Fire in the Parks

The Journal of the Association of National Park Rangers

Stewards for parks, visitors & each other Vol. 32, No. 4 | Fall 2016

FIRE IN THE PARKS

CONTENTS Fall 2016

Letter from the president...... 1 Malheur 101: Interpreting public land takeovers...... 2 Dark night skies: the coolest and hottest new park resource...... 5 ANGERThe Journal of the Association of National Park Rangers World Ranger Day...... 7 Vol.R 32, No. 4 Fall 2016 The human side of wildfire...... 8 Ranger (ISSN 1074-0678) is a quarterly publication of A century of SAR III: The 1980s ...... 10 the Association of National Park Rangers, an organization Ranger survey results...... 13 created to communicate for, about and with National Park Leaving with a kind heart...... 14 Service employees of all disciplines; to promote and enhance the professions, spirit and mission of National Park Service Amigos in training...... 15 employees; to support management and the perpetuation Are we failing undergrads?...... 17 of the National Park Service and the National Park System; 2016 ANPR Ranger Rendezvous...... 18 and to provide a forum for professional enrichment. In meeting these purposes, the Association provides Oral History Project: Deanne Adams...... 20 education and other training to develop and/or improve The Professional Ranger ...... 22 the knowledge and skills of park professionals and those All in the Family ...... 24 interested in the stewardship of national parks; provides a forum for discussion of common concerns of all employees; Welcome to the Family...... 25 and provides information to the public. In print: Yellowstone Ranger ...... 26 The membership of ANPR is comprised of individuals ANPR Reports ...... 27 who are entrusted with and committed to the care, study, explanation and/or protection of those natural, cultural Life Century Club ...... 27 and recreational resources included in the National Park System, and persons who support these efforts. Cover: Aerial photograph of the 2015 Rough Fire at ANPR business address P.O. Box 984, Davis, CA Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in California. 95617, www.anpr.org. Members receive Ranger as part Photo by Rita Lovato Baysinger of their membership dues. See the website or Ranger for Copyright © 2016. All rights reserved. Articles and images membership/subscription details. in this publication are the sole property of ANPR and Ranger FINAL DEADLINES magazine, except where otherwise indicated. Republication in Spring issue...... Jan. 31 whole or part is not allowed without written permission. Summer issue...... April 30 Fall issue...... July 31 Winter issue...... Nov. 15 In this issue: something that even adults have a hard time with. How do you get a 6-year-old he NPS has celebrated the ... to understand this was wrong, but not TCentennial across the land, and, in feel thrust into despair?” turn, Ranger has celebrated how far we’ve Our goal is to cover a variety of come as well as peered into the future. topics from different perspectives and In this issue, we explore topics from publish more articles about professional dark sky interpretation, to the impact subjects and discourse. Although rangers BOARD OF DIRECTORS of a massive wildfire, an analysis of together are dedicated to the unified Officers mission of the NPS, each person has a President Erika Jostad, DENA undergraduate education, and an President-elect Jan Lemons, PINN entrepreneurial approach to helping unique voice. We encourage more of Secretary Colleen Derber, WASO park guides in Nicaragua. you — particularly rangers beyond the Treasurer Tom Banks, GLAC Our cover story provides an inside American West — to become Ranger Board Members view of an evacuation of Sequoia & writers and share your stories with fel- Education & Training Katlyn Grubb, GOGA Fundraising Activities Nick Mann, DETO Kings Canyon National Parks last year low ANPR members. We are especially Internal Communications Cadence Cook, LEWI when the area park was overcome interested in receiving article ideas from Membership Services Kate Sargeant, USPP by fire. rangers in new parks, cultural and his- Professional Issues Ken Bigley, WOTR Seasonal Perspectives Lauren Kopplin, BUFF In “Malheur 101: Interpreting public torical parks, urban parks and parks in Strategic Planning Scott Warner, RETI land takeovers,” we talk to NPS the Midwest, East and South. Task Groups professionals and a reporter about If we could tap into additional International Affairs Blanca Stransky, GWMP events on public lands in Oregon, advertiser support, we could publish World Ranger Congress Bob Krumenaker, APIS Alaska and Arizona, and the politics of even more information. Please let us Staff “state’s rights.” know if you can suggest an advertiser Membership Services Alison Steiner, PORE Especially inspiring is the ANPR or a Ranger Rendezvous exhibitor to Ranger Magazine ANPR. Editor/Publisher Ann Dee Allen Oral History interview with Deanne Editorial Adviser Kendell Thompson, LIBO Adams, who has been on the forefront of We are forever grateful to our Graphic Design Sherry Albrecht the international ranger profession. advertisers and to our Association of Professional Ranger Section Perhaps one of the most poignant National Park Rangers members, who Administration Michelle Torok, articles is “Leaving with a kind heart” continue to express their support for a SAGU/TUMA Cultural Resources Alan Spears, NPCA by Jackie Gonzales, who writes: full-size magazine. Interpretation Brian Forist, “Comprehending the injustice [of Indiana University — Ann Dee Allen, Ranger editor Manzanar internment camp] is LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Finding success in leadership Erika Jostad, Denali National Park and Preserve, A conference session at Ranger Rendezvous in 2015. Ranger photo President ANPR

reetings, friends, from the far Throughout this time, you, our mem- share common goals and plans for collabo- north. As I come to a close of bers, continued to support our organiza- ration on behalf of the International Rang- my term as president of the As- tion with your time and generosity through er Federation. We are poised to continue to Gsociation of National Park Rangers this membership dues, annual giving and take a leadership role in international rang- December, I reflect on our organization’s participation in programs like mentoring er work into the future. This event further achievements over the past several years. and oral history. These programs have been shored up ANPR’s financial stability. We have much to celebrate and I am opti- hugely successful, connecting members As we move into the Association’s 40th mistic about what can be accomplished in within the organization, across professional anniversary year, I am delighted to have our next chapter. I want to encourage you disciplines and to the National Park Service been part of these achievements and am to step up and be an active part of ANPR’s as we celebrate 100 years of service. confident that ANPR has new initiatives future. During this time we advocated for NPS and accomplishments ahead. It is time for Four years ago our organization’s ex- seasonal employees to receive both health me to pass the torch to new leadership. I penses exceeded income — some years in benefits and the ability to compete for encourage you to enter the fray and be- excess of $10,000. ANPR’s financial picture merit promotion positions under the pas- come a leader in ANPR by bringing an is fairly simple. We generate income largely sage of the Land Management Workforce important issue forward, serving as a board from the annual Ranger Rendezvous, mem- Flexibility Act. member and/or volunteering your time as a bership dues and annual giving. Our ex- We just hosted the largest, most success- mentor. We pass on to you a stable organi- penses are the annual Ranger Rendezvous, ful event in ANPR’s history, the 8th World zation that can be taken to its next success production and publication of Ranger Ranger Congress. We welcomed rangers with your active participation. magazine, and salary for a part-time busi- from more than 60 nations to the U.S. to ness manager. In the intervening years we have re- tooled our business model to incorporate web-based membership management that is economical and provides more features Send us your ideas and stories for Ranger than we were able to offer independently. Your board of directors has paid close at- Editor Ann Dee Allen at tention to the details of hotel contracts and lease send your feature article [email protected]. Rendezvous expenses, enabling ANPR to Pideas to kendellthompson@ Send fully completed content for host productive and financially sustainable gmail.com. Please send letters to the these departments for the winter events. editor, completed announcements, issue by November 15. Questions? Without adding expenses we hired a photos and captions for All in the Kindly email or call Ann at new editor for Ranger magazine and regu- Family and all items for ANPR (414) 778-0026 Central time. larly work with a contract graphic designer, Actions & News, ANPR Reports and expanding our staff so that when there is book review ideas to Ranger turnover, we have greater resiliency.

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 1 Malheur Rob Arnberger Marcia Blaszak Tom Kizzia Hunter Sharp . 101: Interpreting public land takeovers By Kendell Thompson, Lincoln Boyhood

 The National Park Service has celebrated its Centennial. Malheur Visitor Center At Ranger magazine, we have marked this auspicious and 1995 Grand Canyon anniversary throughout the year. We’ve also started to National Park protesters. look to Centennial 2116. NPS photo In Ranger’s continuing series about the future of the NPS, we asked another group of deep thinkers to take a look at the issues surrounding the crossroads of public and private lands. We wanted to know how these observers view events like the 2016 siege at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and what events like these might mean 2 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers for the NPS.  Sign at Malheur refuge.

Malheur takeover protesters in Portland, Oregon. Reed Andrews photo 

 1995 National Guard at Grand Canyon. NPS photo

he Malheur incident began private land in town, a staging area where The Malheur occupation was big news, when an armed group of they lived much of the time, and wouldn’t but it was not necessarily new. Rob private militia members move,” Kizzia said. The legal dispute was Arnberger, former NPS Alaska regional took over the headquarters nuanced and “turned on the specific rules director and Grand Canyon National of the 188,000-acre U.S. that were being written to cover the new Park superintendent for 1994-2000, has TFish and Wildlife Service refuge in Harney national parks in Alaska, where the NPS a unique perspective on how the takeover County, Oregon. For 41 days, the group was supposed to grant access and not buy fits in with similar events and what it could demanded that the U.S. government relin- out unwilling inholders,” he said. mean for the future. During his tenure in quish rights to the refuge. The last of the Whereas the siege at Malheur in Oregon the NPS, Arnberger faced not just the Pil- militants surrendered on February 11, after was ostensibly a political protest against the grim family at Wrangell-St. Elias but also two of the men were shot by law enforce- federal land manager, in Alaska the Pilgrims the Arizona governor and National Guard ment officers and one died. maintained that they hardly knew what the troops intent on taking Grand Canyon Somewhat similarly, in 2003 a local NPS was when they decided to bulldoze a National Park under state control during a family that took the name Pilgrim engaged new road to their enclave. Where their sto- U.S. government shutdown. in a standoff with the National Park Ser- ry may be similar to Malheur is the ambig- At Malheur, Arnberger said, the mili- vice at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park uous support they received from the local tants wanted a public forum for their de- and Preserve in Alaska. Tom Kizzia, an townsfolk in McCarthy. Like the residents mand that the refuge be turned back over Alaskan journalist and author of Pilgrim’s of Burns, Oregon, some Alaskan locals may to the state to run, since the state would Wilderness, a True Story of Faith and have felt a general kinship with their dislike theoretically have a better connection to Madness on the Alaska Frontier, said the Pil- of federal land management practices, but the ranchers and people of the West and grims were, at least in part, NPS inholders. most in the town became unhappy with would therefore be better stewards. But the “The town was sympathetic to the the family’s tactics and the negative refuge was not on state land. rights of inholders, but later turned against attention their actions engendered. continued on pg. 4 the Pilgrims when they squatted on

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 3 We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.

