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After almost four decades with the National Park Service (NPS), including the last five as superintendent at Pinnacles National Park, Blanca Stransky retired on Jan. 31. She served as a ranger and superintendent in such places as Grand Canyon National Park, the USS Arizona National Memorial and Denali National Park and Preserve.
Stransky and BenitoLink discussed her time at Pinnacles and her career—or as she put it, her “call of the wild”—with NPS.
“It has been my honor and a privilege to serve as a National Park Service Ranger for the last 39 years,” she said. “I’m grateful beyond words for the incredible adventures and opportunities that I have been afforded.”
What changes have you made at Pinnacles since you arrived?
It is important to emphasize these are the collective accomplishments of the team at Pinnacles over the last five years. I was privileged to lead them. Together we accomplished the following:
- Improved park facilities by rehabbing and updating staff offices; constructing a new entrance station and picnic shade structures at Chaparral Picnic Area on the west side of the park, as well as the Peaks View comfort station; updated the Western National Park Store; rehabilitated campground bathroom facilities and constructed a new wastewater system; improved the condor facilities, mill and overlay of park roads and made ongoing IT improvements.
- Stepped up our wildland fire hardening efforts to help prevent a catastrophic wildland fire in the park. This is a continuing effort.
- Strengthened relationships with the two tribal nations who once called Pinnacles home—the Chalon and Amah Mutsun. In fact, the new entrance sign on the east side officially recognizes parkland as the “Heartland of the Chalon People.”
- Worked closely with the surrounding communities (Hollister, San Juan Bautisa, Soledad, Salinas) to promote and protect Pinnacles’ night skies. The park hosted dark-sky viewing events, improved lighting within the park, and is pursuing a DarkSky International certification.
Unlike other superintendents, you have been very involved in the community. Is that something you have always done?
National parks are not islands. We have two purposes in being here. One is the protection of our resources. Two is making sure we are working with our communities to preserve those resources. They belong to the community. It is so important to make sure the communities are integrated into the National Park in their backyard. It is part of our history; it is where we recreate; it is where their children learn about nature.
Pinnacles relies on the communities that surround the park for its preservation. It is not a large land mass, so how our neighbors take care of their land benefits us. It is a symbiotic relationship.
In a 2020 interview, you said before coming to Pinnacles the only things you knew about the area were the condor recovery program and that the park was in a rural farming county. What is your impression of the county now?
San Benito County is an incredibly diverse place to live. You have beautiful open spaces and at the same time, if you step into places like Hollister and San Juan Bautista, you get that sense of history of the towns and the peoples, and you get that small town feeling. This is the only place I have lived where people deliver fresh strawberries and blueberries to your door. You pick up the phone and order organic fresh strawberries and blueberries and somebody will come to your house with them. We are so close to a large metropolitan area yet we maintain that small town feel and friendliness. We are not in a rush.
What message do you give to the new superintendent?
Buckle your seatbelt. Despite its small land mass, Pinnacles is as complex as larger National Parks. Over the last five years, visitation has increased twofold. With the increase in visitors come new operating requirements—traffic management, higher demand on the park shuttle, additional emergency medical responses and more demand for ranger programs.
Unfortunately, over this same period, the park’s budget and staffing levels have declined. To address some of the new requirements, we relied on volunteers, donations and revenue from the campground and entrance fees. While these things helped, it did not come close to meeting the needs of the park.
The new superintendent will need to prioritize building relationships with surrounding communities, park neighbors, park supporters, educational institutions and tribal nations to leverage opportunities that will present themselves.
They will also need to invest in the park’s human history and its historic structures. The park is known for its condors, hiking and rock climbing. Yet, there is lots more to Pinnacles National Park. It is truly a park for all visitors in all seasons.
The park has a rich Native American history, early Californian settlers’ history, and Civilian Conservation Corps history. Few visitors know those stories because the Bacon Ranch Historic District and the Bear Valley School are in immediate need of rehabilitation.
Aside from building strong relationships and investing in the park’s historic structures, the next superintendent will also need to take excellent care of the park staff. I’ve asked a lot of them these past five years and they delivered. Every person from our volunteers to the paid staff goes above and beyond to provide outstanding customer service while safeguarding the natural and cultural resources at the park. They are one of the most dedicated staffs in the National Park Service.
What message do you give to the crew you leave behind?
Keep doing the good work you’re doing. Change is slow, slow is hard, but in the end, when everyone comes together, it is the best thing for the resource, for the visitors and for them.
What will you miss most about Pinnacles and NPS?
Pinnacles: The interaction with visitors, our partners in the community, community leaders that I interact with and of course, the staff.
NPS: The camaraderie—the esprit de corps amongst Department of Interior/National Park Service employees across the nation for the protection and preservation of America’s public lands. We have this shared enthusiasm and devotion to the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916 which will forever bond us.
Anything to add?
Working for the National Park Service can change a person’s life. I fell in love with being a park ranger. It really helped me develop and grow. Working at HHS Arizona I learned a lot about World War II. I have been able to ski Mt. Denali. I have seen a family of wolves carry their young. My children grew up practicing moose and bear drills—not fire drills or active shooter drills. I can’t believe it’s been 39 years.
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