Gary Barnes retired from the Park Police on January 12th after 33 years of federal service.

Born in 1953 in Oakland, California, Gary grew up in Castro Valley and graduated from Hayward High in 1971. He then attended Chabot Junior College, Sacramento State, Tahoe Community College, and Western Nevada Community College, recording a GPA of 4.0 that placed him on the Dean's List.

Gary started his federal career with the Bureau of Land Management at the Ravendale Helitack Station in 1979 and 1980 and worked on fire engines, uni-mog and helitack.  He then transferred to the US Forest Service Lake Tahoe Management Unit (LTBMU) and worked there as a fire engine crew member from 1980 to 1982.

In 1982 Gary took a career-conditional appointment with the Cleveland National Forest as a member of the Laguna Hot Shots. In 1984 Gary transferred back to the LTBMU as an assistant fire engine operator and then worked in personnel for three years, at which time he accepted a position as a wildland fire dispatcher for the LTBMU at Roundhill, East Lake and Minden - all in Nevada.

In 1993 Gary accepted a position with the National Park Service as a park dispatcher at Everglades National Park, providing dispatch services to Everglades NP, Fort Jefferson, Big Cypress and Biscayne NR.  In 1994 Gary transferred Golden Gate National Recreation Area  and in March of 2011 all personnel along with Gary transferred to the United States Park Police San Francisco Field Office at Golden Gate.

After retirement Gary will be working as a full-time genealogist and family historian and can be reached at Familyresearcher77@yahoo.com .

Contact Information
Name: Jon E. Stover
Phone Number: 415-561-2801
Email: Jon_Stover@nps.gov