Gateway National Recreation Area, Sandy Hook. United States Park Ranger Amber Hagan

It still feels surreal to see myself in this photo read my name in the subject line of this post with, "United States Park Ranger" in front of it. It has been almost one year since I arrived at Gateway to start my career as a United States Park Ranger for the National Park service and what a year it has been. As many of you know, I arrived in New Jersey the second week of October of 2012, just two and a half short weeks before a bit of a celebrity arrived. Most of you know her as Superstorm Sandy, but we have a few other names for her. I chose not to post any photos of the destruction and carnage that Sandy left in her path, because for many these photos are difficult to view. So many lives were taken and so many lives turned upside down. The morale of the Jersey Shore was at an all time low and many of us will never be the same. In circumstances as trying as the aftermath of the most destructive hurricane the Jersey Shore has ever seen, we do not look back, we only look forward. Last year after the storm, you would not have recognized the Jersey Shore for it's alluring beauty. For weeks we stood on a bridge for 12+ hour shifts and painfully had to turn residents of surrounding towns and park visitors away. Due to the unprecedented safety hazards, we simply could not allow people to enter their homes in the city of Seabright. Seabright was buried under heaps of sand and debris with homes barely recognizable and some no longer standing. Businesses were destroyed and power lines dangling. Windows were blown out and buildings flooded. Gas lines were buried under 10+ feet of sand. It was heartbreaking to see this once very alive town deserted with no resolution in sight. In the weeks that we kept people from the park and the town of Seabright, we saw a lot of intense pain and disappointment, but something else emerged as well. Through this natural disaster we saw the Jersey Shore residents come together and be "Jersey Strong" as they would say. Gone were the days of dreading this disaster and feeling helpless and people were standing up and standing together. The entire country came together and the Calvary started arriving. Busloads of supplies started to arrive, shelters were created, FEMA was here in force, emergency workers from around the country came to help, and the National Guard was activated. The Jersey Shore was not alone and a flicker of hope turned into a fire that brought the people of the Jersey Shore back to life. Here we are 10 and 1/2 months later and still pushing forward. Businesses are reopening and homes rehabilitated. Sandy Hook reopened on May 1, 2013 and visitors returned to their beloved peninsula. It has been the most difficult year of my life and of the lives of Jersey Shore residents and I would not trade this experience for anything. The friendships I've made and people I've met have changed my life. The people of the Jersey Shore (contrary to the popular television show) are some of the most compassionate, loving human beings I have ever met. I was taken in and cared for by a family of a co-worker when I had no where to go as my home on Sandy Hook was inhabitable. It is not true what they say, that "Desperate times call for desperate measures." Desperate times call for the true spirit of Americans and of human beings to emerge and that is the spirit of love and compassion.

When the park opened, I got the law enforcement experience I had been waiting for. It was a crazy summer at Sandy Hook, to say the least. From traffic stops to fishing violations to DUI's and Public Lewdness arrests, there was never a dull moment here at Sandy Hook. As SLETP coordinator Chris Willard said to me at the academy last summer, "You've got a front row ticket to the greatest show on Earth." I have laughed a lot, been angry, been sad, and been extremely motivated, among many other things this summer at Sandy Hook. I've watched suspects turn from angels to demons the minute you arrest them. I've watched families of cardiac arrest victims cry as you tell them you did everything you could to save their loved ones life, but it just wasn't enough. I've felt my heart rate go through the roof as the car I was stopping was not pulling over. Through my experiences at Sandy Hook I have grown into a stronger, wiser person and professional. I've had the opportunity to train and work with amazing people. Below is a photo of our Annual Law Enforcement Refresher Training in which this year is the first year we developed a partnership with Monmouth County Police Academy. Featured in the photo is former and now retired Branch Chief of Emergency Services for the Northeast Region, Kim Coast. We were very lucky to have her there before she retired just a short two weeks later.

