At 36, Walker was the youngest director to hold the office and the second appointed from outside of the NPS. Lacking park experience, Walker made Russell E. Dickenson, an NPS careerist, his deputy. Walker advocated a policy of "stabilization", foreseeing that NPS funding and staffing would be inadequate for a continuing high influx of new parks and program responsibilities. Fourteen areas nevertheless joined the park system during his two years as director, including the first two national preserves. Nixon's resignation in August 1974 presaged Walker's replacement five months later. As director, he realigned NPS regional boundaries and added North Atlantic and Rocky Mountain offices. Under Walker, the early planning was done for the Servicewide American Revolution Bicentennial activities. The National Park Service established a plan to restructure organizationally in response to the diverse changes that have confronted it over the past several decades, to the National Performance Review, and to legally mandated personnel reductions. The resultant Restructuring Plan for the National Park Service built upon earlier efforts within the Service – the 21st Century Task Force Report, the
Vail Agenda, the NPS Strategic Plan, and the Recommendations of the Reorganization Work Group – all of which have proposed significant, substantive improvements in the organization. The plan called for the reduction of central offices and the establishment of sixteen ecological-cultural-geographical based clusters of 10-225 park units in seven regions. The first steps were taken in 1995 to begin the change. By 2000, the restructuring plan had been revised four times leaving seven regions, which were substantially smaller than before. Of the sixteen 'eco-clusters' envisioned in the plan, only those clusters based on older regional offices, i.e., Boston (Mid-Atlantic), Seattle (Pacific Northwest), and Santa Fe (Southwest) exist. == Later life and career ==