PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Monument Administration (continued)

Harter Steps In

Bozarth's departure from the monument added to a personnel emergency at Zion National Park since at that time a ceiling was placed on Park Service employment. In addition to there now being two vacant positions at Pipe Spring (permanent park historian and management assistant), Zion had three vacant positions of its own. In the fall of 1967, Zion had authority to hire only one person for the five vacancies. James M. ("Jim") Harter was hired to manage the monument on a temporary basis because a permanent replacement could not be hired at the time due to strict Service-wide restrictions on hiring. He was hired as a GS-5 seasonal park guide and came on duty September 5, 1967. Zion was forced to terminate Acting Management Assistant Harter when his 180-day limitation expired. He was then rehired under the 700-hour clause. To keep someone on duty when Harter and Bolander were absent, Melvin ("Mel") Heaton of Moccasin was hired as a seasonal laborer. Bolander was on sick leave for a month, from about November 9 to December 12 (see "Deaths, Accidents, Missing Persons, and Family Matters" section). Seasonal Laborer Ray Mose was also working that fall. Both he and Mel Heaton were terminated in early December. Paul C. Heaton was rehired in the spring of 1968 as a seasonal guide, working weekends. Mel Heaton was also rehired in 1968 and 1969 as a seasonal laborer.

In September 1967 Harter broached the subject of obtaining juniper poles from Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land to be used "for future corral building near [the] fort." [1909] The BLM was agreeable, so he went on several fall trips with Mel Heaton and BLM Range Manager Marvin Jensen to survey areas where juniper was available. On October 17 Harter met with Vernon Jake to discuss the Tribe's proposed plans for developing facilities near the monument. This was probably the earliest of many other meetings to be held with the Tribe concerning development topics in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

During Harter's brief tenure at Pipe Spring, efforts were made to reseed part of the monument with native grass. In September 1967 Harter obtained seed from the BLM office in Kanab for revegetation. The superintendent at Fort Union National Monument also sent a burlap bag full of grama grass seed to Joe Bolander in January 1968, and in early February, he planted the seed north of the fort and on top of the fill covering the old meadow pond. [1910] Revegetation efforts would expand considerably during the summer and fall of 1968 under Ray Geerdes' administration.

On November 7, 1967, the Zion roads and trail crew spent two days at Pipe Spring working on the picnic area and striping the parking lot. On December 5 Zion's Chief Ranger Bob Peterson, Chief Naturalist Jim Schaack, and Chief of Maintenance Joe Davis visited to discuss plans with Harter for the fort's heating and rewiring. They also measured for a pressure pump system to supply a planned visitor contact station with water and for fire protection.

In January 1968 a temporary visitor contact station was installed, located southeast of the fort ponds, about 30 feet west of the concrete block comfort station and north of the picnic area. [1911] In February Zion crews put in a sewer line, leveled the building site, and then began working on the facility. (They also installed a 500-gallon water tank that month which improved the existing fire protection system.) Work was completed on April 10. The old trailer office, in use since March 1959, was taken away on April 29, 1968. Zion contributed several display cases for exhibits in the building. On May 5 seasonal Park Historian Allen Malmquist entered on duty. One of his first assignments was to prepare an Indian exhibit in the new visitor contact station, which he completed that month.

In the spring of 1968, Jim Harter accepted an appointment at Oregon Caves National Monument. He and his family left Pipe Spring National Monument on April 5, 1968. As was customary, a farewell picnic was held several days prior to their departure, attended by 40 people from Moccasin and the surrounding area.