Mary Martin

Lassen Peak rises above the Paradise Meadows Trail

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Park Superintendent 2005-2007

Mary Martin was Superintendent at Lassen Volcanic National Park from 2005 until her retirement in 2007.

When asked to be transferred to Lassen she was extremely excited, it was the “nature” of her youth. Mary grew up in San Francisco. Her father worked for PG&E, their employee association had family camps/cabins in northern California, around the Lassen area. Mary's favorite was DeSabla, near Magalia. They also spent several summers at the camps around Lake Almanor. When Mary and her husband, Dick worked in the desert, their summer camping trip was always two weeks in the Lassen area. The smell of the forest, the trees, the solitude, the lakes and streams, and more are her “happy place.”

Mary was Superintendent at Mojave National Preserve for 11 years. As one of the first five people hired after the designation of the park unit by the California Desert Protection Act, the hectic pace of a new park, dealing with constant and controversial issues (building the park staff, grazing, private inholdings, hunting/guzzlers, developing the GMP, mining, special park uses, filming, poaching, hazmat dumping, meth labs, illegal trespass, building a fire center and visitor center, etc) the idea of a completely different park experience was enticing. Every day at Mojave Mary loved going to work, the challenges, the rewards, the outstanding and passionate staff, the “wins”, witnessing the park blossom into a “jewel in the crown”, were all wonderful, however, after 11 years it was time for something new.

Mary was honored to be the Park Superintendent at one of the oldest national parks in the system and it was fun for her to know that she would be working with many managers she knew from her early days (and theirs) in Yosemite National Park. Mary did have to pay attention to not calling the Maintenance Chief “Danny” (as he was known in Yosemite when we were all relatively new to the National Park Service).

One of Mary's charges assuming the position was a “last chance” at developing a visitor center within the allotted budget. She loved challenges like that and working with a team to plan and develop visitor centers. Her team at Mojave had successfully planned a new visitor center and she relished another opportunity at Lassen. The previous plan, a large multi-story concrete and glass, curved building came in significantly over budget. The management staff worked to ensure they could meet the budget challenge and have a visitor center that met the needs of the park and connect with the public on the importance of resource protection. Once started, they realized that they might achieve “certified” LEED status, then silver and, when the competitive juices flowed, gold was quickly surpassed by a platinum goal. And it was achieved.

In coming from a new national park that needed to build the budget from one dollar, yes that happened, Mary assumed that Lassen had achieved an adequate budget over the years. She was wrong. The park was woefully underfunded and had not had an increase in well over a decade. The budget constraints hampered her ability to protect the natural and cultural resources of Lassen. Working with the management team on the team's PMIS requests they succeeded in achieving ONPS budget increases.

During her tenure, an Environmental Assessment for concessions and visitor services was approved, developing the Manzanita Cabins and kayak rentals (which have proven successful) and addressing many other visitor services in the park.

This winter brings to mind the challenges of road opening while Mary was at Lassen. Because of another high snow year they were unable to open the road until July 13th. The safety issues with road opening are considerable and the staff dedicated and exemplary.

Mary made a real effort at engaging local communities and park neighbors. She thoroughly enjoyed public meetings, remarkably different from being called a “jack booted thug” in the desert. At Lassen the local communities loved the park and enjoyed recreating in their park. The most controversial issue she dealt with at these meetings was being asked about the closure of the ski area…and, being a skier, she thought it was a fun question to answer.

At Mojave private land acquisition was a major management initiative. Mary really enjoyed that aspect of the job and had succeeded in gaining $20 million in private funding for the project. At Lassen, Mary heard there was a private parcel at Spencer Meadows contiguous to the park the owner was interested in selling. Obtaining private funding, Mary and her team were able to add 80 acres to the park, the first park expansion in decades.

The management team and staff at Lassen were dedicated to the park and the NPS mission. Mary was very rewarded to be there while accomplishing a myriad of natural and cultural resource protection/visitor goals (Manzanita campground thinning project, several successful fire management tasks and plans, developing an employee safety program, developing the current park movie and so much more).

Today, Mary and her husband visit Lassen Volcanic, especially with their grandchildren. "It never fails to take my breath away and leave me in awe. I’m not sure being the Park Superintendent at Lassen Volcanic National Park was something a girl growing up in San Francisco could even dream about, but I know that having the honor of holding that position will never leave my dreams."