My Park Story: Sarah Love

Sarah sailing under the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge in 1999, on her family’s antique Hudson River ice yacht (@1930) the “Hound”.

Sarah Love

1. Where are you from?
I grew up in Webster, New York, a town on Lake Ontario, near Rochester, in western NY.

2. What interested you in the National Park Service?
My family camping trips to the Adirondack State Park every summer are some of my favorite memories as a kid. Seeking the outdoors is something I have always done, and I’ve come to appreciate the national parks system. The NPS mission fits with what I have always been interested in, learning about our special places. Now I get to play a part in preserving these places for the public and for future generations.

3. Do you remember the first park you visited?
As a young kid, my family visited Cape Cod. But the first national park I visited as an adult was in 1995, the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls. I had been researching the Kate Mullaney Home (on the national register), in Troy, NY. Kate Mullaney was an early women’s labor organizer in the collar and cuff industry in Troy, NY and I was very interested in checking out the Women’s Rights National Historical Park. The first “big” park I visited was the Grand Canyon and I definitely have lots of memories of that week, it was for NPS Fundamentals!

4. What is your background? College? Study?
I studied geography and geographic information systems (GIS) at SUNY Geneseo. After spending a month backpacking around Europe, I worked in downtown-Rochester for the regional planning agency (for the metro area) doing GIS mapping and researching and writing a trails and historic sites inventory for the region. From there, I decided to pursue graduate school and received a Master’s in urban and regional planning.

5. What has been your path in the NPS?
My thesis was about converting rails to trails and making public trails for people and I was really hoping to work for the NPS after graduate school, but that did not happen. I worked in the field of environmental and land use planning (and GIS) and worked locally to educate the public about protecting our special places. Just before joining the NPS, I was the Land Projects Manager for Dutchess Land Conservancy, a local land trust. We had only one public preserve, so I was excited to join the NPS and work on preserving land for public parks.

6. What is your favorite part of the job?
My day-to-day work is a combination of legal research, real estate transactions, and land use management issues, and usually involves a map! I enjoy researching the many “puzzles” and questions that come up about NPS lands. Because I work for the region, I have a chance to learn about parks throughout the northeast, which I love to do.

7. Any favorite or funny memories of the job?
Last September, I had a virtual meet and greet with the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland. To my surprise, there were only 6 of us on the call! Since we were all a bit awestruck and surprised by such a personal meeting and conversation, some of us admitted that we had texted our moms to share our exciting news about meeting with the DOI Secretary. Secretary Haaland appreciated this, and after a collective laugh, she gave a shout out “hello” to all our moms.

8. Do you have any hobbies? Outside of the NPS?
I love to visit new places, hike, walk my dog, camp, paddle, swim, garden, and sail, and sometimes ice boat. I married into a family with a historic Hudson River Ice yacht, the Hound, so when there is ice on the Hudson, we ice boat! Our club has taken out and assembled Archie Rogers’ ice yacht the Jack Frost, and sailed it on the river, the last time was in 2014.

9. Favorite personal things?
I love vacations, spending time with friends and family, and all the hobbies above.

10. Anything Additional to share?
President Roosevelt was very interested in a 3-story grist mill on my in-laws’ property in Frost Mills (Town of Clinton) and stopped to inquiry with Alvah Burger (my husband’s great grandmother) about preserving the grist mill, which was built in the 1700s and supplied the continental army in Fishkill. President Roosevelt had worked with the CEO Thomas Watson of IBM to secure funds for the grist mill’s preservation but sadly, FDR died, and the preservation plans fell apart. Alvah Burger was widowed and sold the grist mill to IBM. However, instead of being preserved, the mill was dismantled, and the enormous beams were taken to use for a building at IBM’s private club. https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2014/08/19/dateline-dewitt-mill/14306641/