Voyageurs National Park staff have recently been sharing the skills and knowledge they have gained in Borderland and other parks with other places in the nation.
Sending park staff to different areas of the nation causes VNP to be short handed, VNP Chief Ranger Jim Hummel acknowledged.
“The only way to do it effectively is by the folks staying behind putting in extra hours,” he said.
“Everybody is worn out by the end of summer,” Hummel said of the staff on detail away from the park, who often work 100 hours per week, and the staff that stay at VNP.
And he described filling in for vacant staff as a team effort, with Superintendent Mike Ward trusting the judgment of staff and recognizing the learning opportunities the assignments offer.
“It’s exciting to see staff grow and have opportunities for development and be recognized as folks other people want back,” said Hummel. “And that stems from their experience and opportunities at Voyageurs.”
Hummel also noted that the family of staff sent to other areas should be commended.
Meanwhile, Hummel reports that Greg Drum, ranger stationed at Crane Lake, is now on a two-week assignment at Alaska Bering Land Bridge National Monument, near Nome, where he has been providing additional help in dealing with illegal hunting activities and the looting of archaeological sites there.
This marks the second year that Drum has worked at the Alaska site. The assignment is a result of Hummel’s previous work in Alaska, he said.
“I keep connections to Alaska alive and well and whenever they have needs there they can’t meet internally I am on a list to contact,” said Hummel.
Hummel said Drum is a good candidate for the Nome job because of his experience working in remote areas, with the local Crane Lake community and “he can take care of himself in an arctic environment, thanks to Crane.”
Drum works with a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who is a pilot, flying surveillance flights looking for illegal use of off-road vehicles in the tundra and in protected archeological sites and illegal hunting.
When suspicious activity is witnessed from the air, if the plane cannot land, Drum returns to the site by off-road vehicle, snowmobile or is dropped off and hikes in.
He is teamed with a local native Inupiat guide who is familiar with the area and in contact with local people in the villages. The guide serves as a source of information about the use and abuse occurring, said Hummel.
Ranger Carl Spilde is working the Pogami fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, where he is overseeing the management of a base camp which is serving as home for more than 700 firefighters from across the nation.
“The key thing is making sure folks are using their idle time wisely,” said Hummel. “He has got enforcement authority there and serves as a check and balance for a large number of people.”
Ranger Chuck Remus just returned from a two-week detail in Texas, where he served on a Type 1 fire management team.
Remus served as liaison with the fire management team and the area law enforcement officers in managing the base camp and troubleshooting issues that come up from fire suppression activities, staff fire management, and the community that involve law enforcement.
Hummel recently served as commander for the U.S. Park Service’s Midwest Management Team at Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina. He was deployed on a Thursday, with arrival on Friday — just one day prior to Hurricane Irene hitting land Saturday.
The team was prepositioned in Greensboro, N.C., four hours west of Cape Lookout, where lodging, supplies and equipment were available to help deal with the expected damage.
“We expected a category 4 hurricane, like Katrina, but when it came across it settled to a category 2, but you never know. We expected devastating hits.”
The team went into the site on Sunday to help park staff deal with damage caused by high winds and high water. He noted the eye of the hurricane went over Cape Lookout.
The team of 18 people were put in place, with half a dozen of them sent in first to determine the extent of the damage and identify the locations of park staff.
“We had to cut our way into a couple homes because of the amount of tree fall and storm damage to get to folks without power,” he said. A generator was brought to a park staff family, a member of which required refrigeration of medication.
Hummel said park staff was first assisted to allow them to help with the damage.
After that, generators were brought to power an office which allowed for assessing damage to park facilities for administration and the public.
“We estimated about $5 million damage to the facilities and of course prioritized what was most critical to get up and running and started to identify resources and equipment necessary to get those operations back up to speed,” he said.
The area was hot and humid after the hurricane.
“After six days the mosquitoes exploded and we pulled people out of work areas because it was so bad,” he said.
Bringing in the incident management team allows the park staff to take care of day-to-day operations while the team determines where the resources are and where they should be placed.
“Our whole goal is to get in and get out and allow the park to get back to normal operations, which they were able to do after two weeks,” he said.
Hummel said the hurricane pushed the beach inland about 40 feet. Facilities available to the public that were once in the middle of the island are now on the seashore, he added.
Meanwhile, two VNP fire technicians are fighting wildland fires in Texas, were Hummel is expected to travel to help deal with management of air space over the fires.
The management of the air space is required when airplanes are brought in to fires, often requiring temporary flight restrictions to be put in place for private and commercial aircraft.
