In 1976,
when Jon Jarvis was just out of college, he took a temporary job with
the National Park Service handing out maps about America's bicentennial
celebration to tourists at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
In
the 33 years since, he's been a park ranger and superintendent across
the West. He's led hikes, held campfire talks, battled forest fires,
made arrests, even rappelled down cliffs.
And now Jarvis, 56, a
Pinole resident, is heading back to Washington for his dream job — as
President Barack Obama's national parks director.
Confirmed by
the Senate on Sept. 24, Jarvis has worked since 2002 at the National
Park Service's regional headquarters in Oakland, supervising the 54
national park units in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada
and Hawaii.
A biologist by training, he said he plans to increase
scientific research in national parks, extend their educational role in
order to put more rangers in school classrooms and broaden the parks'
appeal to an increasingly diverse population.
Like many longtime
national park staff members, Jarvis was buoyed following the recent PBS
broadcast of filmmaker Ken Burns' six-part, 12-hour series: "The
National Parks: America's Best Idea." Many parks advocates hope the
series will inspire a renewed interest in parks and lead to public
demand for funding increases and expansion of the system.
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