I recently attended the SLETP Graduation at Temple University for graduating class 13-05. It was just one short year earlier that I was in that very same position. Walking through the halls was nostalgic and touching. It was so very heart warming to see my fellow ProRangers graduating and preparing to enter the work force. I got to see a lot of familiar faces and people who helped me along my path to becoming a United States Park Ranger. Chief Reynolds, Chief Clark, Dr. Luongo, Dr. McGarvey, Chris Willard, Agent Maderang, Jay Lippert, Ranger David Ballam and Chief Ranger of PRWI Cynthia Sirk-Fear, to name a few. Just being at this event reminded me how lucky and thankful I am to be in the position I'm currently in.

PHOTO 1: Graduate Renee Benson, SLETP Coordinator Chris Willard, and I. PHOTO 2: Graduate Charles Papacostas and I. These two graduates, and many others, are going to do wonderful things for the National Park Service and I am happy to be a part of their lives. I look forward to working with them and others in the field. Finally, I'd like to reiterate and continue to express how thankful I am to be working as a United States Park Ranger for the National Park service. I have been tested and I have overcome a lot of challenges in my first year as a Ranger. I look forward to many more challenges and a rewarding career. I could not imagine myself doing anything other than this. I am a Law Enforcement Park Ranger, an EMT, a wildland fire fighter, and soon to be structural fire fighter. How many people can say that? This was definitely my calling in life :-)

PHOTO 1: Historic Sandy Hook Lighthouse at Sunrise PHOTO 2: Fort Hancock Historic District with a storm rolling in during Sunset

Academy Class 12-03

Greetings Cohort 2 and 3, Here we are half way through this gloriously hot summer, and you have not heard a word from the 8 ProRangers currently at the Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Program. Shame on us. Allow me to update you on how our first 7 weeks went. We started off as 8 ProRangers and 14 seasonal recruits and after just 2 or 3 days we were all one unit, one family. In the Academy, there is no distinction between ProRangers and non-ProRangers (unless you make one). You will quickly learn there is an indescribable bond that forms between strangers who go through a difficult situation together. That being said, take a moment to be thankful for the amazing opportunity you have been given in the ProRanger program. There are many, many people who would love to be in your position. To summarize without disclosing too much, our first 7 weeks has been amazing. I've never felt more beaten down, tired, hungry, exhausted, or nervous in my life,and I've truly enjoyed every moment of it. The skills you will gain at the academy, irreplaceable. The experiences you will have, indescribable. The knowledge you will take in, endless. What we are doing is training to be the next generation of Law Enforcement Rangers for the National Park Service. We are carrying on the legacy, and you are all a part of this. It is a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of hard work. The best thing you can do to prepare for the academy is train yourself physically and mentally. Do not be that person who thinks the academy will get them into shape, you need to arrive in shape or you will regret it. I don't say this to scare you, only to help you take it seriously. Mentally, let go of your self doubts. Let go of your negative mindset. Leave your ego at home. You have absolutely, positively got to believe in yourselves. Both the mental and the physical preparations bare equal importance to being successful here and in your career. Consider it a challenge. Most importantly, and perhaps I should have said this sooner, be there for each other. Support each other and always keep a warrior mindset. My ProRanger internship was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Embrace the opportunity you have been given and take advantage of every new experience you can. We all want to see you succeed. I wish you all a wonderful summer and please feel free to email or contact any of us if you have any questions. Remember to have fun, stay hydrated, and learn. We will be thinking of you all while you are at leadership camp! When you are faced with a challenge...improvise, adapt, and overcome. Sincerely, Amber Hagan Cohort 2/ Academy Class 12-03 SLETP Temple University tud12174@temple.edu 240-446-5365

Amber Hagan-Prince William Forest Park-Final Week

It is hard to believe the internship at Prince William Forest Park has come to an end. We were just starting out here 3 months ago and that 3 months has vanished. I've never learned so much in my life as I have in 3 months at the park. It felt surreal as we were being checked out of our house. I'm sitting here typing this on a Sunday expecting I will be heading back to work tomorrow morning, but it's time to face the facts: the internship is over.

