U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., September 25, 1974. Hon. JOHN D. DINGELL, DEAR MR. DINGELL: Thank you for your letter of August 22, which is in conjunction with your letter of July 17, pertaining to the concession operations and plans of Music Corporation of America, Inc. (MCA), at Yosemite National Park. The Yosemite Park and Curry Company has been successfully operating in Yosemite National Park for many years. Several years ago, 53 percent of the outstanding stock was acquired by the U.S. Natural Resources, Inc. In August 1973, this 53 percent was sold by U.S. Natural Resources, Inc., to MCA, Inc. Immediately thereafter, MCA issued a tender offer for the remaining outstanding shares of common stock of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, and by this means acquired a total of approximately 96 percent of the outstanding shares. This transaction was in accordance with applicable rules and regulations and is consonant with many such transactions which occur nationwide in commercial business activities. It is the primary responsibility of the National Park Service to assure that any new operator is qualified managerially and financially to acquire and operate the concession. MCA, Inc., through its two other subsidiaries, Almours Securities, Inc., and Landmark Service, has considerable experience as a National Park Service concessioner, and its performance, through these subsidiaries, has been and continues to be satisfactory. Therefore, the company was considered acceptable as the concessioner through its newly acquired subsidiary, Yosemite Park and Curry Company. You may rest assured the company is well aware of the policies and goals established by the Congress and this Department. Concessioners are permitted to provide only such types of accommodations, facilities, and services, and sell only those lines of merchandise, that are approved by the National Park Service. They are not permitted to establish lines of services or sales simply because they may be profitable. Such accommodations, facilities, and services must be in harmony with what is considered appropriate for the area. In addition, concessioners are required to provide only services and facilities considered necessary by the Service to meet visitor needs, regardless of whether each individual operation may be profitable, so long as the concessioner is afforded an opportunity to make a profit from its overall operation. We would like to point out that MCA, Inc., along with other concessioners in Yosemite, offers a wide range of accommodations, facilities, and services considered necessary for visitor enjoyment and has the approval of the Service. In my letter of August 13, I advised that the National Park Service drafted a new proposed master plan for Yosemite National Park in 1971 which, since that time, has been updated, revised, and thoroughly scrutinized, in light of the aforementioned policies and guidelines, by the Service, the concessioner, and the public. The final draft proposal and environmental impact statement are currently being reviewed by Service officials in Washington, and they will be available for further public review tentatively in late October in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mammoth or Fresno, and the park. At that time, the future of Yosemite, including the proposed replacement of the existing 150 concessioneroperated tents at Camp Curry with 150 moderately priced units, as one of many alternatives, will be discussed. No expansion of facilities is contemplated in the proposed plan, which basically, addresses itself to replacement and rehabilitation of existing facilities. The Service, pursant to policy, discourages the use of concession facilities for conventions and other group gatherings during the season of heavy visitation. However, concessioners have for many years hosted such gatherings during “off” seasons with Service approval. This is not only sound business practice, but it also provides such groups of people the opportunity to visit Yosemite when it is not crowded. Thus, MCA, Inc., recently sought to attract "off" season convention business through the dissemination of a prepared brochure. Apparently, the public has misconstrued the intent of that publication and believes that MCA, Inc., intends to make the park a convention center to the exclusion of "on" season visistors, which simply is not the case. This Department has no intention of abdicating its responsibilities to the public for managing park resources as intended by law and policy. 47-059-75-2 As requested, we are providing you with one copy each of the concession contracts currently in effect in the following parks: For your additional information, we are enclosing a copy of the Act of October 9, 1965 (79 Stat. 969; 16 U.S.C. 20), which sets forth the basic concession policies. by which the National Park Service is guided. DEAR MR. DINGELL: Secretary Morton has asked me to more fully discuss some of the issues you raised in your letters of July 17 and August 22, 1974, concerning concessioner activities particularly in Yosemite National Park. I can reassure you that the Department of the Interior is well aware of the concessioner activities within the parks. The recent focus of national concern that has been directed at MCA, Inc., at Yosemite has resulted from proposals for upgrading deteriorating facilities and for the establishment of master plan proposals for the concessioner and for the park in general. It is understandable that many members of the public are highly apprehensive about Government and concessioner development plans for one of the most important of our national treasures. As you know, some limited amount of man-made development is necessary to enable visitors to enjoy the park and to absorb the impact of this use. No development is permitted