be revised and is scheduled for completion by 
September 30, 1996.
    The draft guideline will be posted on the Internet (www.nps.gov/
planning). If you are not able to access this information by Internet 
and would like to receive a copy through the mail, please contact 
Warren Brown, Chief, Division of Park Planning and Special Studies, 
National Park Service, Room 3230, Department of the Interior, P.O. Box 
37127 Washington, D.C. 20013-7127. For additional information about the 
scope of the guideline, please contact Gail Slemmer, [phone] or 
Jan Harris, [phone] in the National Park Service's Denver 
Service Center.
    Anyone having information that should be considered during the 
initial drafting of the policy and guideline is urged to send concise 
statements of that information to Warren Brown at the address listed 
above. Please confine your comments to general planning theories and 
approaches, or to general comments about the context for NPS planning, 
since the guideline will not address specific parks, issues or 
situations. Questions or comments about specific park plans should be 
addressed to the park superintendent for that unit.
    This update of the planning process guideline will be coordinated 
with other ongoing efforts to revise NPS guidelines for the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NPS-12) and other related planning processes 
including natural and cultural resource management plans.

    Date: May 31, 1996.
Denis P. Galvin,
Associate Director, Professional Services, Washington Office.
[FR Doc. 96-14315 Filed 6-6-96; 8:45 am]
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