In these days of near-universal uncertainty, life is unsettled for many. It’s easy to focus on our own little corner of the world. Thinking beyond his own issues, Steve Scarano has mulled over the situation faced by National Park Service workers. From the depths of his heart, he’s written them all a letter. His letter to the “park people” touched our hearts, and maybe it will touch yours, too.
Dear National Park People:
May I salute you? I know that this is a particularly challenging season of service for you, and while mine is certainly not the only voice crying in the wilderness to acknowledge that and may even ring a bit hollow in the short view, the option of silence is just not viable to me. So here we are.
I’m a card-carrying property owner and cherish our parks, monuments, historic sites, and recreation areas. Thank you for making them available to us. In fact, for decades it has been my practice to express my gratitude when I’ve either coincidentally met or deliberately sought you in our visits—all of you: law enforcement and interpretive rangers, maintenance and administrative personnel, volunteers and entry gate staff.
“Geeky touron”
Yes, I am indeed one of those geeky tourons that stare with dislocated jaws at The Canyon, geysers, hoodoos, mountain tops, caverns, and battlefield cannons. But I swear I have never, ever, asked you where the nearest bathroom was. When I see the looks on the faces of the kids who you are leading in the Junior Ranger pledge, I cheer for you at least as much as I do for them. And, while I have been known to ask The Question you’ve known was coming during one of your excellent campfire talks, I assure you that I have never asked you a question that you knew I already knew the answer to. By the way, how is it that you are always able to act like I’m the first person who ever asked those things?
All that said, I do hope you remember the two things I’ve told you, even though I sort of joked about quizzing you on your memory if we were to meet again. First, THANK YOU. However poor a supplement to your “sunset pay” it is, please do remember my gratitude. Second, I really do feel like I am in fact a property owner and with that credential demand that you continue your worthy, noble, and often courageous work for the sake of our grandkids. We are counting on you. Will you do that, please?
I love this place
I’ve been gifted by the friendship of several of your deceased, active duty, and retired fellow National Park Service employees and volunteers. Through them, I’ve learned that you protect the parks from the people, the people from the parks, and the people from each other. When I have had this conversation with your people over the years, the collective response by several hundred of you looked like this: “Nobody has ever said that to me before.” Tears well up (theirs and mine). “I needed to hear that today. Well, this is what we do. It’s all about your grandkids. I love this place.”
We need them, we need you
Well, Ranger, these days I’m particularly reminded of the restorative power inherent in our wonderful national properties and you folks who serve us in them. And I believe confidently that we need them, need you, desperately perhaps. We need to know that they are there on the map, whether or not we have immediate plans or the ability to get to them in the flesh.
I confess to violating the rule about taking only photographs and leaving only footprints. The fact is, the memories, sights, sounds (or lack of them) and smells have gone home with me and have become part of the geography of my life. If walking off with those treasures is a crime, I suppose that you Park people are abettors. May I salute you for being partners in it?
Remember those two things I told you. OK?
Steve Scarano has a storied—and lengthy—background. Scarano’s early life included time as an Eagle Scout, then a stint as a Marine Corps officer. He’s seen the good, the bad, and the ugly working for 30 years, then retiring as a police officer. In his “present life,” he’s now just beginning his 19th season as a Trail Angel, volunteering to give aid and support to hikers, often in the form of what hikers call “trail magic.” Somehow, he’s found the time to mark 20 years as a Trail Patroller and “Dust Devil” in a large regional park near San Diego, California.
Thank you, Steve, for sharing so much with us.
Learn more about becoming a National Parks volunteer by clicking here.
RVT1210
Wonderful article! Thank you to Steve and you for sharing it.
Thank you, Steve.
Some of the comments here of late, with their dismissal of all our NPS rangers and employee do to maintain our national treasures, protect us and our natural world, and bring a sense of wonder at nature’s handiwork have been so disheartening. The callousness at the upending of livelihoods and disregard for years of service of the people who serve us has felt like a dagger in the heart.
This is exactly what I needed today and I wholeheartedly endorse every word and sentiment you expressed so beautifully.
Well said! I was going to comment, but you expressed it better!
Yes, JP. I too enjoyed the letter. It was a heartfelt read, written with an impassioned and grateful heart. Even tho I agree with much of the sentiment made about the hardworking and passionate NPS employees I can also, at the very same time, agree that the baseline numbers for employment at the NPS needs a reset. It is not a series of binary choices forcing us to choose between great parks or no parks. Between overstaffing and no staffing. Between no trash and only trash. Between guided tours or no tours. Between lawlessness or law enforcement, or…. Good stewardship of natural lands or good stewardship of tax dollars…. I submit, we can have both.
Happy trails ✌️ 😎
I know you to be a thoughtful person, Cancel and I don’t disagree the our government needs scrutiny as to where we need to prune and where we need to invest for the long term good of our country. There is certainly fat and also neglect.
And I concede, through elections we collectively decide who we want to lead and by extension, in concert with the legislative branch, what to prioritize.
I am at heart a fiscal conservative but one who believes good stewardship is a mixture of spending prudence and (gasp) raising taxes on those of us who can afford it to pay for nice things and not so nice things like wars.
…. Continued
I am mystified as to how “Good stewardship of natural lands or good stewardship of tax dollars” means arbitrarily sending out termination notices to long term employees with years of experience or new hires that we brought on for specific expertise with no thought to what they do, how well they performed their jobs, or where their talents are best put to use.
Instead, a billionaire with no environmental experience and some teenagers and 20 somethings who’s experience in nature is walking through canyons in computer games is charged with mass layoffs and budget cuts with no cost-benefit analysis, no consideration of how much disinvestment in our NPS and interior will cost long term.
Like you, I always enjoy our mutually respectful discourse. On the 20 somethings, I have watched several interviews with these spectacularly talented young people and applaud them for disrupting their lives for a greater purpose than selfish pursuits. They all seem to recognize that there will be time for other goals and financial rewards. I believe that they recognize the dire condition of our fiscal situation and have engaged in an altruistic effort for their future children and grandchildren.
The results of this effort are years away but something had to change and fast, so I am willing to stay the course for a few years and will make a data driven opinion once the data is in.
Bravo Zulu! Captain!
Thank you for posting this. Our National Parks and all the NPS sites are treasures. As NPS volunteers, we have seen first hand the dedication of NPS staff – and of fellow volunteers. Every penny spent on NPS brings so much value to our lives, surrounding communities and to future generations. Let’s not lose that!
Thankyou for sharing this with us Russ and Tina !
And thankyou Cancel and Joseph Phebus for your mutually respectful and thought provoking discussion on the topic.
Thank you for sharing this eloquent word of thanks to the individuals who are the many and different pieces of the monolithic National Park Service, Russ and Tina. I found this both educational and heart-warming. Have a great holiday and week! Safe travels!
Wow, “universal uncertainty,” really? This is the greatest time to be alive. I see millions of people living in 3,000 sq ft homes, driving cars like Cadillac, Mercedes and BMWs that only the richest of the rich owned years ago. My parents/grandparents lived through two world wars and the Great Depression. What we are experiencing today is nothing remotely close.