The Journal of the Association of National Park Rangers

RangerStewards for parks, visitors & each other Vol. 30, No. 2 | Spring 2014

Heaven and Earth

RANGER • Spring 2014 u Sec1a Board of Directors Officers President Erika Jostad, SEKI Secretary Colleen Derber, WASO Treasurer Paula Alexander, LIBO Immediate Past President Stacy Allen, SHIL

Board Members Education & Training Ben Walsh, NAMA Fundraising Activities Seth Tinkham, WASO Internal Communications Jeremy Kaufman, GWMP Membership Services Gannon Frain, GRBA Professional Issues Ken Bigley, BIBE Seasonal Perspectives Lauren Kopplin, CALO Special Concerns Wendy Lauritzen, TAPR Strategic Planning Alison Steiner, SEKI

Task Groups International Affairs Blanca Stransky, PEVI Read more details about this year’s Ranger Rendezvous on page 21 and www.anpr.org. World Ranger Congress Bob Krumenaker, APIS Logo design courtesy of Alex Eddy Staff Membership Services Teresa Ford

Ranger Magazine Editor/Publisher Teresa Ford USNPS Association of National Park Rangers |  Editorial Adviser Kendell Thompson, LIBO

Professional Ranger Section Share your views! Administration Michelle Torok, SAGU Do you have a comment on a particular topic Interpretation Pete Peterson, GRCA, and Josh Boles, WRBR featured in this issue? Or about anything related Protection Kevin Moses, BUFF to national parks? Send your views to fordedit@ LIVE THE ADVENTURE Resource Management Sue Consolo Murphy, GRTE aol.com or to the address on the back cover. Join the A guide to becoming ANPR’s award-winning a park ranger ‘Lost . . . But Found, with the National Park Service Safe and Sound’ video Available on DVD A guide to Designed to show becoming a children, ages 4-12, what park ranger to do if they become lost with the ANPR Calendar National in remote areas such as Park Service parks or forests. Ranger (Summer issue) deadline...... April 30 ASSOCIATION OF n n n NATIONAL PARK Tentative theme: NPS Workforce RANGERS DVD: $6 for ANPR members, $10 for www.anpr.org others; also available for $5 as a CD-ROM Ranger (Fall issue) deadline...... July 31 PowerPoint presentation; $3 (closeout) for VHS in case anyone still has a VCR! Quantity Refer visitors and Ranger Rendezvous XXXVII...... Oct. 22-26 discounts available; credit card payment prospective park employees YMCA of the Rockies (Visa/MC) accepted. to this informative publication. Estes Park, Colorado Order online at www.anpr.org/lost.htm Go to www.anpr.org/book.htm for single copies Questions? or bulk ordering details. Support ANPR. Contact ANPR’s business office: 25958 Genesee Trail Road, PMB 222 Golden, CO 80401 • [email protected]

