Creating partnerships for our public lands.

The following passages are excerpts from David Rockefeller, Jr., who delivered this speech at the Nov. 18 Joint Ventures: Partnerships in Stewardship Conference in Los Angeles, Calif. Rockefeller is vice chair of the National Park Foundation..

Not only have I been privileged to serve for more than eight years on the National Park Foundation board, but I have been glad to help a local support group, Friends of Acadia, strengthen its relationship with the leadership of Acadia National Park (my summer neighbor on the Maine coast), by helping to put volunteers to work on Acadia's walking trails, and welcoming the newest superintendent at a reception in our house last summer.

It is clear to me that any effective strategy for building public support of our national lands must engage the local, regional and national players in concert. As vice chair of the National Park Foundation (NPF), I pledge to pursue a course of "inclusion and collaboration," not only with our federal partners but with our private counterparts whose work is to support individual parks. I urge all of you to work with us.

I am especially proud of the non-financial ways in which the NPF has been able to support the National Park Service and System, such as:

* The Message Project that clarified the identity of the national parks;

* The national parks pass that connects the American public more closely to their parks; and

* The fee study that helped to evaluate and renew the fee demonstration project.

These were all efforts that involved much more than money.

In the eight years since Jim Maddy has been president of the National Park Foundation, we have seen a 1,000-percent growth in benefits flowing from us to national parks. We are especially proud of our largest corporate partnerships with Ford (the Glacier red busses), American Airlines, Discovery Communications (Visitor Center films), Kodak and Time Magazine (free inserts focused on the parks.)

We are proud of our growing relationships with new local private initiatives like the Glacier Fund and Crater Lake National Park Trust.

We are proud of our most inspirational grant programs, like parks as classrooms, and refurbishing the Washington Monument.

At the same time NPF has been growing, so have the leading local support groups such as the Golden Gate Conservancy, the Yellowstone Foundation, the Yosemite Fund and Friends of Acadia.

NPF is now focused on its next phase of growth, grounded on the premise that a strong partnership with the American people is essential for the future of our national parks. Our mission is "to strengthen the enduring connection between the American people and their National Parks."

For example, to educate an increasingly diverse population of American school children on the value of national parks, and simultaneously to encourage an aging "baby boom" generation that parks can benefit from their time and talent as volunteers. So our mission is not to build roads, nor employee housing traits, not to build nor maintain the infrastructure, but to create better connections between the visitor and the place.

I refer to this distinction as the "bright line" between the federal responsibility and the private opportunity. But why is a bright line important? Isn't it easier for the land managers and their partners to be opportunistic in raising funds from whatever source for whatever project pops up? In the short run, maybe so. But in the long run, I believe a bright line of separation is essential. If significant new private support of national parks is to be forthcoming, I believe that the American people--especially the large sophisticated donors--need to bare assurances that their private dollars will not be used to offset public responsibilities.

NPF stands ready to leverage its own assets on behalf of that enduring connection between people and parks. What are those assets? Our Congressional Charter (which gives us our special relationship with the Park Service), our talented board and professional staff, our financial assets, our corporate partnerships and our partnership with local support organizations.

Starting with this base, I believe we are poised to enlist thousands of Americans in a grand campaign to make the park experience available to everyone. We and the established local support groups have a track record of innovation and inspirational programs that engage the public in their parks. For NPF, these fall into five categories: education, volunteerism, visitor experience, community engagement and programs of national significance all programs that are of great importance to the service, attractive to potential donors and not duplicative of activities principally supported by congressional appropriations.

Thank you very much.