My Park Story: Jill Riggins

“If you don’t need it, don’t keep it! I’m super organized, so I just stay busy all day which is one reason why I love my job and love coming to work each day. Whenever I start my day, I know what I want to complete by the end of the day. When I walk out the door, my desk is clean, and everything is put away because I finished what I wanted to accomplish.

Jill Riggins is a non-uniformed NPS ranger who proudly works at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

NPS Photo/ A. Rimstidt

I am the Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent which allows me to get my hands in all aspects of the park. I love meeting and welcoming all the new employees. In my job, I don’t just do things for one division, I get to do things for all the divisions- it’s all park inclusive which is really fun. My main duties include: serving as the travel manager, human resources point of contact, housing manager, time keeper for all employees in the park, special use permit coordinator, I perform fleet utilization for the maintenance vehicles, and I onboard new employees.

My family traveled every summer, so we went to many national parks. Badlands first, then Yellowstone, Glacier, and the Grand Canyon are the ones that I most remember. We’ve been to all the states west of South Dakota, Canada, and Mexico. After my husband and I got married, we had a cattle ranch 25 miles south of Badlands. I had a lot of experience handling money at this point because my parents had a clothing store in Kadoka, South Dakota and had built a motel which I managed for a few years, so I started working seasonally as a fee collector at Badlands in 1998. I worked April-November for a couple of seasons which was perfect because I could be home in winter to help with the chores and calving. After two years of seasonal work, I became a permanent subject to furlough employee. For a little time, I was the administrative clerk for law enforcement and a dispatcher when I was in furlough status. In 2008, I became the administrative assistant at Badlands which I held until 2017. After that, we moved, and I started working here at Mount Rushmore in January 2017.

If I had any advice to anyone thinking of joining the Park Service, I would say: Just do it! This is an awesome career and there are a lot of awesome people that work for the NPS. If you’re in the right job, you’ll love coming to work everyday just like I do.”