This week was all about the bread and butter of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: the Admin division. This week I split my time between Admin and Special Park Uses (SPU). I would spend two hours out of the day with Admin and the rest of my day would be spent with SPU.
I began my admin time by shadowing Kate. She does a large portion of the budgeting for SAMO. One of her main responsibilities is credit card reallocations, when a SAMO card holder makes a purchase, she has to validate the transaction and check to make sure the budget money is being used appropriately. Kate is also qualified to verify travel authorizations and vouchers. When someone needs to travel for work-related purposes, they fill out all the information about their travel needs on this platform called Concur. Kate’s job here is to make sure the paperwork is correct and then verify that the travel plans are reasonable.
For my first day with SPU I spent time with Ranger Cruz. She gave me a general overview of SPU and then led me into her office where she gave me a more thorough explanation. SPU’s main responsibility is permit use. They approve and deny permit requests, schedule events at the park, and communicate with the permit holders. Ranger Cruz taught me about the different types of permits that can be granted. For example, Special Use Permits are one of the most common permits SPU issues out. A Special Use Permit is for events like weddings, parties and other large gatherings where the attendance is expected to be over 25 people. This type of permit is mainly based on the size of an event but there are exceptions to that. A Special Use Permit is required no matter the size of an event if catering or extra equipment is needed. Getting a proper permit from SPU is very important because it protects the park from event holders accidentally damaging resources and it allows park staff to better accommodate the event by protecting the people attending from any disturbances the general public may cause from not knowing about the event.
For my Admin duties I was with Lei, who mainly handles payroll and a laundry list of other things. Her and Kate’s jobs have a lot of intersectionality. Kate does credit card reallocations for SAMO cardholders, whereas Lei gets to determine who is a cardholder and is in charge of filing all the bank statements from those purchases. Lei also monitors the timekeeping platform to make sure everyone’s hours are in order, she also organizes time off for staff.
While I was with SPU today, Ranger Cruz, Ranger Sanchez and I went out onto the Zuma Canyon Trail to inspect it for the big SAMO 100 foot race this Saturday. We spent a few hours mapping out areas where the trails crew would need to do work in order to make it suitable for the runners. We drove about eight miles through the trail and decided to call it a day.
Today, I experienced my first company lunch. SPU didn’t have much going on for me to help them with, so I spent the day with Admin, namely Lei, Kate, Nicole and Jovanna. First, we went to this little out-of-sight deli counter where I ordered the best BLT I’ve ever had in my life. Once we got our orders we drove out to Paramount Ranch to have the meeting. Ranger Cooper even popped in for a few minutes. This meeting was mostly for the Admin staff to check-in with each other and see where they can provide help.
When the meeting ended I met with Generalist Ranger Low, who took me out post signs at Peter Strauss Ranch and Rocky Oaks. The signs were meant to entice visitors to donate to SAMOFund, which is a philanthropic organization that helps fund the park. Visitors can scan a QR code on the sign and donate electronically. Planting the sign posts was a bit of a workout, you have to take this metal vase-shaped device and slam it into the top part of the post to drive it into the ground.
(Photo courtesy of Ranger Low)
For my Admin duties today I was with Nicole who is the budget manager for the Fire division. She handles most of the accounting and budget distribution. Like Kate, she does credit card reallocations for the fire division. Nicole showed me how she can access the financial records and see how funding has been distributed.
Today, I was with Jovanna from Admin, Jovanna has so many responsibilities I can barely remember them all. For one thing, she is responsible for the fleet of vehicles at SAMO. Her job is to make sure every vehicle is appropriately maintained, and files all the necessary paperwork when there is any sort of damage to a vehicle. Another responsibility she has is managing government property, physical property, so things like computers and tools. She oversees the processes of acquiring and disposing of property, and the transfer of property between employees. Jovanna is also in charge of park housing, both dorm and bid. She puts out the housing schedule for the dorms and decides where every resident goes. Her housing responsibilities include the maintenance of the houses and dorms; repairs, general upkeep and cleaning.
After I was finished with Jovanna, I reported to the Encinal Canyon Trailhead where I would be stationed for the rest of my shift. Today was the SAMO 100, a 100 mile and 100 kilometer race through the whole park. There were multiple checkpoints set up at various trailheads for the runners to take a break, get something to eat, and meet with family and friends that came to support them. My job at the Encinal Canyon checkpoint was to act as security. I directed parking since there were so many people hanging around in the parking lot, and I wanted to eliminate the possibility of an accident. When I wasn’t doing that, I was cheering on the runners and making sure that nobody was doing anything weird. Thankfully, nothing crazy happened to me on my first solo detail, the real action was at the Bonsall checkpoint. There was a homeless man harassing the runners and overall causing a public disturbance. Every LE Ranger on duty responded to him since would not calm down. Eventually, the man rode away on his bicycle.
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