Administration

The Care and Feeding of your Administrative Staff — No man is an island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. — John Dunne

This quote from John Dunne is one of my favorites and is such a poignant reminder to me lately that we are all connected. As I write this article I am still reeling from the shock of hearing of the loss of a fellow administrative officer. This brings to mind another sad passing of our IT specialist at my own park this past October. Both of these recent losses to the world of administration in the National Park Service leave big holes in the hearts of their co-workers as both were well-liked women who had touched many lives. The suddenness of their passing has continued to remind me that we all need to take a moment each day and look around at our co-workers, friends and family to check in with them on their health and well-being.

In today’s world of administration in the NPS, and I am sure in other divisions too, we are dealing with a mountain of stress at times that some people deal with better than others. I wanted to take the time in this article to remind people who have administrative staff at their NPS sites to encourage us every now and then as we plod through such time-consuming programs as GovTrip, Quicktime, FMSS. PMIS, AFS, FPPS and FFS (for those non-NPS folks these are travel, payroll, personnel and budget programs).

The administrative staff at an NPS site can be a large group of folks or just one soul. No matter the staff size, they are still the backbone of a park that keeps a park standing tall. They are the behind-the-scenes people who can make those phone calls, get the answers and get everyone paid on time! The administrative staff members at your NPS sites are likely very dedicated to getting the job and completing it on time. They also might be quietly absorbing the stress of the job as the invisible pressure continues to mount to getting things done right or meeting that ever-present deadline.

So give an administrative employee a smile or a pat on the back if warranted. I guarantee you it will lower their stress level if only for the day. Make sure we come up for air every now and then and that we take a walk or hear a joke. I count myself lucky to have grown up in the embrace of the NPS family, and I’d like to remind every park employee past or present to extend that embrace to co-workers, friends and family.

To quote a dear friend and administrative co-worker who has now passed away, but whose spirit we still remember each day at my park:

“Watch out for each other; take care of your family and friends; and take care of yourself.” — Linda Devon

Interpretation

A Time of Celebration, Ritual and Renewal — This is my first column for Ranger and it is an honor to have this opportunity. Like many of you, I have enjoyed Jeff Axel’s tradition of thought-provoking columns over the past couple of years. I hope my thoughts and ideas continue that tradition.

It’s that time of the year again when seasonal interpretive training begins in many parks. This training will typically be about 80 hours long and combine orientation with information. Subject matter experts on the park’s natural and cultural history share their wealth of information. One or two self-appointed supervisors lecture about themes, goals, objectives, tangibles, intangibles and the interpretive equation. There are lots of PowerPoint presentations, and scattered throughout the training are reminders that safety is important. The superintendent and the chief of interpretation stand up on the first day and welcome everyone to the park. For some of you that may be the one and only time you see and hear from these individuals.

Does this sound like the type of training that occurs in your park? Does it sound exciting or boring? If this is your “umpteenth” seasonal training like it is for me, would you want to attend?

We need to turn seasonal training into something more than what I just described. I’m not saying that the training listed above isn’t interesting or that the individuals who organize it don’t work hard. But this type of seasonal training needs more.

Seasonal training needs to be compelling enough to attract your park’s most experienced interpreters so that they want to attend each year. The annual arrival of our seasonal interpretive staff, whether they are new to the National Park Service experience or returning veterans of many summers, provides an opportunity for each of us to discover . . . or rediscover (if this is your umpteenth season) the answer to this question: Why is my job as an interpreter vitally important to the mission of the NPS and to my park?

To make seasonal training compelling, it must be presented as a celebration of your park’s interpretive staff. Training must also be presented as a celebration of the meaning and significance of your park’s resources. Seasonal training presented in this manner has the power to renew your sense of purpose.

Remember the first time you participated in seasonal training? Remember the energy, passion and sense of wonder that accompanied you throughout that training and formed the basis of your first program and career? We always expect our newly hired seasonal interpreters to bring these qualities with them, but what if this is your 20th seasonal training? How can you reconnect with that original energy and passion that was felt 20 years ago if the training seems to be the same redundant and bureaucratic process year after year? The answer is simple: participate in seasonal training as a celebration of the rebirth or renewal of your energy and passion as an interpreter.