This week began with Law Enforcement and ended the same way. Monday was a great start to a wonderful week. Jim, Cailin, Mark, Jay, and Mo came to our Park to join us for a day at the range. Cheif Sirk-Fear, Ranger Ballam, and Chris Alford brought joined us as well. Dave and Cindy went over weapons safety with the entire group before we went to the range. I am never let down when it comes to safety talks in the park service. Dave and Cindy are very thorough and efficient. Chris offered his knowledge a few times as well.
Throughout the day we fired various handguns, assault rifles, and shotguns. Everybody really enjoyed themselves and I observed nothing but smiles all day.

Tuesday was a half day for us. We went in during the morning hours and worked on getting our firefighting certificates together. We also stopped in for resource managements morning meeting. It was nice to see everybody and spend a little bit of time with them knowing that our last day was fast approaching.
We went to lunch with the administration crew at olive garden. We arranged this lunch meeting several weeks in advance. It was important for us to spend time with each division saying our goodbyes. We were given the afternoon off to spend cleaning our house with our roomates.

Wednesday we went to TREXPO with Dave and Chris. TREXPO is a police exposition, which included presentations by highly trained professionals and weapons demonstrations. I cannot describe the presentations we saw, because they were so explicit, intense, and detailed. We had a tactical medicine presentation and learned a tremendous amount about Columbine, 911, and Beslan. Did any of you know that during the columbine school shooting the guns were never intended to be the main source of the attack? The two young men had constructed 99 bombs. More specifically, a bomb over the cafeteria to cause the room to collapse onto the cafeteria during its busiest lunch hour. The collapse thus forcing the students to exit the building, if they survived, which is where the boys where originally going to wait to execute the survivors with guns. They also planted a bomb in a common area outside where students would and DID run to take refuge from the attack. This location is also where rescue squads and police would and DID arrive at. Why didn't the bombs go off??? The watch the boys bought to detonate them with had a minor overlook. Metal on metal contact was needed to detonate, they bought a cheap watch with plastic hands painted to look like metal. This shooting took the lives of 12 studets and 1 teacher instead of hundreds, because of a cheap watch.
The Beslan hostage situation is unknown to many people. Before the presentation I knew nothing about it. If you don't currently know, google it. Read it, learn it, and know it well. Educating anybody and everybody is how these events can be prevented. The Beslan incident is almost too graphic to talk about. First and foremost it was a SCHOOL take-over which ended with 380 people, including children being executed and sexually assaulted. The day was September 1, 2004, it was the first day of school and parents and family members were in attendance for the ceremony. The attackers took hostage nearly 1200 people and gave them no food or ater throghout the entire siege. I will say no more and hope that anybody reading this will research and discover on their own the terror that took place at this school in 2004. The link below provides a deeper look into the heinous acts that took place. I'd like to warn all of you, this is not for the faint of heart. This is the reason we are all getting into this profession.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/08/six-year-terrible-anniversary-beslan-jihad.html

We left the presentations and went to the indoor range a few miles up the road where we were given open range time to shoot the manufacturers weapons. We were also given demonstrations. I enjoyed shooting the weapons and learning about lead-free ammunition. The day was extremely educational and productive.

We returned to TREXPO the next morning and went to an Executive Protection presentation. Another great presentation providing us with great knowledge of the profession. Following the presentation we walkd through the exhibit where vendors were set up with a sgnificant amount of free stuff. I tried on shoe inserts with massaging gel and a female fitted kevlar vest. I also picked up a few FREE hemostatic dressings and inquired about a SOF-T tourniquet.

After the exhibit we went back to the park and attended the end of summer all employee meeting. The food was delicious. The SCA's, YCC's, and Charles and I all created a power point presentation including photos of what we did all summer. It was wonderful to see everybody, but it also filled us with great sadness as we were all preparing to say goodbye to what had become our family. Charles and I left the meeting and went to the law enforcement office to bid farewell to one of the LE Rangers we worked with this summer. Finally, we got into the vehicle and left the park. This is was the last time we would be driving down this road together and we knew it. Dave arrived later to check us out of our home and it was very difficult to say goodbye to him. We went to dinner with resource management and the SCA interns. I had a wonderful time with them and am fortunate to know these lovely people.

It is my hope that each and every ProRanger had a tremendous experience this summer at their parks. I hope that you all had a meaningful, memorable internship and look forward to our after action meeting on the 29th.

