Big Changes for 2011

Fort Larned NHS handed me a wonderful opportunity by hiring me for a permanent, subject-to-furlough job.  This was a huge stepping stone for which I will always be indebted to them.  In the federal employment game, and especially in the NPS, getting permanent status has huge implications for future employment prospects because the hiring rules are different.  Fort Larned built up some great experience and expanded my knowledge of western history considerably.  In return, I think I gave them more than their money's worth by completely updating their website, creating new publications , and getting the park featured on NPS Getaways that will be useful years into the future.

A better opportunity has come along, with a promotion and the promise of year-round employment.  It's too good to pass up for those reasons alone, but the location is tremendous to boot.  For the first time, my land of opportunity is in the east rather than the west.

I accepted a permanent job at the National Mall.  Of course, this has us all excited, nervous, and grappling with the logistics of moving (if you're keeping track, we're in ND, our stuff is in KS, and DC is far away).

We visited the National Mall in 2009 as part of our great tour of the eastern U.S. and again in February, 2010.   I definitely had a national park experience then of the highest order, the type where a place that has only existed in the mind's eye as an abstract concept is suddenly revealed as manifest and real.

This site is a History major's dream, spanning the entire history of the United States.  The places I will be helping take care of is a list of the greatest people and greatest trials our nation has faced in its history:

• Washington Monument
• Lincoln Memorial
• Thomas Jefferson Memorial
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
• World War II Memorial
• Korean War Memorial
• Vietnam War Memorial

Plus, there are some other areas you might be less familiar with:

• Constitution Gardens
• George Mason Memorial
• John Ericsson Memorial
• Old Post Office Tower
• Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site

 Here I am at the Lincoln Memorial in 2009.  No big deal, just the greatest president our nation has ever had.

 

The Korean War Memorial.  Also known as "The Forgotten War."  Speaking of which, anybody know a good book I can read about the war?

Washington Monument rising above the Tidal Basin.  The Old Post Office peeks above the trees to the left.  Paging Dr. Freud.

The FDR memorial utilizes a lot of flowing water and tells the story of his four terms in office as you walk through the monument.  It's a nice, quiet spot.

 The Jefferson Memorial.  Although I disagree with his politics (I'm a Hamilton man), Jefferson is quintessentially American.

I'm now taking book recommendations for FDR, Jefferson, Korea, and Vietnam.  I will read them on my Kindle, the most bomb-diggity device ever created for people who read a crap-ton of books they need to reference but do not want to haul across the country.

Hopefully this new adventure provides some material for writing.  There is certainly no shortage of things to see and do in D.C.  I'm also excited for the possibility of weekend getaways to the mountains.

Now who wants to help me load up, drive, and unload a moving truck?

Learn more about the National Mall and Memorial Parks.

The Elk Upside

I know I've polemicized a bit when it comes to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park elk management thing from the start.  Maybe I'm a crabby, sore loser. 

I have to say as I've watched the plan in action for a few weeks now, I'm starting to see some of the greater wisdom and the positive outcomes I had not conceived of before.

To date, the program has been a raging success, and the elk population has been reduced by 200 with over a month left to go.   At the current rate, the elk reduction will exceed the loftiest goal the park had set of 275.  The action has been executed safely for the people and pack animals involved, it has surpassed management goals so far, and has had apparently no noticeable impact on other park users. 

The only comment I've gotten from a visitor was in favor of the plan.  "I'm so glad the park is handling it this way," he said.  From the get-go, I had been concerned that visitors wanting to use the park traditionally, for hiking, snowshoeing, camping, etc., would be adversely impacted, but to date, I have not gotten any complaints.  Not one.  Not even a whimper.  And I had imagined picketers outside the visitor center.  But I guess that's the benefit of a park that few adventurers come to visit in the winter season.

So what works about the elk plan?

First, the elk plan provides for several jobs in a national economy that is still struggling.  Some of them are job types that have never existed before.  The people that do these jobs are extraordinarily hardworking people.  I really admire their ability to go outside in the North Dakota wintertime and do much harder work than I do on an average workday.  They set out early in the morning, don't come back until evening, and they're doing it in the freezing cold, the blinding snow, the wind, the sun, through brush, and over hill and dale in the badlands.  Theodore Roosevelt would be proud of these guys who work hard, don't complain, and get the job done.

