---  On Saturday, November 5, the National Parks Subcommittee will examine issues affecting management of archaeological, cultural and historical resources at Mesa Verde National Park and other units of the National Park System.  Witnesses include Laura Joss, intermountain region associate director for cultural resources, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; Gary Hayes, chairman, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Towoac, CO; James Dyer, former board member, Mesa Verde Foundation, Durango, CO; Reno Keoni Franklin, chairman, National Association of Tribal Historical Preservation Officers; and Dr. Gail Dethloff, senior director, center for park research, National Parks Conservation Association, Fort Collins, CO.  (CCC Recreation Hall, Mile Post 19, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.)

---  On Tuesday, November 8, the full committee will hear testimony on market developments for U.S. natural gas, including the approval process and potential for liquefied natural gas exports.  Witnesses include Chris Smith, deputy assistant secretary for oil and natural gas, office of fossil energy, U.S. Department of Energy; Jeff Wright, director, office of energy projects, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Kenneth B. Medlock III, fellow in energy and resource economics and deputy director, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, Houston, TX; Andrew Slaughter, business environment advisor, Upstream Americas, Shell Exploration and Production Company, Houston, TX; and Jim Collins, director of underground utilities, City of Hamilton, Ohio, Hamilton, Ohio. (Dirksen 366 at 10:00 a.m.)

---  On Thursday, November 10, the full committee will hold a business meeting to consider pending calendar business.  An agenda will be posted next week to the website.  (Dirksen 366 at 9:30 a.m.)

Bonuses …

---   A report released today on the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program highlights how less than a dozen projects, in their first year, created more than 1,500 jobs while generating nearly $59 million of labor income, plus lots of environmental benefits on our National Forests.  The program’s goal is to achieve, through collaboration, increased forest benefits for people, water and wildlife.   “The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program is bringing communities from around the country together to create jobs, restore forest and watershed health and reduce the costs of wildfire suppression at impressive scales,” Chairman Bingaman said.  “This program and its many supporters are charting a successful path forward for National Forest management.”

---   Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee is proud to note that Kirsten Talken-Spalding, a 20-year National Park Service (NPS) veteran and the committee’s recent Bevinetto Fellow, was named this week as the first superintendent at our nation’s newest national park -- Fort Monroe National Monument.  (President Obama designated the 19th century former Army post in Hampton, Va., as a national monument on Tuesday.)   As a Bevinetto Fellow, Talken-Spalding worked with our committee in 2010-11.  The fellowship is a two-year leadership program and is widely regarded as one of the most effective developmental programs in the National Park Service.  Congress established the fellowship in 1988 to honor the memory of Tony Bevinetto, a staff member of Senate Energy Committee and a previous National Park Service employee.

---   For the third consecutive Congress, the Committee’s website has earned a Gold Mouse Award from the Congressional Management Foundation.  More details are available in this news release.

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