Sec1bt ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers President’s Message am assuming the presidency of ANPR at a inspiration from ANGERThe Journal of the Association of National Park Rangers time of opportunity for our organization each other. We USNPS I RVol. 30, No. 2 Spring 2014 and our parent agency as we meet change and have convened a Ranger (ISSN 1074-0678) is a quarterly publication of uncertainty with funding, demographics and a planning group the Association of National Park Rangers, an organization shifting political climate. It’s an opportunity to comprised of created to communicate for, about and with National reach out to potential partners and to enhance members who Park Service employees of all disciplines; to promote and enhance the professions, spirit and mission of National our collaboration efforts. It’s an opportunity are engaged with Park Service employees; to support management and to train early-career employees how to solve program develop- the perpetuation of the National Park Service and the problems and think creatively, both qualities ment, logistical support and developing a National Park System; and to provide a forum for profes- that will help them transition into leadership fundraising plan for this meaningful event. sional enrichment. positions in the future. It’s an event where young employees are In meeting these purposes, the Association provides education and other training to develop and/or improve ANPR’s current initiatives embrace these working alongside retirees learning impor- the knowledge and skills of park professionals and those opportunities in order to strengthen our orga- tant leadership skills. interested in the stewardship of national parks; provides a nization, our agency and ourselves. u Our organization has reached out to forum for discussion of common concerns of all employees; u Ranger Rendezvous XXXVII: We are the NPS for collaboration on this event and provides information to the public. planning for a strong Rendezvous Oct. 22-26 and our ongoing oral history project. This The membership of ANPR is comprised of individuals who are entrusted with and committed to the care, study, in Estes Park, Colorado, adjacent to Rocky multi-year endeavor celebrates the NPS cen- explanation and/or protection of those natural, cultural Mountain National Park. We will collaborate tennial by collecting stories from long-term and recreational resources included in the National Park with the local community and the park on NPS employees. We have engaged young System, and persons who support these efforts. service projects and community events. This oral historians with agency professionals ANPR’s official address: 25958 Genesee Trail Road, venue will enhance the sense of camaraderie to compile these histories and will present PMB 222, Golden, CO 80401, www.anpr.org. Members receive Ranger as part of their membership dues. See the present at every Rendezvous with shared the first round of 26 insightful stories to be website or Ranger for membership/subscription details. meals and a spectacular natural setting. The preserved at Harpers Ferry this spring. u Submissions theme “Embrace the Opportunity” invites Mentoring program: Our ongoing in- Prospective authors should contact the editor or editorial people to discuss and explore the ways that formal program is open to all members. We adviser before submitting articles. Editor, Teresa Ford, we can meet our challenges. are connecting experienced mentors from 25958 Genesee Trail Road, PMB 222, Golden, CO u We have begun planning in earnest for the around the service with protégés to promote 80401, 303-526-1380; [email protected]. Editorial World Ranger Congress of the International professional and personal development. adviser, Kendell Thompson, 703-927-1029. Ranger Federation in May 2016. ANPR is In each of these initiatives — planning groups Deadlines hosting the event. Protected area staff from for Rendezvous and World Ranger Congress, Spring issue...... Jan. 31 around the world will gather in the United Summer issue...... April 30 interviewers in the oral history project and Fall issue...... July 31 States during the National Park Service’s our mentoring program — we are consciously Winter issue...... Nov. 15 centennial year to collaborate and to draw engaging young members to develop their leadership skills and tapping the experience of our longtime members. CONTENTS We are pairing managers and retirees with A New Mythic Narrative?...... 2 early-career employees to collaborate and Spiritual Landscape ...... 4 accomplish tasks while developing the next Church & State: A Partnership at San Antonio Missions ...... 6 generation of leaders for ANPR and the NPS. Evangelical Park: Railroads, Profit and Religion at Yellowstone ...... 8 Mentoring and collaboration are some of the Q & A with Frank Buono...... 10 most valuable benefits of our organization and Atheist in a National Park...... 12 play a critical role in transforming our challenges into opportunity. Oral History Project: An Interview with Dick Martin...... 13 I am proud of what we are doing and look NPS & the National Scout Jamborees...... 14 forward to the coming years. USNPS ParksConnect™: New iOS App...... 16

Professional Ranger ...... 17 Erika Jostad ANPR Reports...... 19 Ranger Rendezvous XXXVII...... 21 All in the Family...... 22 Holiday Giving Campaign...... 24

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. Articles and images in this publication are the sole property of ANPR and Ranger magazine, except where otherwise indicated. Republication in whole or part is not allowed without written permission. Chapel of the Transfiguration, Grand Teton, photo courtesy of Grand Teton National Park, NPS

