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Jim Burnett
BiographyJim Burnett has had the unusual opportunity to enjoy not one, but two "dream careers." Three decades as a ranger with the National Park Service took him to eight parks: Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, Glacier, Buffalo River, Big Thicket, Lincoln Boyhood, National Capital Parks and Colonial. Most of his career was spent in "protection" duties (fire, search & rescue, emergency medical services, and law enforcement), but he also had the chance to work in natural resource management and interpretation.
Following his retirement from the NPS, Jim embarked on a new adventure as a writer. In addition to on-line pieces and several short articles in national periodicals, he's the author of two books: Hey Ranger! True Tales of Humor and Misadventure from America's National Parks and the sequel, Hey Ranger 2: More True Tales …. Jim writes primarily about the lighter side of life in the parks and sometimes describes his books as examples of what can happen "when you head west but your trip goes south." He and his wife now live in East Texas.
Homepage:
- 1/25/2010 12:59 pm - Is the Country Ready for a Manhattan Project National Historical Park? : Dan - Thanks for the excellent perspective. Jim
- 1/24/2010 9:38 pm - Is the Country Ready for a Manhattan Project National Historical Park? : Anonymous - Good question about the Trinity Site. You're correct that the site is located on the White Sands Missile Range, but that property is owned and operated by the U. S. Army. It's adjacent to, but separate from the [url=http://www.nps.gov/whsa/faqs.htm]White Sands National Monument[/url], which is operated by the NPS. ...
- 1/13/2010 4:19 pm - Search for Missing Woman Underway at Point Reyes National Seashore : Dottie - I've been holding off on posting an update, pending some significant - and hopefully good -news. Thus far there hasn't been much. The Marin County Sheriff's Department released a statement that despite the intensive search in the McClure's Beach area, Ms. Truitt has not been located, and "The ...
- 12/27/2009 2:19 pm - Fire at Historic Lodge at Bryce Canyon National Park Won't Delay the 2010 Season Opening : Thanks for the information about the timely work by an unsung hero!
- 12/18/2009 8:16 pm - Disappointing Visitation Trend Spurs Elimination of Entrance Fee at George Rogers Clark National Historical Park : y-p_w: I don't know if the guideline still applies, but at one time a key test for whether or not a park charged an entrance fee - or whether they staffed a collection station - was the "cost of collection" vs. the income generated. That approach said don't collect a ...
- 12/04/2009 9:21 pm - Endangered Species Coalition Lists 10 Species Endangered By Climate Change : I suspect much of the debate about climate change and whether it is influenced by human activity hinges on two factors: 1. Economics. If we accept that climate change is a problem and human activity plays a role, there will have to be significant changes in the way we go ...
- 11/19/2009 7:57 pm - Sunset and Moonlight Hikes and Talks at Saguaro National Park : Thanks tomp - Not sure what calendar I was looking at when I added the day of the week to the park's list of dates for the programs, but it must have been for a different planet. I've made the correction for Dec. 2.
- 11/19/2009 10:14 am - Lawsuit Aims to Halt Uranium Mine Near Grand Canyon National Park : To expand a bit on the above comments by tomp and Kurt: The question of whether there should be "buffers" on public lands owned by other agencies adjacent to parks has always been fertile ground for debate. As tomp notes, one factor in evaluating an activity on public lands adjoining ...
- 11/10/2009 5:11 pm - Is This the Most Unique Job in the National Park Service? : According to a story in the [i]Fairbanks Daily News-Miner[/i], Sandy Kogl held the job from 1974 until 1989, Gary Koy ran the kennels 1989-1999, and Karen Fortier has held the position for the past 10 years. That news story says she is leaving the job after the birth of her ...
- 11/09/2009 6:16 pm - Visiting National Parks by Train – Eastern U.S. : Thanks for the comment Daniel. Yes, an article about train travel to some western NPS areas is in the works. Look for it in the next few days.




















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