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Stan Albright
Stan Albright was interviewed on October 7, 1991 by William Schneider and Dan O'Neill in Vail, Colorado where he was attending the 75th anniversary meeting of the National Park Service. In this interview, Stan talks about his work as National Park Service Area Director for Alaska from about 1971 to 1975. A predominant theme in this interview is how poorly the National Park Services' Alaska Task Force teams worked with the Alaska Area Office staff. Although he did not give any specifics and tended to talk in general terms, Stan emphasized that the Alaska Task Force study teams could have avoided much trouble by drawing on the local National Park Service's expertise. As Area Director, he had a different approach to the selection of new park areas than some of the task force members. He suggests that the study team may have wanted to go for more far-reaching changes than he did. Often during the interview he talked around issues, using few specific examples, and was obviously uncomfortable with disclosing details that would point a finger at others in the Park Service.
Digital Asset Information
Archive #: Oral History 91-22-30
Project: Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve
Date of Interview: Oct 7, 1991
Narrator(s): Stan Albright
Interviewer(s): Dan O'Neill, Bill Schneider
Location of Interview:
Funding Partners:
National Park Service
Alternate Transcripts
There is no alternate transcript for this interview.
Themes
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Alaska Task Force, Community Relationships, Effect of Park Creation, National Park Service, National Park Service Employees, Park Administration, Park Establishment, Park History, Park Management Issues, Planning, Politics, Subsistence, Working for the National Park Service
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Sections
1) Personal background, education, and professional history
2) Early interest in the National Park Service
3) What attracted him to Alaska
4) The political climate of the time, regarding the National Park Service's expansion in Alaska
5) The Alaska Task Force, its creation and conflicts with the Area Office
6) A difference in approach to the addition of lands to the park service system in Alaska
7) The National Park Service's initial report on park development in Alaska
8) What he means by "park quality"
9) The Alaska Task Force's sensitivity to subsistence issues
10) Differences of opinion on staffing levels and facilities development of the National Park Service in Alaska
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Transcript
Section 1: Bishop, California\Yosemite National Park\ Hawaii Volcanoes\ Grand Canyon National Park\ Bandolier National Monument\ Pacific Northwest Region\ Alaska Area Office\ Sequoia National Park\ Washington, D.C. - NPS\ Pacific Region|
Section 2: Albright, Horace\ Albright, Helen\ Yosemite National Park\ Murdock, Nels|
Section 3: Alaska - attributes\ Alaska Area Office\ National Park Service - expansion\ Rutter, John\ National Park Service - history in Alaska\ National Park Service - funding in Alaska|
Section 4: National Park Service - history in Alaska\ National Park Service - attitudes toward\ Alaska - attitudes\ states' rights\ Alaska - individualism\ land selections\ ANCSA\ Denali National Park - hotel fire\ Denali National Park - Wonder Lake road|
Section 5: Swem, Ted\ The Alaska Task Force\ Regional Office\ National Park Service - organizational conflict\ The Alaska Task Force - autonomy\ Rutter, John\ Albright, Stan\ "chain of command"|
Section 6: The Alaska Task Force - inexperience in Alaska\ park expansions - inclusiveness\ land selections - park criteria\ subsistence studies|
Section 7: The Alaska Task Force\ National Park Service - planning\ field trips - impact\ subsistence issue - delicacy\ National Park Service - administrative procedures\ ANILCA - time frame\ The Alaska Task Force - management\ "The Funny Book"|
Section 8: park selection - national significance\ park selection - suitability\ park selection - feasibility\ preservation - standards\ National Park Service - history in Alaska\ air strips - impact\ visitors - as park rationale|
Section 9: Kauffman, John\ Belous, Bob\ preservation - cultural values\ subsistence - definition\ Native people - subsistence\ subsistence - non-Native\ National Park Service - cultural values\ preservation - philosophy\ "the cultural thing"\ cultural values - importance of\ ANCSA\ Marine Mammal Act\ ethnic versus cultural values\ Bradley, Zorro\ National Park Service - changing attitudes of\ Brown, Bill|
Section 10: National Park Service - expansion\ Yukon-Charley - facilities\ Brown, Bill\ Yukon-Charley - organizational growth\ National Park Service - philosophy\ preservation - philosophy\ parks - visitor access\ visitors - NPS policy|