—Wallace Stegner, 1960 letter to David E. Pesonen at the University of California-Berkeley Wildland Research Center

1995 Grand Canyon standoff. NPS photo

continued from pg. 3 benefit of seeking permission ... and con- delegitimize the federal government will structed a number of buildings that crossed encourage more such actions, especially in Somewhat similarly, during the 1995 onto NPS property.” the West.” U.S. government shutdown, Arizona Gov. The Pilgrim standoff had echoes of Arnberger noted that the ideological Fife Symington thought the state could the larger issue of federal land ownership. schism represented in environmental issues better run the Grand Canyon. He told the Hunter Sharp, chief ranger at Wrangell-St. appears to get little or negative attention House Resources Committee: “When God Elias at the time of the standoff, believes in the current national election. The gave us the Grand Canyon, I don’t think it was an extension of the earlier “Sage- party platforms range from aggressive, he ever intended for the lawyers to rope it brush” rebellion fostered by Secretary of Bundy-style approaches to benign neglect. off and secret it away... . In our view, the the Interior James Watt. In the mid-1980s, In a recent speech at the National Press decision to close the parks was a good sign Watt opened some federal lands to home- Club, NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis said of the need to transfer responsibility for steading, including some lands adjacent to the idea that public lands would be better important matters closer to home.” Wrangell St.-Elias. managed by the states may derive from a The Malheur militants acted out of “Robert Hale (Papa Pilgrim) was much more general attitude among some Ameri- cynicism and anarchy, whereas the Arizona more interested in having his own kingdom cans that “nothing in government is good,” governor demonstrated a political private to rule and the ability to continue to con- even though that sentiment doesn’t square vs. public land schism that has been around trol the lives of his family,” Sharp said. “He with people’s experiences with national for more than150 years. was supported by ‘land rights’ advocates parks. Jarvis pointed out the history of fed- Arnberger told National Parks Traveler’s who hired his lawyer and supported his eral land management agency development Kurt Repanshek, “The last time a state court case against the NPS. I believe that and how, despite varying missions, the attempted [a takeover of federal land] was it was a case of the two groups using each agencies are focused on the national good. in 1861 and was the proximate cause of other for publicity.” He noted that many state park systems are the Civil War. This last sentence was stated The Sagebrush rebellion and the Watt- struggling financially and that public land in just that manner to the governor when era homesteading are premised on the con- is “being well managed and is best man- I met him and his troops at the gate of cept that federal lands will be better used aged by the federal government.” Grand Canyon National Park.” by private citizens. “But then those lands Some might say that Jarvis’s words fall In contrast, the Alaska Pilgrim family will no longer belong to the general public far from the Malheur militants’ perspective. was trying to stay off the grid and out of and it will not be long before the general But as Williams told Good Magazine: Sub- the limelight. Like the Malheur radicals, public will not be welcome on those lands,” versive actions make “brave and courageous they had a basic anti-government stance Sharp said. men and women” want to protect our mag- but they didn’t want to transfer federal In Good Magazine, Terry Tempest nificent landscapes for the greater good. authority to the state. They were concerned Williams told Jennifer White that she was We have accomplished much in 100 with individual rights and wanted the reminded we are still a divided nation when years as the NPS has settled into an es- government to simply leave them alone. a Confederate reenactor at Gettysburg Na- tablished bureau. But we may have to get Marcia Blaszak, who took over as tional Military Park told her the Civil War radical in the years ahead. As we brush off Alaska regional director following was not about slavery, it was about state’s the Centennial cake crumbs, we need to Arnberger, said she would not exactly rights and the federal government “getting start looking for new ingredients to bake describe the Wrangell-St. Elias Pilgrims as in our way.” Williams said 150-year-old into the cake for 2116. The next one will squatters. They were squatters, but not on rhetoric like this was behind the siege at probably be spicy. NPS land, she said, although a number of Malheur. their buildings crossed onto NPS property. Connecting current events with the fu- Kendell Thompson is editorial adviser forRanger “The Pilgrim issues were convoluted ture, Kizzia said, “I do expect that the loud magazine and superintendent at Lincoln Boyhood to say the least,” she said. “They decided efforts by prominent politicians to National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana. to pick their own access route without the

4 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers

DarknightTHE COOLEST skies AND HOTTEST NEW PARK RESOURCE

Great Basin National Park By Steve Moore, Great Basin dark sky panorama by Kelly Carroll

heck the activities page from daily life. So is it any wonder that I’m proud to have been one of those of almost any National dark skies are becoming a primary attrac- rangers and I also credit Roberta Moore Park Service unit not tion that our park visitors not only enjoy, (now retired) and Kelly Carroll (now at embedded in an ur- but actively seek? War in the Pacific National Historical Park ban area and there is in Guam) for starting our night sky pro- likely to be at least a SPOTLIGHT ON grams. We had little or no equipment at few night sky events. NIGHT SKIES first and often used our personal telescopes Astronomy in national parks has caught on for the programs. Others who contributed The NPS and other related agencies like wildfire! are Carolyn Hunt, Annie Gilliland, Steph and organizations now formally recognize CThere may be many reasons for this, Campbell and Justin Griggs. The volun- the value of this not-so-new resource and but two are worth mentioning. First, the teers who also made this program such a are incorporating the preservation and in- majority of people are losing access to success are simply far too numerous to list. terpretation of dark night skies into their dark night skies in much of the nation. planning and public programming. Every For example, far less than half the total POPULARITY park has its own story as to how this came population has ever seen the Milky Way. about, and I will share that of my park INCREASES Our city and suburban landscape is simply here. The numbers of people coming to our too bright. Second, national parks, the Many interpretive achievements are not night sky programs increased quickly and key sanctuaries of our nation’s natural and the result of a dictate from higher authori- dramatically. Carroll observed the height- cultural treasures, are now among the last ty; they come from the passion and persua- ened public interest, and immediately sanctuaries of a natural nightscape. sion of individuals who ultimately develop went to work to expand the astronomy Looking deeply, these shared character- programs that become institutionalized. programs. Securing supervisorial and man- istics go well together. The parks and their The astronomy program at Great Basin agerial support, he had a regular schedule treasures, including primeval night skies, National Park in eastern Nevada came in place in 2011 with two nights per week are by design and intent what our cities from such a beginning. It began in about during the summer. and suburbia are not. But there was a time 2010 with individual rangers and guides By 2012, we had grown the program to when the wonders of the night skies were who brought their knowledge and love of three nights per week, and added an addi- around me almost everywhere, even in the observational astronomy and interpretation tional “dark ranger” to the team. cities and towns where I lived. to the park, and elected to give presenta- In only a few generations we are pro- tions at their regularly scheduled evening continued on pg. 6 gressively stripping that experience away programs.

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 5 continued from pg. 5

We have remained at that level since. Moreover, attendance at astronomy programs has leaped, especially during the summer. It’s not unusual to have well over 100 visitors on warm clear summer nights, sometimes close to 200. These numbers must be viewed in the light that Great Basin averages only about 100,000 visitors per year and is comparatively remote. The Great Basin Foundation, a nonprofit fundraising organization, has furthered Great Basin National our efforts with the purchase of two Park dark sky time-release Celestron 11-inch go-to telescopes, along by Kelly Carroll

to enhance it and what visitors can do to help us. This builds awareness that visitors How to enhance your park’s take with them as they return to their communities — which ultimately may translate dark sky visitor access By Steve Moore into appreciation for the value of a natural nightscape and into collective action that Parks can send a message and set an example with light may enhance dark skies on a much larger scale. management, just as we set an example with energy use, Back to the “no island” concept, we also recycling and our preservation principles. work with our own local communities. Great Basin is fortunate to be situated in a o park is an island. We are entities patio or the cave entrance. Park residents sparsely developed region, but the commu- in the larger community, region, are encouraged to cut down on lighting, nities in our neighborhood are fully aware state and world. But even if our as well. of our dark sky qualities and that they are a Npark is near a city, we can take steps both Another step is to retrofit lights, es- significant attraction for visitors. The sub- small and large to control the output of pecially in public use areas, to direct the ject of dark sky enhancement is frequently unneeded, unwanted and even deleterious illumination only where it is needed. Light on the agenda in community discussions. light. that radiates beyond its intended target is Steps have been and are being taken by our We have developed laws, procedures and glare. Ironically, glare actually makes local neighbors to reduce their light foot- policies to protect and manage plants, wild- viewing areas for security purposes more print, even though it is small to begin with. life and cultural resources. We can make difficult. Full shielding is more effective, And then there is interpretation. No the same commitment regarding light and uses less wattage as well, thus saving matter where a park is situated, astronomy pollution. In fact, recognition is increasing energy and money. can still be conducted. John Dobson and that excess light harms plant life, wildlife Recently, resident porch lamps at Great his sidewalk astronomers thrilled people and even human health. But that’s a subject Basin have been reconfigured with full cut- with telescopic sights on the streets of San for another article. off fixtures. Also, the Lehman Caves Visitor Francisco. In every park I have worked Details of the problems of light pollu- Center front lights have been converted to since 1988, I have participated with or tion and the technological tools available to red in color, which enhances dark sky pres- started a night sky program. And every control it can be found on the website of ervation and viewing. one has become the first or second most the International Dark Skies Association at popular attraction in visitation numbers for www.darksky.org. Let the sky speak for you interpretive programs. One simple step to take is to turn off Parks can send a message and set an This is about more than attracting visi- lights when they are not needed and light example with light management, just as we tors, though that’s important. It’s also con- them only when necessary. Examples are set an example with energy use, recycling tributing to a larger goal of preserving dark lights on buildings that shine in unused and our preservation principles. In our skies as a resource, not just within a park, areas. At Great Basin National Park, we no literature, media and programs we can em- but for the planet. longer illuminate the back Visitor Center phasize our nightscape, what we are doing

6 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers with much-needed support equipment and well-defined commitment and even a secure trailer to house them. collaboration to preserve, interpret and The programs at Great Basin are not star promote dark skies. parties. While the telescopes give thousands The second achievement recently crested of visitors each year their first glimpse of the horizon. Again with the support of the Saturn’s gossamer rings, the moon’s stun- Great Basin Foundation, several major and ning mountain landscape or the ghostly minor donors, and commitments from gaseous shell of a dying star, they visually several colleges and universities, the park support our real message of awakening the built a research-grade observatory, with first visitors to their heritage of a skyscape that shops, keynote speeches, children’s activities light during the Centennial celebration can still be captured. All programs begin and nightly viewings hosted by amateur as- on August 25, 2016. This is a first for any with a skilled interpretive presentation cov- tronomers from far and wide. We also part- national park. ering one or more of a variety of relevant ner with the local Nevada Northern Rail- The sky as a natural resource is universal topics, and also include a conservation way for a series of “Star Trains” that have and timeless. Under current circumstances, message of night sky preservation within onboard astronomy-related entertainment Great Basin National Park is one of the the parks and beyond. and a midway stop to view the heavens. finest places in the United States, a place Great Basin NP is also getting increasing where people can connect to the resource EXPANDING requests from the neighboring communi- in a dramatic and meaningful way. THE VISION ties and entities to bring our programs to We have built that experience into one them as a road show. of the core principles of this park. Like The park staff, and especially Carroll, The park is proud of two recent major many programs, this one started from seeds kept enhancing the program. At the same achievements. In early May 2016 we were of inspiration. And like the venerable Bris- time that we were institutionalizing the awarded status as an International Dark tlecone pines nearby, it has grown to take astronomy program, we were also estab- Sky Park, gold tier, by the International on a life of its own. lishing special events. The signature event Dark Sky Association! This is a prestigious is the annual Astronomy Festival, now in certification that involves not only the Steve Moore is a seasonal ranger at September, featuring music, talks, work- possession of truly primeval skies, but a Great Basin National Park in Nevada.

