Foundation Document

 

This Foundation Document has been prepared as a collaborative effort between park and regional staff. Some research, annotations, and appendices cannot be translated to digital use. Non machine-readable versions of the entire document with annotations are available by request.

Document approved by National Park Service, Intermountain Region (now Region 7,8) September 2014.


Mission of the National Park Service

The National Park Service (NPS) preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The National Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world.The NPS core values are a framework in which the National Park Service accomplishes its mission. They express the manner in which, both individually and collectively, the National Park Service pursues its mission. The NPS core values are:

  • Shared stewardship: We share a commitment to resource stewardship with the global preservation community.
  • Excellence: We strive continually to learn and improve so that we may achieve the highest ideals of public service.
  • Integrity: We deal honestly and fairly with the public and one another.
  • Tradition: We are proud of it; we learn from it; we are not bound by it.
  • Respect: We embrace each other’s differences so that we may enrich the well-being of everyone.

The National Park Service is a bureau within the Department of the Interior. While numerous national park system units were created prior to 1916, it was not until August 25, 1916, that President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act formally establishing the National Park Service.The national park system continues to grow and comprises 401 park units covering more than 84 million acres in every state, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. These units include, but are not limited to, national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House. The variety and diversity of park units throughout the nation require a strong commitment to resource stewardship and management to ensure both the protection and enjoyment of these resources for future generations.

 

Introduction

Every unit of the national park system will have a foundational document to provide basic guidance for planning and management decisions—a foundation for planning and management. The core components of a foundation document include a brief description of the park as well as the park’s purpose, significance, fundamental resources and values, other important resources and values, and interpretive themes. The foundation document also includes special mandates and administrative commitments, an assessment of planning and data needs that identifies planning issues, planning products to be developed, and the associated studies and data required for park planning. Along with the core components, the assessment provides a focus for park planning activities and establishes a baseline from which planning documents are developed.

A primary benefit of developing a foundation document is the opportunity to integrate and coordinate all kinds and levels of planning from a single, shared understanding of what is most important about the park. The process of developing a foundation document begins with gathering and integrating information about the park. Next, this information is refined and focused to determine what the most important attributes of the park are. The process of preparing a foundation document aids park managers, staff, and the public in identifying and clearly stating in one document the essential information that is necessary for park management to consider when determining future planning efforts, outlining key planning issues, and protecting resources and values that are integral to park purpose and identity.

While not included in this document, a park atlas is also part of a foundation project. The atlas is a series of maps compiled from available geographic information system (GIS) data on natural and cultural resources, visitor use patterns, facilities, and other topics. It serves as a GIS-based support tool for planning and park operations. The atlas is published as a (hard copy) paper product and as geospatial data for use in a web mapping environment.

 

Part 1: Core Components

The core components of a foundation document include a brief description of the park, park purpose, significance statements, fundamental resources and values, other important resources and values, and interpretive themes. These components are core because they typically do not change over time. Core components are expected to be used in future planning and management efforts.

 

 


Part 2: Dynamic Components


The dynamic components of a foundation document include special mandates and administrative commitments and an assessment of planning and data needs. These components are dynamic because they will change over time. New special mandates can be established and new administrative commitments made. As conditions and trends of fundamental and other important resources and values change over time, the analysis of planning and data needs will need to be revisited and revised, along with key issues. Therefore, this part of the foundation document will be updated accordingly.

 

 

Analysis of Fundamental Resources and Values

The fundamental resource or value analysis table includes current conditions, potential threats and opportunities, planning and data needs, and selected laws and NPS policies related to management of the identified resource or value.

 

Analysis of Other Important Resources and Values

 

Identification of Key Issues and Associated Planning and Data Needs

This section considers key issues to be addressed in planning and management and therefore takes a broader view over the primary focus of part 1. A key issue focuses on a question that is important for a park. Key issues often raise questions regarding park purpose and significance and fundamental and other important resources and values. For example, a key issue may pertain to the potential for a fundamental or other important resource or value in a park to be detrimentally affected by discretionary management decisions. A key issue may also address crucial questions not directly related to purpose and significance, but still indirectly affects them. Usually, a key issue is one that a future planning effort or data collection needs to address and requires a decision by NPS managers.

 

Planning and Data Needs

The planning and data needs listed here are directly related to protecting fundamental resources and values, park significance, and park purpose, as well as addressing key issues. To successfully undertake a planning effort, information from sources such as inventories, studies, research activities, and analyses may be required to provide adequate knowledge of park resources and visitor information. Such information sources have been identified as data needs. Geospatial mapping tasks and products are included in data needs.

Items considered of the utmost importance were identified as high priority, and other items identified, but not rising to the level of high priority, were listed as either medium- or low- priority needs. These priorities inform park management efforts to secure funding and support for planning projects.

 

Appendix C: Basics for Wilderness Stewardship

 

Wilderness Background Information

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (GLCA) is located in the heart of the rugged, remote and inaccessible canyon country of northern Arizona and southern Utah. GLCA occupies approximately 1,255,000 acres in the Colorado Plateau and shares boundaries with Grand Canyon National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and the Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument. Congress formally established GLCA in 1972 “to provide for public outdoor recreation use and enjoyment of Lake Powell and lands adjacent thereto…and to preserve scenic, scientific, and historic features contributing to public enjoyment of the area.”

In 1980, approximately 588,855 acres, or 47% of GLCA, were proposed for wilderness designation. The proposed wilderness area is precisely congruent with GLCA’s Natural management zone defined in the General Management Plan with the exception of (1) suitable state lands and state mineral rights, (2) federal oil-gas leases (zoned as potential wilderness additions upon the expiration of each lease) and, (3) boundary additions (Figure 3, page 6). The boundary of the wilderness area at lakeshore is coincident with the fluctuating surface of Lake Powell except for Antelope Island. Below approximately 3,620 feet Antelope Island connects to the mainland and ceases to be an island. For this situation the Wilderness would be coincident with the top of the south side of the channel between this island and Castle Rock.

The wilderness area also includes a unique Operation and Maintenance (O&M) zone that extends inland ½ mile from the high water elevation of Lake Powell (3,711 feet above mean sea level) or to the withdrawal boundary, whichever is the lesser distance. The purpose of this zone is to provide Bureau of Reclamation latitude to conduct routine and emergency operations and maintenance activities that might otherwise conflict with the wilderness designation.

The GLCA wilderness is broken up into 11 different units. From northeast to southwest they include: the Orange Cliffs, Dark Canyon, Dirty Devil, Little Rockies, Moki-Mancos Mesa, Escalante, Wilson Mesa, San Juan, Kaiparowits, Antelope Island and Paria units.

 

This Foundation Document has been prepared as a collaborative effort between park and regional staff. Some research, annotations, and appendices cannot be translated to digital use. Non machine-readable versions of the entire document with annotations are available by request.

Document approved by National Park Service, Intermountain Region (now Region 7,8) September 2014.

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Last updated: February 14, 2024

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Contact Info

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PO Box 1507
Page, AZ 86040

Phone:

928 608-6200
Receptionist available at Glen Canyon Headquarters from 7 am to 4 pm MST, Monday through Friday. The phone is not monitored when the building is closed. If you are having an emergency, call 911 or hail National Park Service on Marine Band 16.

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