I have no regrets for this summer and am anxious to move forward with this career.

Note: The photos are a collection of the summer! Enjoy!

Amber Hagan-Week 10 Prince William Forest Park

Another crazy week at Prince William forest Park has ended and only 2 remain. I’m especially excited to write about what we did this week, and for numerous reasons. We were with maintenance most of the week and the United States Park Police the last day.
The week began on Tuesday with maintenance at 6:30am. We shadowed Scott Shea throughout the morning and learned a lot about the special projects taking place in the park such as restoring historic buildings, replacing roofs, and taking on termites. The most difficult part about all of these operations is that they must follow a special code that maintains their historic demeanor, because they are historic buildings. Everything done to the exterior of the building is very specific and cannot be altered in appearance. The interior of the buildings have slightly more leniency. Scott also showed us how the financial accounts work. Maintenance has a base account and a projects account. The projects accounts are separate, because they ask for funding for them in an entirely different program. I think the acronym for that program is PIMS, but it has slipped my mind. In the program, they upload before and after pictures that are public for people to come in and look at; a really neat feature for people to see the progress of the national park service in regards to up keeping historic structures. Scott and Veena taught us a lot in the few short hours we spent with them. I enjoyed my time listening to their talks.
We had lunch and spent the remainder of the day with Rocco Shroeder. Rocky has become one of the individuals I admire the most in the National Park Service. Rocky taught our wild land firefighting class and he stands out as a person with wonderful character to me. I trust him 100% to be my crew boss when I am dispatched to a wild land fire. Rocky took us to the sites in the park that are being restored and took photos to document the progress. We stopped by the administration building first to document the morning finding of termites in the walls. The damage to the structure is severe and this will be funded through the parks base account. The next site we went to was a cabin camp bathroom. Finally we ended the day with the sponge blasting/graffiti project at cabin camp 4. The graffiti is all over the walls and influences others to participate, so it is being removed. The most fascinating part about this is the method they are using to do this. They have a machine, and this is no ordinary machine. It uses sponge and shoots it out at the wall and this removes the very thin top layer of the wood. The most alluring part of this machine is that you scoop the sponge fragments back up after you use it, and reuse it up to 7 times. It’s a recycling sponge machine! We left this site and went home for the day.
Wednesday we spent with Rocky inspecting the Dams in the park. Most of the morning was spent at the staff meeting to discuss events taking place in the park and where we’re at with them. We ended right around lunch time and inspected the Dams following. We began at Carters Pond, an Earthen Dam right off scenic drive. Carters Pond was only just recently re-opened to the public for catch and release fishing. We inspected the dam for leaks, tall unmaintained grasses, tree roots posing a potential threat, and looked at the spill way. We noted our findings and went to another dam. The next dam was a man-made dam, but also a historic structure. The dam could use a lot of maintenance around and on the structure including a safety rail extending out to the center. The final dam we inspected that day was another earthen dam. We walked around the entire site and Rocky pointed out what used to be a swimming pool a long, long time ago for groups that came to the park to camp. Currently, it’s an extension of the lake and no longer a pool. There are, however, wooden benches and other remnants of a once highly used swimming area.
