Mount Rainier National Park (WA)
Particulars Provided On Anderson Memorial Service
Additional details have been released on next Tuesday's service celebrating the life of Ranger Margaret Anderson, who was fatally shot by an assailant on January 1st.
The service will be at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, January 10th, at Pacific Lutheran University (12180 Park Avenue S, Tacoma, Washington).
The uniform of the day will be the winter service dress uniform and felt hat, including dress coat and tie if available. Understanding that not all employees who may wish to attend in uniform have such attire, it is permissible for individuals to wear their nicest winter uniforms. If a uniform is being worn, do not wear any non-uniform items, i.e. blue jeans with park shirt, non uniform hat, belts, shoes, etc. Also, volunteers may wear the standard VIP uniform.
Travel and attendance authorization guidance is being developed in the Washington Office and will be distributed as soon as it becomes available. Information on area lodging and airport transportation is available on the Pacific Lutheran University website. Further information will be shared as it becomes available.
The family asks that donations be made in lieu of flowers. They will be used to help Eric raise their two girls. Donations should be sent to KeyBank, P.O. Box 159, Eatonville, WA 98328. Checks should be made out to the Margaret Anderson Donation Account.
All correspondence, including requests for information, resource offers, and condolences, should be sent to MountRainierInfo@gmail.com. Please send any photos of Margaret for inclusion a multimedia presentation at the memorial to the above address.
For guidance on lowering flags to half staff and the wearing of mourning bands, click on the "More Information" link.
[Submitted by Patti Wold, Public Information Officer, Western Incident Management Team] More Information...
PARKS AND PEOPLE
Pacific West Region
Passing Of Diane Nicholson
Diane Nicholson, regional curator for Pacific West Region, cherished colleague and friend, died while leaving work on January 3rd.
Her sudden death is a terrible loss for Pacific West Regoin, its cultural resources program, and the National Park Service.
Diane was a respected professional who embodied candor, kindness, and intelligence in ways few people can. She had a wry sense of humor, kind heart, and deep devotion to the people and resources of the national parks. Her passion for her work and fierce commitment to furthering the protection of museum collections and mentoring many in the museum field were renowned. She was part of a core group of curators who developed the agency's museum program as we know it today over a career that spanned 35 years.
A self-described "New Deal Democrat," Diane was born in San Francisco, California, on November 27, 1951. She loved history and received a bachelor's in history from Oregon State University in 1974 before going on to earn her master's in museum science from Texas Tech University in 1976.
That year, she joined the NPS, as she liked to say (she was not hired), as a seasonal museum aid at Harpers Ferry Center in West Virginia. After a similar appointment in the Midwest Regional Office in 1977, she assumed her first permanent position as a museum technician at Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site in 1979.
In 1980, she took a position as museum curator at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, bringing her home to California and beginning her long career in the PWR. Among her accomplishments while at Golden Gate, Diane was instrumental in building the collections management facility in Building E at Fort Mason Center.
In 1983, Diane moved on to the Western Regional Office (today's PWR) in San Francisco as the regional curator. She served in that capacity for nearly a decade, developing such notable park assistance programs as the "curatorial swat team" that brought museum personnel from around the region to parks to complete projects and produce critical documents for museum planning and management.
An advocate for funding museum projects, she fought for (and won) the right to use cyclic funds for preservation and curation of collections. At the national level, Diane helped with everything from rewriting the NPS museum handbook to writing policy for museum collection management throughout the NPS.
In 1991, she returned to Golden Gate first as the staff curator for the park and shortly thereafter as the chief of museum management for the park. While there, she was instrumental in developing the "Curator of Record" program for the region, an innovative response to staffing reductions and the requirements for professional oversight of museum collections, as well as developing and participating in training and mentoring programs for full-time and new curators in the region.
Perhaps most noteworthy, Diane served at the park during the transfer of the Presidio of San Francisco to the National Park Service. She oversaw the monumental process of assessing and transferring the Army's museum collections to the Park Service. Golden Gate's museum collection jumped from about 600,000 objects to 6,000,000 objects in the course of a few short years. In response, Diane built a museum collections staff and oversaw the development of the Park Archives and Records Center to house millions of archival materials and photographic images.
In 2007, Diane returned to the Pacific West Regional Office as the regional curator. Besides continuing her "tried and true" methods of "swat team park assistance," Diane played a critical role in the development of the region's cultural resources emergency response team, deployed most recently to preserve cultural materials damaged during the tsunami that struck National Park of American Samoa in 2009.
