Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne joined National Park Service Director Mary Bomar and honored guests to unveil new and enhanced visitor services on the National Mall for the 2008 National Cherry Blossom Festival
March 28, 2008
Male Voice: This is a podcast from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Mary A. Bomar: Boy, what an honor to be here in D.C. this morning and the sun is shining. It is lovely to see you here and it is great to see all the guys in the gray and green. Anyway, good morning. Spring is my favorite time of the year, as it is for many people. It is a time for renewal, to get outside and enjoy the outdoors. Spring jumpstarts the year; bulbs are blooming and seeing the first daffodils, crocuses, and tulips of the season truly is a new start of a new cycle of life. We are surrounded by the rich aromas of the cherry blossoms. There is no better place to be than right here in D.C. today.
Even the new home of the national park, D.C. Baseball Stadium is also getting their turf ready just like we have been getting ours ready for the great season. As many of you know, the National Park Service encourages everyone to take part in the healthy outdoors recreation. We have placed a special emphasis this year, working with our state parks and reaching out to children, focusing on children in nature and kids in parks.
There is no better place to start than right here by visiting the National Mall during cherry blossom time. The mall will be filled with visitors from all around the world for the next weeks and months ahead and the National Park Service is ready for them. Superintendent Peggy O’Dell and her team have pulled out all the stops to give our visitors the experience that they deserve today, and they are working with our partners - Chip, it is good to see you here this morning - to make sure that we have a brighter future with our National Mall.
I am truly delighted to be here today but I must say Secretary Kempthorne and I have walked this mall many times this last year with many members of the mall staff, and it is good to see so many of them here today. There have been many improvements made over this last year but Secretary Kempthorne will talk a little bit more about those when he comes up to the podium.
All across the nation our 391 parks and over 20,000 employees and volunteers are also preparing to welcome Americans to their national parks. Yes, it is spit-and-polish time in the national parks. With the largest operations budget in our history, visitors will see more ranges and better conditions at our parks as we get them ready for the hundredth birthday in 2016.
I want to take a moment again to recognize National Capital Regional Director Joe Lawler and Superintendent Peggy O’Dell for their tremendous efforts this past year with a huge thank you to the maintenance staff. They are really the boots on the ground, the guys that get the work done and often are the unsung heroes in the National Park Service. And I also want to especially thank U.S. Park Police who work tirelessly day-in and day-out to make sure that our visitors have a safe experience. Sal [phonetic], would you stand up, and Jackie [phonetic]? These are fine two U.S. Park Police. Sal, it is lovely to see you here this morning. Thank you for everything you do everyday for our visitors.
Now, do not wait until our birthday party to visit. You will be missing some great experiences. Whether you visit here on the National Mall or any of our parks across the nation, this is the season to visit your national parks.
I am very happy now. I always have the pleasure to introduce to you our next speaker. By any measure, he is the right person at the right time to lead this federal agency, the Department of Interior, and manages over one-fifth of the land of our nation but cares for special places in our country - our national parks. As the secretary, he has made his mark on all aspects of the Department of Interior. But none has been more dramatic than his leadership and support of the President’s National Park Centennial Initiative, a bold plan to pump in $3 billion into the funding of our national parks over the next 10 years. His legacy as a leader and a man of action will truly stand the test of time. It is my privilege and pleasure to introduce to you today the 49th Secretary of Interior, Dirk Kempthorne. Thank you.
Dirk Kempthorne: Mary, thank you so much. Did she not have a delightful accent? She is the first naturalized citizen to become the Director of the National Park Service, a great lady of class and dignity and accomplishment. So we are very fortunate to have Mary. And Peggy, I want to thank you and all of the wonderful people of the National Park Service. To the crew that has been out here, to the different opportunities that we have had [indiscernible] with George when we have taken our walks and talked about things that we need to see happen and that are happening. It is great. We are very excited. Diana, it is going to be a joy to again see this magnificent Cherry Blossom Festival become a reality and your leadership. And Barbara, my friend, thank you for all that you do.
The 96th anniversary of the Cherry Blossom Festival, commemorating 96 years of a gift from Japan of these magnificent trees -- my view from this podium is to see these pink and white blossoms against the blue sky. I mean, it is awesome. In so many parts of the country we look for the sign of spring by a red robin; that might be the first sign. But here in the Washington D.C. area it is when we see these cherry blossoms. The world is going to come and visit. They are going to see these magnificent trees. In fact, during an entire year we have 25 million visitors that come to the National Mall. This is really quite incredible.
I want to thank Chip Akridge who is the Chairman of
the Trust for the National Mall because Chip and Mary and I and Peggy -- we had
a press conference a few months back. Chip will head up the effort to help
raise the funds to help us do more things with regard to the National Mall; to
preserve this magnificent property, the icons that we have - the Washington Monument;
the Jefferson Memorial; the Lincoln, the acknowledgment of the service, men and
women who have protected our freedom throughout the history of the United States
- that is shown here in the National Mall. It is awesome.
Peggy talked about some of the positive things that
are happening. Let me just try to encapsulate. What you will see
is nearly $7 million that has now been put in place here at the National Mall. To
give you an idea, you have seen - those of you that are in the area - miles upon
miles of snow fence, the wooden stake fences. You will now see that they
are not there. There are some segments that remain but we have now put
in over four miles of the chain and post done in a gracious fashion. It
really adds to the dignity of what this mall means to Americans. And I
want to thank, again, the crew that has been doing this.
We put in the new sod at the Lincoln Memorial, new sod at the Jefferson Memorial. We have a new sidewalk around the Jefferson Memorial because, unfortunately, there have been some areas that have been flooding. And rather than having our guests get into the mud, they now have a new sidewalk that they can enjoy. At the Lincoln Memorial for some years now, there have been temporary security barriers that just are not appealing to the eye; those will be replaced. The jersey barriers will go and this year we will put in the unobtrusive --but the bollards that really add to it, that allow people like Sal and Jackie and all of the wonderful men and women of the National Park Service Police to do their job but to do it in a fashion that exudes the dignity that is inherent in their reputation.
A variety of things that will be taking place -- a new metro kiosk that will be at the Smithsonian stop. The new grass is going to be really quite tremendous, and I want to thank Safe Lawn, another partner of ours that has been -- they have contributed $30,000 because on some areas where you have 25 million visitors, sometimes you get a little bit of heavy use and they are helping us to rejuvenate these lawns.
You will see that in our plans for next year, there will be at $10 million addition to the area outside of the Jefferson Memorial so that we can address the sea wall, again, because we are having so much of the flooding, the mud that takes place there. You will see now with this nearly $7-million rejuvenation, 400 trash receptacles. On any given day we collect three tons of trash. And on the fourth of July, it is 15 tons of trash; a lot of work. But now, it is going to be -- where you can put your trash -- they are very attractive receptacles. That is a good thing.
So this is the mall. This is the United States of America. This is
what the world comes to see and they see the pride that we have in our history,
in all that we mean and what democracy means. This is the temple of democracy
and Americans are now encouraged and invited to come see their mall and to enjoy
it. And again, to acknowledge what the National Park Service is doing as
the stewards of this mall and doing it in a fine fashion. I thank you for
that and I wish to the people that have done so much work on the Cherry Blossom
Festival a thank you and a great success again this year.