Steve Whissen, Cultural Resource Specialist, Denver Service Center (DSC) Planning Division.

Steve Whissen practicing a traditional Scottish song. He plans to travel to Scotland this spring where he hopes to listen to a lot of traditional music.

What is your name and job title? Steve Whissen, Cultural Resource Specialist, Denver Service Center (DSC) Planning Division.

What experience and education do you have? I received my undergraduate history degree and teaching certificate from Colorado State University (1975) and after a few years, returned to get my master’s degree in historic preservation. After college, I started working for the State of Wyoming - one year with the State Historic Preservation Office monuments and markers program, and six years with the Department of Environmental Quality, abandoned mines program. In that position I researched, documented and recorded historic mines and other cultural resource sites as part of agency compliance responsibilities to protect significant historic sites and structures. I joined the National Park Service (NPS) Denver Service Center in 1990 and have worked my entire NPS career in the Planning Division.

What is a typical day like? My time is typically divided among multiple planning projects and team assignments, meetings, and researching and writing sections of a diverse array of planning and environmental compliance documents to assist parks.

What career advice would you give to someone who wants to follow a similar path? It helps to be flexible with a well-rounded knowledge of the broad range of cultural resources such as history and historic structures, ethnography, archeology, cultural landscapes, and museum collections. We often don’t have opportunities to become detailed subject matter experts like our counterparts in the parks and regions. However, because we wear multiple hats in our role as DSC planners, having a more general approach and background will serve an individual best. As part of the NPS stewardship mission to avoid or minimize adverse impacts to the resources under our trust, an understanding of cultural resources laws, policies and compliance requirements in addition to the full spectrum of environmental protection requirements are also critically important.

Anything else you'd like to add? I’ve always found DSC to be a great place to work (a “renaissance place” of diverse talents and technical backgrounds) and a fulfilling way to support the NPS mission while assisting parks across the country. The evolving variety of work and skills needed to accomplish our work keeps things interesting and challenging. I’ve had opportunities to visit many wonderful parks and places that I may not have otherwise visited. And I will always treasure the interactions and lasting friendships I’ve developed with fellow NPS staff throughout DSC and the NPS system.