 Apostle Islands National Lakeshore staff and community members “Stand With the World’s Park Rangers” on World Ranger Day. NPS photo by Neil Howk

World Ranger Day 2016 APOSTLE ISLANDS NATIONAL LAKESHORE

n World Ranger Day 2016, Wisconsin, and will be accessible to visitors Apostle Islands National year-round. Lakeshore permanently installed The “Dedication and Sacrifice” exhibit, Othe “Dedication and Sacrifice” wayside designed and fabricated by Apostle Islands exhibit that was virtually dedicated in a National Lakeshore staff, features images moving ceremony two months earlier on of rangers in action in South Africa, Grand the last day of the World Ranger Congress. Canyon National Park and Apostle Islands, This fulfilled a promise to the rangers of as well as a photo of Ranger Margaret the world. The panel sits outside the main Anderson, who was killed on duty at Mt. u 7 Apostle Islands visitor center in Bayfield, Rainier National Park in 2012. RANGER • Fall 2016  NPS photo by Bob Krumenaker The human side of

wBy Mike Theune, ildSequoia & Kings Canyon fire

n July 31, 2015, a fire was discovered on Rough Ridge, high above the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada. Subsequently named the Rough Fire, it grew to become California’s 13th largest fire and Othe second largest fire in Sierra Nevada history. Starting in Sierra National Forest, the fire moved to Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument before reach- ing two different sections of Kings Canyon National Park, where it became the largest fire in the park’s 125-year history. Started by lightning, the Rough Fire eventually covered more than 151,000 acres and took 99 days to contain. At the  Rough Fire, September 12, 2015. InciWeb photo height of the fire, more than 3,000 firefighters and personnel were committed to stopping it. Terrain, drought, high summer temperatures and the effects of climate change all The Rough Fire impacted hundreds of thousands of people — worked against firefighting efforts. In the end, $121 million smoke can travel a long way — and had a direct impact on thousands. was spent to keep the fire at bay. A wildfire is an unplanned and uncontained event. That’s what makes it wild. But land managers, firefighters, rangers and outdoor enthusiasts know “fire season.” Weather TOO CLOSE forecasts, fuel moistures and time of year contribute to that knowledge. Still, when a big fire comes, many rangers are sur- TO COMFORT prised that it is happening — and happening to them. In most cases, the firefighters and fire camp personnel at the van- Wildfires are not classified as natural disasters, but have guard of a fire are away from their homes and families. In the case of just as profound an impact on the operations of a national the Rough Fire, however, every single fire staff member from Sequoia & park as their “natural” cousins, especially in places that are Kings Canyon was assigned to it. It was in their neighborhood. busiest in the summer. In 2014, Kings Canyon National Park Then there were the visitors. The two highest visited places in had 502,268 visitors, and 2015 was on track to break that re- Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Cedar Grove and Grant Grove, are about an cord. But when there is smoke, poor air quality and a wildfire hour’s drive from each other along California Highway 180. growing by as many as 10,000 acres a day, plans can change Between the two, the road follows the Kings River corridor — the same in an instant. river corridor where the Rough Fire started. These two destinations also You need only turn on the evening news to see pictures of have the highest concentrations of visitors. Cedar Grove is hard to get wildfires with blazing hillsides, trees engulfed at their crowns, to; visitors really want to be there. helicopters dropping water and tankers making retardant Finally, consider the residents: National Park Service employees and drops. But what about the people on the ground? Sometimes, volunteers, park partners and concession staff. They are there for the if there are evacuations, the focus shifts to those stories. There visitors and the resources, but for most of the staff their work is not just is a human side of wildfire, but rarely does the public get a job but a dream come true. more than a glimpse of how the fire impacts people’s lives.

8 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers WATCH SHORT VIDEOS OF THE ROUGH FIRE AT Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks: http://go.nps.gov/roughfirevideos.

smoke and poor air quality. In fact, the air quality readings were literally off the chart. Everyone was in a cloud of smoke. Then, the fire behavior and direction changed. As air quality improved, Grant Grove was reopened for a short time. The fire jumped lines and rushed toward Grant NPS house gets protection from the Rough Fire. Grove. On September 8, people there were forced to leave. This time, the evacuation

J. Michael Johnson photo  was for smoke and fire. Being evacuated is terribly stressful. Evacuating twice for the same fire is that much worse. On September 19, residents were allowed to return to Grant Grove. Soon after, Cedar Grove residents were able to retrieve the possessions they had abandoned a month earlier and winterize their facilities. Grant Grove re-opened to the public on September 21, but Cedar Grove remained closed for the year. The Rough Fire was without a doubt the largest, most complex fire event Sequoia and Kings Canyon have experienced in a very long time, if ever. Despite this, there were no structures lost in Grant Grove or Cedar Grove. Years of prescribed burning and defensible space work done by staff were instrumental in saving nearly $400 million worth of NPS assets. It is fortunate that fires on the scale of the Rough Fire are unusual. A year after the fire changed so many lives, we can reflect on the impacts of displacement on both the These are remote places. Cedar Grove, cut them off. This moment demonstrated personal and professional lives of the dedi- for example, has no cell phone service and the passion and caring that the employees cated staff who work in the parks and also television and radio are limited due to high have for the work they do. At the sacrifice call them home. canyon walls. The closest large city is two of their own plans, they worked long, hard Fires are often recounted in statistics: hours away. Cedar Grove staff live in Cedar hours to get everyone out without injury. the biggest, the deadliest, the most ex- Grove. There is no other place to live. It is On August 18, the fire crossed High- pensive. But ask anyone who had to flee their home. way 180 and separated Cedar Grove from and you learn his or her story. Every NPS Home. It’s an emotionally loaded word. Grant Grove. To the east is the crest of the employee, volunteer, park partner and It represents safety, family, friendship and Sierra Nevada. There are no roads there. concession staff member had a different community. It’s the place where we are told Highway 180 is the only way in and out of experience during the Rough Fire. There is we can return to, the place where we make Cedar Grove. a human side to wildfire. memories that last a lifetime. Evacuation also meant that all the employees and staff had to leave their homes Mike Theune is the fire communication and ONE WAY OUT and possessions. With only bare essentials education specialist for Sequoia & Kings Canyon in hand and memories in mind, they were National Parks. He was assigned to the Rough Fire on August 6, 2015 and completed five tours A few days before the Rough Fire escorted away from the fire. working as a fire information officer. He has been crossed Highway 180, plans were made to While this was happening, an hour evacuate the visitors. Everyone had to get with the National Park Service since 2007 and away Grant Grove was also evacuating was a public affairs officer with the Forest Service safely out of Cedar Grove before the fire visitors and non-essential personnel due to for short time.

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 9 a century of SAR III search & rescue The 1980s By Kevin Moses, Shenandoah

EDITOR’S NOTE: he 1980s blessed the world of SAR personnel from Rocky responded. search and rescue with what According to Butch Farabee, “Their This article is the third in a series to would become two “SAR mountain rescue experience paid off when appear in Ranger magazine about Bibles”: On Rope, by Allen rangers swung numerous victims across the the legacy of U.S. National Park Padgett and Bruce Smith, raging torrent on lifesaving ropes.” Service search and rescue personnel Tpublished by the National Speleological Other noteworthy river rescue missions and events. The series highlights some Society, and Wilderness Search and Rescue, included a 1981 multiple-day search on the of the more significant events and penned by Yosemite Ranger and SAR Potomac River by the Great Falls Park Riv- milestones of NPS search and rescue Officer Tim Setnicka. Dog-eared, marked- er Rescue Team in the wake of six drown- (SAR) over the last century. up, and with broken bindings, my copies ings. Though the team received the U.S. are cherished, and each resides in a special Department of Interior (DOI) Unit award place on my bookshelf. for Excellence of Service, the victim they Setnicka begins his work with a tirelessly searched for was also lost to the compelling tale of a recovery from river. Three years later, another five hapless Yosemite’s Mt. Watkins, which he calls rafters would be killed by the Potomac, this “a glimpse of the possibilities of fusing time at a low-head dam (known in SAR training, technology, and decisive action jargon as “killing machines”). Two more into a coordinated effort capable of per- would have died in the incident had it not forming difficult and dangerous tasks.” been for the heroics of the U.S. Park Police The book traverses several decades of SAR (USPP) Eagle One crew. A 1983 Yosemite in the NPS and covers everything from big river rescue had a happier ending when wall rescues and search management to rescuers unpinned a woman from a logjam cave and whitewater rescue. strainer that held her underwater for 25 Good thing, too, because there was a minutes. Miraculously, she lived! And noticeable increase in river rescues. Many another Unit Award had been earned. SAR rangers had realized that techniques In April 1983, Arkansas’ Buffalo River and equipment used in cliff rescue could would have claimed a life had it not been also be applied to river rescue. When the for the heroic actions of Ranger Rick Big Thompson River outside Rocky Moun- Brown. In Ranger Up!, Brown takes an “awe tain National Park flash-flooded, trapping shucks” approach to his actions that un- scores of people and killing 145 others, questionably saved a paddler’s life. A floater

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had capsized his canoe which pinned in my innards,” Lenihan writes, “and fo- 13, 1982 and shattered the icy surface of him against a tree, mostly underwater. cused my dive light on an okay sign formed the Potomac, six passengers unbelievably “I ... dove in and swam to the canoe ... by my thumb and forefinger.” They found survived and began desperately treading barely able to reach the boat without being the young man wedged 80 feet below the water. USPP Pilot Don Usher and Rescue swept downriver myself,” writes Brown, surface and ever-so-delicately performed a Technician Mel Windsor flew to the scene who was able to hold the man’s head out of touch-and-go extrication, each movement in Eagle One. Its skids skimming the sur- water. Ultimately freeing the victim, Brown of which displaced more silt and further face, the helo served as an angel, ultimately was awarded DOI’s Valor Award for saving reduced visibility. This spooky mission ferrying five of the six swimmers to shore, a life at extreme risk to his own. earned the team members the first-ever saving them from certain doom. DOI Exemplary Act Award. In National Park Ranger: An American Diving operations Several additional water-related SARs Icon, Farabee gives accolades to this often occurred elsewhere in the NPS in the ’80s, overlooked, but vital arm of the NPS: increase including lifeguard saves at Golden Gate, “Employing several helicopters, Park Water-related SAR ops in the ’80s Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras; a shipwreck Police provide search, rescue, and advanced weren’t limited to rivers, though. Diving at Isle Royale; a flash flood in Capitol medical assistance to the region, both operations throughout the NPS were being Reef; and an attempted rescue of two inside and outside their jurisdiction.” applied to SAR missions more frequently small children from a submerged car in Both Usher and Windsor received the Valor as NPS diving became more established. Olympic National Park’s Lake Crescent, Award for their efforts on that dreary, Perhaps no one can speak more thoroughly during which Richard Thomas exhibited winter day, and Usher was voted on the subject than archeologist Daniel bravery of incredible proportions. Thomas Washington, D.C.’s Citizen of the Year. Lenihan, author of Submerged, the earned DOI’s Valor Award but was tragical- edge-of-your-seat history of the Park ly killed six months later in a SAR training Jumping into action Service’s highly acclaimed SCRU, or exercise with the Civil Air Patrol. Also receiving attention in 1980s was Submerged Cultural Resources Unit. Of all the river- and aviation-related NPS SAR BASE jumping. For starters, In Submerged, Lenihan relives what is rescues that transpired during the 1980s, Black Canyon of the Gunnison experi- probably one of the harrier dives he’s ever one of the more renowned combined both enced a BASE jumper fatality in 1981 after been on. February 1982, Amistad National aviation and river rescue, and once again an Oklahoma jumper steered his chute into Recreation Area, Texas. Four divers had ex- it took place on the Potomac River. This the 2,200-foot Painted Wall, sustaining plored an old powerhouse; three surfaced. time though, the river was frozen. After SCRU was called to recover the body. Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737 jumbo continued on pg. 12 “I let the butterflies find some place to rest jet, plummeted out of the sky on January