that would destroy the very thing that people enjoy and appreciate. At present, we are studying various alternatives to better preserve the 1 Concessioner does not provide promotional materials for this operation. park and serve the American people. We are very anxious to share the work that we have done so far with the public in order to mold and fashion a good and useful plan for the park. There has been some misunderstanding as to what will be proposed for development. Some of the controversial proposals reported in the press have already been rejected and are not included in any part of our draft master plan. Other reported proposals will be discussed as alternatives. Of course, no proposals will become firm until we have had the opportunity to get public input. We hope to hold public meetings on our planning efforts later this fall. I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to address some of the specific points in your letters to the Secretary. The use of park facilities by groups, including the use of concessioner lodging units for meetings and small conventions, is considered an appropriate use. These conventions occur during the "off-season" and utilize facilities that are necessary for use during the high use visitor season; no special conference facilities exist and none are proposed. These conventions at Yosemite usually number about 30 to 50 attendees and rarely exceed the use of 100 out of the nearly 1,500 units available in the valley. We feel that this use is beneficial not only to the public who can get a park experience through its attendance at their conferences, but also to the economic well being of the concessioner. The economic viability of the concessioner results in better and more efficient service to all visitors in the long run. The Yosemite Park and Curry Company has been successfully operating in Yosemite National Park for many years. It was in Yosemite Valley before the National Park Service was established. Several years ago, 53 percent of the outstanding stock of this company was acquired by the U.S. Natural Resources, Inc. In August 1973, this 53 percent was sold by U.S. Natural Resources, Inc., to MCA, Inc. Immediately thereafter, MCA issued a tender offer for the remaining outstanding shares of common stock of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, and by this means acquired a total of approximately 96 percent of the outstanding shares. MCA, Inc., through its two other subsidiaries. Almours Securities, Inc., and Landmark Services, has considerable experience as a Service concessioner, and its performance, through these subsidiaries, has been and continues to be satisfactory. The company is qualified managerially and financially to acquire and operate the concession. Concessioners are required to provide only services and facilities considered necessary to meet visitor needs. The types of accommodations, facilities, services, and lines of merchandise, as well as all prices are approved by the Service. The proposal for the 150 units at Camp Curry evolved out of the need to replace deteriorating and ugly tent-cabins with more desirable units. These tent units are the last lodging facilities to be used by visitors. With the provision of these moderate priced units, the proportion of low price units in the park would change from 59 percent to 50 percent. Due to the large amount of public interest in this proposal voiced at the public meeting that you mentioned, we decided to postpone any decision on these units until after the master plan has been aired. We would like to point out that this proposal preceded MCA's acquisition of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company by more than a year. Your recitation of concessioner facilities in Yosemite Valley is basically correct. Most of the facilities mentioned have been in the valley in one form or another for quite some time. At present, these facilities serve a valley visitation of 18,000 people on a busy day. The average length of stay is now around 2 days. The valley once had a cattle grazing operation, a slaughterhouse, and a U.S. Cavalry barracks. These, of course, are gone now and our intention is to continue to reduce the footprint of physical development in the valley while maintaining a quality visitor experience. Much of the recent outcry over concessioner development has been based upon a deep felt concern to preserve our national parks. Preservation of parklands is the basic tenet of our legislative mandate and administrative policy. We can assure you that no development or use will be permitted that compromises the integrity of park resources. We are confident that the employees of this Department and of the National Park Service share your concern that parks not be despoiled by misuse. I understand that your office has already received correspondence from us in this matter and that you have the copies of concessioner contract material you requested. Sincerely yours, (Signed) CURTIS BOHLEN, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior. SELECT COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS, Mr. CURTIS BOHLEN, Assistant Secretary, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. BOHLEN: Thank you for your September 25, 1974, letter to me concerning concession operations at Yosemite National Park. Since the Subcommittee on Activities of Regulatory Agencies, which I chair, and the House Committee en Government Operation's Subcommittee on Conservation and Natural Resources, which is chaired by Representative Henry S. Reuss, have joined in examining the National Park Service's administration of concessions at Yosemite and elsewhere, I would appreciate your providing to the Reuss Subcommittee a copy of your letter and the enclosures. Also please provide a copy of these documents to the General Accounting Office. Your letter refers