Thursday we ended up last minute going to the end of the summer youth exposition at Anacostia Park. Through conversations with Regional Chief Will Reynolds, we decided to go to the event and we definitely do not regret this decision. We traveled with members of the YCC and maintenance crew and I enjoyed the conversations we were able to have with them. The event began with a few talks from very important people. Representatives from youth groups got on stage and said a few words, including ProRangers Mark Clark and Jay Copper. After this we walked around to see what all of the youth groups had been doing throughout their summer. There were videos, poster boards, and cheers. We had lunch and then the noticed people lining up to a window. Turns out they were renting roller skates. Therefore, Sara, Meaghan, Jay, Mark, Charles, and I all put skates on and Dan and Will Reynolds photographed the event. I personally find these to be one of the most exciting events we have participated in this summer. Who knew we would go to this event and roller skate? I don’t know how to roller skate…neither do Mark and Charles. This alone made for a comical event!
We were later interviewed as a group regarding the ProRanger program. We all had a lot to say and hope to get the message out there to youth groups and the nation that this program is shaping the face of the National Park Service. We have a huge burden to carry and we do it with pride, professionalism, and integrity. The event ended and we went home.
Our final day this week will be forever recorded in my mind. We had a ride along scheduled with The United States Park Police, thanks to Scott Fear, Cindy Sirk-Fear, and David Ballam. I rode with an officer in district one and we had a great time. We patrolled the area near the Jefferson Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial, the White House, Haines point, and the FDR memorial. We were given Kevlar vests to wear throughout the evening, which I really enjoyed. We did everything from running radar, to stopping cars for traffic violations (other than speed), to enforcing parking and no stopping rules, to helping tourists find their way around the city. There were still people walking around the sites at 1am, and I’m talking about families. I had no idea Washington D.C. was busy so constantly.
The best part of my night, by far, was performing security at the zero. The ellipse on the South side of the white house is a popular location for tourists to take photographs. However, any time the President or his family step outside onto a balcony, the secret service and the park police shut it down. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. We participated with shutting this down, because we were with the park police. From our location we were able to view the balcony, where President Obama was standing. Therefore, I am ecstatic to say that I not only saw the President, but I assisted in providing a security barrier for him. During the moment I was viewing President Obama, I also observed several dark figures walking across the roof of the white house, they were snipers. I have never felt such a surreal feeling in my life. It literally felt like something out of a movie and I was in awe at what was taking place. We stayed here for nearly 2 hours and then returned to our patrolling.
We stopped a vehicle at 12:15 for not using headlights and it turned out to be a 19 year old who had been drinking. He blew a pretty low number in the breathalyzer, but regardless, he was 19. The kid was given the break of his life and his mother came and picked him up. I feel that he was given a serious wake- up call as he immediately hugged his mother as she approached.
We left this call and went to Haines point to close it for the evening. It closes at 1am and reopens at 5am. We drove through with another unit and shuffled vehicles out of the area. We approached a vehicle and found a man sleeping inside of it. We asked him if he had been drinking and he said no. He drove away and we followed as it was the only exit. The man drove in the center of the two lanes and was swerving a lot in and out between the two of them. We stopped him. 2 other units arrived and assisted. The man was slightly irritated claiming he did not drink or do any drugs. They gave him a field sobriety test and he passed. He did not smell of alcohol at all. The officers inspected his hands and arms and found no indication of intravenous drug use. The man was no fully awake when he first drove away, and the stop certainly woke him up. His driving was dramatically improved the second time around. The ride along ended and I went home.
This week I learned a lot about the amount of pressure the maintenance staff has on them. They have a back log of tasks that is always increasing. Maintenance is a fundamental part of the Park Service team. I learn each week how much each division depends on one another and I saw the final piece of that this week as maintenance was our last division to work with. We will be with them again next week, too. The park police ride along was everything I had hoped for and more. They have a reputation in D.C. for being very serious when it comes to the law. I fully agree and I hope to ride with them again!