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l l the highest single-arch span in the western l hemisphere. There is one legal day to jump a year — Bridge Day — during which Sections of the Potomac River thrill-seekers can also obtain permits for at Great Falls National Park can reach Class V+ (extreme) long-distance rappelling and bungee jump- for kayakers. In one rocky ing. For most jumpers, things go well, but stretch of Mather Gorge less sometimes accidents happen. than a mile long, rapids cas- According to Brown in Ranger Up!, cade over 20-foot waterfalls “The park had hired a few extra seasonal for a drop in elevation total- river patrol positions for the 1986 season, ing 76 feet. Flickr photo by so during Bridge Day we were able to put David Priddy an NPS boat on the river to help with picking up parachutists.” In recounting one jumper’s fate, Brown writes, “He hit would be complete without mention of in sight — park rangers and medics would the rock with his legs first causing a major what occurred in Yosemite on July 27 and arrive soon. The nightmare was about to femur fracture ... then bounced ... into 28, 1985: Two simultaneous rescues, both end.” the river. I heard the loud crack from his challenging in their own ways. The first By the time these two missions were leg fracturing. It was a sickening sound. mission resulted from deadly lightning over, three hikers injured by the lightning Drowning was a real concern, but we were blasts on the summit of Half Dome that — two critically — were rescued from Half able to reach him by motorboat.” killed two hikers and critically injured Dome, four were plucked to safety from Other jumpers weren’t so lucky. Just three others. The ranger staff in Yosemite Tenaya Canyon by a Navy “Angel” helicop- hours after that rescue, a jumper’s wet Valley didn’t receive the call until 9:30 ter, the two bodies were recovered (tech- chute only partially deployed. He tried his p.m., which meant they were looking at nically from a third, separate effort), and reserve, but ran out of time. Brown says, an extremely complicated all-night rescue the 59-member SAR team received DOI’s “When he impacted the river, immediately effort. Add to it the second call: A party Exemplary Act Award for the astonishing the water turned completely red where of four hikers — two suffering epileptic work ethic, teamwork and heroism they he went in ... the noise from the impact episodes — were lost somewhere up the far displayed. was like a gun going off.” Brown worked reaches of sheer-walled and remote Tenaya 16 Bridge Day events before he Kevin Moses is Central District ranger at Canyon. Shenandoah National Park in Luray, Virginia, transferred out. In his book, Shattered Air, which re- and Basic Technical Rescue Training--East incident counts the lightning strikes on Half Dome commander. He is a regular columnist for The Winter warnings and the ensuing SAR, Bob Madgic de- Professional Ranger section in Ranger magazine. America’s deadliest mountaineering ac- scribes a “conversation” that was held via cident happened in the ’80s, as well, when bullhorn and flashlight flashes between the AUTHOR’S NOTE: an avalanche swept down from Mt. Rain- victims stranded atop the lofty summit and I wish to express my sincerest ier’s Disappointment Cleaver, burying 11 legendary Yosemite SAR technician John appreciation to all the authors cited climbers. And a smaller avalanche would Dill, positioned 2,000 feet below at Mirror herein, and especially to Charles “Butch” have taken the life of an 11-year-old boy Lake: “Dill repeated: ‘If we can’t get to you Farabee, whose SAR collection, Death, in February 1980 at Michigan’s Sleeping tonight, will someone die?’... She hollered Daring, and Disaster, was indispensable Bear Dunes National Lakeshore had it not more resolutely this time: ‘Yes!’... Help was been for the speedy response by the park’s to the completion of this series. I also wish staff and cooperating agencies. For their to advise that the events and milestones extraordinary efforts in saving his life, the mentioned herein do not cover Sleeping Bear Dunes staff received DOI’s A video of the January 13, 1982 everything worth mentioning in NPS Unit Award for Excellence of Service. Air Florida Flight 90 rescue and SAR’s last hundred years, but rather No wrap-up of 1980s NPS rescues investigation can be found at only scratch the surface. http://www.statter911.com/ 2014/09/04/gene-windsor-us- park-police-paramedic- 12 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers rescued-air-florida-victims- potomac-dies-age-74/. RANGER SURVEY

to three listings in each issue. If you read and thoroughly appreciate a book released in the calendar year, please send the title and author of the book and a 300-word RANGER description of why rangers would find the book of value to TO STAY IN SYNC WITH ANPR [email protected]. All publications need to stay up to date MEMBERS AND THE TIMES on their look and appeal. This is why you’ll By Ann Dee Allen, Ranger editor see upgrades to magazines and websites from time to time. In our Ranger survey, we asked respondents about adjectives they anger recently conducted a sur- we did get the impression that readers are might use to describe the magazine they vey to ask readers about their very satisfied with Ranger. Therefore, we would like to see. These words came out preferences and collect new con- have no plans to replace any Ranger sec- on top: tent ideas. Readership surveys tions. In fact, we are making an effort to Rare commonly used for this purpose, and it increase coverage of interpretation issues • Innovative was time for us to get your feedback. and have already added columns to The • Professional The survey helped us to develop a strong Professional Ranger this year. • Service-oriented list of article ideas for many issues going We understand that readers want their • Futuristic forward. In addition, we learned that: news to be in sync with the times. In • Variety • Consistent • A total of 97% of respondents said looking at the story ideas from survey re- • Friendly Ranger is either an important or very spondents, this is true for our readers also. • Evocative important membership benefit; a total We hope to bring you more articles about • Progressive of 70% said it’s important or very im- geographically, historically and culturally • Contemporary portant to print Ranger; a total of 77% diverse people and places. To help make said it’s important or very important to this happen, I encourage ANPR members Interestingly, although 80% of continue to make Ranger available elec- to send article ideas about rangers and respondents said it is important to archive tronically issues in smaller parks, new parks and less Ranger, there was only one vote for a • 90% of respondents read well-known parks. “historical” magazine. Ranger in print One change you will start seeing soon In conclusion, your Ranger team thanks • 90% read the cover story and is the publication of more book reviews. all of the survey respondents who provided ANPR Actions & News For space reasons, this means that book us with feedback. We will do all that we • 80-90% read All in the Family reviews will be shorter but there will be two can to live up to your expectations. and the feature stories • 70-80% read ANPR Reports and the president’s letter • 60-70% read the Oral History article, The Professional Ranger section and Welcome to the Family • 50-70% read the articles about Don’t be shy World Ranger Congress and Show us Ranger Rendezvous your Ranger! • 30-40% read the book reviews and Life Century Club listings Send us a selfie holding a copy of Ranger or giving a copy of the magazine to a • 53% of respondents have 15 or more non-ANPR-member friend and inviting years in federal service; 33% have five them to join ANPR. We’ll publish it in the to nine years magazine or on anpr.org, or Facebook, • 41% have been annual ANPR members depending on space and the number of for five or fewer years; 37% have been photos we receive. Use the largest size of life members for 15 or more years photo, or “actual size” if you use a cellphone. • 40% of readers have worked the longest in interpretation; 40% have worked the NO EXPIRATION DATE longest in law enforcement. this offer is ongoing! (Remember to play it safe.) Although the sampling was not statisti- cally representative of ANPR membership, PLEASE SEND TO [email protected]

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 13 Leaving with a kind heart Helping children and adults with difficult topics By Jackie Gonzales

round 1:30 on the afternoon into the auditorium to watch the movie. Somehow, though, a 22-two minute of the summer solstice, a fam- As I pressed the button to start the film, film and a few museum exhibits had ily walked into the Manzanar the 5-year-old proudly announced, “I’m opened this man’s heart. National Historic Site Visitor on the second page already!!!” He jumped “I can’t even say the word ‘Jap’ any- CenterA in central California. They were a in his seat, unable to contain his energy in more,” he spit out, choking on the words. little chaotic: a 5-year-old with enthusiasm sedentary form. He continued, his eyes welling with tears to rival a marching band, a baby in mom’s as he recalled an elderly Japanese-American arms, a dad helping to corral the energy. man sitting at a bench inside the Visitor The boy asked for a Junior Ranger Center. booklet. Busy with another Junior Ranger, “I saw him sitting there, and when I gave him a quick spiel from the side of I passed him, I nodded to him and he the desk, told him to come back with any nodded back at me.” The father stopped questions he might have. to compose himself, then continued, and Going through Junior Ranger books at admitted that the mutual respect between Manzanar is a completely different process him and the man is something he wouldn’t than at most parks. Most children, of any have thought would have been possible age, aren’t aware that the U.S. government before coming to Manzanar on this longest incarcerated 120,000 loyal American cit- day of the year. izens and residents without due process during World War II, just because they A SPACE FOR DIALOG happened to be of Japanese descent. We talked about how the film and Many kids who arrive at the Manzanar exhibits really humanize this experience — Visitor Center have a notion of what hap- A half hour passed. The father wandered the people confined here were pened, but comprehending the injustice back to the front desk after the movie’s American citizens, they were children, is something that even adults have a hard conclusion and a brief tour of the museum. families, completely innocent, not much time with. How do you get a 6-year-old to He held his baby in arms. His son was still older than this man. But he had never seen learn something, to understand this was frantically bouncing around the Visitor Japanese-Americans as individuals, and wrong, but not feel thrust into despair? Center in his Junior Ranger exploits. The as — in the case of WW II incarceration of I once heard a mom joke to her daugh- baby and I started playing peekaboo, which Japanese-Americans — mostly American ter, “We’re going to leave you here.” The entertained both of us for some time. citizens. This experience allowed the park mom thought it was a joke; the girl started After a few minutes of playing with visitor to strip away the generalizations and crying. Children understand right and the baby, chatting small talk, Father’s Day, see the individual people behind them. wrong and they understand magnitude, but summer solstice, this father opened up. He We parted ways when he started to dis- in their beautifully naive perspectives they said he really appreciated the film. cuss current political debates in ways that don’t have the tools to comprehend and “I came in here with hate in my heart,” National Park Service employees cannot process such wrongs. he confessed, “and I’m leaving with a kind engage. Still, it was heartwarming to see 22 MINUTES TO heart.” He elaborated, explaining that his him there, holding his baby in his arms father was a World War II vet who talked (“an old guy gets a baby for Father’s Day!” UNDERSTANDING about “damn Japs.” His father instilled this he said, as he relayed that his daughter had On the summer solstice, the family, hatred in his son, something that neither been born on Father’s Day last year and Junior Ranger book in hand, disappeared one ever questioned. Manzanar National Historic Site photos by Jackie by Manzanar Historic photos National Gonzales Site

