National Park Service employees take care of America’s special places
Thalia Juarez | Herald-Standard
Chip Nelson, unit manager, patrols Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Wharton Township on foot on a cold day with minimal visitation. Nelson said despite the park being slow during winter, he loves what he does. The U.S. National Park Service is celebrating its centennial this year.
Thalia Juarez | Herald-Standard
Melody Liberatore, assistant to the unit manager at Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Wharton Township, fills in for education specialist Jane Clark on a recent afternoon at the visitors’ center. Liberatore began working at Friendship Hill National Historic Site in Springhill Township in 2014 as a seasonal park ranger; now she works at any of the five surrounding area parks. The U.S. National park service is celebrating its centennial this year.
Thalia Juarez|Herald-Standard
A detailed diorama depicts the battle of Fort Necessity in July 1754, inside the visitors center at Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Wharton Township.
Chip Nelson, unit manager, patrols Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Wharton Township on a cold day with minimal visitation. Nelson said despite the park being slow during winter, he loves what he does. The U.S. National Park Service is celebrating its centennial this year.
Thalia Juarez | Herald-Standard
Josh Freeman, former Marine Corps company commander in Iraq, took a maintenance position to work permanently for the National Park Service at Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Wharton Township. Chip Nelson, unit manager, said Freeman is a very dedicated worker and helps with “a little bit of everything” around the park, including giving presentations for visitors. The U.S. National Park Service is celebrating its centennial this year.
Brad Thomas, of Hopwood, works in his office at the headquarters of Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Wharton Township. Thomas, a former marine, and business owner in Florida, moved back to the area and began working as facility management system specialist for the National Park Service in 2010. The U.S. National Park Service is celebrating its centennial this year.
If you’re wondering what motivates the many employees who take care of America’s national parks, ask a ranger.
“These people — they’re really dedicated to what they’re doing,” said Chip Nelson, unit manager of Fayette County’s two national parks and chief ranger for all five of the National Parks of western Pennsylvania.
It’s these employees who make up the National Park Service, which is celebrating its centennial this year.
President Woodrow Wilson established this federal bureau, which lies within the U.S. Department of the Interior, in 1916 when there were 35 national parks and monuments. Today, there are more than 400 of these special places.
Two of them lie within Fayette County: Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Wharton Township and Friendship Hill National Historic Site in Springhill Township. They are part of five that make up the National Parks of Western Pennsylvania, including Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site and Johnstown Flood National Memorial, both in Cambria County; and Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County. Friendship Hill and Flight 93 never charged admission and the admission fees to the other three parks were lifted Oct. 1.
While western Pennsylvania’s parks are considered small to medium, they include large tracts of land. Nelson explained Friendship Hill is composed of about 600 acres and Fort Necessity about 900. The other western Pennsylvania parks include Johnstown, about 600 acres, Allegheny Portage, about 1,100 and Flight 93, about 2,000.
Locally, Nelson counts 19 employees between the two Fayette County parks: five interpretative and two law enforcement rangers as well as four administrative and eight maintenance employees.
The public is probably most familiar with the rangers, who traditionally handle interpretation and protection of resources.
Law enforcement rangers are also responsible for wildfire and structural fires as well as checking alarms, sprinklers and extinguishers, emergency medical services, and search and rescue.
And while park grounds are open sunrise to sunset, law enforcement and maintenance personnel are always on call, responding to alarms, water leaks or traffic accidents.
Rangers usually work at specific parks but can move on assignment. For example, Fayette County rangers travel between Fort Necessity and Friendship Hill as needed, especially for special events.
“At FestiFall, we pull everybody there,” said Nelson, of the autumn festival at Friendship Hill, “and the same (at Fort Necessity) for special events.”
Local rangers also travel within other parks in the western Pennsylvania district as needed, such as helping at Sept. 11 commemoration programs at Flight 93.
And Nelson mentioned maintenance staff from all five parks came to Friendship Hill for training last summer when historic preservation specialists from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, came to work on shutters, woodwork and drainage to maintain the house.
Sometimes local rangers leave the district temporarily when other parts of the country need help.
Most notable are calls from the firefighting program.
“Most of our rangers who go out do security detail,” said Nelson, noting this work includes standing posts and making sure roads are closed while others manage equipment and public information.
Nelson said rangers have assisted the fire program in Oregon, Washington, Montana, California, Arizona, New Mexico and, most recently, Kentucky.
“We send people out every year,” said Nelson. “It’s a 14-day detail, not counting travel, and can be extended another seven days.”
Law enforcement and maintenance staff can also answer calls to help with natural disasters.
Rangers can be asked to assist at special events, such as last year’s visit to the United States by Pope Francis. Nelson and Ranger Renee Benson from Friendship Hill were assigned to Philadelphia.
“She shook the hand of Pope Francis at Independence Hall,” said Nelson of Benson.
Nelson has also been in famous company. During his career, he has been called to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, where he talked to President George W. Bush on two separate occasions.
“He was very nice. The first time he was riding a bike and kicking the butts of younger Secret Service men. He stopped and said, ‘Happy Easter, Ranger.’ Then an agent comes up, hits the berm and flies into the woods. He looked at him and took off,” remembered Nelson. “The second time was at Thanksgiving, and he talked about eating too much pie.”
Among other special assignments by park staff, Nelson has worked in a number of parks that tell the Civil War story, including Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland during Independence Day fireworks displays that have attracted about 25,000 people.
He related, “There’s a small group of park rangers that volunteer at Gettysburg for the last living history weekend they do each year around Halloween. There are three of us from here.”
Nelson and Ranger Brian Reedy, who is part of the park service’s historic weapons program, traveled to Fort Meade Army base near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia two years ago to provide training to members of the drill team of the Old Guard, which the Army’s official ceremonial unit.
Most rangers are glad to volunteer for these calls.
Nelson remarked, “I’ve got a terribly old-fashioned way of looking at things: If somebody calls, we should go.”
A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, Nelson has been with the National Park Service since 1987 with Fort Necessity his first park. After working different assignments, Nelson has been stationed in Fayette County since 2009.
He noted of Fayette County staff, “We’re from all over, but people tend to stay here.”
There’s much to enjoy about Fayette County parks, which, like parks nationwide, have seen an increase in visitation this year, including people who are traveling around the country to take in as many national parks as they can.
“It’s nice to see people so excited about it,” said Nelson, who noted a centennial stamp for the NPS passport system remains at the parks until Dec. 31.
It’s those visitors who take time to appreciate the treasures that are America’s national parks that make the job special to NPS staff.
Nelson said, “When I remember that, I really do have the greatest job in the world.”