Amber Hagan-Prince William Forest Park Week 9

This week at the park was spent covering the Manassas 150th anniversary of the first battle of the civil war. This has been one of the most exhausting weeks of my life, but I think I may have said that for leadership camp week, too.
The week started off for me with a Wednesday evening 2-10 shift. We went to work, organized and planned with the EMT coordinator, met with Dave, and went to Manassas for a 2 hour meeting to brief the staff on the event. This meeting introduced the members of the incident command team and the incident commander. It also provided us with vital information for the weekend-long event. We met up with two other ProRangers, Cailin Bean and Jim Scanlan, and they came back to our house with us where they stayed for the weekend.
Thursday was our first day at the Manassas event. Cailin and Jim followed us in Chris Alford’s vehicle and we all arrived at 6am. We met Lita another ProRanger, at this time. Our main priority was parking people for the weekend, but Charles and I also had medical duties as well. Thursday was the most tiresome, long day we had. The temperatures went up so quickly that by 8am we were all very hot, sticky, and tired. This created a challenge for our team, but we organized an alternate plan. We began to take very frequent breaks and started alternating each other into air conditioned vehicles. It began that we would take a break at an hour in a half, then an hour, then 45 minutes, and by the afternoon we were rotating into breaks every 15-30 minutes. The heat got so unbearable in the 11am-4pm hours that we couldn’t bear to stand in it for much longer than that. The incident command team reassessed the parking operation for the next day and adjusted it. The felt the danger for us was much higher due to the heat and began to place a car at each parking post for people to rotate in and out of all day every 15-20 minutes. We also got to wear our ProRanger polo’s and kakis instead of our heavier park service uniform. The new adjustments helped us all immensely. Thursday ended up being a 13 hour day, as we had suspected and we got home at 7pm.
Friday was a much easier day for us because we worked 7am until 3 or 4. Another ProRanger, Tia, arrived for the weekend. We were intended to be there until 6pm, but were replaced with the law enforcement rangers for the evening and let go early to recover. Friday our duties were the same, parking, parking, parking! I have definitely secured my flagging abilities throughout this event. Due to the extreme heat, we again adjusted our schedules for Saturday. Mark Clarke and Jay Copper would be joining us for Saturday and Sunday, two more ProRangers. We arranged to split the shift for Saturday so that Jim, Cailin, Charles and I would stay together and Tia, Lita, Mark and Jay would be together. They worked 7-3 and we Worked 12-9. Wayne Lamb, another ProRanger arrived at our home, but he was there on leisure time not for work. Wayne stayed with us and we all enjoyed bonding together for the weekend.
Saturday, Charles and I were taken off of parking duties and placed in medical tent 3, which just so happened to be located in the parking lot 50 yards from where the parking operations were taking place. Needless to say, we didn’t go far. Charles and I stayed at the tent with Neil, an interpretive Ranger from the mall in D.C. and when tent 2 was taken down their staff joined is. Prior to their staff joining us we had spent a lot of time roving throughout the park. Charles and I alternated staying at the tent while the other went roving with either Jim or Cailin, who were also alternating. We drove through the visitor’s lot and other lots a lot looking for patients. We didn’t find any, which is what we wanted. HHS and NPS staff joined us for the remainder of the evening. Jeanne Feltes was among the NPS staff. Neil and Jeanne were both a true pleasure to be around. The HHS staff was very knowledgeable and also a pleasure to be around. Our goal for the day was to be at the tent, but we proactively offered water to people from the coolers. Our table had two water coolers with cups and a lot of sunscreen. If we saw somebody approaching heading to the visitor’s center not carrying water, we stopped them and encouraged them to drink. People heading back from the visitors center were approached as well. We had a lot of good conversations and interactions with our visitors and this really enhanced the experience for everybody involved. The best medical advice you can offer the visitor is to actively prevent a medical emergency by keeping your body hydrated. I think we all worked together to make sure this was happening. We had one patient for our tent and this was a woman who had fallen down. She had a contusion on her leg and blood pulling under her toenail. The ice pack we popped open wasn’t very cold so we decided to use ice from the cooler. We did not have any bags to put it in so I improvised and grabbed a medical glove and placed ice in it and handed it to the HHS staff that held it against her knee. They are registered nurses and administered the woman pain medication. Due to this administration they had to take her vitals. This was a great learning experience for me.
After this patient we continued to give visitors water. Our shift ended and we arrived home at 9pm.
Sunday was our final day and we began work at 7am. Charles and I were EMS again and we split our time between medical tent 1 and 3. Chris Alford took us in shifts to tent 1 with him. I took the first shift and really enjoyed myself. This was my first time being away from Chinn Ridge parking and I was able to see what activities were going on at the visitor’s center. We set up tent 1 and got it ready for operation. I was able to meet the previous Chief Ranger at Prince William Forest Park, Chip, and I enjoyed talking with him. Chip has a great sense of humor. I located Melissa Brown in the crowd and invited her to join me at the mule. I worked at Monocacy National Battlefield last summer and Melissa is an LE Ranger there. Chris informed me that we would be taking the mule, which is fully altered to be a medical/police ATV, to follow the walking tour at 10am. We invited Melissa to join and she did. We didn’t have any medical issues during this time and concluded and returned to the tent. There was a canon firing demonstration at 12pm, which Chris Alford let me take the mule to attend for personal experience and to watch for medical incidents. I thoroughly enjoyed the demonstration and learned a ton about canon firing. This was my first opportunity to actually learn something at this event. Although we were there the entire weekend, there just wasn’t time to attend any of these events due to our duties. None of us really seemed to mind as we were all having fun, but the canon firing was very entertaining and I’m glad I could be there for that.
I returned to tent 3 after lunch and switched with Charles. I stayed at this tent for hours offering water to visitors.I had good conversations with the HHS staff. I was taken from the tent and sent back to parking later in the evening. Shortly after, they had a patient with chest pains, which Neil handled very well. Cindy Sirk-Fear and Chris Alford arrived on scene with an AED within minutes. The man was given oxygen and his conditioned drastically improved. The ambulance arrived and he was able to walk to it on his own.
To end the day we picked up cones, flags, and trash. We said goodbye to everybody and were sent to DEMOB at the incident command post. This experience showed me for my first time what is was like to work within the National Incident Management System. The planning for this event was incredible and teamwork is what made it run so smoothly. I am really pleased to have been a part of this event. It could not have happened had we not all worked together so well to keep each other safe from the heat. Another great experience during my internship. We didn't get to take any photos so I uploaded a video from a few weeks back when we were at the range for the day.