14 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers would turn 1 the next day), admitting that he has felt so much hatred against a group of people simply because of their heritage Levis Antonio Hernandez of Ometepe Guides talks to Jen Lopez, a Guías Unidos and that he felt that “weight” of hatred lift- volunteer and ranger at Everglades National Park, about a guanacaste tree during a ed off of him. field training session in Nicaragua. Photos courtesy of Jeff Zylland That’s progress. If these exhibits can provoke such a sudden emotional change in people, can’t other sudden changes of heart be possible? That gives me hope. The young son kept working away on the Junior Ranger booklet, drawing Amigos Japanese gardens, writing a list of what he would bring in his suitcase if he were told to leave his home. He finished and we pre- sented him with his Junior Ranger badge, in training: reminding him that we have to share this story and speak up for the rights of everyone if we want our democracy to work. Couple taps into knowledge In that Junior Ranger booklet on that longest day of the year, I was reminded that education isn’t just for the kids scribbling sharing in Nicaragua away in a workbook; it’s for the whole fam- By Jeff Zylland, Everglades ily. The way we reach a child on a difficult topic might be different from how we reach f we’re going to pay for the new UNESCO Biosphere Reserve an adult, but the subject remains difficult law enforcement rangers, and National Park, Volcano Maderas. for both. Personal epiphanies, human con- shouldn’t we know the ex- Besides a name and a designation, nections and calm, reasoned discussion can tent of illegal activities?” however, the park has no management. help father and son, mother and daughter, Silence. There’s no funding, no rangers, no to open their hearts and lift the weight of “I “Does anyone even know how much visitor center, no protection and hardly prejudice, at least in some small way. lumber is being poached from the na- any baseline data. This sounds like our As the family left, I thanked the father tional park?” kind of job! for sharing his story. Our moderator chimes in, “You It all started seven years ago, when I’m not always sure how to say the right know we don’t have the resources to we quit our permanent jobs, sold our thing, or if I said the right thing in this study that, but if we don’t hire rangers, house and hit the road to migrate with case. But if just one visitor to the park goes nobody is going to change the way the seasons: “Dual-career couple seeks home with a slightly more open heart, things are done here! We have to do adventurous jobs with low pay.” Soon we’ve done something right. something.” we were wearing Stetson hats and brass Jackie Gonzales is a former Manzanar We are in Nicaragua. We are with badges and learning the ropes from National Historic Site park guide. the new “Amigos de Maderas” group of continued on pg. 16

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 15 Using donations and volunteers, Amigos de Maderas is learning to maintain trails, keep visitors safe and stop Kate Zylland, co-director of Guías Unidos and Everglades National Park ranger, leads a discussion at an interpretive methods training class in Nicaragua. illegal deforestation. continued from pg. 15 getting $25 a head to take tourists up the cultural issues, interpretation, first aid and other nomadic parkies. We learned that volcanoes. Suddenly everyone here is a tour naturalist topics using the books and when winter comes, there is a small num- guide. binoculars that donors help us acquire. ber of park jobs among a few sun-baked Unregulated markets can breed ag- We’re exchanging language lessons and border states. Spanish fluency could get gressive guides, but when we met Arlin trading computer lessons for tours. We’re you a competitive edge, but not our cou- Hernandez, he seemed genuinely interested teaching ecology with a prevention pro- ple years of college conjugations. We saw in just talking with us. We inquired about gram for at-risk youth. We’re working with foreigners volunteering with the National his job after explaining that we were also the guides to teach extracurricular English Park Service and working concessions, so “guides” in the USA. Concerned about the to kids, mixing in environmental education we wondered if we couldn’t do the same in lack of training and resources, Hernandez to inspire future conservationists. Finally, reverse. Unfortunately, there’s no obvious was organizing a guide cooperative to raise we’ve joined a group of local businesses ranger exchange program with our standards and promote sustainable ecotour- and stakeholders to protect the Hispanic neighbors. ism. The guides needed training, equip- Biosphere Reserve. We eventually found conservation ment and English lessons. We needed win- Using donations and volunteers, Amigos internships in Latin America. After two ter work and Spanish lessons. We all love de Maderas is learning to maintain trails, winters abroad, we were ready to click the nature and the outdoors. “Maybe we could keep visitors safe and stop illegal deforesta- Spanish fluency application box. It worked. try to work together one day,” we suggested tion. The Friends are deciding whether to Finally “permanent seasonals” with the as we exchanged contact information. hire law enforcement rangers. Knowing NPS, in winter we slogged through the During the next four years, as we de- that interpreters can influence without Everglades, trailed by packs of fifth-graders. veloped our interpretive ranger careers, enforcement authority, however, perhaps It was frustrating, however, that with all we kept in touch with Hernandez. But an we could get guides to rove the park. the national parks in Latin America it was email relationship has its limits, so we took We are always looking forward. We’re hard to find internships there. We started the summer off to return to Nicaragua applying for nonprofit sponsorship and to seriously consider an idea conceived on and promote our idea. We found support writing grants for next year. A ranger ex- an island in Nicaragua. through crowdfunding donations and an change program still makes sense to us. We Ometepe Island was formed where equipment grant from Idea Wild. are still learning how to do it right. But we two volcanoes wedged up through We get it now, why there were no park know there’s a park that needs help, and we Central America’s largest lake, Cocibolca. internships here. There’s hardly any park know there are people who want to help. One cone-shaped peak belches sulfurous service in Nicaragua. Our guide friends We may never fully understand the solu- steam while the other age-slumped caldera give small tours to paying tourists. We can’t tion, but we’ve got to do something. shrouds a misty lagoon. Windswept cloud shadow their private tours, and giving our forests stand above steamy jungles. It’s a own tours would take away their jobs. So Jeff Zylland is working with his wife, Kate, perfect place for travelers seeking mys- we’re finding work that supports the com- to found Guías Unidos (guiasunidos.org) as tery and adventure. Peasant farmers and munity without replacing jobs. We’re devel- they prepare for their 10th season together as National Park Service rangers. fishermen who earned $5 a day are now oping basic training programs for guides:

16 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers PERSPECTIVE

Are we failing undergrads? PARK MANAGEMENT CURRICULA AND NATIVE AMERICANS By Chance Finegan

uch has been made lately about CURRICULA LACKING Native Americans; only two programs the lack of diversity in national This relationship is not given the actually required courses that might do so. park visitors, and rightly so. This attention it so plainly deserves, particularly Mis a conversation we need to be having. A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY in university classrooms. Go to the library As anthropologist Michael Asch writes We must ensure that the national parks are and look for all the texts you can find in On Being Here to Stay, “... we have welcoming to everyone and representative about how Native Americans and the NPS agreed to join with indigenous peoples in of America’s entire story. However, we have interact. Listen closely when NPS leader- travelling down the river of life. That does neglected to address two fundamental ques- ship talks about the challenges of the next not work if we begin our journey by taking tions wrapped around issues of race and century. Crack open conference programs a portion of the river ... or by insisting that diversity. and look at the sessions offered. Look at we alone have the authority to steer the First, we have not given enough popular websites like National Parks vessel.” Asch further argues that the treaties attention in our Centennial discussions Traveler. The attention given to this our ancestors signed with Native Americans to the role of Native Americans, Alaska relationship is very small indeed relative to imparted upon everyone involved “a shared Natives and Native Hawai’ians in protect- other park management topics. responsibility to sustain” one another. ed areas. While we are rightly concerned Why is this? Social theorist Gayatri It is difficult indeed for the NPS to do about the lack of people of color visiting Spivak might argue that as an oppressed, its part to nourish and sustain all North and working in parks, we have been giving colonized minority (or “subaltern”), Native American cultures if its employees lack the scant attention to our relationships with Americans are inherently doomed in any knowledge required to do so. Universities our indigenous neighbors. effort to be respected by settler-Americans. must do better. Second, we (particularly those of us in Cherokee writer Thomas King suggests We are all treaty people, bound by the the academy) have been content to teach in The Inconvenient Indian that, “... as the agreements our ancestors made. Working undergraduate students aspiring to be park 19th century rolled into the 20th century, with Native Americans is a fundamental employees all about science, history, public live Indians were forgotten, safely stored task of the National Park Service. We finance, outdoor skills, interpretation and away on reservations and reserves or scat- must work with our alma maters to design other nuts-and-bolts topics without placing tered in the rural backwaters and cityscapes curricula that adequately prepare under- enough emphasis on the relationship ... out of sight, out of mind.” graduates to become our colleagues. Many between parks and Native people. These are both thought-provoking universities have alumni councils and other Today, interaction with Native Amer- comments, but let me suggest another means for alumni to provide input regard- icans is a fundamental part of park man- more practical reason: universities are grad- ing curricula. I encourage you to reflect on agement. Sacred site protection. Grave and uating students who are woefully unpre- your post-secondary education and to artifact protection and ownership. Sub- pared to engage with Native communities. provide feedback to your alma mater. sistence activities. Land tenure. Co-man- This spring, I reviewed the Nation- agement. Parks surrounding reservations. al Association for Interpretation’s list of Reservations surrounding parks. Interpreta- universities offering interpretation course- Chance Finegan is a PhD student at York tion responsive to all of a site’s stories. Re- work. I examined the curriculum at each University in Canada, where he studies the served treaty rights within parks. Religious U.S.-based university for any major that relationship between protected area managers and access to park land and resources. Keller might lead one to a career in protected indigenous North Americans. He holds degrees and Turek’s American Indians and National area management. For each of these major from the University of Tennessee (BS, 2012) and Parks and Burnham’s Indian Country, God’s programs, I scrutinized the course descrip- the University of Northern Iowa (MPP, 2014). Country both detail the role the National tions, learning outcomes, syllabi, program He has previously been employed by a variety of Parks System has played in the colonializa- descriptions and marketing materials. state and federal conservation agencies in the United States, including Big South Fork tion of this continent. I encourage you to Even when being very generous (e.g., read them. They are as necessary for under- National River and Recreation Area in Kentucky generating more false positives than false and Tennessee (2008) and Ozark National Scenic standing today’s park system as the negatives), 62 of the 96 degree programs Riverways in Missouri (2010, 2011). He can be Leopold Report or Freeman Tilden’s have no in-major required or elective cours- reached at [email protected]. writings on interpretation. es that might introduce students to the rich history and relationships parks share with RANGER • Fall 2016 u 17 Ranger Rendezvous 2015 LAST CHANCE Ranger photo TO JOIN US IN SANTA FE!

et off the fence and come to the will round out the day, followed by the Conference sessions are posted and Association of National Park Exhibitors’ Reception and an evening updated online. A sampling includes: Rangers 39th Annual Ranger program. • Fatigue & Performance: Lessons From GRendezvous in Santa Fe, New Mexico, On October 29, sessions include a NPS Operational Leadership by Mark October 27-30. A draft program is provid- keynote, a presentation about the ANPR Herberger, NPS Operational Leadership ed at www.anpr.org and online registration Oral History Project and concurrent • What Is a Learning & Performance is available. You will need to register and offerings, followed by another round of Ecosystem & How Are We Using It to pay separately for the conference and your dining options and special park films at Innovate by Dave Barton and Demmy room at the Hotel Santa Fe, Hacienda and Movie Night. Vigil, NPS Learning & Development Spa (www.hotelsantafe.com). Registration and the hospitality suite will open in the Hotel Santa Fe on Wednesday evening, October 26. All-day field trips to Bandelier National Monu- ment, Manhattan Project National Histor- ical Park or Pecos National Historical Park rendezvous exhibitors or service projects are offered on October 27. Dinner that evening will be in groups HELP SUPPORT ANPR of 10 at 15 different restaurants in Santa Fe and will be followed by NPS Trivia Night back at the nearby Hotel Santa Fe. The following exhibitors supported ANPR by participating in last year’s On October 28, participants will be Rendezvous. ANPR appreciates their generous contribution. welcomed by the superintendents of Fort Union National Monument and Bandelier. The morning keynote address will feature NPS Deputy Director of Operations Mike Reynolds. An overview of the 2016 World Ranger Congress and concurrent sessions

