Taking a look at demographic studies, the Park Service has decided its centennial in 2016 will be a way to draw in new visitors and develop a sense of citizen stewardship, said National Park Service Director Mary Bomar.

Speaking on Wednesday to a convention of more than 500 park superintendents, deputy superintendents and a new generation of young people the agency is grooming for leadership, Bomar said park attendance is on the wane.

"We cannot provide for enjoyment if we do not engage and encourage all Americans to enjoy their parks," Bomar said.

A demographic study presented by Emilyn Sheffield, head of the Recreation Administration and Parks Management department at California State University, Chico, showed that 55 percent of the last 100 million people added to the U.S. Census were born in another country or have parents who were.

Add that statistic to the fact that 330 Americans are reaching 60 years of age every hour and thereby entering their prime traveling years, Sheffield said, and the signposts are clear.

But now, the typical park visitor is white, well-educated, affluent, 20-50 years old and traveling in a small group of one to four people. And while more than 275 million people visited the system's 391 parks last year, that was a decline since a peak in the mid 1990s.

Sheffield said those not visiting parks are young people, those over 65, racial minorities, people with limited English and those with lower incomes. And while comments gathered in surveys show these groups don't believe the Park Service itself isn't welcoming, they do perceive bias among other park visitors.

"People are not willing to subject their children to these forces," she said.

Yet surveys show only 11 percent of respondents say they are "not interested" in national parks.

That's because Americans of all stripes still value the nation's founding egalitarian ideals, Sheffield said. Now, the park service needs to harness that idealism with new programs to get young people and their families to the parks to embrace their stewardship role.

In his keynote speech Wednesday morning, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told the Park Service employees he is urging Congress to pass the bill that could mean $2 billion for new park programs.

But two retired park superintendents said money won't solve institutional problems.

Bill Wade and Phil Bureck, leaders of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said they favor creating a commission or some other public involvement mechanism to re-evaluate Park Service governance.

Lofty goals for the centennial also should include attention to the daily details superintendents have to deal with, especially the way individual parks' budgets are assessed for overall Park Service programs at the expense of local needs.

"Roads, trails and utilities are not in very good condition," said Wade, a second-generation Park Service worker who retired from the top post at Shenandoah National Park in 1997.

The conference runs through today at the Cliff Lodge in little Cottonwood Canyon.

phenetz@sltrib.com

* Canyonlands

* Capitol Reef

* Arches

* Zion

* Bryce