A self-proclaimed bureaucrat, she engaged tirelessly in a wide range of professional responsibilities -- from organizing the regional office move to sitting on servicewide committees, most recently the Cultural Resources Academy. In doing so, she anchored the PWR's cultural resources program in a time of change, which was perhaps her greatest contribution.
Diane was an advocate for museum management in parks - but much more. She was a much loved, extended team member of the staffs of every park in the Pacific West Region. As one colleague wrote, "Diane was one of the reasons I became a museum curator. She was our `force' in the museum world and she made museum curation sexy and adventurous."
We will miss her wisdom, leadership and good counsel. Although Diane's immediate family was small, she is survived by an extended network of close friends throughout the NPS and museum communities. A celebration of her life is being planned, as are ways to honor Diane's memory. For information and to share your thoughts, please visit the Facebook page set up to celebrate her life Diane Nicholson - Celebration of Life.
If you do not have a Facebook account you may also use a Sharepoint site set up for the same purpose at http://inpniscsfern1:8000/sites/PWR/PWRCR/Diane/SitePages/Home.aspx
[Submitted by David Louter, DLouter@nps.gov, David_Louter@nps.gov, 206 220-4137]
Alaska Region
Glacier Bay Notes Two Retirements
The retirement of two outstanding employees has left a big hole to fill in the maintenance program at Glacier Bay NP&P.
Archie Kendle retires with 28 years of federal service. Archie started his NPS career as a mason with the Denver Service Center, then worked as a carpenter at the Williamsport Training Center before moving to Glacier Bay in 2000. After six years, he took a two year break at Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS and then returned to Glacier Bay in 2008.
Gary Sellards retires with 24 years federal service. Gary started with the Fish & Wildlife Service in a term position and was soon hired into a permanent position. After a lengthy stay with the FWS, Gary came to work at Glacier Bay in 2003.
Both are accomplished carpenters and have worked on a wide variety of projects in the park, teaching their skills to others. Additionally, they are both accomplished fisherman and will now have a little more time to practice that endeavor.
A retirement party was held for Archie and Gary on December 30th. Please joins us in wishing them well in their retirement.
[Submitted by John Quinley, john_quinley@nps.gov, 907-644-3512]
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (CA)
GL-0025-9 Protection Ranger
Sequoia/Kings Canyon is seeking qualified GL-9 applicants interested in a lateral reassignment to the Lodgepole Subdistrict. This is a permanent, subject to furlough position.
The 120,000-acre Lodgepole Subdistrict is located in the western portion of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and includes foothills, sequoia groves, and rugged mountains. Elevations range from 4,500 feet to over 12,000 feet. Over a million visitors visit the area, mostly in the summer.
The subdistrict contains a portion of the Generals Highway, two large campgrounds (approximately 450 sites total), two backcountry ranger stations, over 100 miles of trail, Crystal Cave, and the park's major concession operations (a lodge complex with over 100 hotel rooms, a store, and a high sierra tent-camp). Law enforcement, EMS, SAR, and structural fire activity levels are high during the summer season. Resource management and protection programs are varied and include bear management, prescribed and wildland fires and backcountry management. While most visitation occurs in the summer, the area receives significant winter use and experiences the problems associated with snow-covered roads and snow-play areas.
For those interested and qualified, the park has the following active special programs - helicopter short-haul evacuations, technical SAR, multi-operational period wilderness search operations, marijuana special operations, cross-country ski snow surveys, the FLETC field training officer program, and a park medic program.
This is a required occupant position and moving expenses will be authorized.
If you are interested in this opportunity contact Michael Cole, Lodgepole Subdistrict Ranger, at 559-565-4401 or by e-mail at mike_cole@nps.gov. Interested applicants should submit the following:
- A resume or OF 612, Optional Application for Federal Employment or SF-171.
- A current SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action.
- A copy of your latest performance appraisal.
Applications may be submitted electronically or by mail. Applications must be postmarked/dated by January 15th. Send electronic applications to: mike_cole@nps.gov Send mailed applications to Michael Cole, Lodgepole Subdistrict Ranger, Box C, Sequoia NP CA 93262.
Northeast Region
GS-1102-5/7 Contract Specialist
Dates: 01/05/2012 - 01/19/2012
This position is located in Northeast Region's Central Major Acquisition Buying Office located in Philadelphia. It closes on January 19th. See the announcement at the link below for details.
[Submitted by Sharon Sample, Sharon_Sample@nps.gov, 215-597-5814] More Information...
NPS serious incident submission standards can be found at the following web site:
http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custompages.cfm?prg=45&id;=8728&lv;=2&pgid;=3504
All reports should now be submitted via this automated system.