Former Teton ranger wins national award
By Angus M. Thuermer Jr., Jackson Hole, Wyo.
May 22, 2009
A ranger who ushered in the era of helicopter rescues in the Teton Range won the prestigious Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award, the National Park Service said Wednesday.
Pete Armington was Jenny Lake sub-district ranger with Grand Teton National Park when he helped convert rescue operations to take advantage of helicopters. Today, Jenny Lake rangers routinely use airships to land rangers at, and retrieve victims from, remote, practically inaccessible mountain locations.
Armington now works at Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska. The award is named in honor of the first national park ranger, Harry Yount, 19th century game warden in Yellowstone National Park.
“Pete is the consummate ranger,” National Park Service Acting Director Dan Wenk said in a statement issued after Armington received the award Tuesday in Washington. “He has demonstrated overwhelming competence in the performance of his duties throughout his 38-year National Park Service career. He has protected park visitors and resources, provided emergency medical support, fought wildland and structural fires, prosecuted poachers, led search and rescue missions, patrolled the backcountry, and helped implement a helicopter rappel and short-haul program that revolutionized rescue procedures.”
Armington was one of several rangers nominated for the award from various Park Service regions. Renny Jackson, the current Jenny Lake sub-district ranger who has spent his whole career in the Tetons, also was nominated.
In a statement, Armington said the challenge and joy of his job lie in its diversity and unpredictability.
“Rangering is not just a job, it is a way of life, a passion, a raison d’etre,” he said. “I feel so fortunate and honored ... but I also feel uncomfortable. There are hundreds of outstanding United States park rangers out there who day in and day out work passionately, not for awards, but to protect the resource of our national parks and those who visit them. They are my mentors, peers, friends and partners.”
Armington has served in Rocky Mountain National Park, Pinnacles National Monument, Yosemite National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Curecanti National Recreation Area, Isle Royale National Park, and Denali National Park and Preserve, where he is chief ranger.