The training should also reflect the very essence of what makes effective interpretation. Give it tangibles and intangibles including universal concepts. Provide opportunities for intellectual and emotional connections during the training. Use a wide variety of appropriate techniques.

In order to attract all of your interpretive staff, intentionally establish it as a ritual-based tradition. Ritual, as defined by the dictionary, is a “system of rites” or a “ceremonial act or actions.” Rituals help the interpretive staff feel connected to a meaningful tradition and nurture a sense of community among your staff. The entire interpretive staff should work together in turning your park’s seasonal training into a compelling rite of passage.

For example, begin by ritualizing the name of the annual arrival of seasonal staff other than “Seasonal Training.” Give it a name that makes it unique to your park such as “Yosemite Interpretive Renewal.” Your park may already have these rituals.

Another example of ritualizing seasonal training should occur on the first day. This day of renewal is the most important for establishing a ritual-based tradition and setting a tone that will carry through the entire season and possibly the new interpreter’s entire career.

What kills the passion and energy of new interpreters is meeting on that first day in a conference room to discuss “administrative details.” These details are important, but think about the tone you are setting by making this the first experience that your interpreters have when they arrive for training.

Instead, a first-day renewal ritual can be as simple as asking everyone to meet, not in a conference room, but at a location in your park that symbolizes the significance and meaning of your park. For example, at Redwood we might meet in the Tall Trees Grove, which symbolizes more than 100 years of redwood preservation.

Wherever your place may be, ask each person to share in that place one reason why they decided to work as an interpreter and one thing they hope to achieve during the season.

Of course, seasonal interpretive training in your park should include everything mentioned above, such as safety and subject matter experts. But in our vital role as interpreters, new and old, we should include more rituals when celebrating our renewal each year.

Protection

Where Post-Basic Training Return to FLETC — Every time I leave the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center I am encouraged and motivated. I’m encouraged that federal rangers, wildlife officers, guards, special agents, investigators and other officers are receiving some of the highest-quality law enforcement training available anywhere. I’m motivated to return to my home unit and strive to be the best officer I’m capable of being.

I’ve had the fortune of returning to FLETC numerous times for a variety of training purposes since completing my own basic Land Management Training Program in 2000, as have countless other NPS commissioned officers. Without exception, my time there has always been a positive training experience.

Ask a ranger just recently graduated from the basic training if they’d like to return to FLETC any time soon, and almost always, their answer will be a resounding “negative!” Today’s basic program runs about eight months, including the three-month Field Training and Evaluation Program or FTEP. The last thing a newly-commissioned ranger will want to do after enduring any training of that length is more training. I’ve heard some say they never want to go back to Glynco, Ga.

But that’s a short-sighted view, and one that most rangers will realize in time is erroneous and self-limiting. FLETC itself, and the NPS Law Enforcement Training Center, located on the main FLETC campus, offer a wide spectrum of advanced-course training opportunities for Type 1-commissioned rangers, special agents and law enforcement specialists.

For starters, a long list of instructor courses are available, most of which last only two or three weeks, including firearms instructor, use of force instructor, physical fitness coordinator, control tactics instructor, non-lethal training ammunition instructor, driving instructor and more. Each of these prepares officers to master a specific, discipline-oriented set of skills and then return home to teach their colleagues.

Other advanced courses are designed to give students a given specialty, such as police bicycling and motorboat operation (although the Department of Interior offers its own motorboat operators certification course, it doesn’t hurt to attend FLETC’s course just for the extra training benefit).

Another course available to NPS rangers is the Criminal Investigator Training Program. Although it is considered by FLETC to be a basic program, the CITP should be in the crosshairs of any ranger wishing to be a special agent. This course is much longer in duration (similar to the basic class), but once again, the training received is more than a worthwhile return on the time investment.