Second, the plan allows for public involvement in an action not normally open to the public.  While it is true that only a very small number of the interested people will ever get the chance to participate as volunteers for the program, it does allow the public to retain a sense of ownership in their national park.  The volunteers were selected at random, so it's as democratic as it can be.  It is not an opportunity that is for sale, or for some privileged class alone.

Third, the influx of jobs and volunteers helps sustain the town of Medora in a time of year that is otherwise very lean.  Extra people in the community, and a good chunk of them rotating out every week and being replaced, means more money being spent in hotels, restaurants, and shops.  It works in theory, anyway.  I don't know if the actual impact is knowable.

Years ago, in the planning process, Senator Byron Dorgan opined that the park involve the public in the elk reduction.  In an indirect way, Dorgan can take credit for creating jobs, bringing in new money into Medora, and completing the management goals of the park.  Pretty smooth, eh?  I guess you don't become a U.S. Senator by accident.

Here's hoping for continued success.

The Times, They are a-Changin'

THE TRAIN
One hugely positive change since we left Medora in the spring has been the institution of no-blow crossings in Medora.  In a town where several coal trains pass through every hour, the horns blowing at both crossings in town and echoing through the hills were a real nuisance.  Now, unless you're really paying attention to the low vibration they create, you'd hardly notice them.  This is a very welcome change, and a small victory for preserving the wilderness character of the badlands.  Plus, you won't hear them from the Cottonwood Campground when you stay there.

THE OIL
The ability for North Dakota to return a budget surplus during a massive recession can be measured by the alarming pace of oil production in the badlands.

Just a few years ago, we would make the drive to and from Dickinson with few waypoints to mark the way.  For instance, we knew which communications tower was 1/3 of the way from Medora and which squirrel nest tree was 2/3 of the way.  There were that few landmarks on the open prairie.  Now, almost the entire route is dotted with the yellow lights of oil wells, and occasionally, the blinding light of a gas flare.  We used to gawk in awe at the number of stars that could be seen from the road, but now, there are as many oil wells as stars in the sky west of Dickinson.  Light pollution has infiltrated one more of the ever-shrinking list of dark places in America.  Already, 2/3 of the U.S. population cannot see the Milky Way at night where they live.  (More information on the night sky in national parks)

Light Pollution.  Medora is starred.

Where does it stop?  The answer: it doesn't.  They are drilling new wells every day.  We used to look out across the grassy plains and see, incredibly, nothing, which was always the amazing thing about North Dakota.  Now, the potential for that experience is quickly being lost.  I try to imagine how Theodore Roosevelt, who came here for the vastness and solitude, would react if he saw it.

Why not slow down production and sustain it as a source of income as long as possible?  The price is only going to go up.  But no, the greed of today demands that the one-time harvest commences.  The "boom" is in full swing.  How hard will it bust when the oil is gone?  Most of the workers aren't even from the state; they will just go home.  Most of them just bitch about how cold it is anyway.  When they go, the landscape will be empty again.  What will be left?

THE FALLOUT
One consequence of the oil industry has both positive and negative effects on Medora itself.  The newly-expanded Rough Rider Hotel, a brand new building built ridiculously close - probably maliciously close - to the national park housing, is open this winter ostensibly to accommodate oil workers.  The "Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation," an obviously capitalistic, monopolistic corporation masquerading as a 501(c)3 non-profit runs the hotel as well as many other businesses in Medora.  The positive thing is that the Rough Rider Hotel's restaurant is open on Fridays and Saturdays, which means there is a fine dining option in easier walking distance than any place any other time in my life.  If you go, just be prepared to reach deep into your wallet for the $30 entrees.  If you're thinking of staying there, the rooms are expensive but very classy.  Obviously, they're trying to shift the demographic toward a wealthier crowd.  In so doing, they are slowly succeeding in an effort to reshape Medora from the rough and ragged town it was in 1884 to something like more like Disney Land: nice but phony.

At least you can still go in the park and see something real, original, primitive.  That is, if you are in a place where you can't see or hear an oil rig just outside the boundary fence.