Editor's note: The following op-ed column was written by Derrick Crandall, counselor to the National Park Hospitality Association.

December 20, 2016, was a Black Letter Day for America’s national parks. The National Park Service issued a new regulation – Director’s Order 100 – which invents a new Precautionary Principle designed to even further stifle creativity and innovation by the agency charged with promoting 413 special places that belong to Americans and tell our stories. This action comes 100 years after the creation of the National Park Service by Congress with this charge:

“promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations hereinafter specified by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purpose of the said parks and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life 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.

The NPS has ignored the direction of this act – and its dual missions of promotion and conservation – and has instead embraced a policy of no change, exemplified by the new Director’s Order. No change has meant a decline in real use of the national parks – visitation to the same units that existed in 1987 is actually down by 1 million visits in 2015, despite the hype of the centennial. Consider marvelous Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky – down 75 percent in visitation! The often-cited growth in visitation is mostly from four major additions on the National Mall – the World War II memorial, the FDR memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, and the Korean War Veterans memorial. All of those were changes. We need more change, not no change.

What the Trump administration needs to do with the National Park Service and all of the other federal agencies managing our Great Outdoors – 30 percent of our nation’s surface – is return to conservation principles and a new policy of Rewards for Responsiveness. No more rewarding an agency for taking no action to reduce its backlog of deferred maintenance. No more guaranteed increases in operating budgets when visitation is shrinking.

Responsiveness means information delivered via Wi-Fi welcoming visitors – including into cars as they drive through parks and other public lands. Responsiveness means modern campgrounds – that reverse a 50 percent drop in RV overnight stays in national park campgrounds since 1987 and a 25 percent drop in overnight stays in tents. Responsiveness means embracing the opportunities offered by the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps to get work done efficiently and with a very important serendipity – connecting younger Americans to their outdoor legacy. Responsiveness means attracting private investment to modernize and expand in-park lodging – mirroring the efforts of the first NPS directors Stephen Mather and Horace Albright, whose legacies of El Tovar, the Ahwahnee, and more remain cherished today. Responsiveness means adding new access on urban public lands to public waters as we invest billions to improve water quality – instead of actually closing and reducing marinas in New York and Washington, D.C. Responsiveness means following the examples of state parks in expanding services with “Learn to ...” programs and better facilities and covering a substantial part of operating expenses through fees and partners. Responsiveness means promotion of opportunities – using marketing to attract visitation and direct visitors to places and times when their expectations can be met. Responsiveness means understanding visitors – who they are and what they seek. Responsiveness means delivering value in leisure experiences, and not confusing free with good value. Responsiveness means embracing technology for convenient reservations, fees, and permits.

Are the resources available to enable Rewards for Responsiveness? Absolutely. Great examples can be found – but they remain exceptions to normal operations.

In Yellowstone, $200 million in private capital has rebuilt and replaced 30 percent of the in-park lodging and produced a LEED platinum structure for employee housing. In Golden Gate National Recreation Area, $100 million in private capital has transformed a crumbling military complex into one of the world’s finest hotels and conference centers. On the Mall, a single philanthropist has given millions – including the funding needed to fix the elevators in the Washington Monument. Unfortunately, though, this generous offer is compromised by an NPS decision to delay the repairs until 2019 – denying millions the chance to reach the top of the monument – to enable it to revamp the screening process for visitors which is scheduled to occur in 2018. In national forests, the partnership between the Forest Service and ski area operators has created world-class destinations that are now expanding further under a 2011 law which supports expansion of non-winter recreation opportunities on these same lands. And just the other week, new legislation was enacted – the NPS Centennial Act – which enables the Secretary to authorize additional, appropriate visitor services mid-contract, actions which will deliver better visitor experiences and actually boost revenues of the National Park Service!

January 2017 can and should mark the beginning of a new era in managing America’s Great Outdoors. We urge the Trump administration to implement policy changes that invite, welcome, and serve visitors to our public lands and waters – embracing innovation and partnerships – while conserving our magnificent natural and historic assets that we all cherish.