Several courses are offered at off-campus locations, including the 40-hour Archaeological Resources Protection Act course, held in a variety of locations across the country, and the special operations course in southern Arizona. Both of these courses foster a deepened desire to take extra measures to protect our sometimes irreplaceable resources and participate in advanced tactical operations.

Beyond FLETC’s own curriculum of advanced courses, the NPS LETC also offers a handful of post-basic training opportunities and programs. One such program is the National Park Service’s FTEP school, which trains field training rangers. They then return to their home parks to serve as trainers for incoming field trainees, recent graduates of the campus portion of NPS LETC’s basic training.

This important program has a direct influence on the caliber of the Service’s future rangers. Participants receive the highest quality training, not only in how to train and evaluate trainees, but also in those intangible areas of leadership and people skills vital to our profession. Another component of the field training rangers school is an update in as many tactical areas as time and campus facilities will allow. My own class was fortunate to receive updates in firearms, traffic stops and use of force, all of which had changed drastically since my basic program a decade prior.

Another NPS-specific program based out of FLETC is the NPS Ranger Honor Guard. Serving on this team can simultaneously be the most somber and rewarding period in a ranger’s career.

Serving in a detailed position as a temporary instructor or as a short-term guest speaker are two additional ways rangers can return to FLETC. Whether one does this for a two-year period or as a one-time class presentation, both are opportunities to sample a possible teaching path that might be a more long-term option down the road.

In any case, regardless of why a ranger returns to FLETC, and whether it’s one year or 10 years after the basic training course, there is potential for a positive training experience. The programs, instructors, facilities, materials, and perhaps most importantly, fellow students, all have been of the highest caliber during my time there. The base itself seems to ooze with an atmosphere of excellence, always improving, always expanding, always moving forward.

Where else besides maybe the Olympic Training Center can one find a five-acre facility dedicated solely to physical fitness? Now that’s encouraging and motivating.

~ Kevin Moses, Buffalo National River

The National Park Service was fortunate in the late 1990s to receive congressional authorization, for a total of $80 million in increased base dollars over a four-year period, to improve stewardship across the system. It was called the Natural Resource Challenge.

Since then, cultural resource professionals have been seeking similar attention and focus on many program needs. Representatives from across the NPS are working on a new Cultural Resource Challenge document that would seek increased funding and staff, urged on by several recent stimuli.

A 2008 report, “Saving Our History: A Review of National Park Cultural Resource Programs,” invited by the NPS and issued by the National Academy of Public Administration, presented a number of recommendations to improve stewardship and capacity within the agency.

On the heels of that report, the 2009 National Parks Second Century Commission report, “Advancing the National Park Idea,” repeated similar themes and said that the NPS had “fundamentally inadequate” funding in its heritage preservation and cultural programs to meet the challenges of the new century.

While some of the nation’s oldest and best-recognized parks are known first for their outstanding natural resources, a majority (about two thirds) of NPS units were established primarily to protect historic events or cultural resources. Of course, most if not all parks contain and thus preserve both cultural and natural resources.

Since the revamp of NPS management policies in the 1980s, the Service has moved away from labeling parks as natural or cultural. They are all national parks in which we are charged to protect both. (Thanks to my friend Barb Pahl of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for that phrase of concise clarity.)

The NPS has strived valiantly, urged on by its self-generated GPRA goals, to have parks complete uniform databases on archeological sites, cataloged museum objects, cultural landscapes, classified historic structures and ethnographic resources. Yet, in many places, perhaps especially in those parks long perceived as emphasizing natural resources over the cultural heritage, I have seen an emphasis on process over care, compliance over conservation. Too many noncultural staff know that Section 106 consultation must be done before other work can proceed. I fear too often this overshadows the genuine preciousness of the parks’ rich layers of prehistory and history, and the “stuff” thereof.

Look for the draft “Challenge” and opportunities to comment on it, in order to make it a powerful statement of the clear priority needs representing field units — and practical solutions to provide the most critical resources we need to better tend in our parks.

NOTE: If you work in resource management and are interested in becoming a columnist in this space, please contact the editor at fordedit@aol.com.