RANGER • Spring 2014 u  A New Mythic Narrative for the National Parks? By Lynn Ross-Bryant We can move beyond institutional religion to find other angles on religion in the parks. eople have been “searching for God in The term spiritual is sometimes used to describe Yellowstone” since parks began. Reli- this aspect of religion, usually indicating a Photo courtesy of NPS/Kimberly Finch gious language, including references to personal, individual search for the divine in IN THIS ISSUE PGod or the Creator and to the human spirit, as the created world. This is being explored in In the 1930s when the Great Smoky Mountains well as to religious quest or pilgrimage are found surveys of park visitors that create open-ended were being considered as a national park, Di- in both popular and professional literature questions about why tourists come to national rector Horace Albright recalled that “national about the parks throughout their history. parks. Their answers often include a spiritual parks are not created by an act of Congress; only There is no question as to the presence of dimension, perhaps by referring to the sacred- God can create a national park.” Park sites in religion in the national parks. But it is interest- ness of creation or the experience of wholeness the system now number more than 400. ing to note the different forms it takes and what one has in nature. The park photographs of In this issue we explore the nexus of science, may be developing as national parks redefine Ansel Adams and his many followers still speaks religion and policy in our national parks. From themselves in their second century. to this personal religious dimension. But there the top of Mato Tipila (Devils Tower) to the What “religion in the national parks” first is a lot of beautiful nature outside the parks. creation of Yellowstone, religion continues to calls to mind is the role institutional religions Why, for example, do people go into Rocky play a controversial role on our “holy” public have played in the parks’ history, such as Mountain National Park, which costs money land. Dr. Thomas Brewer takes us to the very the chaplaincy programs that have provided and is more crowded, rather than finding God genesis of the national parks idea in his histori- worship services for various religious groups in nature in the nearby, and perhaps equally cal tale, “Evangelical Park,” where religion is an and the Easter Service that has taken place in beautiful, Indian Peaks? The difference seems unexpected force. Dr. Ross-Bryant (adjacent Grand Canyon since 1935. Often, however, to lie in the fact that these lands are set aside, article) discusses the continuing need for a this relationship has been one of contention, declared important and special — to some, religious lexicon to frame our evolving national usually over church-state or freedom of speech “sacred.” park experience. issues. In Grand Canyon, for example, in the Mark Neumann, in his book On the Rim: In their article “Church and State,” park 1950s some religious groups proposed to build Looking for the Grand Canyon, writes that rangers Greg Smith and Susan Snow demon- the Shrine of the Ages Chapel on the rim, at as “tourists actively engage the landscape,” strate how the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the site of the annual Easter service. After much their lives can be “reframed, reimagined and the National Park Service have found peace at debate, both aesthetic and religious issues led reinvented.” He says this opportunity for San Antonio Missions National Historical Park to the construction of a smaller Shrine of the transformed living can happen “in a place of where there are four active Catholic churches Ages Chapel away from the rim and in 1975 cultural import; it is as if the cultural authority within park boundaries. But religion, spiritual it was taken over by the NPS and is now called of the landscapes invites them to ceremonialize meaning and land management policy can an auditorium, used as much by nonreligious their lives and relationships for themselves.” make for unruly pilgrims. Dorothy FireCloud as religious groups. This ceremony sounds much like a tradi- in “Spiritual Landscape” and Frank Buono in In the 1960s plaques donated by a religious tional pilgrimage, which it mirrors in being his interview with Ranger, explain what it’s like organization on which were written passages not only individual, but also communal. to be present at the crossroads of religion and from the Psalms were placed on the rim. In This cultural authority is possible because policy — where some roads lead all the way the ’70s they were taken down and then put the parks embody the deeply held beliefs and to the U.S. Supreme Court. up again because of uncertainty over whether The juncture of God and religion, public values of the culture. I have explored this policy and national parks is often considered they constituted endorsement by the park of the dimension at length in Pilgrimage to the Na- Jewish or Christian religion. anathema. Park managers striving to staff A schematic of the original Shrine of the Ages Chapel shows the the visitor center, make sure meadows are A slightly different issue panorama to the east. unspoiled and file reports on time, try hard involving religion and sci- to keep them far apart. Yet there is almost a ence in the parks concerned trinity between them, an unseen tension where whether the bookstore should belief in the National Park Service mission, our sell a book on creationism evolving cultural mandate and awe-inspiring (obviously in conflict with beauty combine. the geological explanations Perhaps this topic is best explored through for the canyon offered by the art. Delving deeper into the national park ethos, park). On a recent visit there I poet and former ranger Kristina Rylands adds found the book for sale, but it perspective while taking the antiview from the was located in the inspiration woods in her poem on page 12. q section rather than the science — Kendell Thompson, Ranger editorial adviser section.

 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers Easter sunrise at the Grand Canyon. Photo by Michael Quinn tional Parks: Religion and Nature in the United to the George Wright Society in 2011 as he Canyon. His book, Uncertain Path: A Search for States. From the beginning, God the Creator identified parks as holding “lands which are the Future of National Parks, is a reflection on was celebrated in the “sublime” landscapes sacred to us as a people” and said, “Parks have the national parks that he sets in the context of Yosemite and Yellowstone, and they were been regarded as holy places of the nation.” of a “pilgrimage,” traveling from Tuolumne seen as a sign of God’s choosing America as a Another example is the Wild and Scenic Meadows in Yosemite to Crescent Meadow special place and a special people. The mythic Rivers task force report in 2007: “Rivers are in Sequoia. narrative of the pristine “new world” that was an important part of our nation’s natural and Tweed begins, “For many Americans, na- said to exist at the time of the coming of the cultural heritage. Since time immemorial, they tional parks and wilderness areas are sacred. The white man was seen to be preserved and un- have provided physical sustenance and spiritual ideas that support them possess the power and changed in the national parks. The belief we inspiration.” A final example is the Science and importance of religion,” so reflecting on the see expressed was that nature, especially when Natural Resource Committee Report from parks and what they might become makes him not developed by human society, can rejuvenate the Second Century Commission in 2009, a “pilgrim.” Observing the changing landscape people who are worn down spiritually by their which argued “the inspirational nature of a and the expectations of more significant chang- lives in industrial-technological society. This park experience” will continue to be possible es from “climate change, pollution and habitat mythic narrative as applied to the parks is stated only with the scientific management the report fragmentation,” he searches for how national clearly in the NPS Organic Act: that nature be proposes. parks might be imagined without affirming preserved unchanged for the enjoyment of the I find this statement of particular interest “the national park covenant — the promise people. We see it powerfully repeated in the because it reflects, since the turn of the century, that what we love will not change”— when Ken Burns national parks documentary, which, a new incorporation of the ecological sciences, the reality is constant change. What the new significantly, basically ends in the ’60s, before with their stress on process and change into covenant might be and what form a new mythic the impact of the environmental sciences. park management. The mythic narrative of narrative may take remains to be seen. What In the 21st century the mythic narrative may the parks — and of Western cultures and is not in doubt, in my mind, is that religion be changing, but religious language remains their religions generally — has valued what is will continue to play a crucial role if national present and powerful. We see examples of this, timeless: think of Eden and heaven, or of the parks are to remain the cultural forces that for example, in Director Jon Jarvis’ address parks remaining unchanged for future genera- they have been throughout their history. USNPS From the interior, visitors have a sweeping view of the canyon. tions. The change is partly due to the harder-to-ignore effects of climate change and partly, it seems, to the evolution of Lynn Ross-Bryant earned her doctoral degree in American culture, which the religion and culture from the University of Chicago parks reflect (and what allows Divinity School. She taught at Chico State University them to function as sacred in and University of Southern California sites). before finding her way to the Rockies where she taught This new mythic narrative is at the University of Colorado in Boulder until her retirement in 2010. She published on nature poets a story in the making. Some like Theodore Roethke and literary naturalists like directions are suggested by Barry Lopez before settling on national parks as the William C. Tweed, retired chief focus of her research. naturalist at Sequoia and Kings