18 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers • Wise Decision Making for the Next COME ON DOWN shuttle service to Santa Fe (https://www. Century by Paula Capece, NPS South- Ten major airlines serve Albuquerque, amtrak.com/southwest-chief-train). east Coast Inventory and Monitoring an hour’s drive from Santa Fe. Santa Fe We look forward to seeing you in the Network, and Nicole Athearn, USFWS also has a municipal airport and the city is Southwest! Great Plains Landscape Conservation located along U.S. Interstate Highway 25, — Lauren Kopplin Cooperative U.S. Route 285 and State Highway 599. [email protected] • Park Partnerships: Successes and Chal- Amtrak’s Southwest Chief stops in Albu- lenges by Seth Tinkham and Kristine querque, Las Vegas and Lamy, which has Brunsman, WASO State, Tribal, Local Plans & Grants Division • Stepping Into the Future: How a Grass- roots Employee Movement Can Trans- form the Working Culture of the NPS • View from the Seashore: Environmental History and Interpretation panel. Rendezvous will also include awards presentations, a photo contest, raffle and silent auction, and other activities in addition to casual networking. LEND A HAND Please help us continue to identify and contact potential donors, sponsors and exhibitors for Ranger Rendezvous, whether or not you attend. Also, freely thank these supporters every time you have the chance (see the list of sponsors and exhibitors in every issue of Ranger). To volunteer for Rendezvous, please contact Alison Steiner at anprbusiness- [email protected]. Whether or not you come to Santa Fe, please send or bring items for the raffle and silent auction to support ANPR. ENTER THE PHOTO CONTEST Be sure to enter your photographs in the Rendezvous photo contest (photos from the past are eligible, too). The categories are: • People in the Parks (receive permission from photo subjects before submitting your photos) • Landscapes • Wildlife • Historical & Cultural Resources • I Found My Park! (photos must picture the photographer) Photos can be submitted at Rendezvous or by mail by October 10 to Liz Roberts, HC-1 Box 6804, Joshua Tree, CA 92252. You do not have to attend the Rendezvous to enter. More information is available at https://www.anpr.org/resources/ Documents/ANPR_RangerRendez- vous_2016_PhotoContestFlier.pdf.

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 19 ANPR Oral History Project It’sIt’s hardhard notnot toto bebe inspired’inspired’

Former International Ranger Federation President Deanne Adams: An interview with Brenna Lissoway

Deanne Adams enjoyed a 37-year After Adams and her husband Tony Rendezvous] we’re talking about how career with the National Park Sisto, also an NPS veteran, attended the ANPR is going to host the 2016 Congress. second World Ranger Congress in 1997, A lot of people have been reflecting on Service. Starting in her home she began a long period of service with IRF. what a Congress does to them, and what state of Alaska, she held multi- Adams represented North America on the they are saying is what I say, too. That is, IRF executive board, became vice presi- we grumble in our parks about the ple assignments there and in the dent, and then served as president from resources we don’t have, and we do need Lower 48, eventually retiring 2009-2012. At the 2016 Congress, Adams more. This is a rich country and we should and Sisto led the drafting of the Estes Park invest more in our parks. as the chief of interpretation Declarations, a set of principles and goals But when you go to a World Ranger and education for the Pacific that echo what Adams had discovered long Congress and you meet people who are ... ago: Rangers the world over share common I get emotional here, sorry. I mean, some West Region. bonds as they safeguard the planet’s fragile of those people literally put their lives on resources. the line. The people, they’re just incredible he International Ranger Federation Brenna Lissoway’s Oral History Project people. We have incredible people in this (IRF) captured Deanne Adams’s interview with Adams at the 2014 Ranger country and a group of rangers who do heart nearly two decades ago. In Rendezvous follows. wonderful things throughout the service, T1994 she was serving on the executive for people and for the planet. board of the Association of National Park LISSOWAY: I wanted to give you an op- Can I make it through this Rangers (ANPR) when a representative portunity to talk about how you became [emotionally]? of the IRF requested financial support for involved in the International Ranger Feder- We don’t think of that so much in this the first World Ranger Congress. Adams ation. What was it about the international country. I mean, we’ve had rangers mur- recalls that ANPR leaders hesitated before aspect that attracted you? Why did you dered in this country. But in other coun- committing some of their slim budget, al- want to help that organization? tries, it’s incredible what they go through. though ANPR was among the three found- ADAMS: This week [at the 2014 Because they believe that the health of ing members of IRF. courtesy of Deanne Adams. Photographs

20 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers  Tony Sisto and Deanne Adams with the plane for their honeymoon trip after getting married in Denali National Park in 1980.  The IRF booth at the 2003 World Parks Congress in South Africa. Deanne Adams with rangers Alejandro Caparros, Argentina, and Elaine Thomas, Australia. Photos courtesy of Deanne Adams

their country, the health of the world, is so important our work is for our planet. And And it’s politics, over time, that we dependent on what they do in their jobs. for the future of our kids, our grandkids. stopped going. With Jon Jarvis now we’re And that they’ll go back every day and That’s why I’m so in love with the IRF. getting re-engaged internationally to the do it again. Their families lose them. The extent that we can. And of course resources Congo’s a big example. But it’s, to a lesser LISSOWAY: Can I ask, what do you see is always a part of that. extent, so many other countries. is the major contribution that the United I feel like there’s a lot we can learn from So you come to this Congress and you States National Park Service can give other other countries. We talked about the in- learn about those kinds of people. It’s hard countries? volvement with communities, and man, not to be inspired. But you also see this ADAMS: That’s a great question, because oh, man, can we learn from other countries huge bond that we have. When I went to you know, the U.S. is perceived so poorly a about that. They’d teach us tons. The other Costa Rica, my first Congress, I don’t speak lot of places — you know, as a bully — and thing we can learn is just being resourceful. Spanish. There’s a guy there from Colom- we’ve got all the resources and we can do So many of those countries that don’t have bia, not a young ranger, probably my age very many resources are very creative in at that point, and he starts talking to me in how they still protect their parks, so we can Spanish. “We’re all bonded by this get a lot of good ideas from them. I didn’t know what he was saying. So But what they get from us is some real I grabbed Yvette Ruan [retired from the basic knowledge that our specific support. Sister parks are a great NPS]; she translated. What he was saying example. Rocky Mountain has a fantastic was, “I had no idea there were other rang- earth is limited, and just sister park arrangement with Poland and ers in other countries. I had no idea that Slovakia. Rocky Mountain got a bequest, there were people doing this work that I’m how important our work and they’re using that money so rangers doing, and that they understand what I’m from there come over here and rangers dealing with. They understand the chal- is for our planet.” from here go over there. That’s all kinds lenges that I have.” It was just a revelation. of rangers; resource management’s really And that happens at every Congress. involved with it. Those rangers over there We have new rangers coming, and it is whatever we want in the world. But when really appreciate what Rocky Mountain is so strengthening for them, to know that it comes to parks, we used to be a real lead- being able to share with them and show they’re not alone. One ranger, Juan Carlos er internationally. them, from technologies to techniques. But Gambarotta, got real active with IRF. He When a bunch of us from IRF went to it’s the same for us, that what they brought was the only ranger in Uruguay when he the World Parks Conference in Durban over here, Rocky Mountain has used. first learned about IRF. And they’ve got in 2003, people would come up to us that So the World Ranger Congresses are more rangers there now. represented the U.S. Park Service and say, terrific sharing grounds for that. So there’s that very basic thing, really, “Where have you guys been? We miss Brenna Lissoway is an archivist at Chaco Culture the family, that we share the same values you. You are our leaders. You have the National Historical Park in New Mexico. across languages, across these immensely first national park in the world. You have Lu Ann Jones, a staff historian with the Park these great systems. You have all these great different cultures. But we’re all bonded by History Program in Washington, D.C., and this basic knowledge that our earth is lim- examples for us of how things can be done Lissoway edited this interview excerpt. ited, and — [choking up] it’s hard to talk if you have the resources. And you’re not about this all of a sudden — just how here.”

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 21 THE PROFESSIONAL RANGER

the interpreter must possess two critical skills: presence and possess openness. Webster’s Dictionary defines presence as, “the state or fact of being present; opposed to absence” and openness as the state of being “ready and free for engagement.” According to “A New Pedagogy for Interpretation,” presence involves “being genuine and fully engaged in the specific interaction taking place,” and openness requires that the interpreter is “recognizing and accepting the genuine being of the other person and understanding that the other is fundamentally different from oneself.” It we truly embrace and develop our skills of presence and openness, we will, in turn, act in a fully respectful way toward our visitors. We will no longer see them as “dumb” and we might learn a thing or two along the way. — Brian Forist, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

“A New Interpretive Pedagogy” can be found at http://oldlighthouse museum.org/Knapp_Forist_2014_ Brian Forist JIR-v19n1%20copy.pdf.

INTERPRETATION I have just completed my second ADMINISTRATION summer as a ranger at Mesa Verde National On being genuine Park, the eighth park I have worked in Closing the books over the last few decades. While there I was and fully engaged trying on my “new pedagogy for interpreta- on our Centennial ’m a reader. It’s what interpreters do. tion” and Foundations of 21st Century year I am constantly reading, thus learning Interpretation as articulated by the NPS about parks, protected areas, visitors, Interpretive Development Program. s you are reading this article the Iecology, American history and other rel- Specifically, I was trying to master leading finance staff at all National Park evant things. Imagine my surprise, and cliff dwelling tours with up to 50 visitors in Service units are closing the books onA our Centennial budget year. If you embarrassment, when I read the July 2016 a way that focused on their interests rather special issue of the Southwest Airlines than my own. I made every attempt to be recall, the NPS received a Centennial magazine that focused on the National respectful of and open to park visitors. budget of $2,851,245 billion. This was a Park Service Centennial in which the editor According to the NPS, “Interpretation much-needed increase over the fiscal year recalled attending an ANPR Ranger Ren- must be relevant to the audience’s lives to 2015 funding by $236.7 million. All over dezvous and asking, “What’s the dumbest help them build new experiences. Active the country, national park units celebrated thing you’ve seen a visitor do?” Unfortu- engagement with audiences allows their the Centennial with visitors, volunteers, nately, rangers in attendance responded input to guide meaningful experiences, partners and employees. The budgeted with no hesitation. This willingness to see through both personal interaction and dollars were used for visitor services, some visitors as “dumb,” “other” and “not like observation of their use of the resource” infrastructure repair and outreach to our us” is antithetical to emerging trends in (Foundations, Lacome & Rudy, 2016). current and next generations of stewards. the field of interpretation as well as just In order to focus on relevance to the September is always a challenging plain wrong. visitors and to truly engage with them, month in the budget world as we close

