Comments on Status of NPS Cooperative Services Fund Revenues and Expenditures

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO commented on whether contributions to the National Park Service's (NPS) Cooperating Association Fund were donations or assessments collected from cooperating associations. GAO noted that: (1) the contributions to the fund were donations, since the associations made them voluntarily and did not suffer adverse consequences when they did not contribute; (2) NPS could properly use the fund to pay for travel and subsistence expenses for federal employees, since those expenses furthered general NPS purposes; and (3) NPS could only pay nonfederal employees' travel and subsistence expenses from the fund when those persons performed a direct service to the government.