RANGER • Spring 2014 u  addressed. On Dec. 6, 2012, the secretaries of Agriculture, Defense, Energy and Interior departments, along with the chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Spiritual signed a memorandum of understanding for improving tribal access and protection of sacred sites. Another lesson I learned from my grand- Landscape father: When you want something, put it out for the universe to hear. A dream of mine By Dorothy FireCloud was to work in the Black Hills as a federal Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot land manager. In the fall of 2003, thanks to s a young girl in the 1960s, I recall a friend who heard my desire, I was detailed evenings listening to conversations of as the acting deputy forest supervisor of the my grandparents. Many were stories of Black Hills National Forest. In June 2006, I Asacred places and the inability of our people was honored to become superintendent of to worship in traditional ways at these and Devils Tower National Monument. The next other places. six years were spent fulfilling my dream. It was My “cousin,” a tribal elder and traditional a time of spiritual growth where I encountered practitioner whom I greatly respect, recently a range of some negative but mostly positive echoed my grandfather’s words when he said, experiences—life coming full circle. “When a people are alienated from their Devils Tower is located on the western spirituality, they lose sight of their place in cre- More than 20 tribes have a cultural affiliation with edge of the Black Hills, which are considered Devils Tower — or Mato Tipila (Bear’s Lodge), ation. Reconnecting our people with Mother by tribes as “the heart of everything that is.” as the Plains tribes know it. NPS photo Earth and her life-giving force is paramount The Tower is not only a spectacular geological to restoring the health and well-being of our wonder but of major cultural significance to nations.” ith the restored ability to openly practice numerous tribes. It is known by Plains tribes At that young age it never occurred to me Wtraditional ceremonies came the issue as “Mato Tipila” – Bear’s Lodge. It is the that, as tribal people, we did not have the same of returning to the places where ceremonies place where tribal people perform ceremonies rights guaranteed other citizens under the U.S. were performed, as many were no longer throughout the year, the most significant time Constitution. Sitting there, surrounded by within tribal ownership. This was a critical being summer solstice. family, I also could not have foreseen that I factor because tribal religious practices are tied One tribal story of how the Tower was would one day personally take a role in manag- to the land. It may be best understood by an created is of a brother playing with his seven ing our restored spiritual rights in a national excerpt from U.S. Supreme Court Associate sisters. As he was chasing them, he turned park. Justice Brennan’s dissenting opinion in Lyng into a bear. The sisters ran to a large rock and The right to practice traditional religions v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective started to pray for protection from the bear. As was denied to indigenous people by the federal Association: “Where dogma lies at the heart they prayed, the rock began to rise. The bear government through the 1883 Indian Religious of Western religions, Native American faith scratched at the sides of the rock in an attempt Crimes Code. Traditional ceremonies were is inextricably bound to the use of land. The to get at the girls, and that is how the Tower banned, religious events disrupted and sacred site-specific nature of Indian religious practice got the marks on its sides. It is also the place objects confiscated and destroyed. Native derives from the Native American perception where the sacred pipe used in the seven most people were not allowed to speak their native that land is itself a sacred, living being.” significant Lakota ceremonies was delivered languages. In addition, the federal government AIRFA was the impetus that brought by the White Buffalo Calf Woman. provided support to Christian missionaries to American Indian interests to the attention and In the early 1990s the National Park Service convert and civilize tribal people. Traditional inclusion of federal land management activi- determined there was a need for a comprehen- practices and culture went underground for ties. Reinforcement for AIRFA came through sive Climbing Management Plan, or CMP, much of the next century. Executive Order 13007, Indian Sacred Sites, recognizing that the drastic increase of climbers Not until August 1978 with passage of the issued by President Clinton in 1996. The execu- was having a negative resource impact on the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, or tive order directed federal land management Tower and on the ability of American Indians AIRFA, were American Indian people provided agencies to: to engage in solitude for ceremonial activities. the same guarantees under the First Amend- 1. Accommodate access to and ceremonial The NPS began a two-year consultation process ment. AIRFA stated that it shall be the policy use of Indian sacred sites by Indian religious in 1992. of the United States to protect and preserve practitioners. he first climbing management plan for American Indians their inherent right of 2. Avoid adversely affecting the physical Tprovided a complete ban on guided freedom to believe, express and exercise tradi- integrity of such sites. climbs during the month of June. This led to tional religions, including access to sites, use Although the executive order required a challenge by climbers in the district court and possession of sacred objects and freedom federal agencies to develop implementation of Wyoming. The court issued a preliminary to worship through ceremonials and traditional plans, only in the past few years has depart- injunction against the NPS’ action, inter- rites. ment-specific policy on sacred sites been preting that the withholding of commercial

