THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411170219
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Long : 146 lines
The simplicity of Tom Hartman's greatest joy after 37 years in the National Park Service may surprise some.
It's ``when you see a little boy or girl in the park, and you walk up and say, `How are you? What's your name? Is this your first time in the park?' and they see you in that Smokey Bear hat. You give them a Junior Ranger badge and their faces light up. That makes it all worthwhile.''
Tom Hartman has handed out a forest full of Junior Ranger badges in almost four decades with the service, most recently as superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Next month, Hartman will wear the gray and green of the service for the last time.
For the 58-year-old Kentucky native, his retirement will mark the end of a life spent in America's national parks.
He is part of a family that has served three generations in the service.
``My dad was a second lieutenant in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky,'' he said. ``My grandfather was an electrician in the park. Also, my uncle was a ranger. I just grew up in the park.''
The maturing of Ranger Tom Hartman began early. For him, the examples set by his father, grandfather and uncle made a career choice simple.
``I didn't see anything better to do, and I still don't know of anything that's better to do,'' he said.
Hartman began while a college student as a seasonal employee at the Shenandoah National Park.
A graduate of Austin Peay State University, Hartman went from Shenandoah to the Everglades National Park as a firefighter.
Hartman's career trail has taken him from the swamps of the Everglades to the white waters of the Rockies, through a variety of often dangerous experiences.
``I've been able to do virtually everything that a ranger can do,'' Hartman said. ``I've fought fires. I've done search and rescue. I've done scuba diving and climbed mountains for the service.''
AND IN HIS 13 years as supervisor at Cape Hatteras, Hartman has built bridges, not of steel and stone, but of friendship and understanding. At first, it was not an easy task.
``There was a tremendous amount of animosity'' against the Park Service, Hartman said. ``But I think that I've always been a people person. I've always tried to immerse myself in the community, and to listen to what other people were saying. But the first six months were pretty difficult.''
The reason for the difficulty was largely because his predecessors were seen as uncaring and aloof.
``To say that there was a little bit of a wall is a bit of an understatement,'' said Allen Burrus, a lifelong Hatteras Island resident and a member of the Dare County Board of Education.
``Before Tom came, the Park Service didn't allow any dialogue between us. Tom found out we were willing to help, and he was willing to listen.''
From Day One, Hartman immediately went to work to change that perception.
``The people have got to get to know you,'' Hartman said. ``You have to deliver, and you have to have a plan. You have to make them aware of the plan, and work to make them a part of the product. That was the first thing I did. I went on the road.''
In those early days, Hartman's message was simple.
``I talked to people and told them we wanted to be a part of the community, not apart from it,'' he said. ``A trust developed from that. I let them know that I was willing to listen.''
And Hartman listened. Spending one day a week on Hatteras and Ocracoke, he went directly to the people he served.
``I went to the civic meetings and went to the town meetings, just showing up,'' he said. ``Rather than deal from the desk, I got in that car, and drove right down that road, and went to the people.''
Building those relationships paid off in big dividends. In a time of government downsizing and budget reductions, Hartman was successful in getting the community involved in projects at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the Chicamacamico Lifesaving Station.
And even on controversial issues such as the dispute over offshore drilling near the North Carolina coast, Hartman tried to be a man who will listen.
``I was in the middle,'' he said. ``The decision had been made by the Secretary of the Interior. It was another agency in the department that had issued the permits, and not the Park Service. But because I was part of an Interior agency, all I could do was listen, sympathize, and try to demonstrate, not that I was opposed to the Secretary of the Interior, but that maybe there were other ways we could go about accomplishing the same task with our limited resources.''
He added, ``It was a difficult position, but you had to be reasonable about it, because once the boss makes a decision, there's no further comment on it.''
Burrus said that in some instances, such as the squabble over who would pay for N.C. Route 12, Hatteras residents sided with the Park Service against the state of North Carolina.
``The state said the Park Service should pay for the road,'' Burrus said. ``But it was our feeling that it was a state road, and the state should pay for it. Tom has worked to help us, and we have worked to help him. It's been a good relationship.''
WHILE THE DEPARTMENT of the Interior and other government agencies have taken a beating by the public in recent years, park rangers are generally viewed in a positive light by visitors to the park.
Hartman said the reason behind that is simple.
``Our mission is service,'' he said. ``We're people-oriented. If we refuse to serve people and they get angry in how we conduct our business, then they'll make real estate out of the national parks.
``Rangers want to protect people from the parks and protect parks from people in an effort to preserve it for posterity. Most government agencies are regulatory, and they are so concerned with maintaining those regulations they are unable to establish a rapport with the people they serve. It's adversarial in many cases. We're here where the rubber meets the road.''
As for what makes a good ranger, Hartman hits on some simple truths.
``You have to have a plan. You have to be willing to listen to the people and let people know you're a part of the community. And they have to know that a handshake is as good as your word.''
Hartman also learned something about the joy of work from his grandfather. It was as much a part of his life in the service as the trademark gray-and-green winter uniform and the ``Smokey Bear'' hat.
``My grandfather would watch a man working and say, `Watch him, he picks up the heavy end of the stick first, and he never leaves a job undone.' He also told me to always be a man of your word.''
That will be Hartman's legacy after 13 years at Cape Hatteras.
``Tom has always let his yea be yea, and his nay be nay, and if he didn't know something he'd tell you so, and then he'd find out an answer,'' Burrus said. ``You could always rely on that.''
Hartman said he will continue to be involved in spreading the National Park Service mission, but as for what he will do upon retirement, he is uncertain.
``I guess that's what you'd call the mystery of life,'' he said. ``I enjoy building ship models and working with different types of woods and running. I'm going to take about three months off, but I plan to be involved in volunteer work. Whatever it is that I do, I'm going to keep moving.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by DREW C. WILSON
Color on the Cover: After 37 years, Tom Hartman shucks Park Service
togs
Tom Hartman's father, grandfather and uncle worked at Mammoth Cave
National Park in Kentucky.
Superintendent Tom Hartman inspects the park's headquarters building
at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island.
by CNB