22 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers to the National Park Service could be further from the truth. budget for the preservation of The League of United Latin American African American civil rights Citizens (LULAC) and the Japanese Amer- sites and a bill to establish an ican Citizens League (JACL) were both African American Civil Rights founded in 1929 to combat racist policies Network that would, in part, and practices decades old. LULAC fought also be managed by and fund- to end discrimination against Latinos, first ed through the NPS. in Texas, then nationwide. In 1954, the While support for the same year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled African American civil rights against “separate but equal” elementary experience is a highly laudable schools for black and white children in goal, it is the exclusive nature Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, of this focus that troubles me. LULAC lawyers also stood before Chief Cutting the cake at the 8th World Ranger Congress. For we as Americans should be Justice Earl Warren’s court. They argued Ranger photo more capable than ever before and won Hernandez vs. the State of Texas, of understanding that our a landmark decision that extended the pro- shared experience is no longer tection of the Fourteenth Amendment to the books on another fiscal year. Please be exclusively black and white, no longer ex- persons of Mexican descent. kind to the finance staff at the parks during clusively male, nor heterosexual. And this After the Second World War, JACL budget closeout, as it can be stressful. The is especially the case when it comes to the fought to repeal the Alien Land Act, a year 2016 is a historic budget year and clos- history of civil rights in this country. California statute that prohibited Japanese ing the books will be both rewarding and President Obama acknowledged this in Americans from owning land. In 1948, the satisfying — and maybe even worth a little his second inaugural address. The president group helped found the Leadership Confer- stress to make sure the Centennial goes mentioned three of the most significant ence on Civil Rights and in 1963 it joined down in the history books smoothly. sites on the American civil rights landscape: with their African American colleagues in Check out all the Centennial celebra- Seneca Falls, the location of the 1848 the March on Washington. Both organizations and projects at www.nps.gov. And conference on women’s rights; Selma, the tions continue their vital civil rights work then look ahead to the next 100 years! launching point of the March 1965 Selma today and JACL has taken stands in sup- — Michelle Torok, to Montgomery March for racial justice; port of NPS programs and historic pres- Saguaro and Tumacácori, Arizona and Stonewall, where an uprising by lesbi- ervation initiatives that commemorate the an, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people experiences of Japanese and all Asian Pacific led to the birth of the modern gay civil Islander Americans. PERSPECTIVE: rights movement. The president identified The Mattachine Society and the Daugh- CULTURAL RESOURCES all three as places where Americans tested ters of Bilitis pioneered the struggle for whether that most self-evident of truths — LGBTQ equality in the 1950s. Bayard Black and White no that all of us are created equal — actually Rustin, an openly gay black man, was the applied to every citizen. All three sites are trusted advisor who persuaded Dr. Martin longer: Embracing now NPS units. Luther King Jr. to finally and fully embrace the complex Since we already have national parks non-violent, direct action. Rustin also that commemorate the struggles and served as the chief architect of the 1963 history of America’s achievements of Asian Pacific Islander March on Washington. Americans, Latino Americans and Amer- Any Civil Rights Network that we cre- civil rights ican Indians, why should we limit the ate today should include the inextricably scope of new NPS-managed programs and linked stories of all those who struggled for movements resources to the African American experi- freedom and equality. Let us recognize that t’s summer time in the nation’s capi- ence? The answer lies in our fundamental our civil rights history is no longer a matter tal and the living is humid. Congress lack of familiarity with the long-standing of black and white. That in truth, it never skedaddled a few weeks ago, leaving struggles and stories of other racial and eth- was. And let our policies, programs and Imuch unfinished business. Among the nic groups, women and the LGBTQ com- legislation reflect and honor this. various legislative and budgetary priorities munities. A lack of awareness that leads — Alan Spears, National Parks Conservation the 114th U.S. Congress left dangling are many to assume the civil rights struggles of Association, Washington, D.C. several measures pertaining to civil rights. these groups are a relatively recent (mean- Namely, a call for money to be provided ing not yet historic) phenomenon. Nothing

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 23 All inthe Family

Albright Training Center and an international affairs assign- ment in Croatia (ranger at DENA as chief of interpretation, GWMP, COLM, GRCA, SHEN; seasonal at HALE, COLM, EVER, YELL; two VIP opportunities in Austra- lia). A lifetime ANPR and Em- ployees & Alumni Association member and former ANPR Board member, Eckert retired to Grand Junction, Colorado. She can be reached at [email protected] Rebecca Merritt. where she happily hikes, travels Photo courtesy and “touches the earth” to of Volkmar von remain grounded. Sehlen Lisa Eckert. Photo by Lee Gelatt Photography Rebecca Merritt participated in the Missoula Mile First Responder Division — in full law en- Lisa Eckert retired September 30 from ANPR Life Member Jeff Ohlfs retired forcement uniform. She ran to promote on August 31 after 32 years with the Bryce Canyon National Park. With 17 fitness, ParkRX and the Centennial of the National Park Service. years as an NPS superintendent (BRCA, He has served at National Park Service. You can read more COLM, HOAL, GATE-JBU, DETO; Joshua Tree National Park for 26 years. about ParkRX and the use of parks and detail at ORPI, KNRI) and 20 years as an Ohlfs started his parks career in Califor- public lands to improve health and wellness “omnivore” ranger, Eckert’s 14-park ca- nia with San Jose City Parks, Santa Clara at http://www.parkrx.org/#sthash. reer included the NPS diversity of urban, County Parks, California State Parks, the L1kwW2YZ.dpuf. wilderness, natural, cultural, Horace M. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. He began his NPS career

Your generosity helps ANPR maintain the funding necessary 2 ways To donate for us to continue to produce educational materials, provide networking opportunities and pursue other important 1 initiatives. To pay by check, please fill out the form below and Online: mail to ANPR. www.anpr.org Name______DO NATE Address______2 City______TO ANPR State______By check: Support ANPR ANPR | P.O. Box 984 Zip______Davis, CA 95617 by making a Email______tax-deductible Thank you for contribution  $25  $75  $200  Other your support!  $50  $100  $500

24 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers Welcome to the ANPR family! Here are the newest members of the Association of National Park Rangers (updated 8/6/16)

Jeff Ohlfs. Photo by Brad Sutton

Jamie Richards New member Ravis Henry, right, at the in 1981 as an intern at Pinnacles National 2016 World Ranger Congress. Monument. He worked as a seasonal law enforcement ranger at Crater Lake Nation- al Park, Whiskeytown National Recreation ington, D.C. Chris Alford, Triangle, VA Area and Redwoods National Park. He She joined the Ellen Carpenter, Falls Church, VA spent his entire permanent career as a law NPS in 2009, Michael Cuff, Bangor, PA enforcement ranger, first at C&O Canal working as a Janna Drew, Milton, WI National Historic Park, then Hot Springs seasonal and Alex Eddy, Boulder, CO National Park, and he had a detail at Lake as a Pathways Akiva Garfield, Oneonta, New York Meredith National Recreation Area and student. She Justin Glasgow, Corinne, UT Jamboree National Park. He has spent the has served at majority of his career at Joshua Tree, where Joshua Tree Cassie Werne Kristen Hamilton, Lander, Wyoming he retired as chief ranger. He never planned and Rocky Ravis Henry, Canyon de Chelly to work at a desert park, but grew to love Mountain National Monument the beauty of Joshua Tree. National Parks and in a detail with the Daniel Howe, Raleigh, NC Ohlfs has been and continues to be very Washington Office of Policy. Richards is Patrick Jarrett, Newark, AR active in the international ranger commu- a recent graduate of the WASO Aspiring Seth Johnston, Dayton OH nity. He has attended every World Ranger Leaders Development Program. In May she Scott Lingelbach, Jr., Jeffersonville, GA Congress, initiated the first World Ranger was a volunteer deputy public affairs officer Rebecca Merritt, West Glacier, MT Day and most recently served seven years and special events coordinator for the 8th Megan Munton, Springfield, MO as the International Ranger Federation’s World Ranger Congress. In her spare time Michael Naumann, Williamsburg, VA North American Representative and is a she enjoys traveling, photography, Celtic charter member of ANPR’s International music, theater, skiing, hiking and kayaking. Kri Nelson, Moab, UT Committee. He served on the Ranger Ren- Christopher Nelson, San Juan, dezvous and Ranger magazine teams from Cassie Werne is now recreation fee Puerto Rico 1989 to 1992 and has been a part of the program analyst for the Northeast James Olson, Rapid City, SD ANPR Mentoring Program since 2010. Region. In her role Werne supports and Mel Poole, Thurmont MD advises more than 90 parks in the region Jessica Pope, Flagstaff, AZ Jamie Richards has joined the staff of in the management of their Recreation Fee Sonya and Louis Rowe, Yosemite National Park in California and Interagency Pass Programs. Prior to Woodbridge, VA as a public affairs officer. She works on this position, Werne worked at Weir Farm Jonathan Shafer, Washington, DC public affairs, special events and legislative National Historic Site in Connecticut for Rebecca Stroup, Hazen, ND issues in the park. Richards began her nine years in a variety of positions, includ- Maria Thomson, Homestead, FL career as an SCA interpretation intern at ing park ranger, chief of interpretation and Abby Wines, Fort Sumter National Monument and U.S. management assistant. Death Valley, CA Rep. Christopher Shays’ office in Wash-

