News Release

Two New Staff Join NPS Fire and Aviation Administration Branch

Debbie Bidaburu (left) is the new administration branch chief for NPS Fire and Aviation. Karma Hope (right) is the division's new administrative assistant.

NPS \ C. BOEHLE

News Release Date: December 3, 2018

Contact: Tina Boehle, 208.387.5875

Deborah “Debbie” Bidaburu has been named as the Branch Chief of Administration for the National Park Service Division of Fire and Aviation Management. She succeeds Sheila Wallace, who moved to a new position with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in August 2018. Debbie started her federal career in 1987 as a timber sales clerk for the Winema National Forest in Oregon. She has worked as a fire crewmember and district dispatcher on the Willamette National Forest; a forest dispatcher and public affairs specialist, on the Cleveland and Boise national forests; and a logistics coordinator at the National Interagency Coordination Center. For the past ten years, she’s been a budget analyst with the BLM at the National Interagency Fire Center.

As branch chief, she will advise division employees on all areas of administration relating to their program; assist with program planning for budget and financial management; and provide oversight for all aspects of contracting and procurement to include property management. In addition, she will provide human resources management support as liaison with the Human Resource Office at the National Interagency Fire Center.

Debbie and her husband Aitor met while working on the Winema National Forest and have been married for 25 years. They have three children; their son recently graduated with a major in Biology from Gonzaga University and is currently working towards his PA degree; their oldest daughter, currently a sophomore at Gonzaga University, is majoring in Biology; and the youngest daughter is a junior in high school. GO ZAGS! The basketball fans will understand.

In her spare time, Debbie loves to go for walks with her dogs, swimming, kayaking, boating, spending time with her kids and cooking. Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday.

Karma Hope has joined the National Park Service as administrative assistant for the Division of Fire and Aviation at the National Interagency Fire Center.

After graduating from college with a degree in psychology, Karma worked in the mental health field for several years. She left the workforce to raise children and take care of her mother-in-law, working intermittently as a freelance writer and web content editor in her spare time. Among her writing and editing projects, she wrote book reviews and feature articles for two newspapers in the Hamptons.

In 2012, she began working as the Office Manager for HFI Boise, part-time from home. In 2013, she and her husband moved their family to Corazol, Belize for 10 months where they had many great adventures and learned to appreciate washing machines, dishwashers and paved roads.

When her youngest child started kindergarten, Karma became a contractor for the NPS Division of Fire and Aviation, focused on digitizing historical documents. This led to other projects and eventually her new role as the administrative assistant for the division. Karma is excited to join the NPS family and enjoys working with the people in the division’s office.

When not chauffeuring her children to sporting or musical events, Karma can usually be found reading a book. She enjoys hiking, camping, writing silly stories for her family and is a diehard Boise State Broncos football fan.