 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers climbing permits as an accommodation of during the difficult time of litigation (1994- month of June, because I choose to respect Indian religious practices was in violation of 97), worked hard to educate climbers, local Native American beliefs.” the , often referred to residents and visitors about the meaning of While at the Tower, several events occurred as one of the “religion clauses” of the First the sacred site. She reflected during the filming that I hope will continue to build relationships Amendment to the Constitution. of Toby Mcleod’s “In the Light of Reverence,” among the three major user groups: tribes, The NPS modified its approach through a documentary about the struggle to protect climbers and local community members. A additional consultation efforts resulting in a the site, “Anyone on their sacred Tower during meal was held at a climbing guide’s home, voluntary climbing ban during the month of the time of their prayers or ceremonies affects with Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Keeper of June. Ironically, it was through the consultation the efficacy of those efforts. What we are ac- the Sacred Bundle and community members. efforts that tribal elders indicated they preferred commodating here at Devils Tower is Indian Similarly, Rick TwoDogs, a traditional prac- park rangers to educate the visitors as to the people’s rights to their culture. They are here titioner, invited Frank Saunders, a climbing significance of the Tower rather than institute for the long haul and they know it. These guide, to participate in a sweat lodge ceremony. a complete ban on climbing. It was their hope sacred sites are central to the perpetuation of Saunders found that he enjoyed both the sweat that through awareness, visitors and climbers their culture. One of our jobs here at Devils and the time spent with the tribal people. alike would choose to respect the ceremonial Tower is to protect that right.” In 2009, park staff set out to develop a activities and not climb the Tower during the I have great admiration and respect for Comprehensive Interpretive Plan, or CIP, for summer solstice season. Liggett. She stood for what was right against guidance on which interpretive stories to share The NPS would not enforce the voluntary factions who preferred that tribal people and with visitors. closure but would rely on climbers and the their ceremonies would just disappear. A consultation meeting was held with the new educational program to motivate other any of the local community members three user groups gathered around the table. climbers and park visitors to gain compliance Msurrounding the Tower do not believe At first it was contentious. However, through with the ban. The climbers filed suit again. They tribal people should be able to practice their sharing of stories, barriers came down and the objected to the voluntary ban on climbing in ceremonies at the Tower. In Mcleod’s film, they groups realized a common goal: the preserva- June, the interpretive educational program that ask: “Why do they want to perform ceremonies tion and protection of the Tower. explains the religious and cultural significance at the Tower? We have lived here all our lives There is still a ways to go to get these users the monument has for American Indians, and and have never seen tribal people there.” to agree on various topics, but it is a start. The finally, the placement of signs that encourage Elaine Quiver, Lakota tribal elder, rebutted: CIP was drafted, reviewed, revised and final- people to remain on the trail surrounding the “We have always been there, but we didn’t go ized through successful negotiations with the Tower. there to be seen. It is part of our culture; if you user groups. Consultation can and should take The climbers further challenged the Secre- don’t know the culture you don’t see anything. many forms. It doesn’t always have to be in a tary of the Interior’s approval of the CMP, argu- We went there, did our prayers and left. No room with an agenda. Make it interactive, do ing that the CMP violated the Establishment one saw us.” site visits and get to know one another on a Clause. District court rejected the climbers Another area of disagreement is the name more personal basis. Over time, respect and claim that a voluntary ban on rock climbing was of the monument. For many years tribes have trust emerge. an impermissible accommodation of religion requested for the name to be returned to its n aspect of being superintendent that I under the Establishment Clause. The court held original name, Bear Lodge. This name appears Anever anticipated was an expectation from the plan was a lawful and legitimate exercise on maps from the late 1800s. In March 2005, my tribe. I believe the tribal representative felt of authority, carefully crafted to balance the Superintendent Lisa Eckert proposed that the that as an enrolled tribal member, I would fol- competing needs of individuals using Devils Tower itself become the Bear Lodge National low his lead. When my decisions were based on Tower. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Historic Landmark, in preparation for the what was best for the Tower and did not cater affirmed the district court’s holding. national monument’s centennial celebration to any particular interest group, I was treated hen I arrived as superintendent in 2006, in 2006. However, the name would remain rudely. That was one of the hardest lessons I Wthe CMP had been implemented for Devils Tower. Local community members learned while at the Tower, but it also provided 10 years, with an update in 2005 through saw this as an attempt to give tribal people me a sense of independence. additional consultation with climbers, tribal greater control of the Tower. Unfortunately, I will always have a special connection with representatives and community members. the proposal was dropped due to opposition the Tower. It is a place of my ancestors and A component of the CMP is to determine from Wyoming’s congressional delegation. spirituality and where I have worked with if the voluntary climbing ban is successful. During my tenure, the number of June dedicated park rangers. The work we did Elements to help in this determination are: climbers continued to drop. There were 300 during those years continues to have positive 1. A continuous, significant reduction in climbers in 2006. That number fell to 258 impacts on the way the NPS accommodates the number of climbers on Devils Tower by June 2011. The figures support that the tribal people at their sacred places. USNPS each June in comparison to the number voluntary climbing ban continues to be ef- from the previous June. fective. I give credit to climbing guides, such 2. An increase in awareness among all visi- as Sylvan Rocks, who voluntarily choose not The first American Indian superintendent of tors of the cultural significance of Devils to bring climbers in June. Devils Tower National Monument, Dorothy Tower to American Indians and conflicting As climber John Gunnels stated: “I live FireCloud currently is superintendent of Mon- values between recreational climbing and and stay in Wyoming because I love it. My tezuma Castle and Tuzigoot, both significant tribal historic properties. She is a member of the the sacred site. favorite spot on the planet is Devils Tower, it Sicangu Lakota tribe. Deb Liggett, Devils Tower superintendent keeps me here. I go other places during the