Week 3-Amber Hagan/Charles Papacostas-Prince William Forest Park

Our third week at the park has been filled with variety. Charles and I were back with Law Enforcement this week. To start off the week we worked the 2-10 shift with Ranger Ken. Ken is a true pleasure to be around and an outstanding resource for anybody who wants to know how to do this job correctly and efficiently. He has second-to-none documentation skills and is very talented at sighting illegal activity. Ken is not only efficient, he is friendly, polite, and courteous to anybody he approaches. We were able to listen to a recording of a contact he was on the week prior to this and I was highly impressed by the way he controlled the scene. Ken should be a model for how to handle a scene safely, with courtesy, and professionally.

We spent a lot of the day working on paperwork for the case, which was surprisingly very exciting and informative. In the evening we patrolled the park and had dinner with a camp host. We locked the gates, debriefed, and went home. Ranger Ken taught us about professionalism, orientating yourself in the park, debriefing after each case, and probable cause reports. These aspects are a significant part of the agency and operations. Without the report, there would be no case. Ranger Ken taught us about the Law Enforcement aspect of the National Park Service. What we learned was not surprising, but vital.
Our second day of the week we rode with Russell. Ranger Russell has a completely different approach to his job than every ranger I've met. That is what is so wonderful about the park service: All Rangers have the same job, and perform adequately, just different. The diversity among the staff is sensational. Russell took us on patrol for a large portion of the day. We got out of the vehicle and hiked to the Pyrite mine, which is now filled and in rehabilitated. Russell also showed us the inside of a few of the cabin camps and the lake in his backyard(on park property).

We enjoyed our time with Russell and Ken equally. Our ProRanger friend, Wayne Lamb, came to our park and is staying with us for the weekend. Wayne is from Colonial and is participating in the same activities that we are. We took Wayne to our house and then met back up with Russell to do more patrolling. We visited every location in the park. We locked the gates and inquired about a suspicious vehicle still in the park after hours. After this inquiry we got in our vehicles to leave for the day and Russell called us over the radio for assistance. We located him and came across an Oak tree that had fallen into the road and was blocking both sides. We assisted Russell in removing the tree. He sawed the tree and we moved the pieces after wards. This incident taught us that in the National Park Service, anything can happen anytime. Again, however, not to our surprise. We finished with the tree and went home.

Day 3 was our firefighter training day. We arrived to do our training only to find out there was a suicide in the park. The suspicious vehicle from the evening before turned out to be a suicide. This was a sad time for everybody and our supervisor kept us far from the crime scene as to not expose us to that. After leaving the scene, we drove down to the the maintenance yard and met several other prorangers at the fire cache. There we met Rocky, who led the field exercises for the day. First, he supervised our pack test, which we completed on the park's Scenic Drive.
Afterward, we moved on to learn about fire shelters. We all received instruction on how to properly deploy the shelter, and Rocky had us take part in several drills to practice and learn to complete the process in an efficient and timely manner. After lunch, we all were handed firefighting gear and drove out to Cabin Camp 3 to practice digging fire lines. Each of us got experience with several of the tools used to created fire lines such as council rakes, pulaskis, fire shovels, and the McCloud. We dug two chains of fire line in the woods before cleaning up and then heading back to the fire cache to practice lining up the hoses.


