#MyParkStory Volunteer Lowell Markey

Lowell Markey volunteering at Lock House #44 located in Williamsport, Maryland part of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

NPS/RMendoza

Volunteer Lowell poses with C&O Canal mule.

NPS/VIP LMarkey

I was riding my bike on the old towpath of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park one day in 2001… when I came upon a growing pile of yellow powder on the trail that was leaking out of a gondola car stopped on a railroad trestle that passed over the path. I called an interpretive ranger I knew to report the possible safety issue. Several days later, I got a phone call from one of the Park’s LE Rangers who thanked me for the report and suggested I should join the Bike Patrol and gave a brief description of the volunteer position.

Soon thereafter, I was involved in a day-long bike patrol training session held at park headquarters. It was my first introduction to the concept that volunteers – even casual volunteers who work only 100 hours or so in a year – are welcomed into a “family” of professional staff and volunteers who work together to make the experience of national park visitors as enjoyable and meaningful as possible. I have been an active member of the Cumberland Bike Patrol for the C&O Canal NHP ever since – now over 22 years!

"I have a family that is critical and central to my life and my spirit, but there is also the NPS “family” that claims some significant territory in my heart."

Volunteering at Bandelier National Monument Visitor Center in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

NPS/VIP LMarkey

It turns out that the Bike Patrol was a gateway to what has become a marvelous journey of experiences in various National Park Service units, a Delaware State Park, and a National Wildlife Refuge. As I made plans to retire from full time work in a “real” job, the volunteer coordinator for the C&O Canal NHP informed me about resident volunteer positions, something I knew nothing about. My wife and I planned a retirement celebration trip to include many national park units. At several of these sites, we asked volunteers questions like: “What do you do here?” “How are you treated by staff? “Where do you stay while serving here?” Back home, my wife agreed to try this resident volunteer thing and we made a list of three parks and applied to serve a two-month term in the fall of 2009. We were invited to work at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico – a high desert environment with evidence of a fascinating culture of indigenous people living there over 700 years ago and descendants of those people living in modern Pueblos adjacent to the park. Wow! After some intense training, I jumped into roving interpretation on trails, at least one ranger walk each day, duty in the visitors’ center, and special projects. My wife helped to maintain a museum, clerked in the Western National store, and did roving interpretation and duty in the visitors’ center. We were fortunate enough to be invited for return terms of service in two subsequent years.

While volunteering at C&O Canal, Lowell gives a tour about Four Locks in Clear Spring, Maryland where a small canal community thrived.

NPS/VIP LMarkey

I have served as a resident volunteer for two terms of service at New River Gorge National Park & Preserve (2015 and 2021), where I had the opportunity to introduce visitors to West Virginia’s rich underground coal mining and railroading history and help folks choose activities in hiking and camping and also the adventure sports of white-water rafting and kayaking and rock climbing. And, back at the starting point – the C&O Canal NHP – I have now served five terms of resident volunteer service at the Williamsport location – some 85 miles on the towpath away from Cumberland, the town I am retired from. Here I have organized boat, bike, and walking tours, worked in the visitors’ center, hosted “open house” at a historic structure, conducted roving interpretation on the towpath, and completed special projects.

In 2022, I was invited to join a volunteer ranger at Assateague National Seashore in being “virtual volunteers” to critically review new policy and procedure documents for the volunteer program at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska together with that Park’s volunteer coordinator. We never travelled to “The Last Frontier,” but immersed ourselves in print, digital, and video presentations about the park so we could evaluate the policies in light of the environment where they would be employed. Not surprisingly, this pleasant project came about through one of the many working relationships I have enjoyed with NPS professionals.

To all of this you can add opportunities to work at Delaware Seashore State Park as a seasonal naturalist and history educator and to volunteer as a naturalist at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

Volunteering for visitor services includes local events.

NPS/CCampbell

These experiences have truly enriched my retirement years and provided meaning and purpose. There have been some “mountain or mesa top” points like being selected at Bandelier to give a ranger guided tour to a group of young foreign service workers from many countries in a U.S. Department of State program, and having four people who grew up in an historic village along the C&O Canal participate in a guided walk I conducted to bring that community back to life. Of course, you cannot top the joy of giving the oath and presenting the badge to new Junior Rangers!

Seasonal staff who also become family members.

NPS/VIP LMarkey

What keeps me coming back for more? Most important are the resources – the natural and historic environment presented by each park unit – and the visitors – the wonderful people who show up looking for a rich experience with smiles on their faces. But there is also that thing I was introduced to in my first NPS training program: being welcomed into a “family” of professional staff and volunteers who work together to make the experience of national park visitors as enjoyable and meaningful as possible. I have a family that is critical and central to my life and my spirit, but there is also the NPS “family” that claims some significant territory in my heart.