Deb Liggett book review
Robert Gerhard
"The first time I crossed paths with Deb was in the early ‘90s when she was giving a talk about her’s and Jay’s and the National Park Service’s response to Hurricane Andrew. I knew right then that she was an amazing speaker. Now, all these years later, I know that she is an amazing writer.More accurately, she is an amazing storyteller, but not everyone can do it so eloquently both in writing and spoken. Deb can.This is an excellent memoir of a life lived well. The subtitle “Tales From a Life in the National Park Service” says it all. It may not tell you everything to know if you want to work for the National Park Service, and it is not a definitive guidebook to the various parks that she worked it. But it is a beautiful, lyric telling of stories that will lead the reader to sense and to feel how the parks impacted her, and vice versa, how she impacted the parks. This book is an appeal to the senses.”
Ed Rizzotto
ed rizzotto
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Rick Smith
My review of Deb’s book as published in Ranger Magazine:
Legendary Yellowstone ranger, Jerry Mernin, once observed, all ranger stories begin with “And there I was” and end with “and that’s no shit.” If you apply that formula to retired ranger Deb Liggett’s book Ranger Chronicles: Tales from a Life in the National Parks, the “there I was” part of her story is the typical life of a nomadic national park ranger: Grand Canyon, Big Bend, Great Sand Dunes, Dry Tortugas, Voyageurs, Everglades National Parks, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Aniakchak National Monument, Devils Tower National Monument, and Alagnak National River.
“And there she was” in Big Bend. She was leading a nature hike, pointing out the unique plants of the Chihuahuan desert. Suddenly, she realizes that she doesn’t quite know where she is. Headlines flash through her mind: RANGER LEADS HIKERS TO THEIR DEATH. Finally, she crests a hill and sees the parking lot. “and that’s no shit.”
“And there she was” as a district interpreter in Everglades when Hurricane Andrew hit Florida, the third most powerful storm to ever hit the US. As a part of the designated operations team, Deb and 4 others began to seek help. An incident management team was dispatched to the park. The park sent uniformed rangers to the addresses of park employees to determine if everyone was safe. It was ten days before they accounted for all the employees at Everglades, Big Cypress, and Biscayne. Over the next several months, 900 employees from parks around the nation were sent to Everglades to help the three NPS areas recover. The NPS really is a team “and that’s no shit.”
“And there she was” in Wyoming, as Superintendent of Devils Tower, embroiled in a First Amendment case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Devils Tower has been a point of contention for some time. First, there’s the issue of the name of the Monument. American Indians were angered by the disrespectful nature of the name. Deb, however, realized that this changing the name was beyond the scope of the Monument staff. What they could do, however, was to work on a voluntary climbing ban on the Tower during the month of June, a time of special significance to the Northern Plains Indians.
Deb and her staff, through what must have been an agonizing series of meetings with climbers and interested Indians finally released a draft plan that called for the voluntary closing of the Tower during the month of June. Following public comment, the plan was adopted. Shortly thereafter, the Bear Lodge Multiple Use Association filed suit by claiming that by endorsing a voluntary closure, the NPS had established a government religion. James Watt’s old Mountain States Legal Foundation supported the suit. They lost in District Court, lost in the Appeals Court, and when appealed to the Supreme Court, the Justices refused to hear the case. “And that’s no shit.”
“And there she was” in Alaska, the Superintendent of Lake Clark, hosting former President, Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalyn in the park. The Carters had been invited to Alaska to commemorate the President’s signing of ANILCA, or the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. After the ceremonial acts, the President and First Lady were interested in some fly fishing. Off they went. After catching a few, the fly rods were put away so that they could float downstream to another spot. Mrs. Carter’s fly rod ended up in Deb’s boat. Deb noticed that there was a label on Mrs. Carter’s rod: No. 2 made for First Lady Rosalyn Carter. As they floated down stream, their boat hit a tree and both Deb and Mrs. Carter’s rods went overboard. They quickly pulled to shore and raced back upstream. One rod could easily been seen. They retrieved it and looked for the label. Nothing. It was Deb’s. Finally, after ducking his head a number of times in the 40 degree water, the guide was able to retrieve Mrs. Carter’s fly rod. The day was saved “and that’s no shit.”
This is a book that I enjoyed very much. I’ve known Deb and Jay for a long time. I’ve always admired how they managed their careers and how they didn’t let their careers get in the way of serious hiking, biking, running and river running. Ranger Chronicles documents it all. I know you’ll find it interesting as well, “and that’s no shit.”
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/parklandsupdate/667195926.525390.1640271818034%40mail.yahoo.com.
Bob Gerhard
On Dec 23, 2021, at 7:04 AM, Ed Rizzotto <tree...@pobox.com> wrote:
The main title is “Pilgrim, Paddler, Poet: The Ranger Chronicles” and Deb’s co-author is Nathalie Aall and, if you want a little more enticement (on top of Bob’s review below), you can look up Deb’s talk (“Hurricane Andrew - Day 71”) at Ranger Rendezvous XVI in Spokane during the fall of 1992 and just that many days after Andrew fit the Everglades. Search for the archive of ANPR Ranger magazines/Halainen and look for the 1992/1993 edition of the journal*.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/parklandsupdate/667195926.525390.1640271818034%40mail.yahoo.com.