Date: October 3, 2007
Contact: Dale Cox, 715-483-2272
St. Croix National Scenic Riverway Superintendent Tom Bradley is pleased to announce the selections of Bob Whaley as Chief Ranger and Julie Galonska as Chief of Interpretation and Cultural Resources for the park.
“Julie Galonska and Bob Whaley bring exceptional skills to these vital positions and understand the invaluable need to involve local communities in discussions about the Riverway and its future,” said Bradley. "We are fortunate to have them joining the experienced staff we currently have at the Riverway, and I am confident that Riverway visitors and its resources will benefit from their service here.”
Julie Galonska will begin the new assignment on December 9. and be responsible for the parks interpretation, education and cultural resources programs. She has worked for the National Park Service for 13 years, and since August 2003 has been serving as site manager for the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site and the Civil War Defenses of Washington sites in National Capital Parks-East. Galonska has a M.A. in History from Oklahoma State University and began her career as the historian at Fort Smith National Historic Site in Arkansas, and later served as exhibit and media specialist and interpretive operations supervisor at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.
“It is truly an honor to be selected to work for St. Croix National Scenic Riverway,” said Galonska. “I am very excited and look forward to working closely with the park staff and its partners that are engaged in educating the public about the significant resources of the St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers.”
Bob Whaley has worked for the National Park Service for 23 years and, since assuming the job of Chief Ranger in late July, is now responsible for visitor and resource protection throughout the 227 mile park.
“For the past 23 years, I have had the privilege to work with so many outstanding people in the National Park Service that I am looking forward with great anticipation to being Chief Ranger at the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway,” said Whaley. “I believe that we all have one mission, to protect park resources, but different venues to achieve that. I look forward to cooperatively achieving that goal.”
Whaley began his career serving as a Visitor Protection Patrol Ranger at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Georgia and at William Forest Park in Virginia, and later as Sub-District Ranger at Ozark National Scenic Riverway in Missouri and District Ranger at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. Since February of 1999 he has been the St. Croix District Ranger at St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. Whaley, who also worked previously for the U.S. Border Patrol, is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and is retired from the U.S. Army Reserves as a Major.
St. Croix National Scenic Riverway preserves, protects and interprets an unrivaled combination of exceptional natural and cultural resources and scenic, aesthetic and recreational values. The Riverway includes 154 miles of the St. Croix River from Gordon, Wisconsin to its confluence with the Mississippi River, and the entire 98 miles of its largest tributary the Namekagon River.