RANGER • Spring 2014 u  Church State& A unique partnership is at the core of the management of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

By Greg Smith, San Antonio Missions

n a beautiful, warm Sunday af- ternoon there are 6,000-plus San Antonians gathered before the stage inO the church parking at Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, known locally as the “Queen of the Missions.” Federal, state and city officials are poised to pay tribute to Grammy award winner, San An- tonio native and living legend Flaco Jiménez. He is the star attraction of Mission Fest 2013, a church event held on the final day of Fiesta Mission San José Church through the West Gate, San Antonio, Texas. NPS photo San Antonio 2013. Jiménez, a third-genera- church through a parish priest, in turn serves The churches remain sacred places and yet are tion accordion master who performs a unique the spiritual needs of tens of thousands of used daily for the enjoyment and education of Tex/Mex style of music called Conjunto, is San Antonians and visitors who flock to the park visitors. Communication is paramount. the headliner during a nearly 10-hour concert churches on a daily basis. All areas of common interest are discussed, that will showcase at least a dozen other San Many park visitors are surprised to learn that including shared spaces within the park, Antonio bands entertaining the crowd under the churches are not just historic buildings, special events, parking, security, and historic a south Texas April sky. but first and foremost active Catholic churches preservation of buildings and landscapes. Months earlier park officials began meeting where masses, weddings, baptisms and funerals In addition to historic preservation, the with Father Tony, the church pastor, and his are routine. The Mariachi masses held each park and the parishes partner on other park Mission Fest committee to start planning how Sunday at San José and Mission Concepción programming. The park’s annual Archaelogy event logistics might impact park operations de Acuna Church are especially popular with Day attracts more than 1,500 people, and the and the special-use permit that would allow both parishioners and tourists. parish provides food at its facility just outside church use of the National Park Service-man- The Archdiocese of San Antonio maintains the mission compound walls at Mission San aged parking fields to accommodate 1,500 cars and manages the four churches, church offices José. expected during the event. and the church residences. The NPS manages Every year the park, along with the Mis- This is just another event in the complex everything else. This includes the grounds and sion Trails Rotary Club and Los Compadres, life of San Antonio Missions National Histori- buildings around the churches, the parking sponsor a historical play, Los Pastores, and cal Park where 18th century Spanish colonial areas and other visitor use areas. NPS law en- the parish provides hot chocolate and other history and the 21st century Roman Catholic forcement rangers patrol the mission grounds, snacks for sale. In 2012 the Girl Scouts of Church partner to preserve a unique living and interpretive rangers provide school and Southwest Texas partnered with the park and place within NPS boundaries. There are four other programs to more than 1 million visitors the archdiocese to allow girls to earn their St. active Catholic churches (Concepción, San annually. Agnes Award using the park’s education center José, San Juan and Espada) located within While daily operations between church and and the church at Mission San José. the park boundary where the NPS promotes state may appear smooth and seamless, it takes Just as the park has a friend’s group, Los historic preservation, protection of resources a lot of work and cooperation. Each partner Compadres, that helps fund projects, the and visitor education. The Archdiocese of must work to understand the role the other archdiocese has Las Misiones, a fundraising San Antonio, which oversees each individual plays and the primary goals of that partner. group for the preservation of the mission

