Audio
Lulis Cuevas
Transcript
My name is Luis Cuevas. I'm a park Ranger and I am currently the Santa Cruz Island Ranger. I work primarily at Scorpion on the East End of Santa Cruz Island. My father was the foreman on the cattle ranch on Santa Rosa Island. I had the incredible opportunity of growing up on the island, spending full time till I was about. Years old. And then after that, I'm spending most of my summers on the island. Once we left, I realized how unique that was. The the the term solitude doesn't even describe it, which which is something that's very positive actually. To me, solitude is an incredible resource. You cannot find a beach and just walk for miles or stay out for hours. And it was. Just.
It was pretty.
Exceptional because you can't really find that. Today and you can't find that in a lot of areas, I think that to me is one of the most important resources that's out there is the ability to actually feel a sense of solitude and and just really being away from people in the city and everything. One of the reasons I wanted to come back was I wanted to have some part in preserving the islands and we have had some people that get jobs out here and they come out here and the isolation is a little more than they're used to because in on some of the islands like Anacapa or Santa Barbara Island, you don't have that opportunity to go out and hike. Miles, you're there and you're out there for a week and. If you have a computer and a television that gets some people through, but a lot of people just. Can't. Can't handle being just out there. They can't just get in their car and go to a movie. So I think it does take a very, you know somebody that's that that really likes that sense of solitude, I guess or isolation. My position is is based on Santa Cruz Island. So I work out there for seven days or actually 8 days on the island and then I have the rest of the time at headquarters. So we actually do get a sense of. Of getting away.
One of the nice things about the job here at this park, because this is a small park and because of how the islands are set up, this job tends to be more of a traditional park Ranger position where you do, you do everything you. You directly greet the visitors and talk to them and give them an. Orientation. And give them. Natural History information you clean bathrooms. Sometimes you are the only person working out there, and so you have to go out and pick up the trash. Check in campers, clean food storage boxes. So that's actually one of the nice things about this position is you get to do really everything. From. Writing tickets to illegal fishermen to cleaning bathrooms. Every part I've worked in has been different, but yeah here. The biggest difference is it seems like it's it's very one-on-one, there's often times it's just you and several visitors. It's very. Very personal. It seems really much more one-on-one. You actually get to know your visitors because when they camp there, you're seeing them every day. You're contacting them throughout the day, you run into them on the trails. There have been lots of times when I'm the only person out there, no visitors, no boats. Yeah, it's it's pretty neat because it's actually pretty easy for boats to get cancelled. So even though there be a trip planned to bring public. Out there it can get. Cancelled if the seas are rough. So it's like, oh, well, we get the call Highland Packers cancelled today. Ohh darn. Guess I will go hiking today. Now my first few my first few weeks after I came back, you know, and I was actually wandering around on duty thinking, Oh my goodness, I can't believe I'm here. I'm back here, I'm hiking around and I'm being paid. I'm on duty over here. That's pretty cool.
Description
Duration
3 minutes, 54 seconds
Credit
NPS
Date Created
06/04/2016
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