RANGER • Fall 2016 u 25 IN PRINT Lake’s (Lake Sub-District) long hair sagas.” Mernin titled one of the book’s chapters “Barney Sander’s Tie.” I worked with Sand- Yellowstone Ranger: ers for a few seasons. He wore his uniform meticulously. But this was a really bad day Stories from a Life Spent with Bears, for his tie. It started early at the Fishing Bridge Campground. He noticed that the Backcountry, Horses and Mules bear trap was sprung and approached the from Yosemite to Yellowstone trap. An extremely irate grizzly slammed against the trap door, spewing saliva and Jerry Mernin. Riverbend Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-60639-090-0. 2016. snot on Sanders’ tie. No sooner had he By Rick Smith secured the bear trap and grizzly away from visitors than Sanders received a call of a possible heart attack in the campground. was one of the lucky rangers to The most dramatic stories in the book He raced back and with the help of the work for Jerry Mernin as a seasonal are about encounters with bears, mostly medical staff from the Lake Hospital, at Yellowstone National Park. Now grizzlies. Mernin respected grizzlies. He loaded the patient on a gurney. The patient Mernin’s autobiography gives others a wrote, “After my first season as a perma- threw up on Sanders’ tie. Not a great day Ichance to get to know him. nent ranger in Yellowstone, I became an for that tie. And that’s no shit. Jerry Mernin grew up in Yosemite as the admirer of grizzlies. I resolved to do ev- In the four or five seasons I worked for son of a park ranger. His parents encour- erything in my power to see that grizzlies Mernin, I probably heard him say more aged him to be anything he wanted to be, remained a viable, breeding population in than a dozen times, “Do good, avoid evil; but not a ranger. Even so, after undergrad- the Yellowstone ecosystem… . I was espe- remember who you are and what you stand uate school at Notre Dame, he enrolled in cially concerned about the times I had to for; and watch out for the company you law school but dropped out to become a shoot grizzlies. On those occasions, had I keep.” That probably is a good summary seasonal ranger in Yosemite. overlooked something? Could I have done for the way he tried to conduct his career Mernin went on to work in something better or differently?” These and manage the people who worked for Yellowstone for 32 years, from 1964 to questions haunt all rangers who have been him. His standards were high and he ex- 1995. Yellowstone Ranger is full of stories involved in bear management. pected employees to measure up to them. from that time, many of them centered I was present for one of the encounters, In 1971, Mernin met a nurse at the on the park’s vast backcountry, encounters which occurred in the willows along the Lake Hospital, fell in love, married and with bears and the stock that Mernin used banks of the Yellowstone River immediately spent the next 40 years with Cindy. She, in his travels throughout the park. upstream from Fishing Bridge. The park too, was beloved. Their partnership was Mernin devoted a chapter in the book had begun to close the garbage dumps that especially important when Mernin suffered to his favorite horse, Dusty, illustrating were at least partially responsible for habit- from Parkinson’s disease after his retire- the unique bond that can develop between uating grizzlies to human food. In a short ment. He died from a brain hemorrhage in horse and rider. It’s the kind of relationship period, two visitors had been jumped or 2011. that is formed when two beings spend long injured by a grizzly. After the area had been When I think back on my own career hours together and depend on each other sealed off, Mernin entered the willows. He with the NPS, I realize that almost ev- to do a job. had not gone far when the bear emerged, erything I knew about being a ranger I Another chapter is reserved for Irwin charging straight at him. When the bear learned from Jerry Mernin. I bet that there the pack mule. One of the stories in the was five yards away, Mernin shot him three are many rangers who would say the same book recounts a “rodeo” in the backcountry times. The grizzly came to rest about six thing. He was a “ranger’s ranger.” It’s the after Mernin jerked Irwin’s lead. Big mis- feet from him. As he remarked in the book, highest compliment I can give him. take. After dragging Mernin through the “I felt no joy or elation, only remorse for This book is a great addition to your grass and sagebrush, Irwin finally stopped. having to kill another grizzly.” library. It’s the story of a ranger who put The supreme insult was as Mernin was be- There are humorous “and that’s no shit” a park ahead of his career and resolved to ing dragged face first, the brim of his brand stories also. One is about a seasonal ranger turn down promotions to stay in a place he new ranger Stetson broke. who showed up with long hair. When the loved. I highly recommend it to the readers Anyone who knew Mernin knows that district ranger asked the seasonal when of Ranger. he revered his Stetson. It was always worn he planned to get his hair cut, he replied Rick Smith, an ANPR life member and former at a certain angle and it was always worn. that he didn’t plan on having it cut soon. president of ANPR and the International Ranger Woe to the ranger who was seen outside Mernin characterized those days in Yellow- Federation, retired from the National Park Service the office in uniform without his hat. I stone as “my way or the highway.” It was after a 31-year career. His last position was as never had the courage to ask Mernin’s wife, only after seeing his termination papers associate regional director of resources management Cindy, if he wore it to bed. that the seasonal got his hair cut. Mernin in the former Southwest Region. He and his wife, wryly observed, “So ended the first wave of Kathy, live in Tucson, Arizona.

26 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers ANPR REPORTS

Kudos List (updated 8/6/2016) These people have either given someone a gift membership to ANPR or Life members who contribute $125 to ANPR are recognized in the Second Century recruited a new member. Thanks for Club. Once you are a Second Century Club member, each additional $250 donation your help and support!. will increase your life level by one century. If you are a life member, please consider • Kristin Gibbs raising your contribution to the next level! • John Ott • Jamie Richards 2nd Century Club Tom Richter Deborah Liggett • Rick Mossman Lawrence Belli Elizabeth Schaff Jay Ligett Tony Bonanno Margaret Steigerwald Scot McElveen • Tim Moore Jim Brady Bryan Swift Bruce & Georjean • Jessie Jordan Paul Broyles Mark Tanaka-Sanders McKeeman • Edwin Padilla Rod Broyles Dale & Judy Thompson Scott Pfeninger • Colleen Derber David Buccello Victor Vieira Jean Rodeck • Michael Schumacher Patricia Buccello Karen Wade Rick Smith • Bob Krumenaker Robert Butterfield Philip Ward Barry Sullivan • Chris Wonderly Michael Caldwell Kathy Williams Nancy Wizner William Carroll Janice Wobbenhorst 5th Century Club Shop AmazonSmile Bruce Collins 3rd Century Club Don Steiner Bruce Edmonston Erin Broadbent John Townsend and make $$ for ANPR Mitch Fong Carl Christensen 6th Century Club When you shop at Amazon.com, Hal Grovert Kathleen Clossin Rick Erisman please link first to AmazonSmile. The Larry Henderson Maureen Finnerty Warren Hill Edward Rizzotto company will donate a portion of Rebecca Harriett Keith Hoofnagle 7th Century Club your purchase to ANPR. Get started Mark & Phyllis Harvey Robert Huggins Dr. Russell Clay Harvey Deanne Adams & here: http://smile.amazon.com/ James Hummel Tony Sisto ch/58-1494811 Steve Holder Craig Johnson Stephen M. Hurd Dennis Burnett & Margaret Johnston Mary Jeff Karraker Ginny Rousseau Sign up for Ron Konklin Dave Lattimore Butch Farabee ANPR’s email list Bob Krumenaker Dan Moses Gary Hartley Mary Kimmitt Laxton Rick Mossman If you don’t receive email updates Tomie Patrick Lee 9th Century Club Alden Nash Dick Martin from ANPR, please let us know. John Mangimeli William Quinn Email ANPR’s business manager at Colleen Mastrangelo Teresa Shirakawa 10th Century Club [email protected], Sean McGuinness Ron Sprinkle Stacy Allen and we’ll add you to the list. Jack Morehead Phil Young 11th Century Club Aniceto Olais Wendy Lauritzen Tim Oliverius 4th Century Club Cindy Ott-Jones Vaughn Baker 15th Century Club Bundy Phillips Cliff Chetwin Bill Wade Bill Pierce Jonathan Lewis

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RANGER • Fall 2016 u 27 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION: Association of National Park Rangers

 New Member(s)  Renewing Member(s) Date ______Name of ANPR member we may thank for encouraging you to join ______Name(s)______Address ______City ______State ______Zip+4______Home phone ______Personal e-mail address ______

ANPR will use e-mail as an occasional – but critical – communication tool. We will not share your information with any other organization. It is our policy not to conduct ANPR business via NPS e-mail or phone.

4-LETTER CODE OF PARK / OFFICE Type of Membership (check one) WHERE YOU WORK ______(Retiree=RETI, Former NPS Employee=XNPS, NOTE: Annual memberships are valid for one year from your join/renewal date. Student/Educator=EDUC, Park Supporter=PART) ACTIVE MEMBERS LIFE MEMBERS PLEASE MARK YOUR JOB DISCIPLINE: current & former NPS employees (lump sum payment) or volunteers  Protection  Interpretation Seasonal/Intern/Volunteer ACTIVE (all NPS employees/retirees)  Administration  Resources  Individual $1,500  Individual $45  Maintenance  Concessions  Joint $3,000  Joint $85  Park Partner Permanent or Retiree ASSOCIATE (other than NPS employees)  Other – list: ______  Individual $75 Individual $1,500 SPECIAL SUPPORTERS   Joint $145 Joint $3,000 Contact the president or fundraising board ASSOCIATE MEMBERS OR life payments made be made in three member for details on special donations. not an NPS employee or installments over a three-year period. www.anpr.org. representative of another organization Check the website at Rates are $515 per year for individual or  Sustaining $70 $1,025 for joint. If full payment isn’t received PAYMENT BY VISA, AMERICAN EXPRESS  Full-time Student $45 by the third installment due date, the amount paid shall be applied at the current annual OR MASTERCARD ACCEPTED: LIBRARY / ASSOCIATE membership rates until exhausted. At that  Visa  Americn Express  MasterCard ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP point the membership will be lapsed. Check two copies of each issue of Ranger sent here if you want to make payments in three Card # ______quarterly  $100 installments ______. Exp. date ______CVV# ______Gift Membership  $35 (please gift only a new member other than yourself, one year only) Name on Account______Name of person giving gift ______Signature ______

It costs ANPR $45 a year to service a membership. If you are able to add an additional Zip Code ______donation, please consider doing so. Thank you!  $10  $25  $50  $100  Other ______RETURN MEMBERSHIP FORM AND CHECK PAYABLE TO ANPR TO: Membership dues in excess of $45 a year may TOTAL ENCLOSED: Association of National Park Rangers be tax deductible. Consult your tax adviser. P.O. Box 984 | Davis, CA 95617

Share your news with others! SEND NEWS TO: Ranger will publish your job or family Ann Dee Allen [email protected] news in the All in the Family section.

Name ______Past Parks — Use four-letter acronym/years at each park, field area, cluster (YELL 98-02, GRCA 02-07) ______New Position (title and area) ______Old Position (title and area) ______Address/phone number (optional — provide if you want it listed in Ranger)______Other information ______Thebird is the word! And this sleepy bird told us you were looking for advertising that spolights your organization with people who matter to you.

ANPR offers multiple opportunities for making this elite audience aware of what you have to offer. You can reach ANPR members and support this one-of-a-kind organization by advertising in Ranger, our quarterly magazine, and participating in the annual Ranger Rendezvous conference trade show as an exhibitor or sponsor. Make your products and services visible at a level RENDEZVOUS of support that works for your marketing budget. EXHIBITORS SAVE 15% Contact us today to learn more! ON ADS IN RANGER ALSO GET 2016 RATES IN 2017 by reserving your ads by 12/1/2016

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Alison Steiner | ANPR Business Manager [email protected] ANPR Business Office | PO Box 984 | Davis, CA 95617 www.anpr.org ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL PARK RANGERS P.O. Box 984 | Davis, CA 95617

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Directory of ANPR Board Members, Task Group Leaders & Staff BOARD OF DIRECTORS Internal Communications Eighth World Ranger Congress 2016 Cadence Cook, Lewis and Clark Bob Krumenaker, Apostle Islands President (858) 353-3231 • [email protected] [email protected] Erika Jostad, Denali (559) 335-2840 • [email protected] Membership Services Ranger Editorial Adviser Kate Sargeant, U.S. Park Police Kendell Thompson, Lincoln Boyhood President-elect (360) 286-3416 • [email protected] (703) 927-1029 • [email protected] Jan Lemons, Pinnacles (831) 389-4390 • [email protected] Professional Issues Ken Bigley, Wolf Trap BUSINESS OPERATIONS Secretary (432) 477-2804 • [email protected] Colleen Derber, Washington Office ANPR Business Address (410) 897-7645 • [email protected] Seasonal Perspectives P.O. Box 984 , Davis, CA 95617 Lauren Kopplin, Buffalo River Alison Steiner, Business Manager Treasurer (469) 831-3258 • [email protected] (203) 675-6646 • [email protected] Tom Banks, Glacier (508) 579-2521 • [email protected] Strategic Planning Ranger Editor Scott Warner, Retired Ann Dee Allen Education and Training (770) 375-0855 • [email protected] (414) 778-0026 • [email protected] Katlyn Grubb, Golden Gate (209) 262-7232 • [email protected] Financial Operations TASK GROUP LEADERS Tom Banks Fundraising Activities (508) 579-2521 • [email protected] Nick Mann, Devils Tower International Affairs [email protected] Blanca Stransky, George Washington Memorial Parkway [email protected]