 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers Mission Espada. NPS photo churches. Restoration work on the carved stone exterior at Mission San José required A Look Back efforts has always been a complex subject. specialized stone conservators and on-site Since the 1960s, Carolyn Peterson, and Ford, By Susan Snow, San Antonio Missions stone carvers. A special-use permit was issued Powell and Carson Architects have served as to allow the archdiocese conservators to set an Antonio Missions National Historical the preservation experts for the archdiocese. up their stone carving shop in the park. Park SPark was established in 1978 after many The operating procedures for each mission visitors benefited by gaining a glimpse of the years of community efforts. The park was a defines what areas are managed by the church skill and perseverance to carve the intricate unique new partnership that allowed four vs. the park, but many of these buildings are façade and sacristy window. Providing an on- active Catholic parishes to become part of a connected to each other. In the case of Mis- site location reduced the logistical complexity national park. For five years the members of sion Concepción, they are the same building of the project for both the archdiocese and the San Antonio Missions Advisory Commis- with each floor under different management the park. Las Misiones celebrated its success sion worked on the cooperative agreements to authority. This makes it imperative to coor- with a fundraising gala held in the park and define management responsibilities between dinate preservation efforts. managed with a special-use permit. the National Park Service and the Catholic The Archdiocese of San Antonio contacts Parish priests and park rangers work side-by- Archdiocese of San Antonio as well as co- the park to discuss all historic preservation side every day to ensure that the needs of visi- operative agreements between the National projects to ensure that projects meet standards tors and parishioners are accommodated. Park Park Service and the other public landowners for protection of archaeological resources and and church management also work together within the boundaries of the new national the Secretary of the Interior’s guidelines for to meet long-term goals and strategies. park. In 1983 the cooperative agreement historic preservation. A park representative The missions were established almost 300 was signed and San Antonio Missions Na- sat on the Archdiocese’s Committee on the years ago as both sacred and secular institutions, tional Historical Park opened for visitation. Interiors of the Mission Churches, which and this tradition continues today as the NPS The Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio brought experts in historic preservation and and the archdiocese work together to preserve and the parishes maintained management Catholic liturgy together to balance historic these living treasures. USNPS responsibility for all of the buildings, which preservation and modern liturgical needs for Gregory F. Smith is a 27-year veteran of the National were actively used for religious purposes; the the sanctuaries. Park Service and has served as chief ranger at San NPS managed the remainder of the buildings Most recently the archdiocese has part- Antonio Missions NHP since 2007. He is responsible and cultural landscapes. nered with the NPS and other local organi- for special-use permits. A Plainfield, New Jersey, na- The Old Spanish Missions Committee zations to nominate the five missions of San tive, he earned a degree in park management from had been formed in the 1960s with the in- Antonio to the UNESCO World Heritage Montclair State College. crease in tourism at the missions due to the list. The archdiocese, the NPS and eight other 1968 World’s Fair (HemisFair). Archbishop partners have agreed to manage the five mis- Robert Lucey appointed Father Balthazar sions to protect their outstanding universal Janacek (Father Balty) as committee head. value. One of the values is their continued NPS staff, members of the San Antonio use as active Catholic parishes, carrying on Missions Advisory Commission and the Old the mission tradition for almost 300 years. Spanish Missions, led by Father Balty, worked together to define the day-to-day operations Susan Snow has been the archeologist for San Antonio of the park and the parishes within the broad Missions NHS since 2000. She has more than 30 outline of the cooperative agreement. years of experience on archeological sites in the United The coordination of historic preservation States and Latin America.

RANGER • Spring 2014 u  The beginnings of the national parks movement in the Evangelical Park 19th century relied on the Railroads, Profit and Religion at Yellowstone dominant religious orientation of the American public at the time, evangelical Protestant Christianity in its various forms.