to an August 13 letter which you sent to me, but I have not yet received it. Perhaps it was misdirected. I would appreciate your promptly providing a copy of that letter to Chairman Reuss and to me. In discussing the MCA takeover of Yosemite Park and Curry Company, you state that the "transaction was in accordance with applicable rules and regulations." Please provide to us a copy of those rules and regulations. Sincerely yours, JOHN D. DINGELL, Chairman, Subcommittee on Activities of Regulatory Agencies. Hon. JOHN D. DINGELL U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., December 27, 1974. Chairman, Subcommittee on Activities of Regulatory Agencies, Select Committee on Small Business, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. DINGELL: Thank you for your letter of October 30 concerning concession operations in Yosemite National Park. My letter to you of September 25, copy enclosed for your ready reference, made an inaccurate reference to a letter of August 13 from me to you. The August 13 letter to which we referred was signed by Secretary Morton and a copy of this is also enclosed for your ready reference. Further, I wrote to you on October 21 in an effort to clear up the matter and am enclosing a copy of that letter for your information also. I hope this clarifies the apparent misunderstanding caused by my letter of September 25 and its inaccurate reference to a previous letter of August 13 from me to you. Our letter of September 25 explained how the Music Corporation of America, Inc., acquired approximately 96 percent of the outstanding shares of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and stated. in part, "This transaction was in accordance with applicable rules and regulations ***." Your October 30 letter requests that we provide you with a copy of those rules and regulations. The reference in our letter concluded with the statement that the transaction was consonant with many such transactions which occur nationwide in commercial business activities. By this statement, it was our intent to advise that the transaction was subject to all authorizations, consents, orders and approvals required to be taken or obtained by the parties to the transaction by Federal, State, and local government authorities. It is the responsibility of the parties to any such transaction to comply with all requirements. It is the responsibility of the appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies to assure, pursuant to their procedures, that all applicable regulations are complied with. As stated in our letter of September 25, it is the primary responsibility of the National Park Service to assure that any new operator is qualified managerially and financially to acquire and operate the concession. The determination that MCA, Inc., was acceptable was based on its considerable experience as a satisfactory concessioner in National Park Service concession operations through its subsidiaries, Landmark Services, Inc., and Almours Securities, Inc. We are sending copies of this letter to the Honorable Henry S. Reuss, House of Representatives; the General Accounting Office; and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives. Sincerely yours, Enclosures. CURTIS BOHLEN, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior. [A copy of the August 13, 1974, letter mentioned by Mr. Bohlen was later given to Congressman Dingell. It follows:] Hon. JOHN D. DINGELL AUGUST 13, 1974. DEAR MR. DINGELL: Thank you for your inquiry concerning plans of Music Corporation of America, Inc. (MCA), for Yosemite National Park. The Yosemite Park and Curry Company, a subsidiary of MCA, Inc., provides accommodations, facilities, and services for the visiting public in Yosemite National Park, under its concession contract with the National Park Service. In response to your specific question concerning additional National Park System areas in which MCA, Inc., currently provides concession services, two subsidiaries of MCA, Inc., namely Almours Securities, Inc., and Landmark Services, Inc.. operate within National Capital Parks (Washington, D.C., and its environs), under individual concession contracts with the National Park Service. The management and planning for Yosemite National Park are the responsibility of the National Park Service. Any proposal by the concessioner must be evaluated in relation to our basic purpose: "to conserve the scenery and natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Also, it must be in accordance with the park's management objectives, the concepts presented in the master plan, and the administrative policies for natural areas. Further, it must be in compliance with the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In accordance with NEPA and our planning process, we attempt to involve the public as early and as fully as possible in the decisionmaking process. In this context, we had a public meeting on a master plan for Yosemite that was drafted in 1971. As a result of the public input and additional studies that have been made since that time, we are now drafting a new master plan and environmental statement along with alternatives being developed for a Yosemite Valley Development Concept Plan. These documents will be taken to public meetings this fall, at which time additional public comments will be welcome. One consideration of the Yosemite master plan is to allow no further expansion of overnight accommodations beyond that which has already been committed to the Yosemite Park and Curry Company until further carrying capacity studies have been completed. Construction of facilities that of themselves would attract more people to Yosemite Valley will not be allowed. It is our continuing policy to encourage private enterprise to provide additional accommodations outside the boundaries of national parks and wherever possible. |