Core Operations Rant, Part 1

***Before I begin today's topic, I will pause. Please. PLEASE don't get into a debate over the good and evil of our government. This is not my main point.***


For those of us who are fans of our country's amazing parks, there is a website that often gives interesting information - and sometimes debates - on park issues. The National Parks Traveler offers all sorts of information, opinions, and feedback about the parks from both insider and visitor perspectives.


Last Friday, an article was posted:

Updated: NPS Director Jarvis Ends "Core Ops" Budgeting Across The National Park System ("Core Operations Issue" my title)

The whole debate bothers me, for many reasons. Some of these reasons I haven't even sorted out inside my head yet. Here's just a beginner:

We are facing a time where, especially our youth, are terribly disconnected from the natural resources and raw materials that make their very lives possible. To say that Mount Rainier is a store of drinking water for Pugetropolis is a foreign notion. Drinking water comes from the faucet, right?!

There are numerous facets to this arguement, many of which can't be effective. Trees encroaching on subalpine meadows? Pikas facing warming temperatures? Future flooding and lahars? Who cares?! But tell people they might not have clean fresh water to drink and bathe? God forbid.

Everything is related, we just have to understand the relationships.

We have millions of visitors to our parks every year. We need to help them enjoy, appreciate, understand and relate to our parks and resources. We will have a much easier time managing our parks and the crowds of visitors - and gaining their help and support for our park - if these visitors are connected.

But if all we do is clear the roads and monitor frogs, how will the visitors get connected?

We need a bridge of sorts. That's where the interpretive rangers come into play. If we can answer one question (other than "Where's the bathroom?"), suggest one fabulous trail, explain one animal behavior, or identify one plant, then maybe we'll make a park fan out of an average visitor.

I love our parks. I have very fond memories and multitudes of positive experiences outdoors in the mountains. You all know how much I love wildflowers. ;) It is my hope that I can spark just a few more folks to be parkies like me. I want to see our parks preserved so that we can continue to enjoy them into the future.

Progress...

I'd started a different entry for today, but that one will have to wait until I can get my thoughts more sorted out. (If you want a preview, do some homework, read ahead and check out the National Parks Traveler website, especially the article about Jon Jarvis nixing the Core Operations program.)

I've been making lists of things to get done for Christmas presents, cookies to bake, etc. etc.

But you know what I've neglected since the week before my surgery? Keeping my daily notes on my 101 Things To Do in 1001 Days goals. It's been a year since I started that program, and I know that I have indeed completed some of the goals. Tonight, when I need a break from knitting gifts, I'm going to go through, update my spreadsheets and figure out where I stand. No, this won't necessarily lead to more goals for the future, but I started off strong and I've fallen behind the past month. We'll see where I stand...

Cold Day

I'm not sure of the outside temperature, but my apartment's heater couldn't keep up. It won't get above 69F inside. Not bad inside, but I was still a bit chilled.

I'm such a wimpy ranger!

I love being out on snowshoes and on a trail in the mountains. But if I'm going to sit at home, I'm not working up a sweat or doing much to keep myself warm. We've had building heating issues, hot water heater issues and pipes freezing. Oh, and a 5-hour power outage on Thanksgiving. Time to light the candles and let the faucets drip a bit.

I think this is my cue to get on with the sweaters I've planned on knitting for myself.

I've made progress with the Christmas presents the past few days. I'm happy about that. I figure I have about a week left to work on them before I need to get everything in the mail. I need to get pictures taken of my projects and post them here and on Ravelry.

Just another day...

No matter how the so-called "Nice Jen" of the RMNP Forums crew puts it, I'm not THAT old. :P Just another day older than yesterday.

Tomorrow I'll resume my thoughts on rangering; I'm headed home to see if my latest package has arrived. ;)

Not Your Average Ranger Duties

There was a time in America's past where people had to be able to do for themselves. They had to know how to grow their own food, or be able to forage for what they needed when they were hungry. They had to be able to make things, fix things, and all with whatever materials were in their close vicinity.

Park rangers used to have to be able to function as biologists, teachers, police officers, plumbers and handymen on any given day. My friend Cleve, now a retired ranger (he worked here at Mount Rainier in the late 1960's) was one such ranger. His stories of this park and his duties would probably freak out some of our current staff.

Sadly, the days of a ranger being a Jack-(or Jill)-of-all-trades are long past. We have people that specialize in one or two things. We must work as a team. And teamwork is good, but what happens when one member of that team is sick or injured? Does work come to a grinding halt?

It's just my opinion, but I would like to see the Jack-of-all-trades attitude (lifestyle?) come back into fashion. I think we've lost something as a culture - throughout the so-called 'modern' world. We've given up our independence, almost willingly, by focusing solely on one or two main skills. We must rely upon others for too much.

I like knitting my own socks, baking my own bread and canning my wild-picked blueberries in the fall. ;)

Why am I thinking of these things right now? It's a slow week here at the Ed center, and one of the tasks that I've - willingly - taken on is fixing all of the curtains in this building. My former boss just let things go, even though these curtains don't fit the windows/curtain rods they are on, because she couldn't sew. As they hang now, the curtains don't really close, so blocking out light to show movies or Powerpoint slide shows (or have telnet classes, as is often the case), is hard, unless you want to do this all after dark - not really normal business hours around here.

I've started on the first of 16 curtain panels. It's a simple task really, just rip out a couple of seams and sew a new one in the correct place. I even have a sewing machine at my disposal, so I don't have to do this by hand.

Not exactly the job I was hired for, but it needs to be done. And my way is a whole lot cheaper and more efficient than waiting for someone else - or sending these off to a professional tailor for alterations.

Good thing I know dozens of plant species AND how to use a sewing machine, eh?

Procrastination has caught up with me

Ok, so my boss was just teasing me that I'm a workaholic.

So why do I always feel as though I get nothing done?

I have about 10 knitting projects that I WANT to do right now. And *most* of them I want to get done in time to give them as Christmas gifts. I have a lovely pair of socks for a friend - the first sock is nearly done (I can get that done tonight). But the other sock? And a doggie sweater? And I have this great idea for some Christmas-themed dish cloth / potholders that I want to try. And I really need to finish my blue cabled sweater/hoodie. It'll be a hoodie if I have enough yarn...

And.

And.

Can I call in for a day of knitting leave? (Or is this much knitting considered, by some, a sickness?!)

December

The last month of the year.

My birthday. No I will not admit to my age.

My mom's birthday. I won't admit to her age either.

Christmas. Cookies, music and decorations. I have decided that I want to decorate my little NPS apartment for Christmas. I don't have much in the way of decorations out here (it's all back in CO in storage with the rest of my furniture and stuff), but I'm going to try. And the cookies.

(I believe I mentioned them already here.)

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By the way, if you're still counting, I've had the orchid for almost THREE whole weeks - and it's still alive! Woohoo!!!!