confluence of Protestantism and the Transcen- dentalist embrace of nature, that the idea of national parks gained acceptance in American political life. In particular, the establishment of Yellowstone National Park, the first reserve so designated, was made possible in part by the logic of 19th-century evangelical religious orientations. Among the various social and cultural forces that produced the enabling legislation for Yellowstone in 1872 was an evangelical ethic to spread the Christian word and plant Christian ways of life across the continent. For many Americans, the appeal of the western territories relied significantly on a religious compulsion of conquest, settlement and exploitation, what many 19th-century Thermal features at Yellowstone.NPS photo evangelicals regarded as the benevolent forces of “civilization” wrought upon what most of By Thomas S. Bremer The beginnings of the national parks them thought of as a wild and savage region. movement in the 19th century relied on the Thus, the attraction of western lands initially ost Americans think of national dominant religious orientation of the Ameri- drew upon an evangelical ethic; only later parks as places of remarkable can public at the time, evangelical Protestant did concern for conservation and preserva- scenery, as special destinations Christianity in its various forms. Indeed, the tion of wild lands become the guiding force Mfor enjoying nature or for appreciating the overwhelming majority of Americans in the that popularized the national parks and other nation’s history. Rarely are parks associated middle and latter decades of the 19th century scenic landscapes. In the beginning, however, with religion. This is not to say that religion held some degree of affiliation with, or at least a millennialist ethical orientation justified the is absent from the parks. Various National sympathy for, evangelical forms of Christianity. “civilizing” of the American West, including Park Service units feature religion as an im- Even non-Protestants, especially the sizable the establishment of Yellowstone. portant element of the interpretive program. number of Catholics, Jews and other reli- Banker Jay Cooke, a particularly devout Churches, for instance, stand as key attractions gious groups in America, could not avoid the evangelical Protestant, was a key figure in the at Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic dominant values of evangelical Protestantism religious justification of national parks. His Site in Atlanta, Antietam National Battlefield that surged and pulsated throughout Ameri- financial interests and political maneuverings in Maryland, San Antonio Missions National can cultural life. Moreover, this distinctively played a crucial role in securing congressional Historical Park in Texas and many other sites American form of Christianity blended with approval for America’s first national park. around the country. an aesthetic appreciation for nature that had Cooke was by all accounts an exemplary, post- The history of religious communities enter made its way into the American cultural ethos bellum evangelical Protestant, perhaps more the interpretive narratives time and again at by the middle of the 19th century. It was fervent in his religious beliefs than most of his many other sites, and the contemporary needs largely due to Transcendentalists, especially contemporary Christians in positions of power of various religious communities, notably the the writings of such literary figures as Ralph in the latter decades of the 19th century. More- religious practices of indigenous groups, are Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and over, it seems that Cooke’s enterprises in the accommodated in various park units. Yet, de- Walt Whitman. American West, specifically the development spite its presence throughout the system, few In the years following the Civil War, religious of the Northern Pacific Railroad, conformed people associate religion with national parks. motives for settling and developing western well to his evangelical vision. In the 19th century, however, the national park territories, most commonly articulated in or Cooke, there was no gap between the idea itself had a strong religious component. terms of Manifest Destiny, included an ap- Fspiritual and the commercial, and both In short, American national parks to a large preciation for natural landscapes as evidence were tied to the recreational. His evangelical degree are a product of 19th-century American of divine favor bestowed upon the American commitments also encompassed his role in religious culture. nation. It was in this cultural context, with the encouraging exploration of the Yellowstone

 t ANPR • Association of National Park Rangers u Right, interior of Mammoth Chapel in Yellowstone, 1920.

Far right, the 35th anniversary of “A Christian Ministry in the National Parks” at Mammoth Chapel with Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel at the pulpit, 1986. Photos courtesy of Heritage and Research Center, Yellowstone

Plateau in the early 1870s and his company’s Protestant missionaries, with special interest in ment in facilitating the Washburn and Hayden support of legislation to establish a national evangelists working in the American West. expeditions that led to passage of the 1872 act park that would preserve in perpetuity the Cooke focused much of his attention in the creating Yellowstone is well known.3 Often natural wonders of the Yellowstone region for early 1870s on building the Northern Pacific lost in those historical tales, however, are the the benefit and enjoyment of the American Railroad; his company invested significant ef- Protestant evangelical underpinnings that mo- people. Certainly the new park furthered the fort and resources toward convincing the public tivated Cooke and influenced public opinion development of his railroad and added to the about the benefits of settling western lands in regard to “civilizing” the American West, financial profits of his company, but it also that the railroad opened up to the advantages which included reserving parklands for the contributed to Cooke’s evangelical goals for of Christian civilization. One element in this benefit and enjoyment of civilized people. the American nation. effort was the promotion of the American ooke’s commitment to the unblemished Cooke’s impact on the course of American West as an attractive destination to visit and Cbeauty of Yellowstone (a place he himself history is largely forgotten today, although he for settlement. Frederick Billings, who oversaw did not visit until decades later as an elderly described himself in typically hyperbolic terms the acquisition and development of railroad tourist) was undoubtedly a pecuniary interest, as a divine gift to the nation. He claimed for lands for Cooke’s company, wrote to Cooke but it also was informed by a religious faith himself a place alongside Lincoln and Grant as in 1871. in America’s divinely bestowed destiny, a faith one of the three great heroes of the Civil War, “The land work is thr