Denise Louie serving as interim head of Pinnacles National
Monument
Denise Louie has always been
”
intrigued by the natural world,
”
so her role as acting superintendent of Pinnacles National
Monument is truly a natural for her.
”
I always wanted to do something with nature and how nature and
people interact,
”
said Louie, who began her 120-day assignment as acting
superintendent of the park on Aug. 29. She is in charge of the park
while a replacement is sought for Eric Brunnemann, who left the
post earlier this year to take over as superintendent of Badlands
National Park in South Dakota.
Denise Louie serving as interim head of Pinnacles National Monument
Denise Louie has always been “intrigued by the natural world,” so her role as acting superintendent of Pinnacles National Monument is truly a natural for her.
“I always wanted to do something with nature and how nature and people interact,” said Louie, who began her 120-day assignment as acting superintendent of the park on Aug. 29. She is in charge of the park while a replacement is sought for Eric Brunnemann, who left the post earlier this year to take over as superintendent of Badlands National Park in South Dakota.
While growing up on the east coast, Louie said she her family did not travel much, but she does recall a trip to Yosemite while visiting a relative in California when she was 10.
“I was blown away,” recalled Louie, who is in her 18th year of federal service, which includes time with the National Park Service and seasonal work with the United States Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Interest becomes a career
After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia Tech, she began to realize that her love of nature and science could combine into a career.
“Prior to that, I thought I’d have to sit through rush hour traffic twice a day and go on one-week vacations to national parks,” she said with a laugh. Now, she’s at a park virtually every day.
Of her first visit to Pinnacles during Thanksgiving of 2005, Louie remembers being impressed by the “great views” and ample hiking opportunities.
“It’s an interesting location and it gives you a real park feeling,” she said. “You’re away from big development but you’re actually not that far from it either. It seems like a refuge from more hectic lives in urban areas.”
Louie has been at the park for the past four-and-a-half years, serving most recently as chief of natural and cultural resource management. She oversees programs ranging from habitat restoration and California condor reintroduction to air quality monitoring and cultural resource protection.
Previous national park assignments have included serving as vegetation specialist at Zion National Park in Utah and Big Bend National Park in Texas.
A new perspective
Louie is not a candidate for the superintendent’s position, for which candidates have already applied. When a superintendent is named, she will return to her previous management job.
The temporary gig has provided her with a new perspective on park operations, she said.
“I’m having to pay equal attention to all the different programs in the park and I’ve gotten more in-depth exposure to other operations,” Louie said.
The park has multiple partnerships with organizations, clubs and schools, ranging from park stewardship through the Pinnacles Partnership to working relationships with schools and service clubs.
A sister park relationship with Argentina’s Quebrada del Condorito has brought that park’s vice superintendent to Pinnacles through next week. A condor biologist from Pinnacles visited Argentina in 2008.
The park is also facilitating a sister-school partnership between the Hollister Dual Language Academy and a school in Argentina.
“Students (in the two countries) are just starting to be introduced to one another through the Internet, as pen pals and through scrap books,” Louie said. “They’re also drawing condor feathers and putting messages to each other about their hopes for condor survival and a clean environment.
Louie is also helping to develop partnerships with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, the University of California, Santa Cruz and U.C. Berkeley for habitat research and restoration.
Location, location, location
Pinnacles’ location in southern San Benito and Monterey counties is part of its appeal, she noted, as it gives visitors an out-of-the way natural experience.
“It’s not a good drive-by, auto tour-type park,” she said. “You need to be in it to experience it, whether you are able to hike or just spend some time enjoying the opportunities for solitude and soaking in the environs. It’s great for wildlife viewing. It’s a little known gem in the national park system.”
Louie said that visitors and rangers alike note how “when you encounter a fellow hiker, people are just happy,” she said. “They’re really enjoying themselves and discovering a sense of place here. That’s a special aspect of the experience.”
The cooperation of area landowners and neighbors has fostered the success of Pinnacles, Louie said.
“They appreciate the importance of the open, rural landscape, which adds to the character of the area and habitat connectivity for wildlife,” she said.
