The visit is part of a national listening tour to promote a Bush administration plan to give the national park system a $3 billion gift for its 100th birthday in 2016.

It is not clear if Kempthorne or Bomar will actually be in Kailua, Kona or will appear via teleconferencing, because the March 27 session happens on the same date as sessions in Albuquerque, N.M., and Atlanta, Ga.

In Gatlinburg, Tenn., Kempthorne and Bomar found a receptive audience Tuesday night as they began the tour.

Kempthorne issued a call for special projects tied to the centennial during an overflow meeting of nearly 200 supporters and neighbors of the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

"Mr. Secretary, you have said we need to go after the big ideas and I really appreciate that," said Don Barger, regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association. "We shouldn't squander this opportunity."

Barger's organization says the park system has been operating with a shortfall of more than $800 million, resulting in a backlog of maintenance work and land acquisition. Barger said both areas should be priorities now.

Kempthorne said President Bush wants recommendations by May 31 on the Interior Department's plans for the park system's 100th anniversary and wants action soon.

"The president has been very clear that he would like to use these 10 years as the time of preparation," Kempthorne said. "It is not simply to roll out a master plan in 10 years. But instead it is to roll up our sleeves right now and get to work."

The goal is to have "actual projects on the ground, new programs that have been implemented that are in place" by 2016, the former Idaho governor said.

Tuesday's session is the first of 17 public sessions planned this month across the country.

The administration has proposed a $258 million increase in national parks' funding in fiscal 2008 to $2.4 billion — the largest increase in history.

But beyond that, the proposal offers a 10-year plan of an additional $100 million each year for operations, including restoring some 3,000 seasonal park rangers, and $100 million more annually in federal money to match $100 million in new private giving for special centennial projects.

Kempthorne picked the Smokies for this initial session because the park is so popular — some 9.4 million visitors came to the 520,000-acre preserve on the Tennessee-North Carolina border in 2006, more than double the second-most visited park — the Grand Canyon.

But he said good projects can happen anywhere.