We completed a couple of drills, one where we had the hoses extend from the fire apparatus, and the other from a fire hydrant. This was the final exercise of the day, and it was fun to work as a team to set up the hose line. Wildland firefighting was hard work, but interesting and fun, and certainly more than a worthwhile experience. On Friday, we will close out the week by going to Harper's Ferry to complete the defensive driving course, and next week we will be with administration.

ProRanger Blog Week 2-Amber Hagan and Charles Papacostas-Prince William Forest Park

Our second week at Prince William Forest Park has been very informational and exciting. Charles and I were with Resource Management this week. We started off the week with introductions to the SCA interns and we got a second tour of the park with them. We heard from the Superintendent and all of the division chiefs. We discussed safety protocols, SOP's, JHA's, and job duties. We got an introduction from Paul the chief of resource management, and Colette, the cultural resources manager.

Our second day was very educational. We learned how to use a GPS unit as well as input this into a GIS program on the computer. Paul walked us through each step. GIS and GPS are very useful for parks and other organizations. They contain a tremendous amount of information and store it into an easily read file/map.

Wednesday we received training in how to drive the electrically powered vehicles that the park recently purchased with the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. These vehicles are powered entirely by an electric battery and have a very different feel from a car. The only way you know that the vehicle is on when you put the key into the ignition is by looking for a little glowing green light, as the engine makes no sound. Its top speed is about 25 miles per hour, and the battery lasts for a total of 30 miles before it has to be recharged. As part of the training we each had the chance to drive the vehicle as well. After breaking for lunch, Colette gave a talk on introduction to cultural resources. She told us the basics of cultural resources and its importance to the park and in the National Park Service in general. We got a tour of the collections building where they keep all artifacts found in the park. Later that afternoon, we went on a scavenger hunt with maps and had to find clues hidden throughout the park. The scavenger hunt was not only informative, but also served to help us to better navigate our way through the park.

Today we did more work in cultural resources, but we spent most of the day indoors. We scanned slides onto the computer and logged them in an excel file, we entered books from the library into the computer archive, and we sorted through files and put them in their correct location. Surprisingly, this activity was a lot of fun. After lunch we learned about water quality and chemistry. We took macroinvertebrate samples and E. coli samples from stream sites. The entire group really enjoyed this and learned a lot about stream insects and how they can indicate stream health.

Our second week at the park was completely different from the first, but equally educational and eventful. We are both looking forward to week three; we will be with law enforcement again. Next week we have defensive driving and firefighting training as well. We are excited to see what the rest of the summer internship experience entails.

Prince WIlliam forest Park Week 1-Amber Hagan

Our first week at Prince William was nothing short of perfect. We expected loads of paperwork and first week processing, but we did everything but that! We rode with Law enfocement several days, went on interesting calls, sat in on staff meetings, went to the dispatch office in Hagerstown with Chief Cindy Sirk-Fear, went to NCTC with Ranger Ballam, visited Jim at Antietam, learned how to use our radios, among many other activities. I could not have asked for a better park. The EMS coordinator at the park gave us a free stethoscope and pocket light. That was very generous. Our fire training is in 2 weeks. Next week we will be with resource management. I woke up every day this week looking forward to what we would be doing that day. Today, Charles and I got to drive the law enforcement vehicle....I am speechless. That has got to be the coolest privilage I've been given thus far(as you can see above). I think Ranger Ballam got a walk down memory lane seeing how excited we've been this week just to do simple tasks like drive a vehicle and wear a golden badge and use a radio. I have so much enthusiasm and pride in this internship. I am anxious for next week to begin! We will be working with resource management next week, which will give us a first hand look into another division vital to the park.

Amber Hagan