Yeah, I was there last summer. Tremendous place.
Were you? It was a fantastic experience. I took a couple of horses behind me and rode all over the countryside and took care of a lot of emergencies. I had two seasonal rangers, it was great. Something that I wouldn’t want to do now, but it was good while it lasted. And then I become a backcountry coordinator down there when a man by the name of Ted Thompson moved off who had been the backcountry coordinator. And then I got an offer next August to go to the chief ranger’s job in Bryce Canyon. So I jumped from district ranger to chief ranger at Bryce Canyon. And I was the first chief ranger in Bryce Canyon because Bryce had just separated at that time from Zion. I mean they had to have a chief ranger before, but he as the chief ranger for Bryce and Zion.
Sort of like Sequoia/Kings in the way it was administered?
Right, so I was the first one there and initiated a number of things: law enforcement, and the search and rescue and fire control, and the public relations that they hadn’t had before. It wasn’t just me, it was because I was the first; it was easy to do ‘cause you didn’t have anything to worry about. You just did it. So what you were teaching was the things that you knew and you, like I say, you didn’t have to worry about it cause it hadn’t been done before.
Sort of like Sequoia/Kings in the way it was administered?
Right, so I was the first one there and initiated a number of things: law enforcement, and the search and rescue and fire control, and the public relations that they hadn’t had before. It wasn’t just me, it was because I was the first; it was easy to do ‘cause you didn’t have anything to worry about. You just did it. So what you were teaching was the things that you knew and you, like I say, you didn’t have to worry about it cause it hadn’t been done before.
What were some of the kinds of public relations things that were new, not only what you instituted, but service wide?
Well, for one thing the superintendent and I joined the Lions Club in Panguitch. Now, I don’t know if you know that country or not, but it’s all Mormon country. The superintendent and I were not Mormons, and the twain doesn’t always mix so well, but it did in this case. We had good friends among them.
Jean: Well, we lived in the little town when we first went there. There wasn’t any housing for us in the Park. So we lived in Tropic.
